This post may contain affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, I may earn a small commission should you choose to purchase through these links. 

Before my pregnancy, there wasn’t anything I could have done to imagine how uncomfortable pregnancy is. In fact, it just never occurred to me. of course I had heard that, you know, labor was uncomfortable and healing from birth would be it’s own trimester. But discomfort while pregnant? Now that was something new entirely.

The thing is, I don’t just mean physical discomfort. There is also mental, emotional, and social discomfort that comes with being in this vulnerable state. I recently asked my social community of have-been pregnant mamas what they wish they had done differently (or will do differently next time) and here are some of their answers.

Also read: Mental Health During Pregnancy

I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Discuss any health-related concerns with your OB-GYN as soon as you have them. This is not legal advice. This article is anecdotal, general advice and suggestion only.

In the first trimester, when you’re more tired than ever, the thought of exercising might seem wildly unachievable. But as you graduate to the second tri and your energy starts to return, physical movement, pelvic floor training (Kegels), prenatal yoga, Pilates, or even just going for daily walks outside are a great way to combat pregnancy discomfort.

There is a slue of benefits to prenatal exercise. Some of the obvious ones are:

But a few lesser known benefits are:

Think of all exercise during pregnancy as training for the marathon that will be your baby’s Birth Day! Labor can be a long, intensive, exhausting experience. Exercising regularly as your belly grows and your due date approaches will help you gradually strengthen your cardiovascular fitness (how well your heart and lungs supply oxygen to your body while exercising at medium to high intensity). And the more cardiovascular endurance you have, the longer you’ll be able to sustain laboring before it makes you bone-tired. Which is a state you will most likely reach regardless.

The short answer is: if you have a normal, healthy, low-risk pregnancy then yes. Physical activity has not been shown to increase your risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, or early delivery.

​Now, it is still important to discuss exercise with your doctor during your early prenatal visits. If your ob-gyn gives you the green light to exercise, you can discuss what activities you can do safely.

Going beyond regular pregnancy discomfort and fatigue, these are some conditions when your doctor might deem exercising unsafe:

If you’re new to exercising, starting with any kind of light, physical movement is helpful. Aim for something as simple as 5-15 minutes of stretching, walking, bike riding. Gradually increase this to about 30 minutes as your conditioning and stamina improves. The goal is about 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. This breaks down to about 30 minutes a day for five days per week. Moderate intensity is defined with an elevated heartrate and some sweating. You should be able to talk but not sing. If you can no longer talk during an exercise, it is time to take a break.

Make sure you: 

It’s really easy to fall into trying to maintain your pre-pregnancy level of well, life, when you’re pregnant. Especially at work. And I feel like especially the first pregnancy.

However, bosses (both male and female) irritatingly tend to have more concern for the business than they do their employees. On a level I understand. There is a job to do, expectations to be met, and bigger bosses to please. But I will die on the hill that if we took better care of our employees, and treated them like capable adults who can make decisions that would suit themselves and the company, they would take care of their jobs and responsibilities.

America is not made for working mothers/parents. Even with my own previous experience of trying to “do both and have it all”, my ex-employer worked with me as little as legally possible when it came to understanding and scheduling. But that’s a rant for another time.

That leads me to this:

​According to The Mayo Clinic, pregnancy discomfort from everyday activities like sitting or standing for long periods may increase. Moving around can help ease muscle tension and prevent fluid build-up in the legs and feet.

The mama quoted for this section is professionally a nurse. Health care workers frequently have longer shifts than standard 8-hour days and are on their feet for most of that time.

Sitting for long periods will also cause pregnancy discomfort as the belly starts to make itself known. The best case scenario is that you have access to a good chair that provides good, adjustable back support. But for chairs that aren’t adjustable or don’t have back support, you can create some with a pillow or a cushion set behind you at your lumbar. Make sure you find a way to elevate your feet to maintain good circulation.

Easier said than done, it’s important to do what you can to minimize stress from work.

Thankfully, there are some protections offered under various legislation for pregnant employees

*Important note: This covers individuals who work in a company of 15 or more employees*

Pregnancy is not classified specifically as a disability. However, if a pregnant employee experiences complications or health issues related to the pregnancy that meet the ADA’s definition of a disability, they may be entitled to reasonable accommodations.

These could include adjustments to work duties, flexible scheduling, or modified workplace conditions.

​It might help to convince your boss that you need accommodations if you get a doctor’s note stating just that.

*Important note: You have to have worked at your job for 12 months and you need to be one of at lease 50 employees in order to qualify*

The FMLA provides about 12 weeks of unpaid leave after the birth or adoption of a child, but you can also take leave under the FMLA prior to giving birth.

​This is job-protected leave. If you get assigned to bed rest before birth or at some point in your pregnancy, you can take this leave and your position at work is legally protected. And it’s not a one-and-done. If you only use, say 3 weeks of FMLA, then you have 9 more weeks in the “bank”. If your employer does not offer any type of maternity leave, you can take FMLA (unpaid) to stay home and start recovering from birth and bonding with your baby.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed in 1978 as an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

​Here are a few protections it offers to pregnant employees:

Setting boundaries is hard. Setting boundaries at work is even harder. But this is also a great place to practice trusting your maternal instincts and listening to your body.

Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back, I tried way too hard to accommodate a job that wasn’t trying to accommodate me. Those are small potatoes compared to the mama from the beginning of this section. She confided that she had a really difficult and traumatizing birth. Looking back, she wonders if she had listened to her body rather than her bosses if the birth of her baby would have been better. We agreed that whenever/if-ever we venture into second-time motherhood, we would be better about trusting what we need.

​Our shared advice: do that from the start. Trust yourself from the start. Everything is new and there’s a lot to learn and figure out. But come back to “Is this in the best interest of my baby?” and “Is this in the best interest of me as the home of my developing baby?”