 Hey Gems, welcome back to my channel so as you can see by the title of this video I am going to share with you guys how I care for my baby bump and by that I mean what I'm doing right now to avoid getting additional stretch marks during this pregnancy. I did get stretch marks when I was pregnant with my son but I haven't so far gotten any additional stretch marks and the ones that I got when I was pregnant with my son, they're very light, I was able to lighten them as much as possible so some people can't even notice them at first glance you have to really look but I'm trying to avoid getting more stretch marks so so far I am going to share with you guys what I've been doing to try and avoid that. I hope you guys can hear me okay because I do have the fan running in the bathroom because it's hot in here and pregnancy hot is hotter than normal hot so I cannot turn off this fan in order to film this video so I'm just going to try and talk as loud as possible so that this video comes out okay. So the first thing I want to point out that I've been doing is drinking a lot of water. I am trying to drink at least a half gallon of water a day and that's what's in this bottle water this is exactly a half gallon 64 ounces so I fill this and try and drink at least this full every day I believe that since I've been back home I've been drinking more than a half gallon because it's been so hot but drinking enough water and staying hydrated is very important because what you put in your body also affects your skin and drinking a lot of water helps to keep your skin hydrated also I've been using my mommy butter so if you don't know by now if you're new to my channel I do make and sell my own natural skincare products and my mommy butter I came up with the purpose of this was for women who are pregnant such as myself to use during their pregnancy to try and avoid to try avoiding getting stretch marks in the first place so all of the butters and oils in this mommy butter are for skin elasticity it helps to improve maintains your skin elasticity so as your baby bump grows and your skin stretches it avoids the possibility of getting stretch marks because it helps improve your skin elasticity so if you want a more detailed explanation on how this butter works go to my website read the description underneath this product and you can find that out but basically it just helps improve your skin elasticity and that is what helps avoid stretch marks so I've been using this every day I do not miss a day okay using this I use it every day sometimes more than two times a day but I definitely use it every day after my shower so I could say I faithfully use this twice a day and as you can see this jar is almost empty I do have another jar but I'm going to finish this off first so what's in here is capu asu butter that's the main ingredient and capu asu butter is great for skin elasticity moisturizing the skin keeping it hydrated etc and just helping to keep the skin firm and that is what you want during this time because naturally your belly and your skin well naturally your skin is going to stretch and you want it to be able to return to its natural state once you have your child so the ingredients is on the jar the ingredients is on my website you can go and read it up for yourself but yeah I use this every day another thing I've been doing is exfoliating so I made this body scrub for myself I do not sell this but I made it for myself just out of experimenting because I wanted to make a more gentle body scrub for my for my baby bump instead of using sugar as a exfoliant because the grains are bigger I used walnut shells and poppy seeds as well as dry rose petals and I just grind it up so that it comes out really it's not like a powder but it's much finer and I add that in here as well this is how it looks and it's very soft I've already exfoliated I actually just got out the shower so I've already exfoliated and it just makes my stomach feel so nice and moisturized and it also helps with the itching that's another thing you want to try and avoid doing scratching your baby bump on the itch it's gonna itch regardless because like I said your skin is stretching as your baby bump grows so avoiding the scratching will help avoid stretch marks when I was pregnant with my son I did not care I was miserable and I just scratched and that is how I ended up getting stretch marks because I was scratching like unknowingly because sometimes you're just laying down and you feel it itching you just start scratching without even thinking like yo I'm gonna get stretch marks from this so one of the things I've been doing to try it and soothe the itchiness and so forth is exfoliating at least a couple times a week you don't have to do it often well I don't have to do it often I do it a couple times a week sometimes even once a week is not something I do every day so I drink a lot of water I moisturize daily using my mommy butter and I exfoliate quite frankly I use the butter all over my body I don't only use it on my baby bump I just use it as my moisturizer for my entire body and it's that great because you know it's not just made for the baby bump and when women are pregnant not only are all not only is our baby bump growing but you know we're gaining weight we're getting wider broader whatever you want to call it so I just to be on the safe side use it everywhere this is how big my belly is right now I am today I am 24 weeks and two days yeah I'm 24 weeks and two days this is how big my belly is I am carrying low so I try to focus and more down here because I carried low with my son and I don't know if you can pick it up on the camera but this is where I got the stretch marks with my son on my lower abdomen area so I try to make sure I really focus down here as well as up here because I don't have any stretch marks up here at all and I'm trying to avoid getting them so yeah so all I do is take a decent amount of my body butter and I literally just I just massage my belly for a few couple minutes just just massage it in make sure I get it working really good and don't need like any areas I even go down towards my head because women get stretch marks on their hips as well I had some but I was able to get rid of them I had some really dark stretch marks here when I was pregnant with my son and this is just like a nice massage for the baby as well because every time I do this I can feel the baby start to move and the baby just switch positions and I can feel literally right here I don't know if that's the head but something is literally right here just poking yeah just massage your baby bum and you know this is part of like just a self-care routine too like you just want to take care of your skin while you're going through all these changes that's about it it's nothing extreme is nothing complicated all it takes is consistency drink your water to stay hydrated moisturize every day exfoliate couple times a week do not scratch and you should be good not all women get stretch marks more women some women are more prone to stretch marks than others I'm not going to get into genetics and all of that but you know if you just take care of your skin and be mindful during this time I do believe that you can avoid getting the stretch marks however if you do have them if you do get them embrace them that's what I did after I had my son out it made me feel a little uncomfortable because it was new I've never had stretch marks before and it took me a minute to wrap my head around it but at the end of the day it's like a beauty mark from brand life into the world so it's nothing to be afraid of ashamed of or anything however if you could avoid it and you want to avoid it these are the steps that you could probably try and implement in your life to help avoid that not only do pregnant women get stretch marks for just women in general just from the up and down weight gain and all of that our body going through so many changes hormonal stuff so take care of your body keep your skin moisturized stay hydrated and just embrace yourself that's all anyways I think that is it for this video I hope you guys enjoy it if you haven't already I think my pregnancy update should already be uploaded so go watch that video to get more details on how my pregnancy is going and what I have planned for my labor and delivery I wish everyone love light and prosperity and you guys will see me in my next video this is perfect and it's the magic and everything you do is