Preparing for Pregnancy with Your Spouse
There is no doubt that having a baby will rock your world. Life as you know it changes in almost every way. This new way of life can sometimes be hard on marriages, but the good thing is, it doesn’t have to be! After having two babies, here are some tips we learned along the way that significantly helped our marriage through pregnancy and postpartum.
Prepare for Extreme Exhaustion
There’s exhaustion from day day-to-day life, there’s exhaustion from running a marathon, and then there is pregnancy exhaustion— which trumps all the other forms of exhaustion! No one can relate to pregnancy exhaustion until you’ve been pregnant. It’s the type of exhaustion that makes walking over to the sink to get a glass of water seem like an impossible chore. This type of exhaustion typically hits you in your first and third trimester, but you can have a couple days in your second trimester when you feel this way too. The best thing you can do is plan for it. Your body is on over-drive making a baby so allow yourself to rest and be sure to communicate with your spouse how you’re feeling.
Ahh, hormones. We love them and we hate them. If this is your first time being pregnant, you’ll quickly learn that PMS has nothing on pregnancy hormones. With that being said, we have to learn how to manage them. Most of us know when we are being hormonal, so the key is to recognize how you are feeling and call it out. “I’m being hormonal and extra sensitive, how can I respond differently in this situation?” Calling it out can give you a whole new perspective on the situation and offer you a new way to manage how you are feeling.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Communicating with your spouse is always important, but with the many ups and downs of pregnancy, it is more important than ever to communicate well. Saying things like, “I’m sorry— I’m really, really tired and didn’t mean to respond like that.” Or, “My hormones are on overdrive today and it seems like every little thing is driving me crazy.” Or, “My hormones are SO intense today and I am being overly emotional. Can you sit down and talk this situation over with me to help me so I can think about it rationally?” These have been real statements in our household and I’m not embarrassed about it, I’m actually proud because it helped us SO much!
Praying together is SO powerful! I recommend praying for:
Wisdom in this new chapter of life
Patience, understanding, and grace with each other
Oneness in this pregnancy
Pray that you feel great and stay positive until the end of your pregnancy
Pray for the transition into motherhood
Pray for your husband transition into fatherhood, which is different in many ways from a mother’s transition
Pray that your baby sleeps well and that Momma will be rested
Pray for your great labor and delivery & healthy baby
Pray for your quick healing postpartum
Everyday won’t be perfect, but prayer has the ability to drastically change things for the BETTER!
I’m excited for you in this new chapter of your life! I hope these tips & prayers empower you to have a great pregnancy and postpartum time with your husband!
