Pregnancy, The Journey

Alicia Keys’s Top Pregnancy Wellness Essentials

| April 28, 2015
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Alicia Keys at The Black Ball in 2014, 7 months pregnant with Genesis.

You know her as a Grammy Award winning recording artist and global icon, Alicia Keys. We know her as a dutiful mother on a mission. She’s graced the world with her incredible voice and we’ve watched her effortlessly coast through her pregnancies with grace. Egypt, 4 is now in school and that gives mama Alicia some solo time to  hang with the newest member of the Dean clan, baby Genesis. Alicia had such a glorious pregnancy and birth experience she wanted to share her glow tips and top pregnancy essentials.

Alicia Keys’s 7 Pregnancy Wellness Essentials

Sacred Scents: What worked for me, which I didn’t do the first time around was my diffuser! I am a lover of scents because they relax me and make me feel at peace and calm. I always have them around, even when I am writing music I always have a candle burning- but I never had a diffuser. I like the diffuser because I could get the essential oils and experiment with scents l like. I’d try lavender when I would go to sleep, Valor during relaxation, and Eucalyptus when I wasn’t feeling well or congested. I wanted to come up with scents that worked for me to bring into the birth space. Whether I used them or not, it created comfort which helped tremendously with the birth.

Ode to Hypnobirth: The teachings I loved during my pregnancy were the Hypnobirthing and Orgasmic Birth. I love speaking to everyone about this because this philosophy opens your mind to how our bodies are built for birth. We are not really taught that we have the power. Everything we see on television is the complete opposite of that. It shows us how birth is painful, unpleasant, surgical, and although sometimes it leads to surgery, and that’s fine when it’s a necessity, it also can be totally natural too. That put me in the mindspace it’s possible, that I CAN do it and I DID so, I know it’s possible. It’s all about opening your mind.
 
Props to my Bolster: My bolster was my homie! In the bed when it was difficult to sleep, the bolster and pillow were everything! I should have gotten that long body pillow that everyone talks about, and that grandma pillow that you prop up behind you- that’s what I was missing.
Welcome baby Genesis Ali Dean
Baby Genesis Ali Dean born December 27th, 2014
Down for my Denim: It took me a while to discover that I loved them but…Pregnancy Jeans! I spent the first five months trying to shove myself into whatever I already had thinking “oh this will fit”. I ended up being so uncomfortable for so long and I finally got the pregnancy jeans and the pregnancy tights and it changed everything. Make sure you dress comfortably, it makes all the difference. 
 
Glow Time Ritual: For me just allowing myself to be still and rest was so key. Anything relaxing, a bath, a hot shower, a manicure and pedicure, massage, acupuncture. Acupuncture was my personal go-to and although it’s hard for some people to get around the idea of needles, I found it really relaxing. So anything that makes you feel like you are loving yourself and really makes you feel like you are creating and honoring a ritual for yourself- do that.
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Mama Alicia & Baby Genesis
Mama Om: I really enjoyed the prenatal yoga because I felt like I was opening, stretching and strengthening my body. Yoga is about many things, but it is about mastering the mind and the body. Yoga helped because my mind was peaceful and calm, obviously life can be very stressful.
 
Catching Zzz: Sleep every chance that you can ’cause Lord knows you won’t after.
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Alicia Keys is a world renown Grammy Award winning recording artist, actress, activist, philanthropist, and mother. She is co-founder of Keep A Child Alive (KCA), a non-profit organization that provides life-saving support to people living with HIV and AIDS. She published the first of a series of children’s books and app: Blue Moon: From the Journals of MaMa Mae and LeeLee. She is also the founder of the WE ARE HERE Movement
 
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