Long Distance Pregnancy

When you find out you are pregnant, you immediately share in the joy with your partner and celebrate.  So many emotions are taking over y’all.  As you dive into your pregnancy you have so many stages to go through and enjoy them all.  What about those women who don’t get to share the joys, highs, and lows of their pregnancy with their partner?  Maybe he is deployed, maybe he has to live else where for his job or he is a traveling athlete.  Whatever the reason he is away, going through a pregnancy alone is terribly difficult.

Being alone during your pregnancy can cause a great deal of depression.  Prenatal depression is a complication that can happen during pregnancy and we want to avoid this from happening.  Though completely understandable, here are a few tips to help you through having a long distance pregnancy.

Keep busy.  There are so many things you can do to keep yourself occupied during pregnancy.  It is a great time to take up a new hobby and explore some of your new talents!  Something that is also great for pregnancy and will occupy some time in your day is exercise.  It will help you feel good, keep you going and help keep you busy.  Maybe you want to try knitting a hat or blanket for your baby! Give it a go!

Keep a journal.  Keeping a pregnancy journal is a great way for you to reflect and also share with your partner later on.  Every tear, joy, baby kick should be documented so when your partner reads it, he will feel as though he can remember it.  It isn’t quite the same as having him there, but you want to help him feel included and this is a great way.

Take pictures and videos.  Along with keeping a journal, take videos and pictures week to week so you can your partner can reflect on it later.  I believe we should all be taking pictures and videos to document the pregnancy whether your partner is with you or not.  It is so beautiful to reflect upon later.

Find other mommas.  Knowing that you are not alone is a huge part of getting through your pregnancy while your partner is away.  There are other women who are going through the same thing.  Luckily, you can hop on Facebook or Twitter or any social network and find pages and group supports for women going through this.

Keep him in the loop.  We are so lucky nowadays to have so much amazing technology that can allow us to be in the same room with someone without actually being with them.  Facetime, Skype, Oovoo, Ichat there are a ton of ways to video chat with your partner to keep him in the loop.  Under certain circumstances you can be in contact with your partner and for those instances the other tips here will be helpful.

Meditate.  Set aside time for yourself everyday to spend just you and your darlin’.  Whatever relaxation techniques work for you, do them.  Some women use music and a warm bubble bath, some literally meditate, whatever works for you.

Most importantly, you must remember to stay positive and enjoy every moment for you and your baby.  Remember you are not alone.