An Integrated Approach to Pregnancy Wellness

Wellness: Being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate intention.

Integrated: Achieving a harmonious interrelated whole by coordinating separate elements.

Pregnancy Wellness: A Time for Self-care

Pregnancy is a time for self-care, and the synergistic combination of basic wellness factors may prove more effective for healing our pregnant mothers-to-be and their unborn children. There are three unsettling trends in our modern world of baby-making.

Infertility

First, many couples cannot get pregnant. Infertility is defined as the inability of a couple to conceive after having tried to conceive for over a year.
The rate of infertility in the United States is one in eight, according to “Reduce Fertility Chemicals” on WebMD. In other modern countries, such as the UK and Canada, the numbers are now even worse. According to the BBC article “Time Bomb Infertility Warning”, the figure in the UK is one in seven, and assisted reproduction in Canada is one in six. And rates are steadily increasing everywhere, as is the recognition of the challenges associated with assisted reproductive technology (ART).

Surgery

Second, if a woman is able to become pregnant. There is a high likelihood that her delivery will be accompanied by medication or surgery. One in three women will have a minor surgery called an episiotomy, and another third will have a major surgery called a caesarean section. Most will be given various medications.

Developmental Disorder

Thirdly, after climbing to the top of conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and then childbirth, there is a great risk that the child will quickly succumb to developmental disorders and diseases. Autism, ADHD, asthma, obesity, diabetes and cancer have all increased over the past few decades. These facts drive evolution. How long will humanity be able to withstand the growing trends of infertility, difficulty in childbirth and childhood illnesses?

Causes of Infertility

Parental Food Choices and Drug Use

Science increasingly proves that these conditions are a combination of multiple factors of stress, environmental factors, and personal health choices. There is growing evidence of preventive and comprehensive methods. The causes of infertility and childhood illnesses highlight prenatal food choices, drug use, toxic household foods, and perinatal stress.
For example, on 10 May 2012, the European Environment Agency titled Hormone Disrupting Chemicals, also known as Endocrine Disruptors (EDCs), may be a contributing factor to significant increases in cancer, diabetes and obesity, and reduced fertility. And an increase in neurodevelopmental problems in both humans and animals, according to a recent scientific literature review commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA). ” The EEA says these chemicals can be found in “food, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, household products, and cosmetics.”
Another example is an infertility fact sheet published by the Population Administration (OPA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services, which answers the question “What makes you less likely to get pregnant?”.
A 2004 National Cancer Institute (NCI) fact sheet specifically discusses when exposures may be most important: “… the health status of the parents during pregnancy or before conception; Maternal nutrition during pregnancy … ”In words, major government agencies around the world have already established that infertility and childhood illnesses can be a consequence of pre- and perinatal conditions and the choices that parents make before and during pregnancy.

The Solution

And the solution lies in stress, nutrition, environmental toxins and maternal health in general, four “drugs” that are difficult to bottle and sell. The highlight is that these areas make up a very useful list of wellness approaches that can be started right away and at a low cost.
Adopting stress-relieving techniques, reducing household toxins, maintaining good dehydration, eating natural foods, and exercising daily are important steps any pregnant woman can take immediately. The most important step may be to find a way to reduce stress and actively convert negative emotions into genuine positive emotions.

Positive Emotions

“Positive mother emotions have been shown to improve the health of the unborn baby,” said Thomas Verney, MD, author of “Parenting from Conception to Childbirth.” Dr. Verney is the founder of the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) and the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal, and is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on prenatal psychology. He continued:

… the idea of ​​making a developing child feel happy or calm can lay the foundation for a balanced, happy and peaceful attitude throughout their lives.

While there are many techniques, from visualization to meditation to prayer, finding the one that works for you is key. Choosing home products and natural cleansers is another big step towards your wellness during pregnancy.

Environmental Toxins

Many people don’t realize that most of the dangerous environmental toxins are usually the ones they bring into their homes. Drinking water and shower / bath water filters. When buying soaps, shampoos, deodorants, toothpastes, lotions, household cleaners and cleaners, sunscreen and insect sprays, look at the ingredients and don’t buy them if you can’t pronounce the ingredient or don’t know what the ingredient is. Pay special attention to cosmetics and air fresheners.
At the moment, natural alternatives are so plentiful that it is relatively easy to exchange products.
Do not apply pest / fertilizer control products on a lawn you might want to cross or otherwise enjoy.
Drinking water is the first nutritional component to consider for most pregnant women, as most are significantly dehydrated prior to conception. After becoming pregnant, the developing fetus has a tremendous need for water.
F. Batmanghelidj, MD, (“Dr. B.”) is an internationally renowned researcher, author and advocate of the natural healing power of water. In some parts of her book, Your Body’s Multiple Calls for Water and Water for Health, for Healing, for Life, she talks about pregnancy:

By the time she is a full-term baby, there will be about a trillion cell divisions.

“Every time a cell produces a daughter cell, 75% or more of its volume must be filled with water. In short, growth depends on the availability of water. ” The importance of water in a pregnant woman’s body is further emphasized when considering the following idle talk: “The solution to pollution is dilution.” Water is needed for the daily removal of cellular (and other) toxins from the expectant mother and baby. 

Food Choices

Then there are the foods that we eat. Simply put, it seems sensible to choose “intact” natural, unprocessed foods that are grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides. 

“The diet we enjoy in the 21st century is very different from the diet of generations past,” says Carol Simontacci, board certified clinical nutritionist and author of Crazy Creators: How the Food Industry Destroys Our Brains and Troubles Our Children. He explains the traditional diet of past generations: “The only thing they have in common is that traditional diets are rich in nutrients, protein, essential fats, unrefined carbohydrates (in the form of brightly colored vegetables and limited amounts of grains and fruits) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and enzymes). ”“ Our diet of highly processed foods and artificial drinks, ”compares Simontacci,“ does not make children better. ”There is an additional factor that appears to have a significant impact on health and well-being of pregnant women and children born into the world.

Dr. James F. Clapp, III, spent twenty years of research and published it in Exercising Through Your Pregnancy, now in its second edition. It can be argued that daily movement is important for the welfare of animals and humans, but Klapp’s research has forever changed the mindset for pregnant women. Regarding labor difficulties, Klapp writes, “Women who continued to exercise experienced a surprising increase (more than 30 percent) in uncomplicated spontaneous labor, and the duration of active labor was much shorter.” The percentage improvement in medication and surgery during labor is surprising for women who have exercised, and is detailed one after another in Klapp’s book. If you are pregnant or looking to become pregnant, some, if not all, of these essential ingredients are essential for best results. 

Plan the last five or ten minutes each day with some kind of mental imagination. Take time to find positive emotions about life and let your stress dissipate. 

Natural Food Is Part of Pregnancy Wellness

Choosing natural foods is as simple as making a list and then spending the day shopping at a natural food store or finding new products online. Eating half of your weight in ounces (70 ounces for a woman weighing about 140 pounds) daily is action to maintain a high level of hydration; It is important that it is water, as almost all other liquids are dehydrating. Eating natural foods means eating more than our ancestors: first vegetables and meat, then all other foods and as little flour / sugar / chemicals as possible. When it comes to exercise, health can be maintained in just 30 minutes a day with something as simple as walking.    

James Goodlatt – Founder of Fit For Birth, Inc. and an instructor in holistic health before and after childbirth. Her passion is to heal families by inspiring natural methods and building a team of fitness professionals to reduce infertility, avoid mechanized childbirth and reduce chronic disease in our babies. Fit For Birth offers continuing education courses for fitness and childbirth professionals, as well as a variety of personal education and health coaching programs for women during the prenatal and postnatal period.