Really Pregnant - Pregnancy Resource Information

I can only imagine (and I’d rather not, if you don’t mind) what pregnancy, labor, and delivery would have been like if I hadn’t had so much encouragement to keep exercising throughout. My husband and I were married only about a month before our baby was on the way, and I had gotten in very good shape the year before we were married, going to exercise at least three times a week, eating well, and being blissfully happy.

When we discovered I was pregnant, I continued on with the exercising, missing only a very few workouts, here and there, and often just because of newly-wed stuff, rather than pregnancy stuff. Many people were surprised that I was still engaging in just about everything I would normally do, all throughout the pregnancy, including the regular workouts. The only change in my workout was modifying one of the exercises as my joints loosened, to avoid dislocating something. Otherwise, if it weren’t for the big belly, you would have never known I was pregnant. The midwives never made a big deal about continuing on with all my normal activities. In fact, I had to ask them about the exercising. With all the comments, I was starting to wonder if this were really out of the ordinary. Since our midwives work mostly with farm wives, they’re used to having pregnant women working hard all throughout pregnancy, so my situation was unusual only in that I didn’t have to keep on with everything.

Up until that last week, I was still going to exercise regularly. My mom and I went together, so even if I had suddenly gone into labor, I had transportation, and we were actually closer to the birth center at the workout place than I was at home. There was one gal there who was also a firm believer in exercise being a great help. She had several children and always had very hard pregnancy but loved labor and delivery. Although I was having a great pregnancy, by comparison with many other women, I was pleased to talk to someone who actually enjoyed labor and delivery. As it would turn out, my labor was unusual, in that it was entirely back labor (all twenty-two hours of it), with no “urge to push” before we had to get the baby out (little bit of nuchal cord was starting to make her heart rate drop during contractions), so I didn’t have much opportunity to enjoy labor, exactly. Even so, I can only imagine how it would have been if I hadn’t stayed fit throughout the pregnancy. As it was, I regret not having done more to strengthen my wrists and forearms, since they were pretty busy throughout labor, trying to keep my weight off my seat or back or anywhere else. Any kind of pressure made the pain worse, or so it seemed, so my wrists got quite a workout!

Nowadays, all the pregnancy/baby websites seem to encourage regular exercise, starting before conception and continuing as long as possible. There are many, many warnings and cautions, of course, and everything should be run by your care provider, but pregnancy, labor, and delivery all require a lot of a mother’s body, especially quite a lot of stamina. Staying in shape (no pun intended) right from the get-go can only help!

As hard as it may be for many people to accept, not every pregnancy is planned or even wanted. For those people dealing with such a pregnancy, it can be hard to find help. It can be even harder to find non-judgmental and factual help.

Thankfully, there are places like Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center, which offers free and confidential pregnancy help in Hawthorne, New Jersey. At their facility, located between William Paterson College and Bergen Community College, the folks at this center are eager to help both the men and the women facing the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy.

Besides offering free lab-certified pregnancy tests in the Prospect Park area and referrals for free ultrasounds, the goal of Lighthouse PRC is to provide necessary services and all the facts. Many of the staff have had to deal with unplanned pregnancies, themselves, and they want to help you be sure you have all the information you need to make an educated decision on how you will choose to handle your pregnancy. They will not benefit financially, no matter what your decision may be. It doesn’t matter who you are, they want to help you be prepared to make the choices that you must make.

The folks at Lighthouse PRC understand that it’s not only the pregnant mother that has to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, and they want to help the man involved, too. You are as much a part of this as she is, and you need to be just as informed as she. If you believe your girlfriend is pregnant in Glen Rock, New Jersey, contact Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center. You can talk to peer counselors whose goal is to help you, not to judge you or to sell you anything.

Maybe you’re a freshman, on your own for the first time ever, thinking this whole growing-up thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Or, maybe you’re a successful businesswoman, commuting to New York City, wondering how your career can survive this unexpected twist. It doesn’t matter to the staff and volunteers at Lighthouse PRC–to them, you’re a person who needs what they have to offer. They want to talk to you, to help you think clearly and accurately, to make sure you’re ready to make your decisions…decisions you won’t regret later, no matter which way you decide to go.

Even if you haven’t gotten to the point where you need to know about pregnancy symptoms because an unplanned pregnancy is a concern, this facility offers information about STDs (sexually-transmitted diseases) and STIs (sexually-transmitted infections). It can’t hurt to be too careful and to prevent never needing their more involved services. The purpose of Lighthouse PRC is to help–you don’t have to meet with them face-to-face, if all you need is information they can give you over the phone or just a listening ear. As stated at the top of their website, they offer “free, confidential services and support.” Whether you’re pregnant in Hawthorne, New Jersey or just plain scared, give them a call or send them an email…. They’d love to help.