Jewel Opens Up About Her Pregnancy

Jewel appears on the cover of the August/September issue of Fit Pregnancy, as she is expecting her first child with husband Ty Murray. The singer has cycled through a myriad of emotions and experiences as she awaits the birth, but she admitted she is "feeling really great" and that she is "enjoying pregnancy much more than I thought I would."

The singer was 32 weeks pregnant at press time, and revealed that she gained around 30 pounds of baby weight, with her cravings centering on carbs and dairy. Jewel surprised herself with the fact that she enjoyed dressing while pregnant, admitting, "I've found really cute clothes and I dress up more now than I did before. It's really fun."

Cute maternity clothes notwithstanding, the singer acknowledged that being with child has caused her to slow down and to stop working at a breakneck pace, something she had been doing since supporting herself at the tender age of 15. "I love setting goals and achieving them," she said. "So I've had to learn to slow it down and get some rest, which I haven't minded. I'm in a good position to do that, to do work at home on my projects, writing my children's album." She continued, "I know so may people who focus too much on work and their home lives suffer. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen to me, so I've worked hard to maintain a balance. I’m not just thinking about how to get more famous and rich every day, My doctors told me to slow down while I was trying to get pregnant, too, and I think that played a big part."

Slowing down meant telling her label that she was not going to tour for the foreseeable future. About her decision not to tour, she said, "You know, you just don't do that. But you have to make a choice and figure out the life you want, and it has been fun. I do have to say that the first trimester I still worked really hard, but the second I stayed home and wrote the children's album."

'The Merry Goes Round' is "due" in August and was written with the express purpose of infusing lessons into the songs, all the while making them something that children would like to hear. "Some of the songs talk about conquering fears like when you think you hear something in the closet but it’s only shadows," Jewel said. "There's a song about a bird and a tree who are best friends, and the lesson is the comfort you get from friendship. And just storytelling songs, like Sammy the Spider who wants to move -- the adventure he encounters-- silly cute stories. And I tried to write them in a way that parents would enjoy as well, instead of just tolerating them."

Jewel speculated that she will be "the strict one" when it comes to parenting, and that she plans to breastfeed. She reveals, "I personally believe in it because I've seen what it does for animals, and I saw what a calf did on the bottle."

Lastly, she is most looking forward to writing a new chapter in her life as a mom, which means work will inevitably come second place on her priority list when the baby arrives. "I've put everything else on hold; and I don’t know whether I will want to work afterward or not, and either will be just fine. I just want to give myself time to adjust without the pressure of a tour," she said.

Watch the Jewel 'Satisfied' Video