Maternal Beauty, Fashion, and Fitness
Actress and model Bridgette Wilson-Sampras shares her secrets for a look-good, feel-great pregnancy.
Fit Fun
A
self-professed tomboy (she played volleyball and basketball and also ran
track in high school), Bridgette scaled back her fitness routine during
pregnancy. "The hardest thing was giving myself permission to rest,"
she says. Simple workouts -- such as a 10-minute walk on the treadmill followed
by 20 minutes of strength training with 5- to 8-pound hand weights -- are
often best, doctors say. Bridgette also enjoyed throwing a ball around the
yard with her English bulldog, Ruby, a gift from Pete.
The sweetest moment of the 2002 U.S. Open didn't come when 17th-seeded Pete Sampras took the final point to beat Andre Agassi and win the major tennis tournament for the fifth time. It was the moment right after, when the 31-year-old champion's first post-game move was to jump into the stands to receive a victory kiss from his wife of two years, actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, 29 (Extreme Ops, The Wedding Planner), whom he credited for giving him the boost he needed to win: an inspirational note she had slipped into his gym bag that morning.
The couple had something else to celebrate too: Bridgette was expecting their first child (son Christian arrived November 21, 2002). Though she's naturally beautiful, staying healthy and looking great during her pregnancy still took some managing as she battled morning sickness, exhaustion from a summer of tournament travel with Pete, and the normal bouts of pregnancy anxiety. During a visit with Child at her sunny Beverly Hills home, Bridgette shared her stay-well strategies, emphasizing the basics: You need to rethink your eating, sleeping, exercise, and beauty routines during this special time in your life (with guidance from your doctor, of course). As Bridgette put it, "Your body is so busy that at the end of the day, you've accomplished a lot just creating this little miracle."
Eating For Two
Plagued by nausea during the first five months of her pregnancy, Bridgette
experimented with different foods to find those she could tolerate. Club
sandwiches became her room-service mainstay while traveling with Pete to
tournaments throughout Europe. Back at home in California, she'd head to
the kitchen and whip up a nutrient-rich banana-strawberry smoothie made
with soy milk. She would also carry protein bars, pretzels, and packets
of almonds and trail mix in her purse for quick, healthy snacks throughout
the day. "I learned that I needed to eat a little bit all the time,"
she says.
Team Effort
As many moms-to-be often do,
Bridgette went into nesting mode around her six month. "One day it
just hit me," she says. "Within an hour I'd taken all the pots
and pans out of the kitchen cabinets and scrubbed everything!" Through
all the stages of her pregnancy, Pete was Bridgette's most steadfast "He
would do anything I'd ask him to, bless his heart!" she says -- providing
foot rubs, sitting through episodes of The Learning Channel's Maternity
Ward, and just being there with a hug for his hormonally charged wife. "I'd
start crying and laughing at the same time, and I wouldn't know why,"
she says. "He would just go with it!"
Style And Comfort
Bridgette
reveled in the extensive selection of fashionable maternity wear. "I
couldn't believe how cute and sassy you can look when you're pregnant!"
She favored feminine styles like this wrap dress from Cadeau; Liz Lange
and Mimi Maternity were other preferred shopping destinations. When it came
to everyday wear, Bridgette opted for comfort. "I ended up living in
Bella Dahl jeans from A Pea in the Pod," she says. "They were
the one pair that sat below my tummy -- some of the others had these big
straps that I just wanted to pull away so I could breathe." And she
fell so in love with a Juicy Couture sweatsuit that she bought several more,
each in a different color.
Oh, That Glow
You get this thick, fabulous hair when you're pregnant," Bridgette
discovered. A big problem was finding unscented shampoos and other beauty
products. "I had to stop using anything with perfume the day I got
pregnant," she says. A New York shop called Carol's Daughter became
her top source for soothing items like belly balm, massage oils, and cooling
leg gel, and she slathered Palmer's cocoa butter on her expanding stomach
to prevent stretch marks. Other beauty musts for Bridgette included pregnancy
massages and regular pedicures -- "After seven months, I couldn't reach
my toes anymore!"