While there are some awesome things you can do while pregnant, there are a lot of things you can’t do.

Instead of trying to feel limited on what I could do and what I couldn’t do, while I was expecting, I of course tried to be positive and soak up all the OK’d things to try out and enjoy.

At the end of the day, though, there’s a list to keep in mind of things to avoid during pregnancy, and things you simply shouldn’t do or engage in for your health, and for your baby’s.

Want to see what this list entails? Read on and start here.

You can’t drink too much caffeine.

I looked into this topic quite a bit when I first found out I was pregnant. I’m someone who absolutely loves a cup of coffee in the morning and I like it to be full of caffeine. I enjoy lattes, americanos and a second cup of coffee in the afternoon and I was wondering what I should do once I found out I was expecting.

You can drink coffee while pregnant. It’s up to you. It’s not about the coffee itself; it’s about the caffeine, and the amount of caffeine present in just 1 cup of coffee likely won’t harm the baby in your belly (according to various sources like What to Expect).

I’d avoid anything more than one cup or one caffeinated drink, though.

So, what did I do throughout my pregnancy instead of defaulting to the cup of coffee I’d enjoy every morning with Dan? Just to be safe (my preference), we bought me a giant package of decaf coffee and I’d have that every morning unless we went out to the cafe down the block and I got a decaf latte, cappuccino or iced americano.

You can’t drink alcohol.

Although I think I keep seeing that French and Italian women drink wine during pregnancy, and there’s always going to be that woman you hear of who drinks a beer or two during the course of being an expectant mother, I erred on the side of not drinking alcohol during my pregnancy.

The reason is that alcohol can cause developmental “outcomes” for fetuses, according to the CDC. It is largely accepted that pregnant women cannot drink alcohol until after giving birth.

Did I have one sip of wine at a BBQ every now and then? Yes, one sip. And everyone survived.

On the whole, I ordered mocktails, non-alcoholic beverages (non-alcoholic wine is fantastic, in my findings) or had sodas, at nights out, dinners and social events.

You can’t (shouldn’t) eat foods that present bacteria risks.

Ever hear of someone saying you can’t eat sushi while pregnant? Well, the same goes for (here begins the list) hot dogs, deli meats or cold cuts, raw eggs, undercooked meats, street food, raw fish and more.

What’s the reason? It’s not that sushi inherently contains bacteria that’s going to kill your baby; no, far from it! The reason is that these foods, that usually are not fully cooked (aside from hot dogs and the cold cuts) have a higher “chance” of bacteria, parasites, e-coli and listeria (ew), according to Healthline.com.

I will say a few things: I ate hot dogs during pregnancy before I knew about this (everyone’s fine) and the one time I got SERIOUS food poisoning was from a sunny-side up egg during my first trimester, before I considered that this counted as “raw.”

You can bet that after that experience, I ate all my eggs totally cooked and ate sushi that only contained cooked proteins, like cooked shrimp, tamago or pickled vegetables.

You can’t do hot yoga.

In my second trimester, I was trying a new yoga studio near our new apartment. It was August, and pretty hot in the evenings. For a regular yoga class (which I was ready to “abridge” as a pregnant person), I would’ve expected the studio to be air conditioned.

Not so, as it turned out to be a lightly-heated class with an 85-degree temperature. Flabbergasted, I walked out of the class and talked to the front desk, saying that I was pregnant and wasn’t able to partake in hot yoga. I got a credit to come back another time, and the staff was totally understanding.

The reason for avoiding hot yoga during pregnancy actually isn’t so straightforward. Verywellfamily says it’s because excessive heat can lead to defects in a fetus, but also that excessive heat can lead to fainting (this is something I agree with!). The NCBI also cautions against hot yoga for pregnant women because of malformations in fetuses during too much heat.

You can’t let your heart rate go too high during exercise.

During my first and second trimesters, I didn’t know much about my heart rate, nor how high it would get during my habitual bicycling around Brooklyn every summer night from May to the end of July. I didn’t have an Apple Watch to monitor it, and I didn’t know the upper limit I should be looking for.

Once I started feeling more winded in my third trimester, I started paying attention. I was working out after my workday ended in a gym, after we moved, and I was able to see my real-time stats on the gym bike.

Parents.com says the safe heart rate limit during workouts for pregnant women is actually based on your age. And The Bump now reports that previous guidelines about keeping a pregnant women’s heart rate under 140 bpm while working out have been eliminated. So, who should we believe? I suggest asking your obstetrician, because every pregnancy is different.

You can’t smoke (cigarettes or weed).

This probably goes without saying that smoking of any type is not something you can do during pregnancy. Sites like the March of Dimes has a good amount of info on why pregnant women should completely stop smoking during pregnancy. And WebMD warns against the use of marijuana while pregnant because of the many ways it can harm an unborn child.

You can’t ride rollercoasters at theme parks.

Yeah… you can’t ride rollercoasters at theme parks. I happen to be averse to amusement park rides as it is and I have no interest in them. But even for thrill ride addicts, it’s time to stop riding once you conceive.

The reason behind this seems both straightforward, and not. Most blatantly, and from a logical standpoint, once you get into the third trimester and have a baby bulging from your body, most people would have very little desire to be thrown around on an amusement park ride.

More scientifically, according to the American Pregnancy Association, rollercoasters and similar rides with their “starts” and “stops” can create really concerning scenarios for the uterus like separation of placental from the uterine wall, or miscarriage and other complications. Avoid!

You can’t (shouldn’t) go skydiving.

Why can’t pregnant women go skydiving? After all, you’re just throttling through the air, right?

I’ve never gone skydiving, as cool as it does sound, and the reason for this is because there is little research done on the safety of it, and skydiving creates a whole bunch of stress on the body. This is not something you nor I want to be experiencing while pregnant.

You can’t fly (domestically or internationally) after 36 weeks pregnant.

I looked into this topic in depth when I was planning a business trip (and also telling my boss that I had a deadline when I had to stop traveling for business).

I found that most airlines will let you fly domestically up to 36 weeks. By this time, you’ll feel really pregnant (I did). Even if you feel awesome, your baby bump might be big, and it certainly is possible to give birth at 36 weeks. I know people who have.

The Points Guy has a great list and chart of “Airline policies for pregnant women.”

Remember: I flew a whole bunch when I was pregnant, starting when I was 10 weeks, and lastly, when I was 32 weeks (alone!). I felt fine and everything went great all of these times; it’s just that the chances of going into labor are way higher at 36 weeks. This is typically when airlines would rather that you stay home and not fly with them.

You can’t go too far from home as your due date approaches.

Well, this is more of a, “But why would you want to go really far from home when it’s close to your due date?” type of topic.

In the weeks leading up to my due date, we basically planned nothing. We knew that the baby could come four weeks early, or even one week late. We had nothing on the calendar. It actually shook me up a bit, because I love traveling, having plans and having a full calendar.

You can’t go too far from home (well, you could if you really wanted to) because if your water breaks or if your contractions start, you’d either have to drive or fly back home to be near your hospital, or you might wind up delivering your baby without your doctor, far away and in a hospital you don’t know.

This is really up to personal preference and risk, but it’s generally something you don’t do if you know you’ll be giving birth in a few weeks.

You can’t forget how exciting the next phase of your life will be.

Of course, you cannot forget how exciting it will be to have a new member of the family. While the newborn weeks are hard (in fact, they can be really hard) with adjusting to the new lifestyle of being a parent, starting this journey is special and unique.