franziska | 02 Mar 2011
Pregnancy
***Great Recipe for Pregnancy – Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Herbs*** Chickpeas are high in iron, fiber will help with digestion and protein will stick with you!
********************************************************
POST – Pregancy and Exercise – get out there, just 10 minutes of walking can have an impact!
*********************************************************
POST – Sinus Pain/Pressure & Pregnancy - Bothered by sinus pressure and headaches? Learn why these can be pregnancy related and how to treat naturally.
*********************************************************
Here is my first pregnancy-related post. My goal of this page is to create a place with easy to understand information for the 1st time pregnancy mama-to-be to the more experienced mommies who want tips, support and information on being your healthiest during this important time.
I had to take 2 tests & could not stop looking at them! 
The first thing I quickly discovered about myself while pregnant is my thirst for knowledge for everything pregnancy related.
I find comfort in knowledge and also find it exciting to know why I feel sometimes shooting pain in my lower sides of my abdomen (round ligament pain) or why I had to pee 3 times as much 
as soon I found I was pregnant – I know the baby was not pushing on my bladder yet so what was going on? One of the first things your body does when pregnant is to start making more blood – up to 1.8 pints that your kidneys have to process that end up in your bladder.
I also found it easier to manage my nausea knowing that what was most likely making me sick were the huge surge of hormones to my stomach and more drastic changes in blood sugar which may have more of an impact when your stomach is empty (nausea and morning sickness is not very well understood so this is mostly theory). As soon as my stomach started to feel queasy I knew I needed to get some food in me ASAP which does feel counter-intuitive but made a huge difference. The first couple bites are tough - crackers were helpful – then after a couple minutes my stomach would settle down. Now in my 2nd trimester I am no longer nauseous but rather crazy starving – i.e. can not think or communicate I am so hungry 
– every 3 hours or so. Basically, you need to eat regularly throughout pregnancy if that is to help morning sickness, hunger and most importantly to keep you and your baby properly fueled and healthy.
I am going to treat this page as a forum for information, specific pregnancy topics and tips and stories from my pregnancy journey. I just wanted to start with some tid-bits of what has been helpful for me to know so far into my 14 1/2 weeks.
I hope you enjoy and please comment. Learning from women who have been there and/or currently pregnant is so helpful and can provide an immense sense of support and relief because crazy stuff happens when you are pregnant and its nice to know you are not alone! 
