In May 2021, I found that I was pregnant, and in February 2022, I gave birth to my first daughter. As we approach my daughter’s first birth, I wanted to create a 4 part podcast series sharing my pregnancy journey, my birth story, what postpartum was like, and my reflections on one year of motherhood. This week on the podcast I am sharing part 1, talking all about pregnancy. In this episode, I talk about pre-pregnancy and conscious conception, what each trimester of pregnancy was like for me, including how I felt and what I experienced, as well as some of the most helpful resources that I used in my pregnancy and more. Enjoy!
Discussed in this Episode:
- Conscious conception and preparing for pregnancy
- Listening to podcasts and reading books
- Free Birth Society
- Spirit Babies by Walter Makichen
- The Better Baby Book by Lana & Dave Asprey
- Physically preparing through exercise, diet, no alcohol, complete physical
- Premom ovulation strips to match ovulation with my cycle tracking app
- Listening to podcasts and reading books
- Finding out that we were pregnant
- What happens next?
- Shifting exercise and food
- Finding a doctor to confirm the pregnancy
- Researching where and who we wanted to birth with
- Finding a birthing center and a midwife that I was comfortable with
- First trimester
- Very tired
- Lots of nausea and food aversions
- Couldn’t eat very much
- Gagging a lot
- Flew from Mexico to Canada right at the transition between the first and second trimester – traveling during the second trimester was great!
- Second trimester
- Felt the best – energy returned and nausea went away
- Pubic bone pain that was only relieved through chiropractic adjustments, but other than that I felt great!
- We got a 20 week anatomy scan and also found out the sex of the baby
- I loved 22-32 weeks the most because I was showing but still felt quite good
- We traveled back to Mexico via car when I was 24 weeks
- My last travels were right around 32 weeks and I was ready to nest
- Third Trimester
- Felt very big and uncomfortable
- Pubic bone pain continued
- Got a lot more tired
- Craved beef and heartier foods
- Did weekly prenatal yoga
- Heartburn and couldn’t eat very much – started feeling pretty over it by the end
- Had my last ultrasound at 40 weeks on Jan 31st
- After we did our residency renewal, I was emotionally and mentally ready for the baby to come
- Opted out of most tests, except for ultrasounds and routine bloodwork
- At 37 weeks I was cleared for a homebirth
- Resources:
- Ina May’s a Guide to Childbirth
- Yoga Mama, Yoga Baby
- The Fourth Trimester
- Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering
- Birthing from Within
- The First 40 Days
- And more… Listen here!
2021 Year in Review