Leaving off where we stopped chatting in part one…if you haven’t read that go read it first and then meet me here! Part one was more about my feelings and thoughts so far, this post is to explain some of the specifics of how I have approached pregnancy with wellness without obsession in mind, plus THE GENDER REVEAL!!!

Food

Thankfully food has been SO much easier in the second trimester. No food aversions, although no crazy food cravings either! I have things I really enjoy eating like caprese salad, pickles (yes, pickles lol), all fruit and chocolate chip cookies but I wouldn’t call any of them crazy cravings either. I’ll be sure to let you know if that does happen!

I have been eating all foods, including gluten, since I found out I was pregnant. If you listen to the podcast, you know I haven’t consumed much gluten in the past couple years. My psorasis was dramatically better and stopped spreading to other areas when I didn’t consume it. Once I found out I was pregnant, I knew I would consume it no matter what happened with my psorasis as I didn’t want to risk the baby not getting introduced to all foods in the womb. My midwife told me that my autoimmune conditions (allergies, asthma, psorasis for me) would either get dramatically worse or better in pregnancy, its different for everyone. Luckily I’ve had the later, and they have all been a non-issue! I SO hope this continues postpartum :)

Overall, my eating habits are pretty similar to how they were pre-pregnancy with a slight increase in appetite and slight preference for sweets. The main thing I’m focused on from a nutrition stand point is eating vegetables when I can, increasing intake of DHA and getting enough micronutrients.

Exercise

In my first trimester I was barely able to exercise due to the fatigue, but second trimester has been almost the exact same as pre-pregnancy. I’ve been enjoying my usual favorites: kayaking, biking (although this one is starting to get harder), walking with my dog, dancing around the house, the occasional circuit workout at home and primarily going to yoga classes for most of my movement. I’ve been making it to a yoga class about 2-4 times a week and working out at home about 1-2 times a week. My main goal with exercise is to prepare my body for labor, I want to be strong and ready for what is to come.

Digestion

My digestion has been quite phenomenal. It was great pre-pregnancy (although that wasn’t true for most my life- I did a lot of work to heal my IBS and SIBO), but I still had a hard time with things like smoothies and fizzy drinks. Now they have been a non-issue. I have smoothies daily now, seltzer water, kombucha from time to time with no issue. I did struggle with constipation the first trimester, but everything has been back to normal in the second trimester!

Supplements

Since I found out I was pregnancy I have been taking:

Prenatal vitamins

Fermented cod liver oil

Beef liver capsules a couple times a week

A scoop of collagen daily

And continued my daily probiotic. (This is a medical based probiotic)

During my first trimester I also took vitamin C to keep my progesterone up and since I couldn’t stomach any fish like salmon, I alternated the fermented cod liver oil with a DHA fish oil.

I stopped when pregnant with all adaptogens including medicinal mushrooms and maca and CBD oil. They are not well studied enough on the effects of pregnancy so I stopped taking them. I also had a couple supplements I was taking for gut motility I also stopped as they are not well studied in pregnancy.

Other wellness and self care

I’ve continued going to the chiropractor every other week (I’ve done that for the past year for neck and back pain from working on a computer too much), and my wonderful chiropractor is Webster certified and has been giving me adjustments as well for pregnancy.

I went to acupuncture a lot in the first trimester, but I’ve honestly been terrible about going in the second trimester! I’ve continued my monthly massages as well, although we didn’t do any the first trimester as my massage therapist prefers not to give massages in the first trimester.

Otherwise, I’ve been doing baths, face masks and other fun self care rituals as usual. One thing I’ve been really enjoying too is being intentional with what I put on my body. I have been slowly switching on my skincare products to Primally Pure before pregnancy, but now that I’m pregnant and everything that goes on me also goes directly to the baby, I’ve enjoyed making sure everything thing has quality ingredients. I’m pretty sure other than my shampoo and conditioner, literally everything I use on my body is now from Primally Pure :)

Speaking of skincare, I’ve been putting Primally Pure body butter on my belly and boobs daily to mitigate stretch marks. This is also going to sound funny, but I’ve also been massaging coconut oil in my labia area to hopefully prevent or reduce the severity of tearing during labor.

(P.S. You can use the code NOURISH to get 10% off your first order at Primally Pure!)

GENDER REVEAL

Well…if you listen to the podcast you know what I thought it was…turns out my intuition was right :)