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Sara Lyon
While current medical practices focus primarily on maternal health history and wellness when assessing preeclampsia risk, emerging research suggests we need to be considering paternal factors as well. In a study published in November of 2024, researchers found that irregularities and abnormalities in the methylation of epigenetic DNA in sperm was linked to prenatal preeclampsia, as well as low birth weight (Nair, 2024).
SNOW DAY ALERT: Looking for something to do on a snow day? There are times, the worst of times, when the weather cancels school but doesn’t deliver fun. That’s when you need the five best things to do indoors on a snow day on the Upper West Side.
Looking for the best cookies in Manhattan? Look no further than the UWS, home to some of the best cookies we have EVER tasted. Read below for cookie descriptions, our personal ratings and links to the best cookies in NYC:
Our MASTER LIST of GLOW APPROVED PRACTITIONERS in CHICAGO & BEYOND
What Acupuncture for Labor Prep Looks Like
Acupuncture to help you prepare for labor is just as relaxing and comfortable as acupuncture that you’d experience at any other time. Along with addressing any pregnancy symptoms, acupuncture focuses on helping your muscles and body deeply relax, training your nervous system to release stress and tension. This helps your baby to get into a good position and makes labor easier, less stressful and more efficient.
So how does acupuncture help with nausea?
Gentle stimulation of specific points on the body sends signals to the digestive and nervous system, stopping the physical process that’s causing your nausea. Some of these points are so effective you can easily find anti-nausea wrist bands that stimulate a popular acupuncture point on your wrist.
Not only is acupuncture completely safe, it’s recommended! Acupuncture itself, when done by a licensed professional, is safe, effective and usually deeply relaxing. It’s safe throughout all stages of pregnancy, and is especially recommended in the first trimester for issues such as morning sickness, fatigue, threatened miscarriage, and constipation.
Yes. Acupuncture is completely safe, and won’t harm a pregnancy. It has actually been shown to improve pregnancy symptoms and help prevent miscarriage. It is important to have acupuncture from a licensed acupuncturist. You can find a list of licensed acupuncturists in your area through the national licensing board’s website at NCCAOM.
Here are some quick tips from an acupuncturist to help you on your pregnancy journey.
First Trimester
The biggest symptoms that come up during this time are fatigue, constipation, and of course, morning sickness. This is a trimester of a lot of change; your body is producing more blood, and your hormone levels are shifting rapidly to help support the pregnancy.
Our Moon Cycle and Postpartum massages work with the seasonal elements, essential oils and applied heat to bring relief from period symptoms. Treatment includes a warm wheat bag for your stomach & lower back, and a research-backed blend of essential oils for menstrual support. In controlled studies, our blend of oils reduced pain and bleeding.
There’s nothing better than a good brunch on a lazy Sunday with the family. From fun sized pancakes for the kiddos to bottomless mimosas for the adults: the Chicago brunch scene has it all and then some. Sound overwhelming?
Looking for a powerful way to maintain your health, wellness, and mindfulness during your pregnancy? Prenatal Pilates might just be for you. When practiced correctly, Pilates can provide many benefits for expecting parents including pain relief, balance and breath restoration, relaxation, joint mobility, and full body strengthening. Chicago has no shortage of amazing Prenatal Pilates classes, so here’s our top five favorite studios to help to get you started.
The Windy City has long been famous for its amazing variety of food and eateries. Although it can be daunting finding a restaurant that meets your family’s needs and expectations, you have no shortage of kid-friendly options for indoor and outdoor eating that are sure to make your trip to Chicago memorable and FUN.
Here’s our top five picks for family friendly restaurants here in Chitown.
On top of them being a little hard to schedule/commit to, you may also be hesitant to visit a massage therapist for perfectly understandable reasons (COVID and well, getting naked while your body has changed). Or your reasons for not getting a professional prenatal massage may be logistical. After all, you’re already comfortable at home and settled in for the night. And if you work in a city, who wants to drive home in traffic after a relaxing massage?
For those times you can’t get to the massage therapist, enlist the massage skills of your partner with these tips about when and how to give a prenatal massage. We’ll cover the reasons prenatal massage should be part of your pregnancy journey with specific instructions for body parts under the most strain.
Did you know prenatal massage can lower your cortisol levels? Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone and while it promotes fetal and neural development, too much of it can be a risk factor for miscarriage. Prenatal massage has also been shown to lead to easier labor. Even mamas with a short weekly massage of twenty minutes reported decreased leg and back pain and less depression and anxiety.
If your feet, legs, and hands start swelling during pregnancy, the culprit could be decreased circulation and pressure on your major blood vessels. Massage can help stimulate the soft tissue, move the extra fluid, and reduce the swelling. Plus, since you’re more relaxed, sleep comes easier. Consider how prenatal massage calms your central nervous system. Hello, uninterrupted sleep!
A study also showed that newborns of massaged mamas were less likely to be born prematurely, had lower cortisol levels, and more often a healthy birth weight.
Let’s go from the ground up with feet. Have your partner sit in a comfortable seated position. Apply a generous amount of massage oil or lotion and loosen the ankle with a gentle shaking motion from side to side. Next, hold the foot with both hands and then rub the top of the foot with firm upward strokes. Always stroke upward toward the heart to increase circulation. Massage the toes by giving them a gentle tug. Rub between the toes. Squeeze mama’s heels too! Extra weight can lead to heel pain. Lastly, rub the bottom of her foot.
You can repeat the above steps on mama-to-be's calves and thighs. When it comes to the lower back, have her sit in a chair without arms, straddling it with a pillow in front of her belly. Begin with light strokes from her neck to lower back. Remember to alternate the amount of pressure by using your fingers to apply lighter pressure and your thumbs, knuckles, and palms to go deeper.
If you follow these steps, while remembering to breathe along with her, you will all benefit from in-home prenatal massages.
Body pillows are designed to support your neck and lower back and due to their size and weight, don’t shift around as easily as your regular pillow. Body pillows provide the necessary support to your front and back body to alleviate pressure on your ever-growing (and glowing!) body. Body pillows extend the length of your body so side sleepers can have a pillow between their legs. Being in this position maximizes blood flow to the uterus without putting pressure on the liver. Body pillows come in various shapes so research which one works best with your sleeping position and where your pressure points are. The more comfortable you are, the sounder you sleep, and the less groggy you’ll feel in the morning.
Postpartum moms also benefit from body pillows since they offer comfort, support, and pressure relief. Your body may have adjusted to sleeping with one and going back to your regular size pillow (or partner) may feel… less than ideal.
Since lavender promotes calmness and reduces stress/anxiety, it’s a great example of emotional self-care. Additional pregnancy-related advantages include lavender’s ability to ease us into sleep - which is something you should cherish while you can! Lavender can also help relieve nausea that occurs early on in your pregnancy.
Check the label for lavender essential oil because “lavender oil” is usually diluted with fillers and synthetic ingredients.
Even busy moms-to-be can find a few moments each day to meditate. If sitting puts unnecessary pressure on your belly, lay on your side using your body pillow. For ambiance, use a diffuser filled with lavender essential oil. If you find meditation difficult, apps like Headspace can guide you through short meditations.
Once your baby is born, especially in those early weeks when they’re actually sleeping, take that time to continue your meditation practice. If you’re lulled into sleep, you’re sleeping when the baby sleeps which still remains one of the best, yet obvious, pieces of advice we’ve ever heard.
When many of your social situations involve alcohol but you’re pregnant, don’t just dismiss yourself to missing out on seeing your friends. Invite close friends over for drinks while you enjoy a mocktail. And lucky for you, many bars in Oakland and Chicago have finally realized that soda water just isn’t cutting it.
During pregnancy, the calming, mood, sleep, libido, and bone-enhancing hormone, progesterone, increases. This leaves you especially lethargic in the first trimester. Unfortunately, feeling tired doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily sleep like a baby- where did that phrase come from anyway? Totally inaccurate if you ask us.
Rather than stress about what to make for dinner and spend time preparing it, consider a meal delivery service or meal kit. Read this pregnant mom’s reviews of various subscription meal services. You will end up making fewer grocery store trips when you subscribe to a meal kit and you can customize your meals to get the nutrients your body needs during your pregnancy.
Want a heat and eat option? In Oakland, we like Planted Table and in Chicago, Eat Purely. Time is still a precious resource, pregnant or not, so consider subscribing to a service post pregnancy or add it to your gift registry.
Maybe we’re a little biased, but Glow Birth and Body offers incredible regular and prenatal massages. Prenatal massage has been shown to reduce swelling, lower back pain, provide natural pain relief, and improve the quality of your sleep.
Prenatal massage not only bestows benefits to mama while pregnant but also while giving birth. Studies from the Touch Research Institute suggest mamas who get a weekly massage have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and higher levels of the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine. Researchers have linked these hormonal changes to fewer childbirth complications, including a 75 percent reduction in premature births among depressed women.
Remember to drink plenty of water after your massage. Drinking water post-massage helps the body flush out any accumulated materials released.
Massage is beneficial for anyone who wants to lower their stress levels and sleep better, and these needs don’t disappear when you’re no longer pregnant.
Glow Birth and Body’s Journal and Birth Deck set is the perfect gift for expectant moms to record their pregnancy and practice gratitude while the Birth Deck helps their partner support them throughout the pregnancy.
Keep up your journaling post-pregnancy. According to scientific studies, people who journal say it’s therapeutic and one of the best ways to consistently find gratitude when life is overwhelming.
Pregnancy and harsh cleaning chemicals are not a good combo. If you enlist a house cleaner, ask them to use natural, non-toxic cleaners.
Even before pregnancy, the average time spent cleaning is 6 hours a week. You may need those six hours back because you’re tired, you have pregnancy-related appointments, or you’re preparing your home for the baby's arrival. Having a clean environment, free of clutter can lessen anxiety too and a calmer mom-to-be is a win-win for all parties involved. Because personally, when our cars and houses are a mess, we are too.
What self-care practices have you adopted? What will you keep doing post-pregnancy? You can’t go wrong choosing whatever keeps you calm, well-rested (this is HUGE!) and with more time for the things that matter!
There are a million theories about why pregnant women experience such intense cravings. And there’s a difference of opinion about why we’re suddenly drawn to something we’ve never liked before. Either it’s 1. a product of our weird relationship with food and we want foods that were previously off-limits, or 2. a specific food contains some element your body needs. One proven reason we crave these foods is that our sense of smell and taste, like so many of our body parts, evolve over the course of our pregnancy.
Let’s cover this first: you are not alone. Approximately 50-90% of expecting mothers report a craving for a specific food during pregnancy. Other than pregnancy, the week before your period marks a time where caution about what we eat might be thrown to the wind. The body wants what the body wants, and I want two pounds of chocolate and a milkshake, is that too much to ask for?
There’s differing theories about why pregnancy cravings happen. The first says that there’s too many reasons, emotional and hormonal, that you’re better off not worrying about the why. The second theory is to outright blame pregnancy hormones (always the easiest to blame). And we’re no stranger to how crazy those are.
A third theory is that pregnancy cravings are your body’s innate knowledge of what it needs. Nowadays this might be more along the lines of what’s called intuitive eating. This isn’t so far fetched when you take into consideration how crazy it is that women can sync up their periods just by being together (sounds weirder every time we say it).
All goes to say, nobody has a direct answer as to why pregnancy cravings are a thing.
If emotions influence when, what, and how much you’re eating, it’s worth asking yourself if you’re an emotional eater. One sign is that you feel guilt or shame after eating. Another is that you turn to a specific food when emotions overwhelm you. Emotional eaters often find they don’t remember the process of eating and in rapid succession go from the first bite to an empty plate.
Redirection is an underutilized tool when it comes to emotional eating (and parenting, but that’s for another time). One piece of advice is to make a list of things you can do that don’t revolve around food. Or try to identify the exact emotion and make sure your snacking alternative satisfies it. So if you crave comfort, snuggle up with a book, call a friend, draw a bath, go for a walk (or waddle) or call an old friend (seriously, when was the last time you called and didn’t text?). Another approach you can try is intuitive eating, which is based off of the idea that you shouldn’t restrict yourself (but in turn, learn: 1. how to read what your body is craving, 2. when you should stop eating, and 3. what foods nourish and feel good to eat, as opposed to ones that bloat you or make you feel icky).
There are a few categories of pregnancy cravings that deserve attention not only because they’re satisfying but because they could indicate that your body is making the right choice for you.
First up is our favorite, cheese. A craving for large amounts of cheese might be your body telling you it’s lacking calcium. So have your cheese but also mix in other calcium-rich foods like seeds, yogurt, almonds, and dark leafy greens.
Next, chocolate. Good news: in moderation, dark chocolate is actually beneficial for pregnancies. This has been proven in many, many studies. Benefits include reducing the risk of blood pressure, and improving blood flow to baby and to mama.
Spices - You may have heard that spicy foods like Thai or Mexican become more appealing during pregnancy. When you’re pregnant, your core body temperature rises. Extra spicy pad Thai = sweat = a lower body temperature. Way to self regulate!
Meats - While it’s not recommended to eat raw or pink meat during pregnancy, eating medium-well or well-done meat is totally fine while pregnant. If you’re feeling especially carnivorous, it may mean your body needs more protein or iron.
Citruses - Some of you, when pregnant, may want to eat a lemon-like it’s an apple (no judgment here). Because hormonal changes wreak havoc on our taste buds, salty foods may become saltier while bitter or sour foods become less so. Try sipping lemon water to help digestion, reduce constipation, lower blood pressure, and pack in the Vitamin C. Just don’t overdo it as lemon’s acidic nature could take you on a trip to heartburn city.
Home: Boil some eggs, steam some vegetables and throw in a little salsa. You know there’s always a jar in the back far right (or is that just us)?
On the road: Take a pass on those Doritos and other salty snacks and satisfy that craving with dried fruit or a fresh apple.
Going Out to Eat: At an Italian restaurant, opt for a green salad and pasta with veggies and skip the white sauces. Cream-based sauces, heavy in butter, could trigger acid reflux, common during pregnancy because of increased levels of progesterone that slows digestion.
Pho, a Vietnamese staple, is delicious and nutritious but skip the bean sprouts (if raw, they can carry salmonella, listeria, or e-coli), and don’t order your meats rare in case they don’t cook enough in the broth.
Grocery Store: Nut butters, hummus, bagged carrots, and bagged salads with dark leafy greens will be your go-to. Leafy dark greens are packed with magnesium that will help your baby’s teeth and bones. Other magnesium-rich options are pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds, brown rice, quinoa, squash, beans, and lentils.
Another reason to commit to a pre-pregnancy detox is that 40% of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. Crazy, right? Many women don’t even realize they are pregnant until they are six or eight weeks along if their periods are already irregular.
We want to preface this by saying: every woman’s pregnancy is different! Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to cut out everything we talk about below, so make sure you consult your doctor first. The topics below provide some alternatives if you do have to make these changes!
With advancements in shrubs and kombucha, we now have so many more non-alcoholic options than your mother’s soda water. Tea is a great coffee substitution with half the caffeine of coffee. Just a six-minute drive from Glow Chicago brings you to Rare Tea Cellar with enough tea blends and varieties to make your head spin (in a healthy, non-drunk way). If you’re in the Oakland area, and bubble tea and smoothies are more your speed, RareTea Oakland is only 5 minutes from Glow Oakland.
The daily recommendation for sugar for a female is 25 grams. One fruit-flavored non-fat yogurt is 47 grams! Even if a food label doesn’t have sugar, it usually has a substitute and your body doesn’t know the difference. Honey, or agave, are acceptable substitutes when you’re baking, but otherwise, try to limit any added sugar. After all, fruits have sugar too, albeit natural. Low sugar fruits are blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries whereas cherries and bananas are high sugar fruits.
Let’s get your mind right so you can be an attentive, connected mama. If you’re grappling with limiting beliefs about yourself, find it hard to set boundaries, or find yourself caught in a negative thought loop - we’re here to help.
Comparison is usually the culprit that knocks on our door when hormones are raging. Nowadays, comparison can come in many forms: through social media, personal relationships, and stories you hear about what everyone else is doing during their pregnancy. Let’s start here: detox your social media. If you thought you were self-conscious before, it’ll only continue to get worse while you’re carrying a baby, gaining weight, having crazy mood swings/ cravings, etc. The reality is, we don’t need to follow people who bring us negative energy. On the flip side, there are so many models and figures on Instagram now that focus on body positivity, transparency, and bring women encouragement. Try to unfollow anyone who doesn’t make you feel good about yourself. You have no reason to follow them, anyway.
Next,
if you have friendships that no longer serve you, this is a perfect time (and excuse) to let that person go. Boundary setting is easier with preparation, so practice all the ways to say no when you don’t want to do something.
If positive psychology seems like a “fake it till you make it” philosophy that you can’t get behind - we feel you. Instead, challenge your negative thoughts. As soon as you think, “I look awful” ask yourself, “how is saying this to myself helpful?”.
Thinking of “giving up” foods, friendships and thoughts aren’t always easy. We’re here to challenge you: try to put yourself (and your little one) first for once. You should never feel bad about prioritizing yourself during such an important time in your life. Rid all the negativity, and bring in as much light and positivity as possible. Happiness is the best detox of all.
