**Collaborative post**

It’s completely normal for you to feel a lite stressed out when you are expecting a baby. There are changes happening to both your body and your life, and it can leave you feeling a little nervous of the unknown. If you feel do feel stressed from time to time, it is important for you to find ways to tackle this. 

Some of the things you could try include: 

Concentrate On Your Baby 

It’s really good for both you and your baby if you can relax as much as possible, therefore there is no need to feel guilty about taking a bit of time to yourself every now and again. Whenever you get the chance, take a bit of time to focus on just you and your bump, it helps to build your mother-baby bond. From around 23 weeks your baby will be able to hear you so trying talking, reading, or singing to them. 

Get Plenty Of Sleep And Rest 

Just listen to your body. If you are feeling extra tired, grab a nap, take a break, or have an early night. Sleep is important for everyone, it helps to support a healthy pregnancy. If you already have children, then you may find it hard to get a break as and when you need it. However, you deserve to have some time to yourself. Ask your friends, parents, and your partner to look after the kids if you need some time for relaxation, and make sure you don’t end up spending the time doing chores. 

Talk It Out

If you are worried about your’s or your babies wellbeing, you can trust the reassurance of your midwife. You should try not to hide how you are truly feeling. If you are honest, then you will be able to get the help that you need. The midwife will have come across it all before, so talk it out. Your partner is another person who you may actually discover is just as worried as you and has different concerns that you could support each other with. 

Eat A Good Diet 

Eating a good diet is good for both you and your baby. You need to make sure you eat regularly to level your blood sugar, letting this drop can leave you feeling irritable and tired. When pregnant it’s not always easy to eat, especially if you have morning sickness or high emotions. Eating small, healthy, and regular can help to make sure you get the nutrients that you need to stay healthy and support your growing baby. And, of course, you need to make sure you drink enough water. 

Get In Some Exercise

Even though it may be the very last thing that you want to do, exercising is powerful and it can lift your spirits massively. Some people stop exercising when they fall pregnant but it is brilliant for you and your baby. It helps to release a feel-good chemical in your brain as well as helps blood flow around your body. Most sports are friendly fro pregnancy apart from close contact sports. Swimming is popular and helps to keep you toned during pregnancy. You may even be able to find an aquanatal class at your local pool. Working exercise into your daily routine, such as going for a short walk each day for some fresh air can help massively with stress. 

Do Some Reading 

Reading can be relaxing for anyone, however, when your pregnant you can kill two birds with one stone. You can relax and get prepared. Reading things such as a complete pregnancy checklist, birth plans, and what to expect book, blogs, and leaflets can all help to keep you positive, less stressed, and make you feel more prepared. 

Get Ready For The Birth

Although birth plans never seem to go to plan, it’s still best for you to have some sort of a plan in place as well as educating yourself about the signs of labour and what you can expect in labour. If you know what you might expect, what you can ask for, and what some of the phrases mean will make you feel more positive and ready. YOu can also speak to your midwife about the things you can expect, fire away with your questions, regardless of how silly you might think it sounds. They will also be able to help you to create your birth plan and your preferences. These tend to go completely out of the window but they are really useful to give to your birth partner too, as they are able to guide you and talk to you about it during your labour. Just remember that it may not go exactly to plan. 

Create A Budget 

When you are expecting, whether it’s your first child or another, you can’t help but worry about money. That is unless you have put a saving pot to one side specifically for children, but how many people do that? One of the best things you can do is to write a complete list of everything you need and then buy them across each month rather than in one go. Could you ask for second-hand items from other people you know who have had children? Or could you scour places like Facebook to find a bargain? It is possible to grab some great baby bargains, you just need to shop around. It’s even possible to grab some items for free. You are probably already aware that your monthly budget is going to be different now that you have a child on the way, therefore, you need to rewrite your budget to include them. Think about everything such as how much the nursery will cost, the additional clothing as they grow, and the cost of nappies etc. 

This guide should help you to get rid of some of the stressful feelings during pregnancy. The last thing you want is to feel stressed but it is normal it’s all about learning how to tackle it. Do you have any other tips that you share in the comments below?