This is my FOURTH pregnancy in the last 10 years! Yowzas! I seriously never would have thought I’d be pregnant 4 times in my life. I always talked about having 2 of my own children and then adopting 2, but God had other plans… of which I know His plans are always better than mine. So… roll with the punches!
From the very beginning I KNEW this pregnancy was different. I can’t really explain it, but I could just feel it. I knew God wanted to teach me a MULTITUDE of things and to be honest, it was a little overwhelming thinking about that and I just wanted to turn my brain off. (Which I did for a little while). This pregnancy has been a journey of trusting the Lord in knowing that He knows best… He has the best timing, He knows I can handle being a mom of 4 (which I seriously doubt often), He knows what is in my heart and He knows how to push me just enough to make me uncomfortable, but to make decisions that I know are right for me, my family and this little unborn baby girl. But also, He knows how I should best take care of my body… and I have found many natural things that HE has provided on this earth are the very things that have made this pregnancy so much better.
I could continue talking about my faith journey but I know that I’ll come back to it again sometime. The topic for today is about Pregnancy Symptoms… are they just “a part” of being pregnant or could your body be telling you something else?
With my first 3 pregnancies I would say I had moderate nausea up until the normal 12 weeks or so, I also had what I believed to be SEVERE restless leg syndrome, a few too many leg cramps, very low blood pressure, and trouble sleeping. I WISH I had known then what I know now… not all of these symptoms are “normal” and just a part of pregnancy. With this pregnancy #4 I began to do much more research on each subject and guess what… I had mild nausea (not moderate), I have only had ONE leg and foot cramp, and 2 very short times with restless legs. However, I did battle SEVERE exhaustion and SEVERE insomnia but I found some simple solutions for those as well.
What changed? This time around I wanted to know WHY everything was happening to me and if there was something I could do about it. I began to dive myself into research-aholic land and thus spent who-know-how-many countless hours of reading, comparing, reading testimonies, studies, blogs, etc… So… here’s what worked for me:
Morning Sickness/Nausea/Queasiness: Essentially there’s 2 main reasons I found for morning sickness. One is due to a woman’s hormones going bonkers in the beginning of pregnancy. (Some of this is normal, but also, if our bodies are lacking nourishment or have an abundance of toxins, the hormones can be even MORE out of whack than they should be). The 2nd reason is that our bodies may be lacking vital nutrients… vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc… A few things I found to be SUPER important were Magnesium & minerals. I began taking this magnesium supplement in the morning, Magnesium Calm in the evenings, and Mineral Essence by Young Living. During the first few months I also took Young Living’s PD 80/20 which supports the endocrine system (aka “hormone” system”).
Leg Cramps & Restless Legs: What’s interesting is that a deficiency in Magnesium, Calcium, and Potassium can lead to this… so, guess what happened when I started taking magnesium for morning sickness? Yup, my legs have been just fine. And what’s a little embarrassing to admit is why I think I have had restless legs a few times. Let’s just say sometimes I have a hard time controlling my urge for chocolate and ice cream. I can’t prove it… but I’m guessing the sugar rush had something to do with it.
Severe Exhaustion: For obvious reasons it’s reasonable to be tired and need extra rest during pregnancy… they say the energy it takes your body to create a baby is likened to the energy you would need to climb a mountain. How truthful that is I’m not sure… but sometimes it sure feels like I’ve climbed a mountain! Before I was pregnant, my nature-path doctor let me know that I was border-line anemic and had me start taking Iron. She told me once my Iron leveled out, my body should maintain it. Well, it leveled out, I stopped taking iron, and my levels plummeted again. So, I got back on iron. When I got pregnant for some reason I worried about taking too much iron (which I wasn’t), but I wanted to be careful, so I got off of it and guess what… severe exhaustion started setting in which is common with an iron deficiency. So, I began to take 1 capsule every 2-3 days, and I just had a pregnancy appt and guess what… she said my iron levels are amazing and actually better than most pregnancy women at this point! woo hoo!
Insomnia: Honestly I’m not going to say much here except this worked almost immediately for my 3 year old daughter AND myself… Tart Cherry Juice. Who would have known? Check out Mama Natural’s link! I also started using 1-2 drops of Young Living’s Cedarwood Essential Oil. I put 2 drops in my hand, spread it on my hairline and next and take in a couple of very deep breaths.
I have also had very low blood pressure with all my pregnancies, but it was THIS pregnancy that it affected me the most and I would feel faint or dizzy. My midwife suggested extra salty food… chinese food or things like pickles. But honestly… that didn’t sound good to me and chinese food has so many icky ingredients. But then I found THIS remedy from Wellness Mama for Sole made out of himalayan salt. I went from needing to check my blood pressure almost daily to once every 1-2 weeks. Crazy!
I’m taking a lot of things this pregnancy… this is likely the MOST important time in a baby’s life to make sure it is nourished completely… her BRAIN is being formed for crying out loud! Here’s everything I’m taking this pregnancy… its a lot, but I believe it’s totally worth it:
- Salt Water Sole
- Omega w/ A&D
- Probiotic
- Magnesium Chelate and Magnesium Calm
- Garden of Life Organic Prenatal
- Rutin (for varicose veins and hemorrhoids)
- Tart Cherry juice morning & night
- Iron
- Biotin
- Young Living products: Ningxia Red, Mineral Essence, Super C, Super B, Comfortone. (PD 80/20 for the first 15 weeks).
- Chiropractor: Although it’s not a supplement… this has been a game changer for me too! First time having chiropractic work done during a pregnancy.
That’s all for now! I am seriously so thankful for this opportunity to be pregnant again and be able to see God’s goodness in all that HE has so graciously provided. It saddens me now to think that so often we go first to man-made remedies thinking that Man has the best answer to health problems. God KNEW and still KNOWS what our bodies need… His nourishment is top-notch and designed specifically for us. I think it’s time to get back to trusting the Lord FIRST with our health…
If you have any questions please let me know. Thanks for reading!
Love,
Sarah
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