Secrets of a Yummy Mummy

The recent heatwave in Hong Kong has prompted me to write this post.  Last year at this time I was pregnant and not happy.  I remember walking up Wellington Street at a snails pace because of the heat and the fact that my body temperature was just a couple degrees higher than usual making it totally unbearable.  The only thing that made me happy was my daily popsicle or slurpee.  Not great for the sugar levels but a necessity none-the-less.  I vowed then never to be pregnant in the summer again.  Since we all know we’re not going to plan our pregnancy’s around the seasons here are my tips for staying cool…

1. Visit a local swimming pool – luckily there are a lot of swimming pools in Hong Kong.  Many of us are blessed with one where we live or we belong to a club that has a pool.  If you aren’t one of the lucky ones you can find a listing of all the public pools in Hong Kong here.  Alternately, most hotels in Hong Kong will offer their pool to non-guests for a daily fee.
2. Drink water – some people think that the more water you drink the more swollen you are going to get but the opposite is true.  Usually we are supposed to get 8-10 glasses a day but during the heat of summer it’s necessary to increase that.  I always had a water bottle with me and drank from it constantly. Remember dehydration is the number one cause of pre-term labour.
3. Stay out of the sun and cover yourself with sunscreen – we all want to avoid the dreaded linea negra as much as possible and staying out of the sun is the best way to do this.  Of course most of us will see a faint line but if you lie in the sun without sunscreen it will make the line much darker.  I know this because during my first pregnancy I decided to take a trip to Bali mid-pregnancy.  I sat in the sun without thinking and ended up with the darkest linea negra that took months to disappear.  Second pregnancy, no sun and no linea negra.
4. Treat yourself with fruit and other food items that contain a high concentration of water – watermelon was my favorite fruit last summer.  There is nothing better than a piece of cool watermelon when you are pregnant….well, maybe a popsicle or slurpee 🙂