From staying active with Pilates and yoga to sleepless nights, pregnant mother Smriti Khanna shares her second pregnancy journey

Pregnant mother Smriti Khanna shares her journey with her second pregnancy, staying active with pilates, practicing yoga, while overcoming sleepless nights. Through her blog, she shares a glimpse into her own experiences and challenges, providing inspiration and support to other pregnant women. Smriti’s journey highlights the importance of maintaining physical and mental health during pregnancy. She is soon to enter her third month of pregnancy.

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about it. Yes, that’s true. I was lucky enough not to get stretch marks in my first pregnancy. Now, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get them towards the end of my pregnancy. I haven’t got them yet. But stretch marks are almost always hereditary. So if your mom or sister or anyone else has had them, there’s a chance you’ll get them too. Sometimes you just won’t get them.

The second one is stretch marks. As the word says, the more stretch marks you have on your skin, the more you can control them. Basically, you can control them with your diet, training, etc. If you keep your weight modest, you may not get stretch marks. Some women only gain 8-9 kg during pregnancy. Others gain 30-40 kg. So, imagine how big their bellies will be. The baby will only gain 3 kg or so. All the remaining weight is theirs. Many people say that during pregnancy, whatever you eat or do, now is the time. Your first priority is your baby. But you also have to prioritize yourself. Why waste your body when it is not needed or needed by your baby? So, it is more important to control your weight and stay healthy, especially during this period. So, don’t eat whatever you want. Don’t eat double what you don’t need. Keep your weight in check. The third way to prevent or make stretch marks less noticeable is to use a good moisturizer. Moisturize the skin in that area. When your skin stretches, the more you keep it moisturized and supple, the less likely it is to break out.

People ask me what kind of training I do, should pregnant women train or not, can I just stay in bed? Please don’t stay in bed unless your doctor tells you to do so. Don’t treat yourself like a patient during pregnancy. In fact, try to stay as active as possible. Get out of bed even if it’s hard. From the second or third month, I think so too. It’s very hard. There are too many hormonal changes. There are changes in your body. And you literally become lethargic. Sometimes you are almost in bed. Sometimes you sleep for 15-15 hours. At that time, no intense training except walking or something like that is allowed. Don’t stress yourself during that period. But in the later stages of pregnancy, that is, from the fourth month onwards, stay very active. Your energy will come back. I think in most cases, it is. Some people have complicated pregnancies, I understand that. But don’t complicate it for yourself. If it’s normal, if you feel good, get up and start walking.

I was more active during my pregnancy than usual. Those who know me know that I don’t exercise much. My husband exercises, but I don’t exercise much. In fact, we fight a lot because of it. I’m otherwise healthy. I do everything: food, nutrition, walking. A little bit of yoga. I also do Pilates. I do it three times a week. I’d never done Pilates before. I started right before I got pregnant. I checked with my doctor to see if I could continue, so of course I didn’t do it for the first three months. Then I started again two months later, in the fourth month. So I’m doing it three times a week, and I’m very proud of it. When I do it, I have a sense of accomplishment that, wow, I’m pregnant and I’m doing Pilates. It’s a very good exercise because it has all the stretching in it. There are a lot of exercises that can help you during pregnancy, during birth, and after. For those who have access to a pool, swimming is a very good exercise. If you can do it regularly, nothing beats swimming. Even if you can do it once or twice a week, it’s a very good exercise. So that’s one of the exercises that you can do. Swimming is a great exercise for those who can.

I’ve been doing yoga again recently. I do a lot of breathing, meditation, relaxation and affirmations. It’s a great class. She is an expert in prenatal yoga and I did it with her during my first pregnancy too. Last time, I wasn’t able to continue after Anaika. This time, I might continue my prenatal sessions with my postnatal sessions if I can, because yoga is hard. It depends on what the birth is like, I don’t think I’ll even have a due date in the first few weeks. It all depends. I feel so peaceful and calm when I’m doing yoga with her and the class is going along.

I have been so busy with work, Anaika, travelling and everything else going on around me. And in between, I need to take time for myself and free my mind. I simply cannot do that. Not even before bed. I wake up early. Many insomnia nights, not getting a proper sleep. Too much to do. Also, managing and organising the home is taking a toll on my mental health and I need some time for myself.

In terms of workouts, walking is very important. We talked a lot about walking during my last pregnancy too, because I walked a lot, especially with Anaika. I was walking 8-10,000 steps every day. Of course, eventually you end up walking an hour to an hour and a half. But still, my steps were not perfect, because after the seventh month, you slow down. I’m in the eighth or ninth month. I’m not saying you should walk 10,000 or 8,000 steps. But be conscious of walking, doing something. You should walk 30-45 minutes. Take time for yourself and do it. Walking has really been a big help for me. It also helps me to stay active. Recently, we were traveling. We went to England and stuff, and we walked 10,000, 12,000, 15,000 steps. So, I was happy during my vacation. I was walking as hard as I could.

For working women, even housewives, it’s very important to get out of the house. A change of mind, a change of air, a change of environment actually makes you feel better. I’m the same way. Before an event, I think, should I cancel? Should I tell them that I’m not feeling well, that I’m not feeling well, or anything like that? And sometimes it’s just a mood thing, not just a health thing. But sometimes I just don’t feel like it. But I really push myself, get up, get ready, go out. Then I feel so much better and I feel accomplished. I work, I go to events, I meet people, everything has happened. But I know that whatever you do, it takes an extra effort to get up and get ready. But if I do that, it definitely makes me feel better. I go out and do a lot of things. I try to stay very active.

My hair is falling out. I can’t do anything about it. It’s stopped now. If you are using products with retinol, don’t use them. Products without harmful chemicals are also safe. Same goes for hair. Some hair tonics contain chemicals, some are very strong. I don’t think that’s allowed. Check it out.