8 Ways Water Will Increase Your Chances of a Successful Pregnancy

Did you know that you are made up of 60% water? When you understand this, it makes so much more sense why we need to drink water consistently every day. Water not only helps quench your thirst, but it is also imperative for your body to function properly. According to HealthLine, water helps control your body temperature, excrete wastes in your body, improves physical performance, helps with digestion and nutrient absorption, and so much more. 

Pregnancy & Water – What’s the Big Deal?

When you add the stress of pregnancy to your body, water intake becomes so much more important. Unfortunately, many doctors don’t explain just how important it is to their pregnant patients. I can’t tell you how many moms I’ve spoken to that have told me that their doctors didn’t even talk to them about drinking water. 

So Just How Much Water Should You Be Drinking When You Are Pregnant?

The current recommendation is that you drink at least 80 ounces of water each day. That amounts to approximately 10, 8 ounce glasses of water. Surprisingly, this is just a starting point and can vary based on your activity level. After speaking with my midwife, she recommended that for a moderately active person, that I should be having 100 ounces of water a day in the 1st half of my pregnancy, and up to 140 ounces a day during the 2nd half. While this might seem a bit much, and believe me, my bladder often agrees, both my doctor and I believe that my extra water intake was one of the primary reasons I was able to carry my little boy for so long (41.5 weeks). By staying so well hydrated, I was able to keep my amniotic fluid at surprisingly high levels for that late in the pregnancy. 

Water is Key to a Healthy Pregnancy

Obviously, how much water you drink daily is specific to you, but my point is that you really need to make sure that you are getting enough water for your body. Both you and your baby are depending on it.

So why is water so important to you and your baby?

1. Water helps get important nutrients to your baby
2. It can help with constipation and swelling
3. It can help decrease the intensity or severity of Braxton Hicks contractions
4. It will help prevent dehydration
5. It increases you and your baby’s ability to remove waste and can decrease the strain on the kidneys and liver that dehydration causes (Livestrong.com)
6. It helps you keep stable levels of amniotic fluid (which, if low, can cause problems as you near the end of your pregnancy)
7. It could prevent premature labor and
8. Is essential to breast milk production

 

My 5MinuteBack Pregnancy Challenge Update

I have to admit that I have been struggling a bit these last few weeks to get in all of my exercises. More often than not, I have only been able to complete the 5MinuteRoutine, and I am lucky to have even been able to do that. While I’m not thrilled that I haven’t been able to do more complete routines and additional exercises, I know that this is the reality of being a busy woman and I am working on accepting that. I hope that over the next few weeks I can get back to my desired routine. 

According to the The Bump, weight gain is one of the primary symptoms that we all experience around week 17. Knowing that, it is so much more important that you take care of your body and begin a pregnancy specific workout routine now to keep your body healthy, fit and to reduce as many pregnancy pains as possible. 

On that note however, even though I haven’t been able to do the complete 5MinuteBack Pregnancy routine every week, I still feel great. Even with my weight gain speeding up, I am carrying the pregnancy weight well and haven’t experienced any additional pregnancy pain or discomfort related to it. I am feeling strong and sexy and so much more confident right now than I was at this same time during the last pregnancy. I am just thrilled with my results. 

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