Getting pregnant, being pregnant, birthing a baby, caring for a baby, caring for a toddler. Easy, right? NO! Having a baby is a monumental, life-changing experience with a full spectrum of joys and hardships. Whether it’s your first or your fourth, it changes your world as you know it. There’s no way to prepare for all the physical and emotional undertakings. If your goal is to have a baby, I’m sure you have many other subset goals; keeping yourself strong and healthy and having a healthy baby just to start with.

When we decide to make a goal, our focus often becomes narrowed to how we foresee reaching that goal. It makes a lot of sense! If you want to run a marathon, you run, right? Well, yeah, and you might try to eat well, get enough sleep, cross-train. While making the effort to do these supporting goals might take more time, it is almost as important as the goal itself because without supportive nourishment, rest, and exercises to balance the muscles used to run, accomplishing the goal would likely not happen.

Wait a minute! Is this sounding similar to having a baby? It might not yet, but hear (read) me out. When we eat well, get rest, and support our body with movement and exercises that counter the strains of pregnancy, we move toward our goal of being a healthy mom, having a safe birth experience, and raising a healthy baby.

Focusing only on our primary goal can become challenging over the course of the journey. We are often excited and motivated in the beginning, but give way to other demands and stresses as time goes on. Don’t we all want to meet our goals in a 30 minute episode of our own self-improvement show? I do! We can use the foundations of holistic health as our guide for our subset of goals to support our primary goal. Focusing on these smaller goals can help us see progress sooner while we work toward our goal. It can also help us stay focused on the big picture by giving us steps along our journey to realize progress and change.

Holistic Health Foundations

Thinking: Ask yourself to clearly define what your goal is and why it’s important to you to meet it. This can help you stay focused, manage expectations, as well as adopt a mindset that supports your goal rather than one that gets consumed by thoughts of fear, doubt, or worry.

Breathing: We often hold our breath and don’t realize it. Letting air out is key to being able to allow air in. This is synonymous with our thoughts. When we let a negative thought out, we create space for a positive one. A sigh, laughter, or a loud yell are all ways to move air out then follow with a deep breath in.

Hydration: Staying hydrated helps every single function in your body work better. Dehydration leads to an accumulation of toxins, decreased brain function, and overall stress throughout your body.

Sleeping: Adopting a consistent sleep/wake time allows your body to know when to turn on hormones that make us wake up and go as well as when to rest and recover.

Nutrition: Eating foods that are fresh and minimally or unprocessed allows our body to better absorb nutrients. This helps to supply our body with the energy it needs and reduce the desire for stimulants like caffeine and sugar.

Movement: Choosing movement that leaves you feeling stronger afterward is ideal. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you body is giving a lot of its energy to sustaining the life of another being. It’s likely that after this period your body is depleted in various ways. It’s important to choose movement that doesn’t further drain you – even if it doesn’t feel like enough. Less is more – no drain, no pain, all gain!

Written by Kristen Stafford, Holistic Life Coach

balance fitness studio

115 N. Oak Park Ave., Suite 100

Oak Park, IL 60301

(708) 724-2293

www.balanceholisticfitness.com