I am currently pregnant with my 9th baby and I wanted to share some tried and true things that have helped me in pregnancy.
Having four girls, I am really looking forward to when they meet their future husbands and begin their familes one day. I hope I am here to be a dictionary for them so they don’t have to struggle as much as I did when I began having children.
Having been through so many pregnancies and miscarriages, I have learned a lot and it’s the best education I always wanted.
I am not a doctor or nurse or medical professional, I am just a mom of 8, almost 9 who has become very passionate about having healthy pregnancies and babies and helping other women do the same by simply sharing my stories.
In the age of google, there is so much information at our finertips and the best thing about this era of YouTube is alot of medical professionals are taking their practice to YouTube to teach outside of the industry. I have learned so much from these medically trained doctors and nurses who have decided to take their education and look at healthcare from a natural/food/lifestyle point of view and share it with the rest of us.
I digress, today I am going to share ten things that I simply cannot do without when I am pregnant. They have made all the difference in my energy, health, recover my and mental health compared to my eariler experiences going through this.
Ten things that help me in pregnancy:
1. Compression Socks:
I actually had my family doctor suggest this to me when I was dealing with blood clots and swelling in my 5th pregnancy. I didn’t want to take blood thinners or need surgery one day so I went home to read about what I could do.
Besides rubbing magnesium and grounding (walking outside barefoot to thin blood and lower inflammation) each day, compression socks became a life saver. I was hesitant to try them, and today I’m not sure why because I can’t live without them! Even when I’m not pregnant!
I even have my girls wear them when they’re lifting heavy things like firewood. I wear them when I’m lifting logs for firewood too or in general lifting or doing heavy homestead work. Compression socks push the blood back up to the heart, putting less work on the heart. Even if I’m not going to be on my feet a lot I still put compression socks on. I have more conistent energy and at days end my legs do not ache at all.
I started getting vericose viens when I was running in college and I just accepted that I would continuet to get them as I got older and had children, but using compresssion socks has really kept them at bay. I honestly think my legs look great for having carried 8 babies and I have some pretty significant swelling and a few blood clots in each leg. Compression socks (along with other things like diet, yoga, magnesium and using essnetial oils like helichrysum), I am sure have kept my legs in great condition and I will wear them until I die. HAHA, ok, please, get compression socks, if you’re a woman, even if you’re not pregnant, wear them when you work out, walk, run, lift weights or you’re doing a lot of work on your feet, they make all the difference in blood circulation, energy and keeping our bodies in tip top shape for what we were made to do.
I try to source natural materials as much as possible to avoid microplastics, you can find compression socks made from wool, cotton and linen.
2. Beef Liver Supplement:
I buy mine from a ranch in Alberta here called Gemstone Meat. I am not affiliated with them, I just love their company. We buy broth and tallow from them. I also buy a mixed organ supplement from them and I have felt the best taking their desiccated beef liver.
I am typically low in iron, but especially so when I’m pregnant. For one pregnancy I was so low they wanted to do an infusion, and I remember feeling so weak, I would fall exaustedly onto the sofa after I put my kids down for naps and then barely be able to get back up. It affected my ability to keep comittments outside the home and even keep up my responsibilities inside the home. In general, I love being a homemaker, cooking from scratch and homeschooling and reading to my kids. It’s all I ever wanted to do, but that period with low iron was near torture and anytime a pregnant mama tells me how tired she is I immediately tell her about beef liver.
Not only is liver full of bioavailable iron, but also all of those B vitamins our body desperately needs, especially during pregnancy.
Besides getting blood work to check ferritin stores and B vitamins, I would just get a beef liver supplement preemptively. I have so much more steady energy now and it clears my depression.
3. Topical Magnesium:
I use a magnesium spray from Activation Products. I am not affiliated with them, I have just tried a lot of topical magnesium sprays and this is by far the best. It’s so gentle that I use it on my babies to help them with sleep.
Pregnancy, while beautiful and exciting, can get uncomfortable as our baby grows. Using this on heavy sore pregnant legs, lower back especially, and even on the abdomen helps with realxation sleep and even the dreaded pregnancy constipation. Magnesium also helps to relax the body to manage pain during labor.
4. Loose Cotton Dresses:
I try to buy cotton and not polyester to avoid microplastics. Plus, I find cotton washes better and doesn’t hold onto to smells because the bacteria can’t build up in the material the way it does in plastic derived fabrics.
Loose cotton dresses are perfect for all year, in winter add a pair of cotton pregnancy leggings and boots for going out (I have found organic cotton leggings at H&M online for a reasonable price).
Cotton dresses are perfect for hot summer days and walking barefoot to get your grounding in. I just can’t tolerate pregnancy jeans/pants, goodness know I have tried, but I cannot handle anything tight around my growing belly, the sensation is just too much. So I live in cotton dresses.
I have about four that I rotate through and for my sleevelss dresses if I’m going out and feel I need more cover I just put on a linen button up blouse and tie it above my belly for a nice finished fitted look. If it’s summer I just wear slip on sandals, and like I said if it’s cold/winter, I just add pregnancy leggings and boots. The dresses are then useful for postpartum and I try to buy ones I can easily pull down or button down to breastfeed in.
Old Navy, H&M and PACT are great places to find reasonably priced cotton dresses. PACT is a little more expensive with organic cotton but most of their dresses have built in bras making them comfortable and convenient. They wash and wear well.
5. Electrolytes and Peppermint tea:
I am very sick for my first trimester. Typically I am so sick I have to cancel pretty much everything outside of my home for that time, I struggle to even get into my midwife appoinments and because I have had so many babies with them at this point and have a healthy record so far, they will wait to see me until I’m feeling better in my second trimester.
This 9th time I discovered electrolytes and cold sweet peppermint tea. Every few days I brew a strong pepermint tea and sweeten with organic sugar, once cooled, I store it in my fridge.
When I want to use it I fill a quart jar with ice and a sprinkle of electrolytes, then fill halfway with conentrated tea and the rest of the way with water. Sipping on this immediately calms my nausea and discomfort. I think the salt and minerals helps with my heart palpitations and enegery too.
I use a recipe from the company LMNT. It is basically Redmond Salt, Potassium Chloride and Magnesium Malate. The magnesium malate is different than other magnesium forms becuase its for energy and it is a game changer in this recipe.
Electrolyte Recipe:
75 grams Redmond Salt or Sea Salt
11.5 grams of potassium chloride
11.7 grams of magnesium malate
Weigh each ingredient into a jar and shake well. You can easily double, tripple and quadrupole this recipe to make more at a time. I just sprinkle a little in my drink a few times a day but on the LMNT website the serving size is 3.3 grams. I source all of my ingredients in bulk on Amazon.
6. Exercise ball:
I have used the same exercise ball for over 15 years and it is a lifesaver. Oddly, I don’t really use it in labor, I find it to be more helpful in pregnancy leading up to labor in opening my hips and loosening my joints.
I will sit on the ball and spread my legs a bit, this sounds bad haha, and then move my hips in a circular motion. Just look up YouTube videos of women demonstrating this. Moving in a circle opens up and loosens your hips.
I have read women swear by doing squats and building up the muscles for a fast labor, but for me this just gives me tight muscles and a more painful labor. Loosen is KEY for me and an exersice ball is perfect for it. Watch your favorite show, listen to a podcast, read to your kids if you homeschool and just sit on that ball, it will also be instinctive as you sit on it and you’ll find yourself moving around and into it naturally as you prepare for labor.
7. Nursing Pillow:
This is so necessary for once you have the baby, nursing pillows save my back big time and I have used the same one for 16 years. But it is extremely useful in pregnancy too.
Being a minimalist and enjoying space and non clutter, I’ve never invested in a body pillow. Ironically with each baby I would declare to my husband that, “this is our last baby” so I didn’t want to invest in too much anyway ha ha. But really I try to choose natural materials and things I can easily wash and keep clean. A body pillow just seems cluttery and like at some point I’ll want to stuff it out of sight and I don’t have much in the way of storage. But a nursing pillow, it serves multiple purposes. As I get into my third trimester I find it extremely helpful to sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs to take pressure off my hips and lower back and align my heavy body. I do this with my nursing pillow. It’s helpful too to have a couple of nursing pillows covers so you can just remove the cover and wash and when that cover is washing have a fresh cover to put on.
I choose covers that match my bedding so it looks like it belongs and doesn’t distract my adhd brain. I use my nursing pillow as an extra pillow to prop myself up in bed too when I’m reading or watching a movie. In general, it’s just great to have for supporting your pregnant body in bed and then supporting your baby and saving your back so you can nurse your baby comfortably.
8. Really Good Multivitamin
This makes all the different in mood, energy, your health and your baby’s health. Especially finding one with a bioavailable form of folic acid. I take everydea vitamins. They have a prenatal, nursing and mood and stress multi. It’s night and day when I take their supplements regularly.
I am affiliated with them and you can use my code: WILDWOODSANDHOMESTEAD for 15% off.
9. Probiotic with L. Reuteri:
This is the “happy” bacteria. When I’m not pregnant I don’t bother with a probiotic, rather I eat in a way to support my gut microbiome. But I find a probiotic is the best way to help with constipation in pregnancy as well populating my body with good bacteria to help with possible infection prior to birth and be sure my baby has a flood of good bacteria.
Eating a lot of fiber isn’t actually that good for us and cause more problems than solve them. But a good probiotic aids better in keeping me regular than eating lots of fiber ever did. I use the brand Jamieson and just buy it at Costco.
10. Yoga:
Yoga or stretching is a nice slow way to open up hips, stretch out a sore back and neck muscles and in general keep your fascia loose and comfortable which is going to help with over all pain.
I did yoga regularly with my last baby and I had a relaxed peaceful painfree birth. I did other things to prepare and you can read about that here. But the yoga made all the difference in stiffness and pain and strength.
I love the YouTube channel Pregnancy and Postpartum TV . Every one of her work outs and videos are immensely helpful in pre and post pregnancy.
Those are 10 things that I do and can’t go without. They make all the difference in my physical, mental health, labor and delivery and postpartum healing.
I hope you find something useful in this list as you navigate your own unique journey of pregnancy.
Warmest Blessings,
Ashley
