Updated 07/05/2011 04:15 PM
Summer Survival Tips For The City's Pregnant Women
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Summer in the city can be a sticky mess for most New Yorkers, but pregnant women have to be especially cautious because overheating can be dangerous for expectant moms and their babies. NY1's Health reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report. Eight months pregnant with her second baby, Veronica Donohue knows to take it easy.
"You have the high temperature plus the humidity, which can be difficult, and it can just makes you really tired," says Donohue.
Her midwife, Elizabeth Stein says there is obvious reason for caution.
"A pregnant woman's body is very sensitive to changes, especially in heat and humidity of summer," says Stein. "They can get easily dehydrated and hypoglycemic, meaning the blood sugar goes down too low, and [they] feel very, very uncomfortable and faint."
For that reason, top summertime survival tips for all pregnant women include:
• Staying hydrated.
• Eating light for improved digestion.
• Wearing sunscreen because skin is even more sensitive
• Relaxing indoors with feet up to relieve pelvic pressure, which can be worse during the heat.
• Dressing lightly.
To see which choices in attire can be both comfortable and stylish, NY1 checked in with pregnancy guru Rosie Pope, star of the Bravo show "Pregnant In Heels."
"Toward the end of your pregnancy, it can get kind of miserable," says Pope. "You're carrying around all this extra weight. You might have a six-, seven-, eight-pound baby inside of you, which is a whole other person and a whole other set of heat."
Especially during the summertime, those who are expecting should still prepare for the unexpected. So when it comes to maternity wear, women should aim for comfort.
"Light and flowy is really important and stuff that moves with you, because what you end up getting is a lot of chafing. This is kind of gross but a lot of things touch each other that would never normally touch each other. Like your belly is sitting on your thighs," says Pope. "You don't normally have that feeling, so it gets kind of hot and sweaty. So you need stuff that is flowy but also moves with you."
Stay Hydrated
Elizabeth Stein, Midwife: "[Pregnant women] need to drink at least two liters of water a day. They can have other fluids, but it shouldn't really have salt or sugar in it."
Rosie Pope, Creator, Rosie Pope Maternity: "The problem is when you are pregnant you need to drink more anyway and it can get really boring when you are not allowed to drink the things you might normally drink. You might like iced coffee. You might like sodas. All those things are no longer really allowed. So what you do is think about something more interesting. My favorites are sparkling water with fruit. But I tell people to stay away from the lemon because lemon is a diuretic, so you are sort of contradicting what you are trying to do. Cucumber, strawberries, and apples are great things to try and put in your water."
More Ideas For Sensitive Skin
Stein: "Pregnant skin is much more reactive and can burn more easily.... Be very careful and use water, mild soap, no chemicals and use sunscreen with UVA and UVB [protection]. Put it on very frequently, every 30 minutes, not every two hours."
Pope: "My advice is to pick whatever you are going to pick for your baby. So babies don't wear sunscreen until after they are six months old. But whatever it is you would feel safe putting on your baby put on your own skin because you are THAT sensitive, rather than putting on adult sunscreens."
"Safe" Fashion, Beauty Choices
Pope on shoe picks: "Shoes are really important. There's sort of two things that are going on. You want to be safe but you want to look good and a lot of pregnant women's feet get bigger. Often people go up a half size and in the summer they tend to swell, so you have to be really careful in thinking about what you are going to wear on your feet. I personally don't like anything that has a lot of straps on or sandals. And flip flops you tend to slip and slide, you get sweaty and it can be dangerous because you can fall over. I'd go toward shoes that are canvas that can stretch with you and that are more secure on your foot. So if you are going to wear a heel, wear a wedge instead of a stiletto. If you are going to wear a flat, wear a ballet flat made out of canvas rather than a flip flop."
Pope on foot relief: "A sort of strange little thing people don't realize is a lot of women when you are pregnant toward the end get a lot of pedicures. It's nice, it's relaxing. It feels great and also it is the one thing you can sort of paint and enjoy. But the problem with that is when they put cream on your feet, and you put them in your shoes and you go out into NYC in the heat you slip and slide everywhere. So I always tell women not to put cream on their feet before they go outside."
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