celebrating 21 weeks pregnant with my 4th baby!

Me barefoot in Emme.Mama’s linen Juliet dress in Honey, holding our kitten Arnica on the north side of our homestead. (Use code EDAE15 on Juliette Dress in Honey - Final Sale – EMME (emmemama.com) for 15% off! This is an affiliate link.)

Celebrating 21 weeks with baby number 4!

Things I am grateful for this pregnancy:

1. Having my BEST first trimester ever!

Was it still hard? Yes. All the emotions of “Am I really pregnant? Was this a good idea? Will I have a comfortable place to birth my baby in?” can be exhausting.

At first, I craved the foods I ate for my last 3 pregnancies. But I made a commitment 3 years ago, and the Lord sustained me by making those foods unappealing to me when they are actually in front of my eyes. Then he sent me to an herbal school that focused strongly on nutrition, so I knew how to sustain my commitment. That emotional struggle ended after a couple of weeks.

I couldn’t stand the smell of the litter box (our cat had kittens when I was 4 weeks along), the smell of the sewage wafting up from the trailer bathroom, my husband’s stinky socks … Hurray, pregnancy super-nose!

I had some mild food aversions. Considering in past pregnancies that I couldn’t even eat greens for the first 5 months, I ate well this time. But I wanted to do better.

So I got my butt in gear. I created solutions to remove the smells. I got consistent with drinking my herbal prenatal tea and my probiotic ginger lemonade. I walked and exercised more.

The aversions went away.

What little nausea I had here or there disappeared.

My energy improved.

And this was all while I was in the final stages of writing my Thesis for and attending the final 1-week seminar for my Masters in Herbology. (Yeah, smart timing, right? )

This first trimester was FAR better than my past 3 pregnancies, where the food aversions were extremely strong and I felt yucky and and nauseous and exhausted for 18 weeks.

2. I haven’t DESPERATELY needed A physical therapist or chiropractor

Don’t get me wrong, a good pelvic floor physical therapist, Webster-certified chiropractor, and prenatal massage therapist, are worth their weight in gold a hundred times over (reach out if you need help finding one in Utah).

But let me tell you what past pregnancies were like: Due to what I now understand to be an inherited and/or autoimmune connective tissue weakness that led to muscle spasms, pain, and imbalances even before I was ever pregnant, the normal loosening of joints and ligaments in pregnancy created a very painful situation for me.

Towards the end of my first pregnancy - for the last 6 weeks - I could barely walk. Even with a chiropractor’s help.

For my second pregnancy, this same symphysis pubis dysfunction showed up before the first trimester was even over. I saw a pelvic floor physical therapist and chiropractor throughout that pregnancy. It was exhausting getting to appointments with a toddler in tow, but I did that and diligently worked with a physical trainer at a local gym 3 times a week.

For my third pregnancy, the same thing happened even SOONER. So I got on my PT exercises and saw a chiropractor throughout my pregnancy (whom I am very grateful for). But I still had to ice my hips every day (sometimes I did this by putting on snow pants and sitting in the snow while my kids played!) and be very careful how I exercised, sat, slept, etc.

For this pregnancy, because I took the time to understand my body better and feed it what it needs (in wholesome food and herbal nutrition) to build stronger connective tissues and calm down the auto-immunity AND nervous system imbalances, I have not experienced the SPD!

Occasionally when I get up to empty my bladder in the middle of the night - as I’m awkwardly climbing out of my goofy slide-out trailer bed - I’ll feel about a split second of soreness in my hips. And then it is gone. And I’m over half-way through my pregnancy! I can sit and exercise in whatever way feels good to me without setting off a painful chain of events requiring outside expert manual assistance!

So you can bet I’m going to keep supporting my bones, tissues, and ligaments with healthy foods and movement. Probably even more as I progress in this pregnancy as the nutritional needs for baby to build his or her own tissues will become higher.

Again, I highly recommend Pelvic Floor Physical Therapists and Webster-Certified Chiropractors and Prenatal Massage Therapists who specialize in working with pregnant and postpartum women. They are wonderful. But a truly wonderful combination is to also learn how to DEEPLY NOURISH your body so that their therapies work extra well, and you’re not needing to drive all over town multiple days a week just to be able to walk.

3. Having Confidence in How to naturally Manage any Issues that Do Come Up

I occasionally strain a muscle working on my farm. I’ll geta headache or a migraine. Every once in a while I get a little heartburn. Pregnancy has brought extra sensitivity to the pollen in the air this summer - I don’t normally have seasonal allergies. I’ve had congestion as a cold passes through the house. There are these terrible harvester ants that inject formic acid into my skin when they bite, all over my property. I’ll accidentally cut myself or get a burn while cooking.

With all of these challenges, I know exactly which herbs or foods to use to naturally and safely overcome the issue, rather than use pharmaceutical “band-aid” methods which just drive the problem deeper without solving it. All of these issues become fleeting and just a chance for me to slow down and take better care of myself.

I would love to help you have this kind of confidence

Here is the link to my online classes where I teach basic herbal skills and DIY remedies that every mama needs to know!

If you would like to join a community where you can ask questions and discuss naturally preparing the body for pregnancy, resolving infertility, managing pregnancy concerns, herbs to have on hand for birth, and preparing for a healthy and more comfortable postpartum period, I invite you to join me here: The Herb-Powered Pregnancy: Herbs, Nutrition, & Lifestyle Group | Facebook

If you are ready for private coaching, wherever you are on your childbearing or pre-childbearing journey, you can view my coaching packages here.

Have a glorious day, beautiful Mama!