By Dr. Anne Srisuro

1. Are there any foods I should avoid during pregnancy?
There are excellent resources online that cover healthy eating. It boils down to this: You don’t want to eat something that might contain bacteria that could make you sick.

2. Can I keep drinking coffee?
There has been research on whether caffeine increases the risk of miscarriage or preterm birth, but the results are unclear. Most experts agree that drinking about one cup of coffee daily is safe. When calculating your intake, consider tea, chocolate, soft drinks, and other caffeine sources.

3. Can I keep exercising? Or can I start a new exercise routine?
If you’re already active, we encourage you to continue exercising. We recommend 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week, for 150 minutes each week. Walking, swimming, and yoga are some of the safest exercises you can do while pregnant.

4. How much kicking should I feel? When should I be concerned?
Once you start feeling the fetus move, you should feel something every day until about 7 months. If you begin to feel less movement than what you think is normal, you can ask your ob-gyn if they recommend kick counts.

5. Do I need to sleep on my left side? Can I sleep on my belly?
Many women read online that they should sleep on their left side throughout their pregnancy, but that’s difficult and unnecessary. You can sleep on either side, right or left.  You want to avoid sleeping on your back later in pregnancy. As your belly grows, sleeping on your back puts more pressure on the blood vessels that supply blood to your uterus.

6. Is it normal to be short of breath?
Yes, it’s perfectly normal. You may find you can go up a flight of stairs with minimal effort, but you are short of breath. Shortness of breath can start early in pregnancy – it has to do with how pregnancy hormones affect the lungs.