There’s a lot to keep track of during pregnancy. Between milestones for both you and your baby, what you need to eat and drink daily, how much exercise to get, and what changes your body is going through, pregnancy can be mind-boggling and overwhelming.
When I first became pregnant, “overwhelmed” was the best word to describe how I was feeling. The things I expected to be self-explanatory were not and there was so much information to sift through and prioritize that I often felt I had information-overload. What I needed was an easy way to track what was most important, and keep a record of questions or concerns I had along the way so when I was at my monthly check-ups and my doctor asked if I had any questions, I wouldn’t just give her a blank stare.
While it’s certainly entertaining to know what kind of fruit or vegetable the size of my baby resembles each week (how he can go from the size of a banana to a bell pepper, I’ll never fully understand), there are other things I found that I need to track on a daily and weekly basis that made my Liveli Planner especially useful.
Here are the tickers I setup in my planner to make my pregnancy a little easier and to ease my feelings of overload.
Water Intake | Checklist Ticker
The trusted pregnancy guide, What to Expect, recommends having eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water a day. That’s a lot to keep track of. Use a checklist ticker to check off each glass and stay on track.
Daily Nutrition | Checklist Ticker
When you’re just trying to get through the day, it’s difficult to keep track of which nutrition categories have shown up on your plate at some point during the day. Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends eating servings of vegetables, fruits, dairy, grains, and proteins on a regular basis. To keep track of what you eat each day, create a checklist ticker to tick off the categories your meals cover and to remember where you need to balance your diet.
Daily Fitness Goal | Reminders Ticker
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends expectant moms to get at least 30 minutes or more of exercise each day. If you need a little nudge to accomplish this on a daily basis, create a reminders ticker that will prompt you to get moving at a set time every day so you can get that workout in.
Milestones | Notes Ticker
Creating a notes ticker to track milestones can help you record:
- Conception date and due date
- The start of each new week through pregnancy
- The start of each trimester
- Important fetal milestones like first kick
- Important medical tests and procedures
Pregnancy Journal | Notes Ticker
There is so much going on with our bodies while pregnant, it’s hard to know what’s normal and what’s not. Using the notes ticker to create a pregnancy journal can help you track:
- Symptoms
- Changes to your body or the baby
- General feelings and emotions
- Special moments you don’t want to forget
Questions for My Doctor | Notes Ticker
Whether you have “pregnancy brain” or you’re just busy, do yourself a favor and make it easy to record the questions you don’t want to forget to ask your doctor. Recording your questions in conjunction with your pregnancy journal can help you remember why you had that question in the first place.
There’s no magical incantation that makes pregnancy easy – trust me, I’ve searched for one. But I have found that staying organized minimizes my stress and helps me feel more in control of this extraordinary experience. Liveli Planner has helped me stay organized along my pregnancy journey and I hope it can do the same for you. What other things do you find helpful to track to make pregnancy a little easier? Tell us in the comments below.
Want to try Liveli Planner?
Our beta planner is now available for free at app.liveliplanner.com