You know what I hear all the time? Pregnancy was so much easier the first time around., with every baby, things seem to get more and more challenging physically.
If this is you, You are not alone. It is not your fault, but there is something you can do about it.
Our culture has lost the art of health. We are so focused on putting out medical fires that we don’t follow sound principles of health that lead to deeply nourished, Â healthy and happy people. This is especially apparent when it comes to moms having babies.
Let me give you an example of what happens when we forget about wellness.
Ewwww! I know these apples look gross.
But there’s something you need to know about them.
These are 2 halves of the same apple!
Their lives were pretty much the same. I cut the apple in half, placed each half in it’s own glass jar, where they spent most of the day next to each other on the counter. They recieved the same amount of light, air and had very similar lives.
Except for one thing, one apple came with me to my daily trips to the yoga and meditation mat. I told it how beautiful it is, how much it is needed, how much potential it has. I played it pretty music and told it a happy memory from the day or something that made me laugh.
Every day I told the other apple how ugly it was, how it would never amount to anything, how it was worthless useless and should shrivel up and die. Can you believe the difference?
This is the power of making small daily choices to bring yourself health, love and light verses making small daily choices that lead to sickness and pain.
If you think of these apples as people, can you imagine how much more pain the second apple would be in? How many more medical procedures would be needed to keep this apple alive? How much more difficult it would be for this apple to function?
So when I tell you below a few things that will help you take better care of yourself, replenish your body and make your pregnancy glow instead of feel so crappy, please do not discount them because they are so simple.
Follow these 3 principles to reclaim a pregnancy that feels wonderful:
1. Here’s a secret your doctor won’t tell you. Almost Every pregnancy complication can be traced back to nutrition.
A pelvis being to small or not opening during birth? This usually ONLY happens if a mother had rickets or malnutrition as a child. Even preeclampsia is a sign of severe undernourishment.
How can this be possible when we live in a country of abundant food and you are taking your prenatal vitamins anyways? The truth is that a vitamin can NEVER replace a healthy diet. A vitamin might have vitamin c, but did you know the skin of an apple has over 300 different nutrients and micro-nutrients? We have a lot of good scientist in the world, but we have not caught up to mother nature herself, there is no way your prenatal vitamin can replace an act as simple as eating real, fresh food.
If you are feeling drained during a pregnancy, you likely started off being depleted from your previous pregnancies.
It is extra important to pay attention to what you eat and make sure you are getting plenty of nutrient rich food.
Aim to get 7 to 9 servings of in season fruits of vegetables a day. (Not juice or a pill that claims to be this, real whole veggies, cooked however you like them.)
Supplement this with grass fed beef, eggs from chickens who have roamed freely in the sunshine scratching for bugs and traditional bone broths.
Make sure to AVOID:
Trans fatty acids (e.g., hydrogenated oils), Junk food, Commercial fried foods, Sugar, White flour, Soft drinks, Caffeine, Alcohol, Cigarettes, Drugs (even prescription drugs to the best pf your ability).
These foods will not only harm you, but many will interfere with your ability to absorb nutrients from the other wholesome food you do it.
Pay attention to the small daily choices you make around food, and your pregnancy experience will change.
2. If your body is achy and sore and you feel like you cant move freely, focus on your posture.
Every pregnancy your weight, center of gravity and body changes significantly. Then you spend months carrying a baby in front of you or on your hip. Not to mention that your abs completely separated in your previous pregnancies and many women never have time to fully let them repair before they start the process all over again.
If your back, knees or hips are sore, you need to fix your posture.
One easy way to do this is with regular chiropractic care.
A second way to do this is to get the book Pain Free for Women by Pete Egoscue and do the pregnancy exercises throughout your pregnancy. I’m partial to the book because the exercises in the book are easy, effective and long lasting.
Fixing your posture will relieve your pain. It will also help your baby get into a better position during for birth.
It may seem hard to carve out time to focus on this every day, but remember the difference the small choices made for the apple? Make the time.
3. Get more sleep, let yourself relax and release, focus on letting go of any negativity or anxiety.
Let your body take the time it needs to recuperate. Call in the forces, set up playdates and spend some time in complete relaxation. Remember the apples above? Most of the difference between their life experience was in the energy, they were exposed to, the type of music, the words spoken to them, the feeling of the experiences they had.
If you have chronic sources of negativity in your life, do what you need to disconnect from it. Take a break from a friend that is causing drama. Turn off the news. Let yourself meditate, journal and be you.
I would love for you to join me for a free week of prenatal yoga and meditation online. I know the MTRNL team can help you bring some positive vibes and serious release into your pregnancy.
Your body is not designed to feel awful during pregnancy.
Yes, it has become normal for moms to feel awful during pregnancy and to have complication after complication. Be the mom that recognizes that just because this has become normal does not mean that it is how pregnancy HAS to be. Choose a different path. NOURISH yourself deeply. Accept the responsibility to write your own story and write something worth retelling over and over again. Make those simple choices that bring a pregnancy glow.
