What to expect when you're expecting (52 page)

Go slow-mo. Don’t jump out of bed and dash out the door—rushing tends to aggravate nausea. Instead, linger in bed for a few minutes, nibbling on that bedside snack, then rise slowly to a leisurely breakfast. This may seem impossible if you have other children, but try to wake up before they do so you can sneak in some quiet time, or let your spouse take the dawn shift.

Minimize stress. Easing the stress can ease the quease. See
page 141
for tips on dealing with stress during pregnancy.

Treat your mouth well. Brush your teeth (with a toothpaste that doesn’t increase queasiness) or rinse your mouth after each bout of vomiting,
as well as after each meal. (Ask your dentist to recommend a good rinse.) Not only will this help keep your mouth fresh and reduce nausea, it will decrease the risk of damage to teeth or gums that can occur when bacteria feast on regurgitated residue in your mouth.

Try Sea-Bands. These 1-inch-wide elastic bands, worn on both wrists, put pressure on acupressure points on the inner wrists and often relieve nausea. They cause no side effects and are widely available at drug and health food stores. Or your practitioner may recommend a more sophisticated form of acupressure: a battery-operated wristband that uses electronic stimulation.

Go CAM crazy. There are a wide variety of complementary medical approaches, such as acupuncture, acupressure, biofeedback, or hypnosis, that can help minimize the symptoms of morning sickness—and they’re all worth a try (see
page 85
). Meditation and visualization can also help.

Though there are medications that may help ease morning sickness (often a combo of doxylamine—an antihistamine found in Unisom Sleep Tabs—and vitamin B
6
), they’ll usually only be recommended or prescribed when morning sickness is severe. Keep in mind, too, that the antihistamine part of the combo will make you drowsy—a good thing if you’re going to sleep, but not such a good thing if you’re driving to work. Don’t take any medication (traditional or herbal) for morning sickness unless it is prescribed by your practitioner.

In fewer than 5 percent of pregnancies, nausea and vomiting become so severe that medical intervention may be needed. If this seems to be the case with you, see
page 545
.

“My mouth seems to fill up with saliva all the time—and swallowing it makes me queasy. What’s going on?”

It may not be cool to drool (especially in public), but for many women in the first trimester, it’s an icky fact of life. Overproduction of saliva is a common—and unpleasant—symptom of pregnancy, especially among morning sickness sufferers. And though all that extra saliva pooling in your mouth may add to your queasiness—and lead to a gaggy feeling when you eat—it’s completely harmless, and thankfully short-lived, usually disappearing after the first few months.

Spitting mad about all that spit? Brushing your teeth frequently with a minty toothpaste, rinsing with a minty mouthwash, or chewing sugarless gum can help dry things up a bit.

“I have a metallic taste in my mouth all the time. Is this pregnancy related—or is it caused by something I ate?”

So your mouth tastes like loose change? Believe it or not, that metal mouth taste is a fairly common—though not often talked about—side effect of pregnancy, and one more you can chalk up to hormones. Your hormones always play a role in controlling your sense of taste. When they go wild (as they do when you have your period—and as they do with a vengeance when you’re pregnant), so do your taste buds. Like morning sickness, that icky taste should ease up—or, if you’re lucky, disappear altogether—in your second trimester when those hormones begin to settle down.

Until then, you can try fighting metal with acid. Focus on citrus
juices, lemonade, sour sucking candy, and—assuming your tummy can handle them—foods marinated in vinegar (some pickles with that ice cream?). Not only will such assertive acidics have the power to break through that metallic taste, they’ll also increase saliva production, which will help wash it away (though that could be a bad thing, if your mouth’s already flooded with the stuff). Other tricks to try: Brush your tongue each time you brush your teeth, or rinse your mouth with a salt solution (a teaspoon of salt in 8 ounces of water) or a baking soda solution (
¹
/
₄
teaspoon baking soda in 8 ounces of water) a few times a day to neutralize pH levels in your mouth and keep away that flinty flavor. You might also ask your practitioner about changing your prenatal vitamin; some seem to lead to metal mouth more than others.

“I’m in the bathroom every half hour. Is it normal to be peeing this often?”

It may not be the best seat in the house, but for most pregnant women, it’s the most frequented one. Let’s face it, when you gotta go, you gotta go—and these days (and nights) you gotta go all the time. And while nonstop peeing might not always be convenient, it’s absolutely normal.

What causes this frequent urination? First, hormones trigger not only an increase in blood flow but in urine flow, too. Second, during pregnancy the efficiency of the kidneys improves, helping your body rid itself of waste products more quickly (including baby’s, which means you’ll be peeing for two). Finally, your growing uterus is pressing on your bladder now, leaving less storage space in the holding tank for urine and triggering that “gotta go” feeling. This pressure is often relieved once the uterus rises into the abdominal cavity during the second trimester and doesn’t usually return until the third trimester or when the baby’s head “drops” back down into the pelvis in the ninth month. But because the arrangement of internal organs varies slightly from woman to woman, the degree of urinary frequency in pregnancy may also vary. Some women barely notice it; others are bothered by it for most of the nine months.

Leaning forward when you urinate will help ensure that you empty your bladder completely, as can making it good to the last drop by double voiding (pee, then when you’re done, squeeze out some more). Both tactics may reduce trips to the bathroom, though realistically, not by much.

Don’t cut back on liquids thinking it’ll keep you out of the bathroom. Your body and your baby need a steady supply of fluids—plus dehydration can lead to urinary tract infection (UTI). But do cut back on caffeine, which increases the need to pee. If you find that you go frequently during the night, try limiting fluids right before bedtime.

If you’re always feeling the urge to urinate (even after you’ve just urinated), talk to your practitioner. He or she might want to run a test to see if you’ve got a UTI.

“How come I’m not urinating frequently?”

No noticeable increase in the frequency of urination may be perfectly normal for you, especially if you ordinarily pee often. But be sure you’re getting enough fluids (at least eight 8-ounce glasses a day—more if you’re losing some through vomiting). Not only can too little fluid intake cause infrequent urination, it can lead to dehydration and urinary tract infection.

“I hardly recognize my breasts anymore—they’re so huge. And they’re tender, too. Will they stay that way, and will they sag after I give birth?”

Looks like you’ve discovered the first big thing in pregnancy: your breasts. While bellies don’t usually do much growing until the second trimester, breasts often begin their expansion within weeks of conception, gradually working their way through the bra cup alphabet (you may ultimately end up three cups bigger than you started out). Fueling this growth are those surging hormones—the same ones that boost your bust premenstrually but at much greater levels. Fat is building up in your breasts, too, and blood flow to the area is increasing. And there’s a swell reason for all this swelling—your breasts are gearing up to feed your baby when he or she arrives.

In addition to their expanding size, you will probably notice other changes to your breasts. The areola (the pigmented area around the nipple) will darken, spread, and may be spotted with even darker areas. This darkening may fade but not disappear entirely after birth. The little bumps you may notice on the areola are lubrication glands, which become more prominent during pregnancy and return to normal afterward. The complex road map of blue veins that traverses the breasts—often vivid on a fair-skinned woman and sometimes not even noticeable on darker women—represents a mother-to-baby delivery system for nutrients and fluids. After delivery—or, if you’re breastfeeding, sometime after baby’s weaned—the skin’s appearance will return to normal.

Fortunately, that cup size gain won’t continue to come with pain (or uncomfortable sensitivity). Though your breasts will probably keep growing throughout your nine months, they’re not likely to stay tender to the touch past the third or fourth month. Some women find that the tenderness eases well before that. In the achy meantime, find relief in cool or warm compresses (whichever is more soothing).