I have a fun episode for you today! I’m doing a third trimester pregnancy update. So many of you found the first and second trimester recap I did helpful, so I thought I would do a third trimester one and answer some of the questions submitted on Instagram. My first and second trimester were pretty smooth. I have honestly felt really good throughout this pregnancy. I will say after recording that update talking about how good I felt, one week later (when I officially entered the third trimester and hit 28 weeks) I woke up with eczema around my eyes and really bad pubic pain. Nine weeks later my eczema has pretty much cleared up and the pubic pain has reduced/I’ve learned to manage it, but wow, did I learn a lot the last couple of months. I’m extremely fortunate that as soon as I had an issue I easily found a resource to help me (it really helps working in the women’s health space). I’m hoping by sharing this information it helps those that don’t have as much access. 

Links/Resources:
• Free Training: Optimizing Hormone Health with Mineral Balance
• Mineral Imbalance Quiz
• Free Thyroid Training: The Thyroid-Mineral Connection
• Pregnancy Journey Episode
• The Gut Skin Connection Episode
• Pelvic Floor Health Episode
• Vaginal Steaming Episode
• Hemoglobin and Pregnancy Blog
• Chocolate Coconut Collagen Bites 
• Smashcake
• Kindred Bravely Maternity (use code HORMONEHEALINGRD)
• Homebirth Online Course 
• Happy Homebirth Podcast 
• Pregnancy Herb Blend For Steaming

Transcript:
Amanda Montalvo 0:00
Hey, this is Amanda Women’s Health dietitian.

Emily 0:03
And I’m Emily nutritional therapy practitioner.

Amanda Montalvo 0:05
And this is the RU menstrual podcast where we help you navigate the confusing world of women’s hormones in teach you how to have healthy periods.

Emily 0:12
Each week we will be diving into a different topic on women’s health and sharing our perspective using nutrition, female physiology and metabolic health.

Amanda Montalvo 0:20
Our goal is to help you wade through conflicting health information and empower you on your healing journey.

Emily 0:25
We hope you enjoy it

Amanda Montalvo 0:36
okay, I have what I think is a really fun episode for you guys. Today, I have a third trimester pregnancy update. So I was looking back and it’s been about nine weeks since I did my first and second trimester like round up where I went through all the lab testing I’ve done different supplements, I’m taking changes I’ve made with nutrition and just kind of what my experience has been or had been so far for pregnancy. And a lot of you really loved it found it helpful. I went through lots of like morning sickness tips and stuff like that the type the programming that I’m following, I use that Mama Stay Fit program. And I decided I would do a third trimester one, but it’s so funny. So I recorded that episode. I was like 27 weeks, when I recorded it released it, I had felt great. I’ve honestly felt great throughout my whole pregnancy, like, you’re gonna hear a lot of hiccups that have happened last couple of months in this episode, I promise. Like, it really hasn’t been bad. It’s nothing that I couldn’t figure out and get through. Basically, as soon as that episode aired, though, a week later, I wake up I’ve got eczema around my eyes, like in the corners of my eyes. It is gone now. But for the most part, I have pictures I’m going to share too. So you guys can see that. But eczema around my eyes, my pubic bone was killing me. And I didn’t know what was going on. I was like, What the heck is this, it just felt like things were just like tearing into was terrifying. A month later, I wake up and like, my hands are numb and I have like carpal tunnel. So lots of great things that happened. third trimester, like obviously, my belly is big now. And it’s really fun. Feeling her constantly and just like feeling so pregnant, you know, because like for so long in pregnancy, you’re kind of like, you don’t even always look pregnant. But now it’s like I can feel where she is like her little feet are like right here. And her body’s like on my left side, her head is down, which is all there just great things. Hopefully she stays in this position. And comes in a few weeks. There’s so many like fun things. But I will say third trimester has been challenging. So I’m gonna go through kind of like what happened in my third trimester. I also want to share this because I have, like, so many resources, right? I work in women’s health. So like any issue I had, I know someone personally, that can help me that’s an expert in that. And so that’s kind of the other reason why I’m like, yeah, like some things have like, not been super fun. But I also just really couldn’t be more grateful for my job, because it really has helped me figure out like, anytime something came up, I was able to like, find someone to help me, and also have the financial resources to do that. Because it’s not cheap, especially when you’re working one on one with people. So I’m hoping that I can share some of the information that I learned so that maybe if you don’t have those resources, you at least have something that you can refer to and be like, Okay, I’m gonna at least try this and see if it will help. So let’s dive in. And I have like, all my notes over here as usual. So if you see me looking, it’s because I don’t want to leave anything out. Oh, and I’m going to end it. I’m going to do like rapid fire. We’ll see how rapid rapid fire questions because I did put a question box in my Instagram stories to ask you guys like what do you want to know about my third trimester so far? And so I’ll answer those at the end. So let’s start with the eczema. I woke up. I had like a little bit extra in one of the corners of my eye. I didn’t know what it was. I’ve never had eczema before. But I had recently interviewed my friend Krista for my podcast. So luckily, I kind of had eczema on my brain. And I was like, Okay, this is a little weird, but I’m like, I’m not the kind of person that’s gonna freak out over things. Like I’m just like, okay, weird. I’m moving on with my life. And then like it kept getting worse and worse every day. And I’ll have pictures that hopefully will come up in this video I’m going to post them on my Instagram to to kind of show like how bad it got and then like how it progressed, like slowly got better over a couple months. But it was like weird, it was irritating, red, itchy bumps, and I was like, I think this might be eczema. I thought it was Acne at first because remember, I have a background of acne prone skin. That’s always been my issue. So I was a little surprised that I got eczema, but then I was thinking like, you know, I had I had Krista on my podcast and I’ll link episode in the show notes, but I have I have asthma. I don’t have it anymore, but I was born like not breathing had asthma as a kid. I was always on inhalers and nebulizers every day, but as I got older and much healthier, I no longer struggle with it. But Asthma is a really big one that puts you like at risk for eczema. Same thing with allergies. I don’t have allergies, but my dad has really bad allergies. When one of my sisters does, so all those things like make you more prone to eczema. So I was kind of like, okay, well, I fit that category. So I took pictures of my skin. I reached out to my friend Karissa, and I was like, What is going on? I think this is eczema. And she was like, that does look like eczema and like a little bit of rosacea, like on my cheeks, which hopefully you’ll see just like lots of irritation. My skin was very upset with me. So I sent her I did a GI map, right before I got pregnant last July. And I sent that to her. And I was like, can we talk about this? Can we go through tips. So luckily, I have her as a resource we met, she was able to like explain everything to me, and give me an idea like what she thought was going on. One thing on my GI map was that I did have very low Secretory IgA or like lots of people call it SIG A. So I have this low SIG, a level and that means that my immune system was like very low functioning, and that had probably been stressed out for a very long time. But nothing was really showing up. I didn’t have a lot of good bacteria. I didn’t really have any overgrowth. I didn’t have any like Candida or fungus or anything. So it was just kind of like a very like empty gi map that didn’t tell us a ton. But when you’re sick as well like that, it usually means that there’s other things going on, you just can’t see it. So I got that in July, we conceived in August when my husband got home. And I was like I’m not going to do anything. Right like what what am I what am I going to do at this point, I’m now pregnant. There’s not really a ton you can do for your gut during pregnancy. I took some colostrum for a few months pretty much like my whole first trimester to try to support my immune system. And then I stopped second trimester with that so it because I was starting a probiotic for usually second trimester, it’s ideal use take a probiotic to help you avoid getting a positive group B strep test, which I’ll talk about I took one of those today. So I did some stuff from my gut, but nothing crazy. I was eating more fermented foods because my beneficial bacteria was so low and like more prebiotic rich foods just to try to boost that. But none of those things help the eczema. So basically, my skin’s flaring up when it’s around your eyes. Crystal was explained to me that that is often liver related. So she’s like, it’s you probably have some liver stress going on. Again, like not much you can do during pregnancy for the liver, right? We’re not really trying to stimulate or support detoxification. For me, it was more just like, okay, what can I do, while pregnant to try to support my immune system and minimize any possible overgrowth, I probably have going on in my gut that I’m just not quite seeing because of my low Sergei and my GI map. So I tried the colostrum again, and it actually got worse. I took it for like, three, four days. It’s like, I think it’s getting worse. But it’s also hard to tell because my skin has already like progressively getting worse. But it was like just much more read around it and inflamed. So I was like, Alright, I’m gonna stop the classroom. Instead, I took just regular immunoglobulins that’s what’s in classroom and it’s like a whole food version. So it’s called mega IgG 2001 of my favorite guts appointments. And it also can like bind to things and get them out of that gut. So it’s like a little bit of a gentle binder. I felt comfortable taking it during pregnancy because it’s basically just like a dairy free version of colostrum. Now, I have no issues with dairy I so much dairy. So that wasn’t why I was using it. But that’s like the easiest way to explain it. So I started taking that I stopped taking the integrative therapeutics, probiotic that I was using for GBs. Chris had mentioned that she does not think that that’s helping. So I stopped that and then I started megaspore biotic which is a spore based probiotic, which can help if you have some overgrowth, so the combination of like, the mega IgG, the megaspore biotic, I think, worked really well for me, pretty much as soon as I started taking the mega IgG, my skin was less red. So that was very nice to see. And much more comfortable. And then I also added in one other probiotic. Yeah, it was like the pro bio five d f. And that one has stripped a caucus in it. So I was like a little nervous to take it. But it really did help with the eczema. So those three things that’s what I did for my gut. I stopped the fermented foods because I was like, this is not helping right now. When you have eczema, fermented foods often make it worse. And so then from there, I was like, alright, Krista recommended, like we need a holistic approach. So like topicals, right, what am I using on my skin.

I had been using skincare for acne prone skin because that’s what I’m used to. In the first trimester, I definitely had a little bit of acting especially like, I was like barely pregnant, like five or six weeks of my skin, it was almost like an estrogen wave, like I just had a bunch of acne Come on, and then it went away. So I swapped out skincare products that are basically for ones that are going to be like more supportive for like all the acne products. They were irritating my skin barrier. So that’s why my skin was all like red and inflamed, especially like on my cheeks and around my chin, which you’ll see. And so I met with Ali, who’s an esthetician for my friend, Robin, who also does skin stuff. If you don’t follow at nutrition by Robin on Instagram, she was on my podcast, we did an episode on acne, and all the different types. And she has an esthetician on her staff that you can book consults with if you go to Clear Skin lab.com you can there’s like like a button for like meet ally you can like see her background and everything. She was amazing. So basically, Chris was like you should get product recommendations for your skin issues right now because I don’t think the acne prone skin products are helping. So I meet with Ali, she’s amazing. I sent her all these pictures of my face how and find it is all different angles. And then I filled out a very in depth intake form we met, she went through my current skincare products made recommendations for different ones. And it was all just like very calming things to try to reduce that inflammation irritation in my skin. And that also helped a ton. So I’d already seen a little bit of improvement with the mega IgG and the megaspore. And then once I swapped my skincare products like that really, really made a difference because my skin was not so irritated and it wasn’t so dry, my skin was getting so dry. And that’s like never happened to me before. I’m usually like the opposite. I did also get a humidifier which helped a ton. I got the canopy brand because it’s like mold free. And it’s supposed to be really good. I love it. It’s also nice because it’s loud. So I like having noise at night when I sleep. It’s like having a fan on. So that’s what I did for the eczema piece. You guys probably hopefully listen to my lymphatic massage episode with Leah. And I had already been doing some head and neck, lymph massage like on myself. But once my eczema really kicked in, I was like every single day, every time put my skincare products on, I just started doing it. So it was twice a day for the most part. And I really do think that helped to because I got really consistent with it. I also think that helps with just not getting, like fluid retention and stuff in my face. So it definitely helped with the redness, I was able to like drain that lymphatic fluid more plus, like when you’re constantly working on those subclavian vein, lymph nodes. It’s just great for your lymphatic system in general, because that’s where everything drains. So that was really helpful too. So that’s everything I did. And for my eczema, you’ll see it’s, it’s pretty much gone now like maybe just like a teeny tiny bit in my left eye a little bit like a couple bumps. But my skin’s not irritated. I’m not worried about anymore. Oh, when I increased my raw milk. And I think that helped too. Because I noticed this pretty significant difference after like a week of doing that. So that’s what I did for eczema. If you struggle with it, know that it is very individual, like what’s going to help you. But if you relate to anything that I shared, just trying to have that full approach if you can, and just remembering like there’s only so much you can do during pregnancy, so you just have to like do the best that you can. But lucky for me, mine ended up clearing up. So the next kind of big thing I struggled with was pubic pain. Pretty much right after that podcast. I like woke up one day and I stepped on my floor from my bed. And I had like a shooting pain. I was like, Oh, that’s weird. This is new. And I kind of didn’t really think anything of it. It went away. And then when I was working out one day, I was doing lunges, and I got the pain again. And I was like this is not good. It’s something just fell off. So it progressively got worse over a few days to the point where I almost could not walk in mind you this was when my husband was still deployed. I’m like, Oh my gosh, I’m like crawling around my house. This is ridiculous. So I reached out. I did see a pelvic floor PT at the beginning of my pregnancy. And she kind of just did. Your typical eval gave me things to work on throughout pregnancy was like let me know if you have any issues, but I didn’t really need to keep seeing her like there was nothing I was specifically concerned about. But luckily I already had that relationship established and I was a client so it was easy for me to be like Hey, I think my vagina is tearing into Can I get an appointment? She got me in like a week later. It was great. I had a feeling after doing some research was that it was my pubic bone. But it was it just was weird. It was like hard to describe. And I feel like I wasn’t getting the information I needed online. And then you don’t know. It’s like nutrition, right? It’s like is this outdated information, should I do any of these things. So I pretty much waited, I just stopped doing any exercises that hurt, obviously. And then I just waited until I met with her and she evaluated me, she’s like, it’s definitely the pubic bone. Sometimes it can be like the muscles around it. And sometimes it can be a pelvic floor issue. But there was nothing like within my pelvic floor that was painful or anything, it was really just for me, like isolated to the pubic bone. Completely, she mobilized my pubic bone, which is just as bad as it sounds. I was like, covered in sweat, it hurts so bad, but I didn’t have pain for like a week after that. So it was definitely worth it. If you have pubic symphysis pain, and you can see a pelvic floor PT, I just cannot but I can’t nothing was as helpful as seeing her and having her mobilize it. She also showed me how to do it, which now I like can’t even do it because my belly so big. But for a while I was doing it every few days. And so it’s it’s basically you’re just like putting pressure on the joint, and kind of moving it a little bit, or holding the pressure which, again, like it is very painful, but it for me, it just like helps like calm everything down. And then it doesn’t feel as tight. So she also showed me how it same thing, it’s kind of like massaging out like the muscles surrounding it and the ligaments surrounding it. You know, there’s like some definitely some tight tight ligaments and muscles surrounding the pubic bone, which again, that’s also going to lead to more pain. So I she did that showed me how to do it, I did it at her office so that she could make sure like, yes, like you’re definitely doing this, right. And then after I mobilize it, I was like icing it. And that helped a ton for me. And honestly just like adding in certain exercises like she recommended adding in like some adductor stuff like. So putting like ankle weights on laying on my side and doing like leg lifts with the bottom leg, and then switching sides. I do those every single day. Now that has definitely helped especially like before, I’m going to squat or do lower body workouts, I always make sure I engage those adductors. And before I get out of bed, I do the same thing. Like I’ll just put my hands on the inner insides of my knees, and like push my knees in. And it hurts a little bit. Especially if you’ve been lying for a long time. That’s like, I have to like, keep moving on. I think most women that are at this stage of pregnancy feel that way. But if I don’t move for a long time, it hurts more. So before I get up, I’ll just like, you know, do those inner thigh like squeezes, activate my muscles a little bit. So doing that avoiding things like any type of lunch for me is like just to know, as far as exercises go, it’s going to be what bothers you, some people can’t do squats, those do not bother me. Front Lunges or side lunges really get me obviously, it’s like stretching him a lot. So anything like that I just don’t do. And that has really worked, believe it or not probably the most effective thing is doing taking those exercises out, adding the adductor exercises in and then doing a little bit of that mobilization. So if you can’t see a pelvic floor PT and you have pubic pain, I would honestly I bet they have something on YouTube, what do they not have a new tube, you could like how to mobilize the pubic bone. But it’s honestly just like putting pressure massaging the muscles around it, icing it, I think it was really effective for me. And then you know, just being mindful with what movements bother you and avoiding those if you can, and then keeping my legs together like she’s like when you get out of the car, it’s like your instinct to want to just get out with one leg, like, put both your legs aside, then get out that’s also better for your pelvic floor, especially at the end of pregnancy, and for the positioning of the baby. So either way, you’d probably be doing that towards the end anyway, I just did a little bit sooner than most people would. And then I lowered my weights a lot. So anytime I felt any pain working out, I just would not go as heavy. And I think that’s probably been one of the harder things to figure out during this pregnancy is like working out and like what feels good and because sometimes things don’t bother me. But then the next day, I’m like, Oh, I like don’t feel great. And I think it’s from what my workout was the previous day. So it’s it’s been like a learning curve. I definitely would not do certain exercises past a certain point. Like the side lunges. I just wouldn’t do it past like, probably like 25 weeks next time. I’m very flexible. And I don’t think that helped me. I think that made things worse. Or I’d modify movements like that sooner, just to like avoid that like separation of that pubic bone. So that was my pubic pain,

eczema, pubic pain, we’ll talk about carpal tunnel, and then I’ll answer your question. Kids but again, the pooping is I would say it’s pretty much gone. Now I just have to make sure I’m like on top of like doing the exercises and stuff every day. So carpal tunnel, so I hit 34 weeks. And it’s so funny because I was talking to some women at the gym. I go to mama stay fit her in person gym. Like a couple times a month. And I was talking to someone there. And I was something when they were asked me how I was feeling. I was like young gray just got this carpal tunnel. And all the women in the room were like, oh, yeah, I had that during pregnancy too. And I’m like, then how come? No one talks about it? I feel like I’ve I’ve heard I’ve had clients that have had carpal tunnel and pregnancy. I haven’t really had any friends that have like mentioned it. As soon as I started talking about it, half of them are like, oh, yeah, I have carpal tunnel. So apparently, it’s a very common thing. 30 to 60% of pregnant women will experience carpal tunnel during pregnancy. It really only bothers me at nighttime. So I was finding I was like, I’d be sleeping. And I’ve had really good sleep throughout my pregnancy as long as I eat enough. And I have my like, huge thing of adrenal cocktail every single day. So I’ve been very lucky in that department. And I was starting to wake up and my hands were tingling. And I’m like my fingers would hurt in the morning. I’m like, Man, this is like so weird. And then I look it up, I talked to my midwife. She’s like, yep, that’s carpal tunnel. It happens a lot in pregnancy, like towards the end, because you have a lot more fluid in your body. And when you lay down and sleep at night, all that fluid goes up. And so then it goes into your arms and into the forearms. And then it leads to like your hands like swelling and falling asleep and stuff. So super fun times, it just puts like pressure on the nerve in your wrist that swelling. And so it feels just like carpal tunnel. The next morning, my hands are like sore, and I can’t straighten my fingers all the way. It’s super fun. And basically, they’re kind of like well, there’s not really a ton that you can do, you can elevate your head of the bed. So I did that. And that helps. But you can only elevate so high when you’re sitting on your side. So like, you know, that’s the only thing I can do now and then during the day like trying to keep your elbows higher than your wrist. So like making sure I’m not like typing like this, because then my hands would fall asleep and they would start to hurt. Myofascial release has been really helpful my chiropractor. I feel like I talked about my chiropractor so much the last podcast, I mean, that’s been like the best thing I’ve done for myself, this whole pregnancy is seeing Webster based chiropractor, I cannot recommend it enough. That also helped a lot with the pubic pain as far as like my pelvis positioning. But I will say like the pelvic floor PT actually working on the pubic bone was what really did it. But working on my pelvic bone kind of positioning throughout. I think that helps like minimize it. And that’s why I didn’t notice it till the very end. But yeah, my chiropractor would do like myofascial release, and he like pulls on gently, you know, stretching that fascial layer, that really helps I make my husband do that pretty much every single day to grouping has really helped that my chiropractor will do that when I go, I go once a week. Now, I would have done that sooner. I just had like a really busy schedule. And it’s like 35 minutes away. But next time, well, I don’t know if I’ll live here next time I’m pregnant. But if I did, I would just like, put it in my schedule, like booked months in advance and just block everything off, because it’s worth it. So the chiropractor would do like scraping so myofascial release of my arms and hands just like getting that top layer of the skin like stretched a little bit before you do the scraping. I have like a guasha tool that I’ll use at home, on my forearms. That really helps. I mostly do it in the morning because that’s like when my hands hurt like now they’re fine, because it’s later in the day. But after I wake up in the morning, they just hurt. I did get these wrist things, though, that you can sleep in. And now I don’t wake up at night, which is great. So like, pretty much I would I was waking up every single night for like a week and I’m like, This is terrible. What do I do? My chiropractor was like my wife had carpal tunnel, one of her pregnancies. These risk guards really helped her. He’s like, I have no idea why. Like it doesn’t make sense. To me. I don’t know if maybe it’s just like the pressure that it’s putting to the fluid like can’t build up. I just got him at CVS. There were like $35 each, but I’ll tell you what, those the best $70 I’ve ever spent. And I’m going to save them in case it happens again in the future. But yeah, it was like night and day. I didn’t think they were going to work I put them on and then I was like I woke up I’m like, Oh, we got to subdue the night. My hands still hurt in the morning. So that’s when I would do the guasha tool after just like pulling them a little bit for that myofascial release, and then they were they’re fine the rest of the day. So carpal tunnel is definitely not fun. But it’s basically it’s usually not happening till towards the end when you have more fluid. So it’s weird because I’m not retaining fluid. So I was kind of confused as to like why, but there’s not really any reason. So at least that I’ve been able to find and then let me see Oh progesterone can help to. So like some people think it’s a hormone imbalance again, I couldn’t find any information research studies that would really prove this. And I did take progesterone for a good amount of my pregnancy. But one of the things that helped initially, when I was still, like 3435 weeks before I found the wrist things I was like, all I was looking online, I’m like, okay, maybe it’s a estrogen dominance thing. So I added in progesterone, it did help. But it didn’t completely go away. And now that I’m 37 weeks, I don’t want to take progesterone because it can mess with labor. So

that’s what I’ve done for the carpal tunnel. And that’s really like, I would say, like, the wrist guards were honestly number one. And then just like trying to be mindful during the day with like, your posture and not letting your elbows go below, your hands like that those have been really helpful if you can get a good massage therapist, like it helps. But I will say the massage is like short lived, you know, like, I think the scraping and the mile and the myofascial release are like much more, at least like you can get really for like a whole day or a couple days. But yeah, so let’s go through some of the questions from Instagram. Some of these answers will be longer than others, like how am I preparing for labor? That’s going to be a bit of a longer one. But I’m going to try to be quick on these so I can get through them all? How am I preparing for labor, I had a lot of this, I had some mentally some physically. So I’m just putting it all under one category. I would say number one, I have been educating myself a lot. So I did, I’m doing a home birth, I met with the birth assistant, Jenny. And she did like a whole class with me and my husband, and went through like, here’s what to expect. Here’s what can go wrong at a home birth. And then here are the different solutions that we have. Here’s what it looks like if you have to transfer lots of stuff like that. And honestly, to me, that was it was just like a huge relief. Because it’s kind of like, here are all the things that can happen. Here’s what we’re going to do. So that if that does happen in the moment, I won’t, I don’t think I’m will be scared. Because I’ll already know what to expect. And they spend a lot of time going through like different scenarios. So for me, that was like a huge mental relief. We also did a childbirth education course, that was more like your standard one, I really just wanted my husband because I had already done like the pain free birth course and stuff, I have a good idea of like the stages of labor. And I just felt like that was the one thing that he was missing. And we hadn’t really gone through a ton yet, the childbirth class was really helpful for that. It also went through like comfort measures, and they had a lot of partner exercises, and of like things my husband can do. And we actually practice them. So that I mean, I’m going to have a doula there. And she’s obviously going to probably tell us to do some of these things. But it’ll be nice if like she says something and we’re like, oh, yeah, we did that, like we know how to do it. Versus like learning it for the first time when you’re in labor, probably not like the most fun. We did a lot of that the childbirth class to a lot of it was really more like hospital based. So like some of it didn’t necessarily apply all the anatomy stuff, the different stages of labor, kind of like what to expect and stuff. That was really helpful. And then I did go through that pain free birth course, which I just really enjoyed learning about all the different hormones, and just she just has a really nice perspective. And like a positive perspective on birth, which is, to me has been like very important. And that’s one of the things a lot of my friends that have had kids have shared with me is like, listen to positive birth stories, because there are so many not so positive birth stories out there. That the reason I just one of the big reasons I decided to do a homebirth was because I was there for my younger sister’s birth. And it was like very traumatic. And I was pretty much terrified to go to a hospital after that. And so we ended up deciding to home birth, but trying to listen to more positive stories. So like Supernatural Childbirth is a great book, I have the audiobook version. And so I’ll just like listen to that while I’m working out or doing stuff around the house going for a walk. And it’s been really nice to hear those stories, because it’s like, I think there’s got to be a balance, you have to know especially I feel like if you’re doing a home birth actually know even more in hospital, like you have to know like, what the hospital’s policies are, what decision you’re gonna make if XYZ happens, all that kind of stuff. But for homebirth it’s like, here’s what, what could possibly go wrong. What are you going to do in that situation? What is you know, it’s all about autonomy. So it’s like what choice do you think you want to make obviously, that could change, but at least having a plan and thinking about it, but then balancing that with like, really positive stories and even like good positive affirmations of like, you know, that you can have Good birth, one of the minds other minds that things I have been, like an affirmation that I will say to myself, and this is one that I’ve just thought it’s basically just come to my mind constantly since I found out I got pregnant. And that is that my body is designed to do this, she already knows how to do this, and I will follow her lead, like that is my thought process going into birth. And it’s something that’s like, really important to me, like, I want all the feedback and help from my midwife, and my doula and birth assistant, Jenny. But I also want to tune in because my body does already know how to give birth, it’s designed to do this. It’s literally what I was put on this planet for. So it is one of those things where I’m trying to trust it because it’s easy to like, over, analyze and get nervous and just like not trust yourself or your body. I know, like, I definitely felt that way many times in my healing journey, like constantly looking to other experts and outsourcing things, when in reality, it’s like, I probably know what’s going on, I just need to slow down, stop looking up different things and researching and tune in and figure out what does my body need. And that’s one of the cool things that from both of the birth classes that we took one theme that they really stress that I just really appreciated was that your body’s going to intuitively get into certain positions, you’re going to move and you’re not going to know why you’re doing it. It’s just going to feel good. And you’re going to want to do it. And that’s what you have to, like, really tune into. And so instead of thinking like, what position am I going to do next? It’s like what it what is your body want to do? What do you feel like doing right now. And that’s something that I really just want to follow and bring with me. So that’s kind of been my affirmation. I also think there’s a lot of fear around pregnancy, and like nutrition and supplements and birth, in general. And so it’s like, trying to like, block all that out and be like, Okay, if I know I’m designed to do this, I know how to do this, my baby knows how to do this, like, I just will try to not get in the way pretty much is my goal. So that’s kind of what I’ve been doing mindset wise, I have been doing some perineal massage. Honestly, mostly my husband does it because I don’t know how people reach when your bellies that they get this point. But that’s one thing they went through. And one of the childbirth classes was like starting to do that not a ton. You don’t want to overdo it. But it’s basically like the bottom two thirds of the opening of your vagina that you can just like gently massage, it’s supposed to it’s been shown to help reduce tearing, I do also plan on doing vaginal steaming, which I will link a podcast episode that I do with KITT from Katara, all about vaginal steaming, and she talks about how you can do it during pregnancy a bit there and then postpartum. And I do plan to do both. And so the steaming has also been shown to help with tearing, because of the lubrication that it helps to provide. So between that and the perineal massage, I’m really hoping that we’re not gonna tear. But also, I mean, first and second degree tears heal very easily. And it’s, I mean, it’s something that is considered somewhat normal. Obviously, I don’t want anything beyond that, because that’s like, you typically have to go to the hospital, it’s super painful. And it’s it can involve your pelvic floor, and you have to see a PT after. So that’s what we’re doing to try to prevent some tearing. But I’m also going to try to be very patient during birth. And that kind of leads me to the last thing I’ve been doing to prepare, is trying to relax, which probably in like outside of like sleeping in that sort of thing, like trying to practice just relaxing, because I’m definitely like, Okay, I need to do this, this and this, I usually have like a mile long to do list, and I’m trying to always get things done. Whereas I feel like since pretty much 34 weeks, I’ve been like really craving like slowing down and resting and then like just enjoying myself more cuddling my dogs, which we have all three over here. And so that was one thing. And that was a piece of advice that I got was like practice relaxing, especially like in positions that can be helpful for birth. Like certain like laboring positions, if you especially if you’re like tired, and you’re like I need to rest but I also want to help the baby get in an optimal position. There is a homebirth online course that I will link in the notes. There. She has a podcast too. It’s like escaping me the name. I think it’s just homebirth podcast. She’s got a podcast, but she also has an online course. And the course was really helpful for me and it’s basically like the homebirth course that I did with my birth assistant, Jenny, but it was it’s nice because it’s broken up into bite sized videos and she has a whole whole thing. I’m like relaxing and I was like oh that’s really good. One of my friends also mentioned that to me was like, I wish I spent more time chilling out before maybe became because it was kind of like going in million miles an hour. She also has her own business trying to get everything in place for maternity leave, which that has been stressful. And I will probably talk a little bit about that at the end. But and give some tips for other entrepreneurs out there. But yeah, just trying to relax using music, getting a birth playlist together and listening to that while relaxing so that my body once I start playing that music, it will, my brain pathways will already be built so that it’s like, okay, this music plays we’re in this position we relax. And then that can be really helpful when you’re laboring if you need rest. But you still want to be like, somewhat productive. And then my Zen device, so I had AMI brand and on from they make that Zen product. It’s like that goes in your ear puts out electrical impulses. It’s really cool. I’ve been using it since I was first. I think I met Amy like right after I got pregnant. And she they sent me one. And she did my mineral core. So it was a fun little exchange. Yeah, so that was the one other aspect of the relaxation I’ve been working on is using my Zen device from Nirvana I had Amy Brannon on, she is one of the founders of the Zen device. And it’s all about like, you know, stimulating your vagus nerve, it puts out electrical impulses. I don’t have it with me, but we showed it on the podcast that I did with her. And it’s just like a little headphone that goes in your ear, there’s an app on your phone, I really enjoy this end device. And it’s one of those things where I’ve done it so many times now. And I listened to like, different meditations and stuff when I do it that once I put that all your peace in my ear, I do tend to relax because that’s what my brain has used to. I’ve built those pathways. So I think using the Zen device listening to that playlist I’ve been working on, it’s gotta be like they recommend three plus hours. I haven’t quite hit that. So I’m like still adding songs to it, trying to be intentional about the different the music that I’m adding. So it’s taken a while trying to do that lay in those positions for like 20 minutes. And I’m not like a Napper. I don’t like to like chill out like that. So that has been challenging for me. But it’s gotten easier and easier the further along that I get, because obviously it’s like you’re tired. You know, I’ve been growing a human for nine months. So I do think that’s going to serve me very well, during labor, especially since it’s like, you know, if you if I’ve been going a million miles an hour for nine months, how am I supposed to expect my body to relax when it’s stressed and trying to give birth? Hey,

Amanda, here, just giving you a quick break, hopefully a break for your brain in the middle of this podcast episode to remind you that if you haven’t gone through our free training, optimizing hormone health or mineral balance, we really do recommend starting there. And the main reason for that is because you’re going to hear us say things like mineral foundation, having a solid foundation, or you putting the foundations in place, especially what was we get deeper and deeper into different hormonal topics and specific imbalances in the body, the the mineral foundation is always going to be so essential. So if you haven’t watched the free training, you can find it in our show notes. Or you can go to hormone healing rd.com. And it’s going to be right on that front page there. But we really recommend starting there so you can understand how is your current mineral status? How do you assess this, and how to get started with all that just so you can get as much as you possibly can out of the rest of the podcast episodes. But that’s it. I hope you enjoy the rest of this episode.

So when it comes to steaming for during pregnancy, basically, there’s so many benefits. It’s great for like lubrication, it can help prevent tearing, but it can also help start labor. So I met with Kitt, I did a concert with her. I think I was like 32 weeks. I was like when do I start steaming like I don’t you know she’s like, don’t start until you know you want to have the baby just in case. You go and you do go into labor like soon after. Everyone is very different with how they respond to steaming in labor. But she said some people it kick starts things right away. And others they’ll seem every day or twice a day for like a week and then they’ll go into labor. So I’m hoping that they don’t go into labor immediately because I want to get the lubrication benefits from it for the tearing piece. It’s just really relaxing. I love steaming, I miss doing it. So I’m planning on starting around like April 27. My due date is May 3, I would started sooner but my husband is taking a promotion exam for his job. So he’s like, please don’t do it before April 27, just in case. So I’m going to wait until then. And then most women go like a week and a day past their due date for their first baby. That’s like the average. So then maybe I’ll get like a few days of steaming and maybe I’ll get a week of steaming in but that’s what I plan to start doing and she has specific blends like on her website on Katara. I’ll put the one for pregnancy on there. I can’t remember the name off the top of my head. It’s like it’s like a lubrication blend of herbs basically. And so it helps with that, and prepping for labor. So that’s how I’m preparing and all the different ways for labor. Another question I got this is a good one, has it been hard to eat full meals? So I was initially, when I got these questions, I was like, it’s not that bad. But I would say I really thought about it in about a week ago, like if I can still eat the full meal. So like first trimester, and like a few weeks into second trimester, I was having eat very small meals, which is pretty common, I would say, pretty much everyone has to do that. And it, they just like, weren’t as satisfying. And then once I got to, like 18 weeks, I was able to eat like really big meals again, get way more food in in general, and I felt so much better. And now it’s kind of like I have to be very strategic. So it’s just those meals are taking longer to digest, which makes sense, everything is squished, right, everything’s slowed down a little bit more. So I just have to be really on time with my meals, and I can’t skip a snack, or I can’t wait too long to eat a big meal, because then it’s going to like go, it basically makes it so that I can’t have the snack I was intending on having because I’m still too full. And things have not digested completely. Like last Friday, we had like our birth one of our birth classes that we took a bit longer than we anticipated. And I didn’t have a snack with me. And so then I had to eat like a really big dinner and I couldn’t have another bedtime snack. So I clearly did not eat enough that day. And then I woke up at 3am. And I couldn’t sleep and I was like I’m never doing this again. I’m going to be so on top of it. I would say like yes, I’m eating big meals. But um, it’s more like the meal timing that I have to be careful about because they take longer to digest. Okay, and then someone asked, Have you been testing hemoglobin or any other labs? How do you keep hemoglobin high enough for a homebirth. And then another person asked about like vitamin and mineral levels making adjustments. So I happen to see hemoglobin throughout. My midwife has done it once each trimester I had an appointment this morning. And so that was like my third trimester hemoglobin. Today, it was 12.3. It was like 13.9 or eight at the beginning. And then it went down to 13.5. But it didn’t really drop a ton. I was like, Man, my hemoglobin still really high. Like what’s going on, I was kind of surprised. It’s supposed to go down. It’s very natural, especially like third trimester at the end, you get another increase in estrogen, you get more blood volume. This dilutes your hemoglobin, so hemoglobin is supposed to decrease. I think that there’s just a lot of concern around like hemoglobin is basically how they’re assessing your iron. And if it gets too low, the concern is that you there is a chance that you could have more bleeding at your birth and for homebirth a lot of midwives or providers, they won’t let you do a home birth if your hemoglobin isn’t above a certain level, the level depends on the person, I would say for most midwives, it’s between 10.5 and 11 that they don’t want your hemoglobin below my Hema my midwife has not cared. She’s also educated around copper and vitamin A. And she she even with her practice, she’s like your hemoglobin should drop it. It’s supposed to drop if it doesn’t drop, like how you know it’s not really natural or possible that it’s not going to decrease because your blood volume is increasing. So luckily, like she’s pretty chill with that. My levels have been great, so I haven’t had to worry about it. But I was like relieved to see that it dropped more in the third trimester and like today was 12.3 weeks I’m kind of like am I like have Do I have a ton of excess iron because 70% of your irons in your hemoglobin? I’m like my like so inflamed right now just because the eczema and everything and the carpal tunnel, you know, you just like never know. So I was like, okay, cool, it’s gone down. I’m gonna like an article from the root cause protocol. And they go through how he like why hemoglobin decreases, how lower levels can have actually been shown to be beneficial. As far as birth weight goes, that’s the other thing. If they’re like ultra hemoglobin drops too low. It’s, you have like an increased risk. The conventional thought process is there’s an increased risk of bleeding and hemorrhaging at birth, and then there’s like a low birth weight, but there’s actually been research that shown the opposite. And again, like, I don’t, there, it’s like you can you can take certain things as a precaution whether you’re doing a home birth or a hospital birth for bleeding, and always take your health history into account. I just feel like for myself in particular, I’m like, I don’t, I’m not worried about my hemoglobin levels. And typically, they’ll just tell you to supplement iron if it’s not high enough. And it’s like, well, that’s not the issue. That if you have a low hemoglobin and it’s because you have other nutrient deficiencies, it’s a copper and a vitamin A issue and it’s you probably have that going on. Prior to conceiving, and then when we think about pregnancy, we use up so much copper, and so much vitamin A. And so you could get further deplete, and then that drops your hemoglobin. But even like in the article, I’m gonna link it’s like 9.5 to 10.5 is considered like optimal for third trimester hemoglobin, whereas many providers who say that’s too low, so you have to work with your provider. Especially because someone asked like, how do you get high enough for homebirth? You need to know what is that standard for your provider. I have been taking beef liver. prior to pregnancy, my whole pregnancy. And I have been taking cod liver oil throughout. I tested my retinol levels. I talked about that in the last podcast, I haven’t retested them third trimester, they hadn’t changed in like eight months. So I was kind of like, I’m not going to retest. I am going to redo my thyroid labs on Thursday. So I’ll do a postpartum episode and talk about that. I talked all about my thyroid iodine in previous episode pregnancy, one that I did. So I’ll link that in the show notes, and I did a hair test halfway through pregnancy, I am going to do another one. Like probably in a couple weeks, like right before my due dates, I want to get it as close as I can. So basically, I did one before I conceived halfway through and I’ll do another one right at the end. And then I’ll share that all those findings in my post partum episode, I just feel like if something is not going to change what I’m doing right now, I’m not gonna do the test because it’s just, it’s, it’s another thing to do, when I already have enough to do sometimes more information is not always helpful. And it’s like, it’s another expense, right? It’s like doing like, if I do another full Monty, like, nothing’s gonna change at this point. I’m about to have a baby. I’m not necessarily going to change any supplements. I’ve continued to take cod liver oil the whole time because my vitamin A was it pretty much stayed the same. But it was still somewhat low or not optimal. And I do think the cod liver oil has helped with hemoglobin, there’s been studies to show that cod liver oil can help raise hemoglobin. So I think between the beef liver cod liver oil, those are really helpful. If you have low copper, like say you did a hair test or you’ve done bloodwork that shows your copper is low, you can add more than just beef liver, you can consider taking like a liquid chlorophyll that’s going to have a good amount of copper in it. The thing is we just have to have vitamin A to use copper. So if you’re only getting copper from plants, like if maybe you’re doing more chocolate, more chlorophyll, that sort of thing. If you’re not also getting vitamin A, your body’s not going to use it as well. And that would not help hemoglobin. So I think if you can consider those three things, especially if you have low hemoglobin, I’ve seen them be very helpful for different women that I’ve worked with third trimester constipation. I have not had any but I’m also I get a ton of potassium and potassium I’ve seen be like a miracle for those that struggle with constipation. So adrenal cocktails, right, they have potassium in them tails, fruit, squash, all those things are dairy, great sources of potassium, I eat a lot of those foods. I don’t do a ton of like starchy like, grains, I just find that like I get more heartburn with those in pregnancy, which I haven’t really had any heartburn since adding in more bicarbonate. So I put magnesium bicarbonate in my adrenal cocktails. I’ll link my Instagram post that has the recipe for that, and in the show notes. And so then you’ll you’ll get to see how I make them. It’s just your regular journal cocktail. You just have a little bit of magnesium bicarbonate that I’ve seen that be really helpful for myself with heartburn, and also consistent bowel movements. I also love aloe vera juice, I’ll use that I use that a lot my first trimester and my adrenal cocktails, the interleaf one that can be great for having regular bowel movements. If you do any research on aloe vera juice, they say that it’s contraindicated in pregnancy, it’s because if you’re doing too much, you can get loose stools. And that can cause dehydration. If you are struggling with constipation, I’m guessing that you will not be dealing with loose stools from it. But either way, just go slow, like start with like an ounce or two. And you can like slowly increase it. I don’t typically see aloe vera is being something that fixes it right away. So you I would say you’d want to drink it daily for at least like a few days. And then squatty potty and pelvic floor breathing. Oh, that’s another thing I’ve done to prep for labor is pelvic floor breathing. I I think I talked about that more in the last episode, but still do lots of pelvic floor breathing every single day. Whenever I work out, I’m doing pelvic floor breathing but sitting on your toilet with a Squatty Potty your feet up on the squatty potty, and then just trying to relax your pelvic floor. Your bellies getting bigger and bigger. The further along you get especially in third trimester. So that’s a lot of weight and pressure on your pelvic floor. And so you might start to notice like someone who will notice they they have more frequency of urination obviously your bladder squished so that’s going to happen but you can get a tighter pelvic floor you can get pain with sex. Like all that kind of stuff. So trying to relax your pelvic floor, if constipation is becoming an issue for you, I would really consider doing that. Okay, RD, are you sharing the due date? I already said May 3. Already any fear of getting high blood pressure complications? I mean, I’m 37 weeks. So at this point, I would say no, I didn’t have fears going in. But I also like had things come up. And I was I was able to, like, find people to help me with them. And I just really trust my midwife. I feel like I’m surrounded by a great healthcare team. And I think that that helps. So in I mean, my background is women’s health. If I did not have that, I would probably have some fears. But I’ve been really trying to trust my body and trust all the work I’ve done leading up to pregnancy to avoid that, okay, postpartum freezer meals, this is something that I was just talking to my husband about. So we’re hopefully having her in May. It’s already getting hot, where we live in North Carolina. And I’m like, all the postpartum casseroles that you freeze just, they do not sound appetizing to me right now. So I’ve been like having a hard time figuring out like, what the heck am I gonna make, I think I’m gonna make a couple. One thing I found, they’re called Super cubes. And I’ll link those in the show notes. Hopefully, I remember. And they’re like these silicone cubes. And that you, they’re all different sizes. But it’s nice because you can, so what I’m thinking is like, I’ll probably make a couple of casseroles, split them up into the silicone cube so that it’s like a serving. My thing with the casseroles is if I defrost this whole thing, and then I have to commit to eating it. If I don’t want to eat it. I’m gonna hate throwing that food away. So I saw these super cute things. And I was like, this is genius. I that’s what I think I’m going to make a taco casserole and I have like a southwestern casserole that’s like ground beef, butternut squash, black beans, cheese, like tasty veggies and stuff like that. So I’ll probably make those two casseroles. And then like split them up in the Super cubes and freeze them that way. I think I’m gonna also smoke or make a ham. So I made ham this past weekend. I got one from Primal pastures. And it was like half of a ham. So it wasn’t a whole ham, which was kind of nice. It was easy to cook and stuff. So we baked that and I chopped it up. And that’s been like lunches for the week. I’m like, I can eat this postpartum. It’s easy. We could just defrost it not a big deal. And like put it with other things. I normally I don’t mind eating the same thing over and over. I just feel like it’s going to be like hot and I don’t know what I’m going to feel like eating. So Ham, couple of casseroles that all individually put in the super cute thing. So I don’t have to commit to defrosting the whole thing. And I think I’m just going to make a ton of cooked through. I’ve been obsessed with coke fruit lately. I don’t know what the deal is. But I’ve been really loving it. So I think I’m going to make like a berry cobbler, cooked apples, cooked pears, cook peaches, that sort of thing. And just freeze those. And then I can just defrost them quick. So that’s kind of like my plan. Oh, and one other things. So my friend, Lauren, we were best friends in high school. We recently like rekindled our relationship I was like we’re dating. We just like, we went to different colleges. We didn’t, we were like stayed in touch. But like we’re not super close for a long time. And then I don’t even know like a year ago, we just started talking again. Oh, one of our really close friends passed away very tragic. It was really rough on both of us. And we like rekindled and started talking and after that. She’s also pregnant. And we’re only like five weeks apart. So funny. We’re both having girls. It’s like so like, how is this? What are the odds, and she makes this product called smash cake. You probably see me share about it Instagram. It’s like these cake mixes, but you can make muffins with them. You can make cupcakes, it’s like all kinds of cool stuff. But all you do is mix a banana and like milk in. Same thing with the frosting. I mean, you could mix it with whatever they’re meant for little kids. It’s like a healthy alternative to cake and stuff like that for kids. But they’re very easy to like put together and make. So I got a bunch of them. And one thing I’m going to experiment with, I’m going to make them ahead of time at least like the cake part, maybe not the frosting, but the cake part and like I’m going to experiment with adding casein protein to it so that it’s like a really easy snack that I can eat with one hand. And then the frosting, she was telling me how she makes it for her son into like a pudding and that it’s like the best thing ever. So again, I’m going to do the same thing. Take the frosting, mix it with casein, maybe some other mineral rich stuff and make like a mineral pudding. So I’m gonna experiment with those beforehand, but I do plan to have that stuff as well. So that’s kind of my postpartum plan for food right now. I’m sure it will change but it’s like a good time of year to eat lots of fruit and like smoothies and stuff like that. So We’ll see

any unusual condition. No, I’ve had some allergies like I’ve never had them before, but I’ve also never lived in North Carolina. So I did get like some sneezing and stuff, but nothing like too crazy. I do take iodine every day, which helps with histamine, it prevents histidine from turning into histamine. I’m going to do a whole episode and iodine you guys just wait and then I got that humidifier and that definitely helped. Okay, biggest changes I’ve made in the third trimester has nutrition changed at all I kind of talked about this I just like mealtime he has to be like very, very specific so that I don’t wait too long to eat because I can’t eat a ton. I can’t eat a big meals too consistently anymore. I have added in more smoothies. Again, if you follow me, you know, I make mineral smoothies. And they’re delicious. I didn’t want them for a really long time in pregnancy. Like I did have them first trimester. But then like winter and stuff, I was like, I wasn’t really into it. And I’ll link I’ll link the recipe for that in the show notes. But I have added those in those have been just like so helpful, especially for getting more calories in is like I’ve gotten further along. It’s like you just need way more food. And for me, I noticed I don’t sleep as well if I’m not eating enough, which is just like a nightmare. So that has really helped. How uncomfortable is third trimester better or worse than the first. So if you listen to the beginning of this episode, you probably think it’s very uncomfortable. It’s not that bad. I just happen to like, get eczema, pubic symphysis pain and carpal tunnel. Not everyone’s going to experience those things. I would say like, the biggest thing is just adjusting to having such a big belly and like your posture, and stuff. Like that was a huge adjustment. It’s being so mindful, like while I’m lifting, but it’s like fun. It’s fun to have the big belly too. So it’s like a mix. I think it’s more fun in the first trimester. Because first trimester, like, you’re like is anything happening, like I’m tired. And I have to constantly eat into and you’re like barely pregnant and you can’t Well, you can tell people but you’re you know, it’s this societal norm is to not tell anyone to like you get the first trimester. So you’re like holding in this secret. It’s like a whole thing. So I think third trimester is a lot more fun. And I get to meet my baby very soon. Whereas like first trimester, you’re just like, Man, this is gonna take forever. So for me, I think it’s been fun, although it has been a little more uncomfortable.

Okay, what about core temp changes at the onset of labor? Are you taking your temperature, so I deserting my temperature, I’ve used a temp drop. And I’ll link that in the notes. But basically, for the temp drop. It’s just an armband that you wear around your arm, it measures your temperature all night, you could just use a basal body thermometer, mice, I haven’t been as consistent with my sleep schedule. Like, if I can sleep later, I sleep later because I really love sleep right now. So I if I were to have like an hour variance, taking my oral thermometer temperature, it would probably be like up and down all day. The temp drop makes it so they’re more consistent. I have not seen like a ton of changes in my temperature. Yeah, I’m also only 37 weeks. So we’ll see. It’s supposed to be in mammals, your temperature drops before you give you go into labor. So that’s like the benefit of tracking it is that if you see a drop, you can kind of expect labor maybe will start soon. There’s not a ton of scientific research on humans and body temperature, though. So I feel like I’m going to share like what my findings are postpartum. But we’ll see. I’m like very curious to see if it’ll show me anything. Any specific foods for labor, they do talk about dates, right? They said they can eating having like, I think it’s like three to six dates a day can be helpful in preparing for labor. So I am doing dates and I’m going to link my chocolate college and bites recipe in the show notes. That’s how I’m getting them in because they’re delicious. Again, it’s also an easy snack. So I’ve been like so on top of the food and the snacks to make sure I’m eating enough. And so I’ll do the chocolate date balls. I’ve been using casein protein, you can use collagen, whatever you want. And then I’ll have that with milk. And that’s a really great snack and it’s delicious. One ball has about one and a half dates in it for the recipe I’m sharing and so I’ll do two of those a day and get my three dates a day in but that’s really the only thing I’m I’m just trying to eat enough and sleep enough. Okay, how do you keep from gaining too much weight? That has not been my focus? You’re supposed to gain weight during pregnancy. My Honestly, I feel like I’ve had a hard time eating enough during pregnancy and I have consistently gained weight. My first trimester I had lost weight I just could not keep up food wise with my metabolism. It just was not happening. And it was hard so I was eating such small meals. I was like This is torture to get enough calories and so after that scared me so after that I was like really trying as hard as I could to make sure I was consistently gaining weight. I think it’s just like if you’re eating real Whole Foods. That’s that should be the main focus and just eating enough and looking at your other symptoms, like, are you sleeping? Well, because you could be I mean, I guess you could be gaining weight and not sleeping well and actually be under eating. But I feel like it would be difficult to gain too much weight during pregnancy. If you’re eating like real Whole Foods, and trying to like time, those things, that being said, everyone is different. And like, you might not be able to eat as much and you’re still gaining a significant amount of weight. I think just trust that your body is trying to grow a life and carry everything through. I mean, you’re You’re burning up so many minerals, you’re using so many nutrient stores when pregnant, and you’re in a stressful state your body’s working on for nine months, and then postpartum, it’s even working even harder if you’re breastfeeding. Or even if you’re not breastfeeding, you burn even more nutrients postpartum. So I just have not really focused on that. Honestly, if anything, I’ve been trying to make sure I’m consistently gaining. Um, and so it was my midwife, which has been nice. What do you do for swelling, water retention? I haven’t really had any water retention I did, I would say probably like, there since like 3536 weeks, I noticed a little bit of swelling in my feet. By the end of the day, like if I’m running around a lot, I realized I need to increase my journal cocktails again, if you can, believe it or not. I just like didn’t think I could drink this many journal cocktails. But that helped and then doing more inversions. So one thing, it’s called the Three Sisters from spinning babies, one of the movements is an inversion. They’re all meant to help with baby positioning. I also have been doing the spinning babies pretty much every day, same thing that I did talked about last podcast, so they have like one of them’s an inversion. So I’ve been trying to do like more inversions. And I’ll put my feet up the wall, that sort of thing. But honestly adding in more adrenal cocktails, like I added another one, my friend Robin, she started a it’s like a mineral powder company, it’s called rady. I’ll put the link in the show notes. She makes us powder. It’s super simple, high potassium, I just add a little bit of sea salt to it. And that’s like another adrenal cocktail. So I’ve been making my Limeade adrenal cocktails because I’m still obsessed with them. And then I’ll do one and a half tablespoons of the ravey powder with about a quarter teaspoon of sea salt. On top of that, I’ve also been like working out outside, and it’s starting to get warm here in North Carolina. So I feel like I’ve been sweating a little bit more. So that could be I probably need more sodium. That’s what I’ve done. But I really haven’t had a ton of swelling. Thank God. Are you tired all the time, any tips for pregnant student mama. So if I’m getting enough sleep, and I’m eating enough, I feel great. It’s when I’m not prioritizing those things. Or if like, I mean, life happens, like I had a bunch of family here for my baby shower. Last weekend, I traveled to Myrtle Beach to hang out with one of my friends. It was like, I did not get enough sleep for like four nights in a row, I it was hard to stay on top of eating because I was tired. So those are the times where I’m like I have got to slow down and just do the basics. And I think it’s really tempting to want to skip that kind of stuff. But no matter what it’s like no matter what season of my healing journey I’m in if I’m pregnant, if I’m trying to conceive, I’m sure it’s gonna be the same when I’m postpartum. Or when I came off birth control 10 years ago, or when I was struggling with my thyroid health after the copper Id like, it doesn’t matter what season I’m in, it’s always going to be are you sleeping enough? Are you doing too much? Are you too stressed out? And are you eating enough? And if I work on those things, then I for the most part feel really good. And a lot of it’s just been like saying no, which has been just challenging for me. I want to help everyone that I possibly can I want to be there for all my friends and family help other practitioners, that sort of thing. But it’s just gotten to the point where I’m like, I can’t I, I don’t have enough hours in the day. And I just really want to enjoy these last few weeks. If you’re a student mom, and you’re pregnant, I’m really trying to say no only to the essentials. And I just communicated it and just said like, Hey, I just don’t have the bandwidth right now. Like I’m sorry, like, into reminding people that you’re pregnant. I think people just forget everyone has so much going on. They have their own stuff, their own stressors, they could easily just forget and be like reaching out to you and ask you for things where if they had remembered like, oh my gosh, she’s 37 weeks pregnant. I should not be texting her about this. And as soon as you say it, they’re like, oh my god, I’m so sorry. Like, I didn’t mean like just go relax or whatever. And they’re like, so it’s it’s hard because it requires communication and putting boundaries up. But I think if you can just explain like listen, I would love to do help you with XYZ or maybe you wouldn’t, you can tell him that too. But putting those boundaries up and trying to reserve more space for yourself because it’s like you it sounds like you have a lot going on with being a student and being pregnant. That’s a lot. So just Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself and focus on those minimums, those foundations, I just don’t think you’ll ever go wrong with that.

Did I do the traditional glucose test I did, I tracked my blood sugar for three days and did a food journal. And then I, that’s what I gave to my midwife. So I did not have to do the glucose test. Are you doing the other required testing, so I did anything that’s required for a hospital. The main reason I chose to do that, even though we’re having a home birth is because I wanted to make sure that if I have to transfer, all the testing is done, especially for something like Group B strep. I did that test today. And I didn’t get the results back yet. But basically, for Group B strep, if you don’t, if you decline the test, which you don’t have to do for a homebirth, depending on your provider, but I would say most of them are not going to force you to do it, then it but you say I had to transfer to the hospital for an emergency. Then if I had, if I don’t have a test result they base, a lot of hospitals assume you’re positive. And so then if I had to get a C section or something, or if I was let’s say I needed an epidural, like I just needed to rest, and then I was going to try to do a vaginal birth. They would some will require antibiotics during that time. So that’s why I ended up doing all of them. Okay, last couple ones, how active are you? I’m still working out three to four days a week, my weights have come way down. And I just listen to my body. And I don’t if I don’t feel like working out I just do spinning babies and I call it a day. But I feel better when I’m more active for sure. And I work this bin babies daily essentials into my warmup. So basically if I if I do this debating babies daily essentials, and I’m like, I don’t feel like working out now. I just don’t force it. But my workouts are not like that hard right now. And they’re not super intense. So it’s nothing that I that would stress my body out too much. Now it’s just more of like, Would I rather sleep or would I rather work out if my schedule is really busy that day? So it just depends on like, did I go to bed early enough that sort of thing. Best maternity clothing brand new found what? Okay, they’re asking for leggings, leggings, sports bras, and then dresses. Okay, so kindred bravely is an amazing maternity brand. And I have loved their leggings. They go all the way above the belly. I really like that. And they make shorts to like the biker shorts. So I love those I love their sports bras. They’re like they’re nice, because you can wear them now but they’re also like can be nursing sports bras for later. And then their pajamas. They have like bamboo pajamas that are so soft. I got some like regular like longer ones for winter time when, like around Christmas when it was like colder here. And I recently got some night gowns that are also like for nursing too, because I was like, I want to be comfortable. But I also want to like like when I’m wearing postpartum in things with easy access because like I’m just wearing like big T shirts all the time. Like just not as convenient. So these have like a little on the night gown is like a clips on and it can easily clip off for breastfeeding. What else do I like fairs. Those are like the biggest things I’ve tried. I also got some really great sports bras from pink blush. And then dresses. So like my dress from my baby showers from there. I got a couple of other cute dresses from there. Like it just been great for the big bump. And then what else did I like? Oh, I got some tank tops for them. Like very stretchy tank tops that are just like kind of like neutrals like basics. I was trying to get things where I’m like I want to be comfortable. Now it’s getting warmer out and most of my maternity clothes are for winter. I also want things that I could wear postpartum because that’s the thing a lot of people were like don’t get maternity clothes. Like, you’ll only wear them for this long. I’m like what about what about after you right after you have the baby like, I’m not going to be wearing my regular clothes right away. That was something that I put some thought into. They have really comfortable shorts from pink blush to they’re more of like around the house kind of shorts. Like they’re like sweat pant material with the shorts and they go above the belly. So I would those are the two places that I’ve liked the most. I got some stuff from motherhood, maternity, but it just like, didn’t last super long. Like I feel like I like wore them or like already wore them out. And they had I got underwear from pink blush two, I believe. Yeah. And those were great. So those are the two brands I recommend. I do have a coupon code for kindred bravely. I’ll put it in the show notes. It’s just hormone healing rd. But their stuff is like very high quality. It’s more expensive, but it’s like everything I’ve just worn a million times and you can’t tell which is really nice. And I feel like those leggings are gonna last me forever. And that’s one thing like I wanted leggings, it went over the belly. They’re not too tight because that’s important for your pelvic floor health, especially postpartum. So, those were kind of like all things I was taken into consideration. So, that is my very long third. third trimester kind of like update I will do another update postpartum where I will talk about how I’ll share my birth story. I have a breastfeeding episode. That’s going to come out season three, the podcast, we’ll take a break while I’m on maternity leave for a couple months, but then we’ll resume and we’ll have lots of great content for you guys. We still have a few more episodes this season. We’re not wrapping up yet. But I have a great one coming out on dental health. I have a strength training one coming out that a lot of you have requested. And then I have my iodine episode, where I’m gonna go all into iodine, what it is the history, how we used to use iodine deficiencies, all that kind of stuff, something I’ve gotten a lot of questions about. So I’m excited to share that with all of you but I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know tag me on Instagram at hormone healing rd. Share the episode your stories. I love to know what your biggest takeaway was. And I will see you in the next episode. Thank you for listening to the RU menstrual podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider leaving us a review and sharing the podcast with someone you think it will help. If you are new here, we can’t recommend enough to start with our mineral imbalance quiz. This is going to give you an idea if you are at low, moderate or high risk for mineral imbalances. And then of course, make sure you follow us on Instagram at hormone healing rd. 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