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What is the biggest challenge in pregnancy? The weight gain? The mental games? The issues with body image? While all of those can be issues, they were in mine, it is not the biggest challenge. The biggest challenge for almost any pregnancy boils down to proper nutrition. Yep, that is it. Nutrition.
In the standard American diet (SAD) today, proper nutrition is really difficult to come by. Our food tends to be highly processed and void of key vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Eating healthy takes on a very intentional lifestyle choice. When you are pregnant, that choice is even more difficult, but more important.
Quick easy to fill carbs are abundant and cheap, but protein, fresh fruits and vegetables are not. During pregnancy, your body needs extra protein. All the cells and DNA your baby is forming, requires amino acids, which comes from protein. Your body needs protein to build your own blood supply as your baby needs more blood. The vitamin and minerals from food are the most readily absorbed form for you to ingest. These are needed to help your body continue to function, stay healthy, and clear debris that builds up in your own system.
Eating a proper diet during pregnancy can also help prevent other complications like preeclampsia, PUPPS, gestational diabetes, and strengthen the uterus, reducing the risk of hemorrhaging. There are many other conditions a proper diet can prevent as well, I just haven't needed to look further yet.
So what can you do? No matter where you are, you can start choosing to eat healthy. I highly recommend sticking as close to a whole food diet as possible. This cuts many of the quick easy, but highly processed meals out. Sorry, Hamburger Helper. But the benefits quickly outweigh the convenience.
What are some good guidelines? The Brewer’s diet is huge and you can look up more on their website here. The simplified version I have made as a quick and easy to print off guide for you. It does come from their website, but saves you trying to print and format it for your fridge. You can get that guide for FREE here.
What diet changes are you making? Are you already following the Brewer’s Diet? How is it going? Let me know!
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Have you ever read a book and thought ‘why have more people not read this!’? That was my thoughts when I read Ina May Gaskin’s book Guide to Childbirth.
Ina May founded the Farm Midwifery Center in 1971. She learned the art of midwifery the traditional way, but watching and attending births (direct entry midwifery). She is now one of the most famous midwives in America, lecturing students and doctors on traditional midwifery practices and maneuvers.
Her book, Guide to Childbirth, lays out what she has learned through 40 plus years of attending women and over 1200 births. She lays out the natural way birth is supposed to work and ways to work with and listen to your body to help birth along.
I love this book and am in the process of re-reading it because it is so good and I need to soak up the information again. The first half of the book is filled with birth stories, helping to take the fear out of birth. The second half outlines the labor process, with an appendix in the back highlighting a few studies and movements.
What I like most about Ina May is her ability to use natural methods in letting labor happen. She has seen the effect of interventions, and how quickly birth can turn south. She has also seen how beautiful birth is and how empowering it is for a woman when she is allowed to labor as she needs to, instead of laboring a specific way because she is required to.
Not only does she lay her years of experience out, but she has the science to back her up. Her years of experience have shown her what the women’s body is designed to do naturally. Slowly more and more studies are being published to support what many of the older midwives have always known. Most of the time, birth is best left alone.
Who is an author that has made you go wow?
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What is the biggest pitfall for a 1st time mom? You research everything for the child you're expecting, wanting to keep them as safe as possible. But do you research your pregnancy? What to expect, risks, and alternatives, to all the normal tests? Do you research how to prevent problems that could arise, especially if you are at risk?
Not many people do. I sure didn’t with my first two pregnancies. I followed the doctor, even when I sensed something was off or wrong. The doctor said it was ok and normal, so I went with it. And after miscarrying my first, I was going to do what the doctor said and take care of the second. What I didn’t know at the time was my ability to advocate for myself and insist on answers.
After having my daughter, I began to question everything. Why did a healthy pregnancy turn to emergency so suddenly? Why had no one believed me when I kept asking about the swelling before? Why had no one seen the early signs of preeclampsia? Why did no one have an answer to what causes preeclampsia? WHY?!?!?!
For a while I just let the whys sit. I had no intention of ever going through pregnancy again. Birth was traumatic and in normal human fashion, I was going to avoid that trauma if I could. Then God started to work on my heart and heal both my body and mind. A year and a half later, I agreed to God’s plan for healing and accepted that I would need to become pregnant again. Almost two years after my daughter was born, I was pregnant again.
This time I was going to research. This time I was going to find the answers before and evaluate everything. So I dug in. What I had found is that doctors are great resources for some things. They are good at reacting and saving lives. They have good intentions, but they do not have the time to research everything in their field. Now I research what pertains to me, so I can make the informed choice on every procedure.
One of my favorite resources for researching pregnancy and birth procedures is the book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, by Sarah J Buckley, MD. She does an excellent job laying out every procedure, the positives, the risks, and the alternatives. While I looked at several other sources as well, this book did the best job bringing it all together in a concise manner.
Get a book, and start researching. Be a partner in your pregnancy and birth, not just a participant like I was the first two times.
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No one said birth was ever easy, but what about when things go far from planned or expected? Birth trauma doesn't happen to the baby, it can happen to momma too. Birth trauma isn’t always physical, like birth injury, many times it is emotional. According to pregnancybirthbaby.org:
“Birth trauma is distress experienced by a mother during or after childbirth. While trauma can be physical (see Birth injury), it is often emotional and psychological.
Birth trauma is not just about what happened during labour and the birth. It can also refer to how you, as the mother, are left feeling afterwards. Sometimes the effects of birth trauma can emerge, and continue for, some time after you’ve given birth.”
This is not talked about enough. Birth trauma is something that I had not even heard of, until after I found myself faced by a birth that did not go as planned at all. I found myself doubting everything I knew, anxious, and in physical pain for months that doctors kept telling me was ‘normal’. So I started digging and finding a path to healing, because this ‘normal’ they spoke of was affecting my entire life and my ability to do the job I loved.
It took me almost 2 full years of digging, researching, reading, working with different professionals, and wrestling within, but I found a path to healing from the trauma. There is hope, there is redemption, there is healing, and I want to help you find your way, without taking the 2 years I did. I created a group and course for those who are hurting, or disappointed from their birth experience. You are not alone and do not have to walk through healing alone.
I have been there and want to help you move into redemption and healing. There is hope. There is a path forward. Join the course now can
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So what is preeclampsia? Preeclampsia is known as pregnancy-induced hypertension or toxemia. It usually develops late in pregnancy, after the 20 week mark. Preeclampsia is characterized by sudden onset of high blood pressure, excessive swelling and protein in the urine. If left untreated it can progress into eclampsia, which can involve seizures.
Guess what? I was 24, carrying one baby, with low blood pressure and no health issues. What was my problem?!?! Why did I, of all people, develop preeclampsia? Was it something I did or didn’t do? Why could no one tell me about it? So I started digging and discovered some shocking information that made a huge difference in my next pregnancy.
I am not a doctor, but I am a mother who has had preeclampsia with my first pregnancy and turned around and rocked my second pregnancy without the aspirin and avoided preeclampsia. I was to help you avoid preeclampsia like I did, so you don’t have to take the steep learning curve I did.
My course is full of the tips and tricks I learned in my journey, so you don’t have to do all the research and guess and check. I am NOT a doctor! I am simply a momma who found a natural path to a serious problem.
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My first pregnancy I went with the flow. After having a miscarriage shortly before, I wanted to make sure this one was healthy. I trusted my doctor and did whatever she advised not thinking to question her opinion or ask questions. I went with a local doctor that was close, because that’s what you do, right?
I should have done a lot more research and asked more questions. Had I done that, I would have had a completely different experience. However, I would not be the person I am today, nor have been on my unique healing journey.
That first birth set me on a path of self-advocacy and learning about the depths of healing. It taught me how interconnected the physical and emotional body is.
My next pregnancy, I was ready and made sure I knew the questions to ask and how to advocate for myself. I wanted the healthiest, natural pregnancy and birth possible. This time I dug in and figured out the questions. I figured out what I needed to do to keep myself healthy. I poured over books and studies looking for the most practical advice and useful tips.
The best part I created a course just for you. So you don’t have to do the research. As a busy mom I know time is short and valuable so I’m here to help make your life easier. This quick course will give you the tools you need to have a naturally healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Courageous + Purposeful Mommas group! This community is for the Mommas, mommas to be, in the midst of raising, and kids grown, looking for tips on building your family up and providing for them through natural methods. Tips include: gardening, bulk buying, caning,/preserving, livestock, homesteading, and home remedies. Your family is precious, and this group is to help you gain the knowledge and tools to keep your family well and not reliant on outside professionals. Remedies and tips are easy and simple for the busy momma, time is precious after all, including pregnancy, birth, young kids, and illness. Trust your Momma gut again! This community offers the resources + community you need to help get started on your journey and prepare for whatever future you envision.
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For in depth reading on midwife history and natural birth check out Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. This is a brief summary of different childbirth providers.
Midwives specialize in normal pregnancy and birth. Individualized care, focusing on minimizing use of obstetrical intervention. Midwifery is associated with fewer episiotomies, forceps and vacuum-extractor deliveries, epidurals, and cesarean sections. They are trained to identify the small percentage of births which complications develop and refer these women to obstetricians. There are several types of midwives:
Certified nurse midwives (CNM) - These are registered nurses who have completed additional postgraduate training at an accredited institution by the American College of Nurse - Midwives (ACNM).
Direct entry - Any midwife who did not become a registered nurse in the midwife training process.
Certified professional Midwife- certified by the North American Registry of Midwives
Certified Midwives - certified by the ACC (credentialing arm of ACNM)
Licensed Midwives - licensed by the state to practice.
Lay Midwife - a midwife who learned through apprenticeship and not formal schooling. This does NOT mean UNTRAINED.
Family doctors most prevalent in rural areas. May not have surgical privileges and refer to an obstetrician if c-section is necessary. Tend to have lower rates of intervention than obstetricians
Obstetricians (OBGYN) doctors who specialize in obstetrics. They are trained on detecting and treating the pathological problems of pregnancy, labor and birth. They are surgeons and can perform cesarean sections, forceps and vacuum-extractor birth. They outnumber family doctors and midwives in north American due to the past dominance over the other two professions. They design most hospital maternity rules and routines.
Home births are usually attended by some kind of direct entry or lay midwife. Birth centers have all kinds of midwives, depending on the state regulations. CNM’s are usually found within hospital settings. Family doctors and obstetricians work within hospitals.
Depending on where you live will often determine who is available to you as a provider. As with any provider, interview them before you commit to them in pregnancy. It will make a huge difference in your pregnancy.
For more on a Health Natural Pregnancy I have a whole course with all the details. https://getoiling.com/CassandraRow/landing/naturally-healthy-birth
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Courageous + Purposeful Mommas group! This community is for the Mommas, mommas to be, in the midst of raising, and kids grown, looking for tips on building your family up and providing for them through natural methods. Tips include: gardening, bulk buying, caning,/preserving, livestock, homesteading, and home remedies. Your family is precious, and this group is to help you gain the knowledge and tools to keep your family well and not reliant on outside professionals. Remedies and tips are easy and simple for the busy momma, time is precious after all, including pregnancy, birth, young kids, and illness. Trust your Momma gut again! This community offers the resources + community you need to help get started on your journey and prepare for whatever future you envision.
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Soon after I was pregnant again! I was physically ready, but emotionally so unsure and afraid of losing this baby. I used the tools I had learned to help my body support the pregnancy, and my mind from spinning out of control with what ifs. That baby turned into a healthy baby girl, strong willed from the start. But the last trimester of her pregnancy was far from great. I was easily dehydrated, peed all the time, and ended with preeclampsia and an emergency c-section. Not the pregnancy or birth I envisioned.
It took over a year of me searching for the right help and healing before I was physically no longer in pain from that birth. Then another few months wrestling with God, on how to finish the healing process. How can You redeem and fix something like that? We finally came to the agreement that He knew better than I and could see the big picture. I prayed “God when You know I am ready, open my womb. Until then keep it closed.” He answered, with the pregnancy of our boy that fall. The difference between the two pregnancies was stark from the go. My girl’s pregnancy was riddled with anxiety and doubts. My boy’s pregnancy was filled with peace and grace. The end was still far from easy, PUPPS rash, but God healed and redeemed my little girl’s birth through my son’s.
During that time of healing, I did a lot of learning and researching. I learned how to listen to my body, and how to build it up. I learned to advocate for myself and my kids. I learned to pray, research, and find all possibilities for every decision. I learned to do the best I can with the knowledge I have, and to give myself grace and forgiveness for when I didn’t know. I learned to keep digging until I have the real answer, not just the symptom.
I love teaching others what I have learned the hard way. Every momma needs some help right? Everyone should be thriving, not just surviving. I love helping others find a different way to their answers, and thriving.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Courageous + Purposeful Mommas group! This community is for the Mommas, mommas to be, in the midst of raising, and kids grown, looking for tips on building your family up and providing for them through natural methods. Tips include: gardening, bulk buying, caning,/preserving, livestock, homesteading, and home remedies. Your family is precious, and this group is to help you gain the knowledge and tools to keep your family well and not reliant on outside professionals. Remedies and tips are easy and simple for the busy momma, time is precious after all, including pregnancy, birth, young kids, and illness. Trust your Momma gut again! This community offers the resources + community you need to help get started on your journey and prepare for whatever future you envision.
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