Beating The Heat Of Pregnancy: Hot Flashes

Along with pregnancy comes a lot of joy, excitement and a lot of symptoms you probably weren't prepared for. Every woman knows about the morning sickness, the swelling, and the cravings but one symptom a lot of women aren't prepared for including myself is the hot flashes, the sweating and the overall feeling of being hot all the time. Obviously the cause for this is the hormones a woman has surging through her body during these nine months and for some, this symptom may come and go or may just present itself for one of the three trimesters. Unfortunately for me, mine kicked in within the first few weeks of finding out I was pregnant and continued through the entire pregnancy. It's an uncomfortable symptom to experience and depending on the level of severity you have you may or may not be able to ignore it. I realized early on I was going to need to find some way of beating this heat- otherwise it was going to be a very long nine months.

My pregnancy was planned and I thought long and hard about what time of the year I would want to be pregnant. I live in New York so I knew I didn't want to be at the end of my pregnancy in the middle of winter (The last thing I wanted was to deliver a baby at home in the middle of a snow storm) and based on the fact that I hate the extreme heat of summer I didn't want to be nearing the end of my pregnancy in the summer months of July or August when New York weather can reach the high 90's with high levels of humidity. After contemplating it, it made perfect sense to try for a spring baby. That way the bulk of my pregnancy would take place in the fall and winter, and by the time it was warming up, baby would be arriving any day. Everything went as planned and my due date was set for April 12^th. Unfortunately a few weeks into my pregnancy the constant feeling of being hot kicked in even though it was the end of summer and the weather was starting to cool off. I was spared from themorning sickness bug (luckily) so I figured the hot flashes were just a substitute and they would go away by the time I was entering my second trimester.

Unfortunately I wasn't as lucky as I had hoped and when I began my second trimester of pregnancy things just got hotter. In November the weather changed to cold with snow and icy rain and you would find me driving to work with the window open and walking from my car to the building wearing a thin shirt, carrying my coat along with me. Maybe it wasn't the healthiest thing for me and baby, but I felt if I put that coat on, I was likely to suffocate and sweat to death before making it into the building. Sitting at work during the day other employees would comment on how chilly it was in the building and I would laugh, sitting there in a little t-shirt, sweating with rosy cheeks, disagreeing and stating it was likely close to 100 degrees in the building.

Pregnancy is no quick trip so I knew I had to find ways to deal with this feeling of being hot all the time, especially since it was obvious this pesky symptom wasn't going away any time soon. The first thing I had to do was break myself of my normal habits. I'm normally someone who's always cold so my wardrobe consists of heavy pants, heavy sweaters, long sleeved shirts and heavy socks. I also have an arsenal of winter coats, scarves, gloves and hats so I can battle the New York winters without freezing to death. After about 3 days of wearing my fall sweaters and heavier pants, I switched back over to my summer wardrobe and began wearing t-shirts, tank tops with a thin cover-up, and paper thin long sleeved shirts. I even wore my open toe shoes long into the fall until I feared my toes would eventually get frostbitten and turn blue. Even then I wore my lightest shoes with thin cotton socks. My feet weren't going to see those heavy wool socks this year. Everyone thought I was crazy for not being cold and covering up, but they just didn't understand. In my world, I was living in a heat wave. The change in wardrobe helped a lot, and while I made sure I always carried a coat along with me in case I needed to keep warm, I eventually switched over to wearing a sweatshirt as my coat and bringing along gloves and a scarf in case it was chilly out. I abandoned hats all together that year and probably only needed to wear a headband to cover my ears 2 or 3 times and that was during our worst winter weather. I stashed away my flannel pajamas and continued wearing shorts and tank tops to bed. When my belly got larger and I wasn't fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothing I wore thin, sleeveless cotton nightgowns to bed that didn't leave me overheated at all.

Fortunately when you're pregnant you make the rules whenever you possibly can so instead of keeping my house heated as warm as I normally did each year, I dropped the thermostat down to a chilly 55 degrees. This was my first pregnancy so I didn't have any other children to keep warm, and I figured my husband was tough enough that he could throw on an extra layer of clothing to keep himself warm. Finally around the third trimester he realized asking if we could turn up the heat was a lost cause, and that bedroom window was most definitely staying cracked open during the night for cool, fresh air. Not only did the cooler house help my hot flashes but we saved quite a bit of money on our gas bill that winter.

Unfortunately just because you're pregnant, that doesn't mean the rest of the world is pregnant along with you. Sure I came up with some easy fixes in my own home that helped a lot, but I still had to leave the house to go grocery shopping, run errands, visit family and friends at their homes, and eat out at restaurants. Not everyplace I went kept their thermostat at 55 degrees like my house, so I had to find ways to adapt to their climates. Dressing in layers helped. That way I could be covered up in a sweater if I was cold, or I could minimize my outfit to a t-shirt if I was hot. If my body temperature went up and down I could keep switching back and forth between layers to make sure I was comfortable. I also made sure I constantly carried a big bottle of cold water with me- ice cubes included. Sipping on the cold water in a warm store refreshed me enough until I could finish my shopping and get back to the car, not to mention keep me nice and hydrated. When you're hot throughout your pregnancy you sweat, and sweating can leave you dehydrated and that's not healthy for you or the baby. Lastly something I carried in my purse with me at all times was a little battery operated handheld fan that I found at Wal-Mart for around $2. I had originally bought it for my wedding in case it was a hot day and I was getting overheated in my gown but never ended up using it. I found it at one point during my pregnancy and realized what a great idea it would be to keep it with me at all times. When I would be in an extremely hot store or restaurant I became so overheated it was hard for me to breathe because the air felt so thick. If I switched on the little fan (Which was not only small but quiet) I found some relief in the cool air blowing on me. I know I've seen little fans that are attached to spray bottles as well, so if you really need to cool down you might want to spend a little time looking for one of those.

I abandoned showers very early on in my pregnancy and switched over to baths. Showering created too much steam; I got too overheated and didn't feel refreshed afterwards. I refused to take a cold shower so a tepid bath did wonders for me. Actually, until the very end of my pregnancy when there was no hope at keeping me cool or comfortable, baths were my cure all for back pain, leg cramps, and any other ache or pain I experienced. The water didn't need to be scorching hot so if I was having a very hot day, a luke-warm bath did the trick perfectly. Also taking numerous baths a day was a big help. In between them I would constantly sweat and feel clammy and gross, so not only did the bath make me feel cleaner and fresher, but it also cooled me off for a bit. Resting a cold washcloth on my forehead or chest also helped cool me down and kept me feeling fresh throughout the day.

Beating the heat of pregnancy is tough because while internally you feel hot like a heat wave, your outer-self like your feet, hands and skin can feel cool to the touch. Pay attention to your entire body and make sure you are adequately taking care of yourself. You can find ways to keep yourself cool when you're suffering and keep the other areas of your body warm that may feel slightly chilled. With the feeling of being hot may come some swelling so make sure you keep an eye open for that and mention any swelling to your Dr. Excessive sweating or hot flashes could indicate your blood pressure is going up and that can be a sign of bigger issues you'll want to address. The good news is that while pregnancy may feel like an eternity, once it's all over, your body will start to go back to normal within a few weeks. You can start dressing according to seasons again, and you will feel like your old self once again. Not to mention you'll now have a lovely little baby as a reward for all those months of suffering.