Pregnancy and Birth Plan

My first pregnancy

This pregnancy (while it’s my first and only so far) has truly been wonderful. Most people are quick to throw the “just wait…*insert their negative experience*” or the “oh you just got lucky” comments into the conversation, but I have no doubt that if I hadn’t laid the foundation that I did prior to getting pregnant, this pregnancy would have looked very different.

As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I understand (on a physiological level) how conducive a nutrient dense diet is for not only our overall health but our reproductive health in particular. This exact reason is why I am so intentional about not only what I put into my body on a daily basis, but what my clients put into their bodies as well to help optimize their hormonal health and fertility.

The moment I found out that I was pregnant, my priority remained the same. To eat as many properly prepared, nutrient dense foods as possible. Thankfully, I had been unintentionally “prepping” my body for this season for the past few years which didn’t require me to make many adjustments to my diet and supplementation. Not that I was oblivious to the fact that proper nutrition would in turn ABSOLUTELY benefit my fertility and pregnancy, but it just gave me so much grace knowing that nothing really needed to change even though my body was now entering into a completely different season.

SO. Let’s get to the goods. Throughout this post, I’ll be sharing my experience during my pregnancy along with the decisions that both my husband and I made alongside our birth and medical team. Moving forward as a disclaimer, none of this information should be taken as medical advice. Since every person and pregnancy is so bio-individual, always consult with your birth/medical team prior to implementation!

Pre-conception nutrition

My pre-conception diet/supplementation and prenatal diet/supplementation were practically identical. I had been been implementing the following nutrition staples for 2-3+ years prior to trying to conceive (TTC). The focus? A whole food, diverse, nutrient-dense, non-restrictive diet that focused on quality and variety rather than calories, macros or a number on a scale.

Daily/Weekly Food Staples

  • For a full breakdown of my daily supplement regimen and more, you can find that in my Fertility Focus Workbook here!

  • *Below I have intentionally included how each of these foods are sourced. (AKA “grass-fed”, “wild-caught”, “organic”, etc.) Where your food is sourced is one of the most important factors that you want to be on the lookout for as you’re stocking up on groceries for you and the future little one. BUT, if you can’t always find “grass-fed” or “organic” options due to budget or other circumstances- that’s okay. The foundational focus is to incorporate as many whole foods as you can and significantly limit/reduce anything with a label on it. By keeping the processed and packaged foods out as much possible, this will drastically decrease your exposure to inflammatory ingredients, artificial additives, chemicals, pesticides, etc.- all of which can negatively impact fertility. This could be an entire blog post in itself so I’ll save that for another time and jump to what you came here for. My daily and weekly food staples!

    • Protein/Fat:

      • Grass-fed bone broth

        • Kettle and Fire- Discount Code: KELSIE

      • Pasture-raised eggs

      • Pasture-raised chicken and/or organic turkey

      • Grass-fed beef and lamb

      • Grass-fed beef sticks (Nick’s Sticks, Paleo Valley, Chomp Sticks, etc.)

      • Grass-fed or raw cheese

      • Raw or grass-fed whole milk

      • Organic whole-fat cottage cheese

      • Organic whole-fat, Greek yogurt

      • Wild-caught fish (mainly tuna, salmon, scallops and tilapia for me)

      • Organic coconut oil, coconut cream and coconut milk

      • Grass-fed butter and ghee

      • Organic nut butters (peanut, almond, cashew, etc.)

      • Extra Virgin Olive Oil

      • Avocado oil

    • Carbohydrates/Fibers/Misc.

      • Organic fruits (lots of berries, cherries and citrus fruits)

      • Organic fruit juices

      • Cooked/steamed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, brussels sprouts, etc.)

      • Organic spinach (would always throw in smoothies frozen)

      • Organic beets

      • Sauerkraut and other pickled veggies

      • White potatoes and sweet potatoes

      • Butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash

      • Organic white and brown rice

      • Organic quinoa and brown rice pasta

      • Organic popcorn

      • Sourdough bread

      • Dates

      • Dark chocolate (75% cocoa and higher)

      • Pure maple syrup and raw honey

      • Purity decaf coffee

      • Kombucha and kefir

      • Dandelion Root Tea, Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, Throat Coat Tea

Once my husband and I were actively TTC, it took us 4 months to successfully do so. As I have shared on my IG account, I was suspicious that I was not producing enough cervical mucus (CM) during my ovulatory window during those 3-4 months. *Healthy CM is imperative for a successful conception due to the fact that sperm NEED it to survive. Without it, the acidity of the vagina will kill sperm off.

After running a Complete Blood Count (CBC) with Differential and a urine test, it was determined that I had a bacterial infection that needed to unfortunately be treated with one round of an antibiotic. (Yes, I was bummed but sometimes antibiotics are necessary!) I continued to take my daily probiotic and focused heavily on probiotic rich foods to ensure that the good bacteria that the antibiotic would kill off could replenish. This is just one example of why it is so important to understand your fertility markers (like your CM production and basal body temps) so you can narrow in on potential factors that could be working against your TTC journey. If you are struggling to conceive and notice that your CM is not what it should be, it’s helpful to be aware that any type of infection (as well as dehydration, stress, etc.) can diminish CM production!

The month after the infection cleared up, we were so grateful to see a positive pregnancy test! (It’s hard to say if the infection was the sole reason behind our inability to get pregnant right away, but I do feel it was playing a large role).

First signs of pregnancy for me (prior to the positive test)?

For the past couple of years I had been using the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) as my birth control. Having said that, I had been diligently taking my basal body temps (BBT’s) in the morning and tracking my cervical mucus patterns daily. I knew my ovulatory patterns and bio-markers inside and out. So when my late luteal phase temps remained elevated past their normal duration leading up to my period, that was my first clue that we could be pregnant. (Typically temps will drop right before your period due to the drop in progesterone). My second clue? I was constipated AF for about 3 days. This is NOT like me. I pride myself in at least pooping once or twice (or sometimes three times a day) like clockwork. Both symptoms provided insight that my progesterone levels were still high and pregnancy was possible. SO I took a pregnancy test the morning after Thanksgiving and sure as shit… we had a positive test!!!!

If you’re TTC, I highly recommend looking into these IG accounts as well as getting the appropriate testing done FOR YOU AND YOUR PARTNER to determine best next steps!

A few Instagram accounts worth following while TTC:

Recommended Books:

First Trimester

Alright so we’re pregnant…. Now what???

Right around week 7/8 of being pregnant, a few symptoms started to kick in. The (intermittent) yet all day long nausea was the most memorable. And contrary to the “morning sickness” stigma it wasn’t just isolated to mornings. In fact it would often worsen around dinner time. Thankfully, I never was so nauseated to the point that I threw up but there were times I thought I was close! Beyond nausea, fatigue and breast tenderness were the only other two symptoms that stuck out during the first trimester. Naps were this mama’s best friend!

Symptoms That I Experienced and Remedies For Each

Nausea

  1. Keeping a snack on my night stand and eating a handful in the morning before even getting out of bed. During first trimester it can be hard to stomach much, so anything that sounds good goes. I just always tried to stay conscious of the ingredients in it! My go-to night stand/morning snack was a handful of peanuts (with just peanuts and sea salt- no added oils like canola, vegetable, etc. as those are inflammatory)

  2. Eating breakfast nearly immediately after getting up and moving. This was often the one meal when I personally wasn’t too nauseas yet, so I really tried to pack in as many nutrients as I could. It was typically 2 pasture-raised eggs (scrambled) + berries or oranges + sourdough toast with grass-fed butter

  3. Trying to snack every couple of hours throughout the day to keep blood sugar stable. When you go long periods of time in between meals (especially when all you can stomach is carbs) this is going to cause your blood sugar to SPIKE then drop before your next meal which can intensify nausea. Always trying to pair a carb with a protein or fat is ideal. Bone broth is a great, easy to digest and stomach protein that I drank frequently!

    1. By far, my favorite bone broth is from Kettle and Fire! There are many flavors that you can choose from and it’s all grass-fed so you know you and that baby are getting the best of the best. (You can use my code: Kelsie for a 20% discount on your order)

  4. Ginger tea, ginger chews, all things ginger!!!

  5. Peppermint essential oil and edible peppermint


Fatigue

  1. Sleep whenever and wherever you can. Take advantage of those naps and don’t feel bad about going to bed at 7:30 pm! Your body needs rest.

  2. Regulate blood sugar as much as possible

    1. Eating right away after sleeping through the night to bring blood sugar back up

    2. Trying to eat a balanced snack (if having a carb, always pair with a protein or fat) every couple of hours. I know this can be hard if experiencing nausea but even small nutrient dense snacks like bone broth can help!

  3. Replenish nutrient stores

    1. Desiccated beef liver capsules and trace minerals

    2. The “Adrenal Cocktail” in the morning or afternoon

    3. Bone broth

Cravings and Aversions

Throughout this entire pregnancy, I haven’t experienced many legit CRAVINGS. Are there foods that I prefer? Totally. During the first trimester did chicken nuggets and mac n’ cheese sound great 24/8? Yes. But I’ve never had a “drive me to Dairy Queen and then stop at the China Buffet on the way home” request at 2 am. I do really believe that blood sugar regulation plays a large part in keeping some cravings at bay just because when your blood sugar drops low (in general- not just during pregnancy) this is when you find yourself blankly staring at the open fridge or pantry ready to BINGE. We’ve all been there.

Aversion wise, I had a solid few weeks where I could not even be in the same house as broccoli, rice or potatoes. Which is WILD because one, they are very bland foods in general and two, we eat them constantly. (I do think part of it was the smell of the Air Fryer which I still can’t stomach to this day at 38 weeks pregnant). Bottom line, if something doesn’t sound good don’t force it!

Pro tip: Adding collagen to tea or incorporating gelatin in “Gut Gummies” were very easy was to get in some high quality protein without feeling like I was EATING a ton.

Resources that I enjoyed/would recommend during early pregnancy and on:

second and third trimester

After week 12 (like clockwork), my nausea disappeared and I was feeling like a new person. I felt like I was finally able to get at least 3 full meals in with snacks in between. LET’S GOOOO. The fatigue let up too and I had far more energy throughout the day which was really refreshing. Supplement wise, my regimen remained the same, as it did through my entire pregnancy. If I was experiencing more restless leg syndrome though for example, I would bump up my magnesium intake but overall my regimen was very consistent throughout.

A few habits that I began/adjusted after first trimester was complete:

  • I began working out twice a week with Katie Dougherty, CPT/IIN Coach (friend and cycle syncing master). We had one-hour long, virtual sessions that focused on total body strength and pelvic floor work. Staying active has been very important to me during this pregnancy and to my surprise, I’ve actually gotten STRONGER since pre-pregnancy. It’s also mind-blowing how important focusing on the pelvic floor is during/post pregnancy. Working with Katie was a great way to keep me accountable to do more than my typical daily walks (usually 30-60 minutes) and her ability to cater workouts to my pregnancy and goals took so much weight off mine and the babe’s shoulders.

  • I began introducing more herbs into my daily/weekly routine! As I’ve mentioned before, herbs and pregnancy are mucky. There are some herbs that ARE well researched and proven unsafe during pregnancy that you want to stay away from. While in the same breathe, there is such little research (or funding) done on the “safeness” of others. As always consult with your doctor/midwife, doula, etc. when introducing herbs into your routine!

    • Red Raspberry Leaf Tea daily

    • Dandelion Root Tea every other day

    • Nettle Root Tea every other day

  • At week 16, we officially discontinued care through our M.D. and switched over to our current Midwife at Authentic Birth Center.

    • What is a birth center? Why did we switch? What concerns did we have prior to switching? (I’ll cover all of this soon- I just haven’t had time to sit down and type it out since the babe has arrived).

  • We hired a doula!!!!!

    • If you’re in the Milwaukee area, Amy Loomis my friends. She is INCREDIBLE. Emboldened Life Wellness Collective in Cedarburg, WI.

      • Whether it’s due to the fact that I surround myself with very like-minded, holistic professionals OR just the nature of where labor/birth education is headed- doula’s are becoming much more mainstream AS THEY SHOULD BE. In my opinion, every mama/family should have access to a doula. They are a phenomenal resource, teacher and advocate that help bridge the gap between doctors/midwives and mama’s/their partners throughout pregnancy, during labor and postpartum. Our doula provided so much support leading up to our birth, including but not limited to:

        • Discussing and creating our birth plan for the birth center

        • Discussing and creating our birth plan if a c-section or hospital birth were to be necessary

        • Education on the various stages of labor, labor positioning/ comfort measures, natural pain relief, etc. for both myself and my husband

        • Breastfeeding education

        • Herbal education

      • While so many aspects of birth are out of our control, an equal amount (if not more) ARE in our control. With this being my first pregnancy, we wanted to feel as educated and empowered as we possibly could be so every step of the way we would feel an overwhelming amount of autonomy. Regardless if the scenario was our “ideal” scenario. And our doula helped us feel just that!



Natural Remedies I Incorporated to Induce Labor (37 weeks and on)

*These are all remedies that I introduced under the guidance of my midwife and doula. Dosing, frequency, etc. should be determined within your team. Not medical advice!

  • Walking!!! Throughout my entire pregnancy, I walked at least 30 minutes per day. After week 37, I ramped it up even more as long as my energy was good. After meals is a great time walk to help regulate blood sugar. Walking also irritates the uterus (in a good way) to stimulate contractions

    • We don’t have any curbs around our house otherwise curb walking is said to be extremely helpful as well

  • Red raspberry leaf tea: Helps tone the uterus

    • 4-6+ steeped tea bags per day

  • Dates: Soften the cervix

    • 6 dates per day (stuffed with grass-fed cheese to regulate blood sugar with sea salt sprinkled on top… you’ll thank me later)

  • Miles Circuit: Allows baby to get into proper positioning for labor due to pelvic positioning/sequence. Our babe was head down at 28 weeks (huge relief) but getting it’s head facing my back with its chin tucked was the goal!

    • Once a day or once every other day. I found the first two positions to be super relaxing, the last…. never looked forward to haha

  • Sex: Semen is a prostaglandin which softens the cervix and the female orgasm can stimulate contractions as well as the oxytocin released during

  • Evening primrose oil/EPO (taken orally and vaginally)

    • Daily under the recommendation of my midwife

  • Chiropractor Adjustments (Webster’s Technique)

    • Once a week (our birth center had a chiropractor in house which was wonderful)

my birth plan

Now I won’t get into EVERY detail of our birth plan, but I am happy to share the biggies (and the most frequently asked questions regarding it). Before moving forward though, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a birth plan. Regardless if you are able to stick to it or not (because sometimes things just don’t go as planned), thinking through these scenarios and options (THAT YOU DO HAVE) during labor/delivery prior to giving birth is insanely beneficial for both you, you and your partner and your baby.

I’ll never forget listening to one of my first podcasts about creating a birth plan and the host so perfectly stated, “What you don’t know CAN hurt you”. And it’s so true. Modern and conventional births are all about volume and efficiency rather than quality of labor and birth. So often times, you will be persuaded (if even asked) to do what is most convenient for your doctor and medical team rather than what’s best/most desired by YOU, your partner and your baby. And the thought of that made me cringe. So I took time to do some research into what our options truly were and where exactly I could gain more autonomy.

My Birth Plan for Labor and Delivery

  • First and foremost, we will be birthing at our Birth Center rather than a hospital. Birth Centers inherently take a much more natural, no intervention approach while also naturally respecting the importance of mother/baby bonding. (Birth Center’s do not offer epidurals, Pitocin, IV pain medications, C-sections, etc.) That being said, I’m very grateful that our desires will be the standard practice of care rather than something that needs to be advocated for unless we have to transfer to the hospital.

  • Ideally, I would like to labor at home for as long as possible and our birth center has a 4-1-1/5-1-1 rule where I would only come in when contractions begin following this pattern

  • Natural water rupture and limited cervical checks

  • No medications or IV unless medically necessary

  • Intermittent monitoring via a doppler rather than continuous EFM

  • Water birth

    • The world’s most natural epidural (or so I hear!)

  • Free movement

    • Typically in hospitals (especially if you receive an epidural) you are confined to laying on your back, in your bed. BUT YA GOTTA LET GRAVITY DO IT’S THING. Squatting, kneeling on all fours, standing, etc. are all much more natural birthing positions- making it easier on both mama and baby

  • No membrane sweep, episiotomy, or forceps/vacuum extraction

  • Food and drink for mama (will share the snacks and drinks I brought) and lights dim

  • Will be using essential oils (clary sage can be wonderful to expedite labor, same with castor oil if needed) as well as birthing combs for pain management

    • “The teeth of the comb are held to the base of the fingers which helps to relieve pain. It also plays a part in the pain gate theory where it distracts the brain into focusing away from surges (contractions) and towards the sensation in the hand”

My Birth Plan for After Delivery

  • Immediate skin-to-skin and breastfeeding as soon as possible

  • Delayed chord clamping

    • Conventionally, the umbilical chord is clamped from the placenta almost immediately once the baby is born. By waiting even 5 minutes (or however long it takes for the chord to stop pulsing), this allows for the blood that’s still in the placenta to transfer fully to the baby. This makes the baby less likely to hemorrhage and more likely to have higher iron stores!

  • Save placenta to be desiccated into capsule form

    • The Birth Center has an affiliated company that will come take the placenta, do the whole process and send us our capsules when they are done. You can look into private companies that offer this service if you are birthing in the hospital or your home!

  • No bath for baby

    • The vernix/coating that covers the baby’s body when born contains extremely beneficial antimicrobial and anti-fungal agents. The baby also prefers the smell of the amniotic fluid (that has been surrounding it for the past 9 months) which helps them bond with mama and breastfeed.

  • No pacifiers or formula

  • No eye ointment and no Hepatitis B

  • Aluminum-Free Vitamin K

  • Would like any procedures for baby to be done while mom is holding baby or breastfeeding, if possible

  • Chiropractic adjustment for baby and mama

  • Limited visitors

    • We plan to have no visitors within the first 6-8 hours of baby being born to respect the “Golden Hour” as well as the “Restorative Sleep Window” that allows both us parents and the baby to recover after a physically and emotionally taxing labor and delivery

Miscellaneous

  • I can’t remember exactly when but somewhere during early second trimester, I experienced really bad heel pain if I wasn’t wearing any type of supportive shoe. (Even if I was just walking from our bed to the bathroom, woofta). This is to be expected though after gaining 20 ish pounds at that point, right?? I was minutes from buying some Hoka tennis shoes (because I’ve heard they feel like you’re walking on pillows) but then instantly the fear of my feet growing during the rest of pregnancy (or post-pregnancy) scared me out of spending $150+ on a pair of shoes. Enter….. the most magical pillow slides from Amazon that truly have saved my life. I eventually ordered two pairs, one for wearing out and about and the other for wearing around the house. Worth every cent of $24.99.

  • Maternity clothes. SIGH!!! I was so stubborn when it came to this, so if you’re looking for an extensive list of recommendations, I am not your gal. Thankfully, I received a few hand-me-downs from my friend so I had a pair of biker shorts, a pair of leggings, a few bras, a pair of overalls, etc. Beyond that, these are all of the maternity clothes that I purchased:

    • Target Cotton Tanks (Literally bought 4, all in different colors and lived in them)

    • Target Biker Shorts

    • And then a couple of maternity dresses from Pink Blush for showers we had this summer and maternity pictures

    • Aside from that, I went straight to Goodwill and bought several comfy, lounge shorts in a larger size and then I just lived in oversized dresses and t-shirts. (A huge perk to being pregnant in the summer is not having to EVER wear maternity pants or pants in general). Also working from home helps a lot haha

  • All maternity photos (that you see here are that were shared on my IG) were done by Mariah Bormann in Milwaukee, WI. Could not recommend more if you are local to the area! We are so grateful that she was able to capture so many special little moments before our space cowboy arrived. And to think we almost didn’t even do maternity photos???

  • I’ve had several questions about items I added to our registry so I thought I’d just add the full link here! Remember, this is our first time around so everything is trial and error. Many choices were based off of friend/family recommendations and personal research.