While a physician-in-training, my life often resembled a circus juggler act. So, once I became pregnant, I had no time to just “be” pregnant. I had to pencil pregnancy in between my lunch break, two weddings and my exams. For 38 weeks, I balanced days at the hospital seeing my patients with nights working at the television station, all against my fatigue and enlarging belly.

The morning before I went into labor, I was at work, sitting on the floor, examining my patient’s paralyzed legs. I was oblivious to the 70 pounds of weight I had gained and the yard of belly in front of me. It’s a wonder I made it through hours of standing in the operating room and walking miles around the hospital daily.

How could I work so rigorously up until D-day? I attribute my success to some quietly kept mom-to-be secrets (until now, that is).

Before I can share these with you, you must first admit that you are pregnant. Accept the fact that you will gain weight, your clothes won’t fit, and you will feel like crap some days. Once you can do that, you’re ready for the rest:

GEAR

THE back Brace – Loving Comfort Maternity Support (available at Babies R Us)
The first time you put this contraption on, you’ll probably have a hard time deciding which way is up. However, this brace is the main reason I was able to work so far into the pregnancy, or go shopping for more than 20 minutes. It decreases the fatigue caused from the heavy baby resting on your veins and cutting off circulation. The brace also kept my back from aching. Remember that your muscles, ligaments and tendons are stretched out in anticipation of delivery. Your back doesn’t have its normal strength and you can injure it severely.

Old Navy
There’s not much variety in the Old Navy maternity lineup. However, when you’re looking for affordable, comfortable work clothes, Old Navy still tops my list. Several of the slacks are made to grow with you: from barely a belly to enormous. Most of Old Navy’s clothes mimic its women’s line. If you check the sales rack, you can usually find slacks from $10-$30 and buttoned shirts from $5-$20. Another tidbit: The website has more options than the store. Visit the store to try on your size, then buy the rest online.

Hush Puppies
Be good to your feet or they will make you pay. My favorites are the brown Hush Puppies loafers that I still wear now. They helped me stand for hours while observing surgeries then and now. Out of all the orthopedic brands, Hushpuppies had the trendier styles. Before my Hush Puppies, my arches would ache endlessly. They definitely quieted my dogs.

Compression Stockings by Gabriella
Leg swelling/Fatigue
My legs swell normally if I stand for too long, but it was ridiculous with the baby. Again, when your fluids pool in your ankles, you will feel fatigued. If your job requires you to walk a lot, stand a lot, without time to put your legs up, consider these. They come in nude and black and fit well under your work clothes. I don’t think I wore these too much on the weekends, unless we were going on a long shopping trip.

Nursing Bra from Bravado Designs
A Good Bra
I bought this during the last trimester. It doubles as a nursing bra, if you’re gonna try to go that route. But, my boobs got SO big (3-4 cup sizes bigger), my regular bras became uncomfortable – I was buying a new size every month or so, then I grew out of the sizes in regular stores (big bras are not cheap), the straps were burrowing into my shoulders, etc. This bra was SOOOOO comfortable – very supportive, without an underwire, with comfy straps. You’ll just have to get over wearing a nursing bra before the baby gets here.

BOOKS/REFERENCE

“The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy” by Vicki Iovine
This book is hi-larious but useful at the same time. I read this while we were trying to conceive and again throughout the pregnancy. Iovine has a natural humor that is much needed.

“What to expect when you’re expecting” by Murkoff, Eisenberg and Hathaway
This is a nuts and bolts book – the facts you need, including all the frightening detail. It’s written by nurses. My tip: Only read the parts that pertain to your current month of pregnancy or the one to come. Don’t skip ahead. No need to stress yourself out too early.

Babycenter
This site singlehandedly got me through the pregnancy. The different articles are great (I subscribed to babycenter “plus” for one year), but the biggest help were the bulletin boards. I subscribed to the April 2005 babies board and read them everyday. It was months before I got the guts to ask a question. But you know what? When you have very weird things happening that you don’t want to tell your doctor for fear of being labeled another crazy preggo, there’s someone on the board going through it too and you can vent (like my weird phenomenon of not being able to pee in a straight line late in pregnancy, which became important when aiming for that cup and trying not to pee on seats... Stop laughing).

Free magazines
Americanbaby, Babytalk and a few others give free subscriptions to preggos. Sign up for them. They are easy reading, help pass the time, & have the new and improved baby products in them. You can sign up online at their sites... Sometimes, babycenter will sign you up automatically, but why wait?

Free stuff
Sign up at pampers.com, huggies.com, similac.com, enfamil.com for their free weekly emails, and their samples in the mail. It may mean nothing now, but it’ll be fun later on to get the samples.

CHOWING DOWN

I never got a chance to wallow in my fatigue and nausea, as my husband was 1,000 miles away for the first four months. Luckily, I only vomited three times the entire pregnancy. A lot of it is genetic, but here are some tips you can try:

Seltzer water: At some point in the pregnancy, I stopped being able to tolerate flat liquids of any kind – even water. Seltzer water always came to my rescue. It worked best during those times when I was at a restaurant and I feel the nausea wave coming. If you don’t like plain seltzer, grab one with fruit flavoring.

Pocket snacks: Grab some oatmeal bars or snack bars for your pockets to nibble (The South Beach Diet brand makes bars that taste yummy while remaining low-fat and low-carb).

Cravings: As a clinician, it would be irresponsible of me to say eat to your heart’s content. However, if you have morning sickness, and your body craves something that is not completely harmful, just eat it. If you go along with what your body wants, the likelihood you’ll throw up is a lot less. Yes, I know, it might be junk food or your 1,000th taco. Sometimes you have to follow the cravings — or else. My disclaimer: Don’t take this to the extreme and gain 70 lb like me. But, when your tummy wants ice cream and you’re shoving salad and cottage cheese in the midst of nausea, what’s gonna happen? Please indulge from time to time.

MR. SANDMAN

Unisom: Some nights you just cannot sleep, whether from hormones, stress or your intrusive belly. Unisom is a safe choice in pregnancy. I took it a few times to reset my sleep schedule. It was wonderful and I didn’t wake up groggy. Just be careful, because your body can become addicted to it. Try not to use it more than once or twice a week, if needed. It also helps with morning sickness. Talk to you doctor first though.

Rocking chair: When you get big enough, sitting upright will be the most comfortable way to sleep. Lying down causes the baby to rest against the diaphragm, making it harder to breathe. My best naps were in my car with the seat reclined waiting for my morning shift to start. We didn’t have room for a rocking chair in our house, but if you do, consider the ones with the leg rests. Also, don’t be offended if you and your partner have to sleep separately the last few weeks. During my last trimester, there was not enough room for all three of us – hubby, belly and I – in our Queen bed.

Body Pillow: Some of you already have one, so you know how helpful this is. It helps you to lie on your side comfortably – put it between your knees, under your arm, and dream away.

THE WAITING GAME

Weekends/Down Time: Take it easy, but stay busy. I felt my absolute worse on the weekends. Every weekend, I would threaten to induce the baby with some herbal remedy. But once Monday came, I’d be okay. The downtime let me feel every single ache, pain and struggle to breath. Get your rest on the weekends, but do at least one fun baby thing, like registry shopping, to distract you. Remember: On Monday it will go away again.

Spread out the fun. Don’t do everything for the baby in the first trimester. Save as much as you can (it will be hard) for the end. The first two trimesters are exciting on their own – ultrasounds, a growing baby, milestones and morning sickness. The last trimester is just l-o-n-g. Save those weeks for shopping, baby showers, decorating, name picking and daydreaming about those cheeks.

Involve your partner as much as possible. If the baby is moving, try to get him to feel the baby. Even if you have to “pump” the baby up by drinking a sugary juice, do it, so that he can feel the baby going crazy in there. Invite him to every visit so he can meet the doctor with you, and the doctor can talk to him too – or address his questions. Luckily, my husband got to come to 90 to 95 percent of my visits and I feel like it helped him stay involved (Since he wasn’t living here at the beginning, I scheduled them around his visits to Miami).

NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU: LABOR PAINS WILL NOT EARN YOU A PURPLE HEART

If you are afraid of sedation, I understand. But there are no medals for the women who deliver naturally or vaginally. Do what you gotta do to get through. We live in the 21st century, where you don’t have to be tortured. Also *very important*: We have all heard stories of the baby being groggy because of the sedation. This is one reason why: If you wait too long to ask for the epidural but then later want something for pain, it may have to be IV sedation, which can make the baby “groggy” so to speak (which is not always a bad thing). The epidural is pretty much local in your back, with less side effects to the baby. But, after a certain stage of labor, you are not allowed to have an epidural anymore. So ask early if you’re going to want something. Many women fight it and then at the last minute, can’t deal with the pain and end up with IV sedation and the possibility of the things you hear rumors about. Although, I did have IV sedation during the C-Section because my epidural wasn’t enough for the surgery, and the baby was just fine.

Good luck with your current or future pregnancy!

Tyeese Gaines Reid is a one-woman juggling act: writer, mom, wife and doctor. She is the author of "The Get A Life Campaign," a pocket guide for busy women who want balance in their lives (http://www.getalifecampaign.com), on sale now. The Jersey City-native has written for 5-Minute Clinical Consult, Boston Magazine, M.D. News and NBC6 in Miami. Tyeese can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

For more time-saving tips for busy women, visit http://www.getalifecampaign.com.