Out of Hibernation!

As the winter chill settles in, I have found a warm nook to sit and write my first blog post in a little while. Life has been very busy but I've managed to rustle up some time to reflect and boy has a lot been happening! 

A Quick Update

Samuel is 10.5 months old and is almost walking! He is chatting, laughing non-stop and is a blur of activity. I'll share a video of my little man with you next week.

The renovation project I shared with you a month ago, see post A Monster Overhaul, is almost complete. It's completely unrelated to sewing, to I'm not sure if you would like to see our other building projects. Leave a comment for me if you would like me to do a blog post on this.

BEFORE

The website. It is coming! Here is a sneaky preview......hopefully we will have it up and running soon. Are there any features that you would like to see on our website? Let me know!

Back to the Blog

Seemingly everyone is expecting a little bundle of joy shortly and clearly baby season is well and truly on its way. Heartburn was of the many charming effects of pregnancy I encountered. Up until the moment my little man was born, I had a burning in my chest (turned out giving birth gave instant relief!) and it seems a lot of mums-to-be are also having problems with it these days! A quick google search told me that heartburn affects up to 80% of women from the second trimester! You poor things, I know how you all feel!

After chatting with a lot of these mums-to-be, I decided to put together a list of the things I found the most helpful for "extinguishing the burn".

HEARTBURN

Why does Heartburn happen?

There are a couple of reasons:

1. Your baby is growing. As they get bigger, your uterus squashes your stomach and squeezes the contents upwards. This means that the acid in your stomach can spill over.
2. Hormones - the reason for everything joyous in pregnancy it seems! Just like all of the other joints and muscles in your body, the ones surrounding your stomach are relaxing. Unfortunately, the valve between your stomach and oesphagus also relaxes and this enables stomach acid to flow upwards instead of being restricted to the stomach. These hormones are important in ensuring you have an easier birth when the time comes and if given the choice, I'll take the better birth!

Tips for Heartburn

Don't drink your beverages with your meals (drink them in between)

The reason behind this is, when you eat, your stomach generates stomach acid to break down the food. If you dilute this acid with water, your stomach will create more and this will make your heartburn worse.

Try not to eat before you sleep

Maybe you already did this before you were pregnant, but the idea is that this way, your body isn't digesting while your lying down. Sam basically sat on my stomach the entire time he was in utero, so I was never hungry but a lot of women feel the complete opposite!

Elevate your head when you sleep

In case your body does need to digest overnight, this will stop the acid from leaking out! A European pillow was perfect for me.

Sleep on your left side

This is normally suggested as it's beneficial for bubba because it minimises the chance of reducing the blood flow to your baby by squashing your major blood vessels. Bonus is, it also reduces heartburn as it keeps the junction between the stomach and the oesphagus above the stomach acid level (therefore preventing it from leaking out).

Drink milk

I'm not sure for the reason behind this but it works (I was even sipping milk during labour so I wasn't distracted from the task at hand)! I think it the science behind must have something to do with the "stickyness" of the milk and it weighing the acid down. Don't take my word for it though! 

Avoid acidic food, chocolate, caffeinated drinks and fried food

You are probably already trying to eat healthily to give your bub the best start but in case your cravings include any of the above, they can trigger heartburn. Unfortunately, this rules out everything delicious!

Try an antacid

These work by neutralizing the stomach acids and are generally considered safe in pregnancy. When my heartburn was particularly pesky, I'd take Gaviscon. It's made from all natural ingredients, which is why I was the most comfortable using it.

Hopefully there is something here that works for you because there is nothing fun about heartburn! Let me know if you have any other tips or tricks that have worked for you. 

Phoebe

xo