Preparing for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth
As I transition into the third trimester of pregnancy, this topic has been on my mind for months. As many of you know, I don’t always share what I am personally working on with my health, and I do this intentionally. I never want clients or followers to think that what I’m doing is the “right way” to do things. However, as I’ve gone through this process, talked with other mamas, women who are pregnant, and women who are trying to conceive, I’ve seen a gap in education for the health of a woman and baby during pregnancy, as well as for the preparation for what is often described as the most athletic event’s of a woman’s life.
So I’m sharing what I’m doing and why in case it helps just one person.
Before diving in, I want to acknowledge that I’m incredibly privileged to do all of things I am currently and focus on my health. Many of the things I am working on I am able to do so due to the financial ability to seek services from professionals more educated than myself. With these suggestions, there is a lot of free content available online through both private websites as well as social media to help on this journey is 1:1 work is not currently an option.
We are planning for a homebirth.
I recently realized that this is something I haven’t been shy about sharing, but also something that I haven’t told a lot of people about. Many of my decisions around the care I’m receiving during this time have been made with this in mind, to not only create a healthy environment for myself and our baby, but also to prepare physically.
The list of reasons for why we have chosen a home birth is both short and long, and one that I could write an entire post about. If this is something you’re considering or interested in learning more about, I’m happy to have those conversations one-on-one at this point in time.
Here’s what I’ve been doing to prepare for the most athletic event of my life:
Nutritional Therapy
You should have known this would be top of the list. Nutrition might be one of the most important factors for a healthy pregnancy as well as a healthy baby. What a mother eats while the baby isn’t utero will not only affect that baby but that child’s children as well. We are thinking long-term health goals. I’ve been pretty shocked at the lack of information available to pregnant women regarding their nutrition, and how down-right misleading much of the common information relayed to women is. This deserves an entire post to itself, but here' are some quick notes.
For starter’s, we’ve all heard the term “eating for two,” but the reality is that a pregnant woman’s caloric intake needs stay the same during the first trimester, increasing to an additional 300 more calories in the second trimester and around 500 additional calories in the third trimester. Focusing on a whole, nutrient-dense diet as much as possible during pregnancy is important for getting plenty of vitamins, nutrients, and fiber for healthy digestion, building healthy gut bacteria to be passed onto the baby during birth, and avoiding the development of dysfunction in the body while it’s in a more stressed state.
All prenatal vitamins are not created equally. Look for a prenatal vitamin with methylated or “activated” B vitamins, choline, and consider adding onto your prenatal vitamin regimen to include 1,000mg+ of EPA/DHA in the form of fish oil, as well as a quality probiotic. All other vitamin needs can be determined through routine blood work conducted during prenatal visits, and ultimately working with a nutritional professional during this time can be really beneficial for feeling your best.
While symptoms of fatigue, heartburn, indigestion, swelling, constipation, and high blood pressure are common during pregnancy, we have options to support the body nutritionally to minimize these symptoms. Food is healing when we are able to provide our body the resources it needs.
Doula & Midwifery
I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert in birth, so I hired people who are. We’ve gotten so much education and support from our birth team that has been invaluable, and they’ve empowered us to be active participants in the birth process. This has also allowed us to fully enjoy this process, even during a pandemic when many birth partners have been unable to attend prenatal appoints, as my husband has not missed an appointment (though we would have gone this route regardless of the current climate).
Midwives are experts in normal pregnancies and births, and they have been shown to have lower rates of cesarian sections, labor induction, and perineal tears. Keep in mind that midwives were the leading experts in birth prior to the introduction of hospitals.
Studies have shown that doulas can help cut back on time spent in labor, reduce a mom’s anxiety, lower the rate of medical interventions, and improve mother-baby bonding post-birth. For us, it also means having continuous support at home prior to the arrival of the midwife, as well as in the event we transfer to a hospital.
We’re working with Mountain Miracles Midwifery in Colorado, who are a private practice team of midwives well-versed in home birth, and Blooming Footprints Birth & Photography.
Pelvic Floor Therapy
This is some thing I think a lot of women miss unless they have worked with someone before. In fact most of the information that you get about keeping your pelvic floor strong tells you to do Kegel‘s, but when your birthing a baby you want to actually be able to relax the pelvic floor, not contract it. This means that Kegel’s are actually working against you and a tight pelvic floor can impede the baby’s pathway.
I’ve been working with Dr. Ashley Zimmerman from Well Set since the beginning of the second trimester to actively work on lengthening the pelvic floor, allowing it to relax, while working on diaphragmatic breathing and building deep core strength.
I also signed up for The Push Lab from Dr. Betsey Caldwell, which has been an amazing resource for learning breathing and pushing techniques geared toward safe delivery. If holding your breath, getting ready in the face, and “pushing like you’re having a bowel movement” are part of labor, you need to check out her content.
Fitness: BIRTHFIT & Vantage Movement
When I found out I was pregnant, the first thing I thought about was my workout routine. I’ve done CrossFit for nearly a decade, and I’ve been able to alter workouts to fit my goals throughout that time period as they have changed. I’ve focused on strength training, I’ve worked on general fitness, I ran an ultramaraton, and we’ve built a home gym to support our needs. I knew this would be no different, and while I coached several pregnant women over the years, it felt different in my own body.
I took the BIRTHFIT Coach program to learn more about safety, intra-abdominal pressure, and movement techniques to compliment pregnancy, and I’ve been following their Pregnancy Programming in combination with working with the coaches at Vantage Movement to determine appropriate scales, movements, and intensity levels.
I actually haven’t changed much about my workouts outside of focusing on how I feel on a daily basis. I’ve been trying to get as much movement in as possible, while respecting the limits of what I can do right now. Some days feel great, and others I don’t even need to get sweaty to call it a successful workout. Both of these resources have been invaluable for allowing me to turn off my brain and follow a program.
Chiropractic Care
While chiropractic care can be good for pain management, that actually wasn’t why I started doing this in my second trimester. I wanted to ensure proper pelvic alignment for a smooth delivery, and to promote baby’s growth in an optimal position. It promotes a shorter and faster labor by 24% , and chiropractors can reverse breeched babies safely. Chiropractic care has also been shown to significantly reduce pain during pregnancy, as well as during labor.
We’ve been working with WOW Family Chiropractic since the beginning of the second trimester, seeing them weekly and will continue to do so until we are in the final weeks of pregnancy when we will see them more frequently. I want to note that all chiropractors are not the same for these purposes, and working with a Webster Technique Certified chiropractor will make all the difference.
Therapy
Years prior to getting pregnant, I acknowledge that postpartum depression was one of my biggest concerns when it came to pregnancy. Between 70-80% of women will experience the “baby blues,” with 10-20% of women being diagnosed with clinical postpartum depression. Other studies find that 1 in 7 women will experience PPD.
I’ve been working with a therapist to work through anything that’s coming up throughout pregnancy, but also establish a baseline so that should postpartum depression come up, I already have a resource in my corner who can tell if something is wrong, and is available to help. While I hesitated sharing this information, it’s something I wish was talked about more, and something I have been very conscious of in my preparation for this transition.
Rather than sharing my therapist, I would encourage you to find someone who you connect with and is best equipped to handle PPD in the event it comes up for you. Many therapists are available virtual (mine is) so I don’t even have to leave the house to connect with them.
Prenatal Massage
Late in the second trimester, I decided to start implementing prenatal massage as well. I have has relatively little pain or discomfort so far, so this was really for stress relief and to see how it would feel. Prenatal massage should only be done by bodyworkers certified to work with pregnant women to avoid injury such as straining uterine ligaments. It has been shown to reduce muscle tension and stress naturally, but also increasing happy hormone levels, such as serotonin and dopamine.
I’ve been working with JJ Massage and Birth Services (who is also a doula) in coordination with chiropractic services to relieve some tight muscles.
Why am I doing all of this?
The thought of a miserable pregnancy is not something I’m willing to accept. I’ve been very fortunate to have a healthy and straight-forward pregnancy to date (writing this at 28 weeks) with symptom occurrences that I can count on one hand. I would wish the same for every pregnant woman and encourage her to stay in the driver’s seat, look for resources, help, and answers in order to fully enjoy the process of being pregnant.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned in pregnancy is that it is truly different for everyone. It’s not the same experience. However, many of us are lacking the information to make our experience the best one possible.
I’m also a firm believer in getting ahead of things, rather than waiting until they become a problem, which has pushed me to work with many of these practitioners before any signs of trouble. I’ve heard countless times, “why are you doing that if nothing is wrong?” and the answer is that I don’t want anything to go wrong, and because I have the awareness to get ahead of these things, I’m going to do that.
Working with women who are getting off birth control, trying to conceive, or pregnant, I’m dedicated to providing more resources for women to learn more. If this is a topic that’s relevant for you, keep an eye out for more coming soon.