I am not pregnant and do not have any children myself, but I do consider myself to have a specific talent to objectively intake things happening around me and formulate common denominator opinions, or at least viable observations as the least.
I would say this talent is vital to my existence both as a woman, and as a CEO of a marketing company whose clients depend on such.
My everyday life brings me into contact with people of all ages, genders, shapes, and lots in life, and the knowledge I gain from them both directly and indirectly has served me and my clientele well over the years.
This talent was particularly valuable during my first professional experience segmenting conversation flows for AOL at the tender age of 15.
More recently, I have found that this talent allows me to connect to other humans and make distinctions that many others miss.
There are two things related to pregnancy advice that I heard many years ago which have only recently come to make complete sense.
The first was that, according to physicians, if you exercise a year before conceiving as well as during your pregnancy your chances of losing the "baby weight" are much greater than if you do not.
The second was from reading the tips and articles in the first issues of Fit Pregnancy that detailed information for women before, during, and after pregnancy.
One of the articles I remember in particular spoke of the vital importance of nutrition before pregnancy and the direct relation to good nutrition and overall well-being.
Over the past several years I have seen many friends go through this magical thing called child-rearing and with each experience and its resulting observations, the two lessons previously implanted in the back of my mind have gained a lot more substance.
Specifically, I have seen firsthand that both statements are not only true, but have many more positive ramifications than I originally thought.
From an outsider's point of view, I can with complete conviction tell you that the women I have known who exercise and eat right before they ever conceive, and continue these behaviors during and after pregnancy are not only healthier, but they are thinner, kinder, and easier to deal with both as friends and employees.
In addition, they seem to enjoy both their pregnancies and their children far more than my friends that do the opposite.
Take my dear friend Kelly.
Kelly was the most fun-loving person you'd ever meet.
She went to church regularly, had many friends, and was that girl that really personified the idea of "would never hurt a fly.
" She certainly wasn't a gym rat, but always the envy of the rest of us as the tall thin girl who could wear anything.
Kelly could and did eat anything she wanted without gaining a pound.
She considered yoga once a month "exercise" and never had to cry over not fitting into jeans.
She was genetically blessed.
Then Kelly got pregnant.
Granted, she had a rough pregnancy.
She gained 70 pounds, developed toxemia, was on the edge of gestational diabetes, and was bedridden for much of her third trimester.
She was miserable both physically and mentally.
On the other side you have my friend Alicia, who is also an employee.
Alicia is also tall and thin, and will even risk shaking her bootie in a bikini when the rest of us try to walk lightly as to not risk any "wiggle" in our parts.
However, Alicia isn't genetically blessed.
She works hard to have what she does.
She eats healthy food and works out daily doing things such as soccer, rock climbing, trail running, and even teaches Capoeira, an afro-Brazilian martial art.
She has done this before, during and after pregnancy, consistently.
Oddly enough (or not so odd), she had a great pregnancy, birth, and baby experience.
Now, I'm not saying that these two instances are so viable as to consider it a scientific study by any stretch of the word, but watching these two women made me think of the 40 or so others that I've known and watched go through their baby experiences throughout the years.
When breaking down the data on paper (I am a data geek at heart), I noticed that these two women are overwhelmingly representative of the patterns of good versus bad pregnancy.
Every friend I've had that had a fairly healthy diet and did consistent exercise before, during and after pregnancy has the same things in common.
None of them were extraordinarily hormonal (or what laymen call bitchy.
) Very few of them had morning sickness, and those that did had very mild symptoms.
None of them were on bed rest.
None of them had livid, unrecoverable stretch marks, rosasea, hip pain, or any of the other nightmares I've heard of from women during pregnancy.
All of them lost the baby weight, regardless of breast feeding, about 3-6 months after birth.
None of them had colicky babies, or babies with allergies, fits, or aversions to breastfeeding.
And all of them had babies that slept through the night relatively early.
The complete opposite was true of my friends that didn't work out and had poor diets full of refined sugars, trans-fats, and preservatives and overall bad nutrition.
So, whether it be a scientific study or not, I know that for me personally, I'm willing to bank on the beautiful women around me for solid research and results.
Oddly enough, so have half of the "bad pregnancy" women for the same reason.
Half of the ones that experienced the dark side of things changed their diet and exercise because our fit friends did, and their second (and in some cases third and fourth) pregnancies, births, and aftermath were drastically different.