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I just found out I am pregnant with Baby #2 and I will be doing things a bit differently with my second pregnancy. I am older and a bit wiser. There are so many things I wish I would have known the first time around that I will definitely be doing this time!

I am fortunate enough to have a very regular cycle. Thanks to the help of some awesome pregnancy apps and being mindful of my body throughout the month, I was able to plan both of my pregnancies.

To be honest, during my first pregnancy I was so focused on resisting coffee and wine + planning the nursery, I missed out on the opportunity to focus on exceptionally nourishing my growing child.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the nitty gritty of how to have a healthy and natural second pregnancy, plus exactly what I am eating and changing this time around.

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7 Things I am Doing Differently My Second Pregnancy

-Increasing My Daily Protein Intake

I was super swollen in third trimester of my first pregnancy. When I look back on my pictures, I wish I could see a glowing mom with an adorable belly only pregnancy. The swelling is a reminder of how uncomfortable I was.

I’ve been reading this wonderful book that is a blueprint for a healthy pregnancy. According to the Weston Price Foundation, pregnant women should eat 70 grams of protein a day throughout pregnancy.

If you wait to eat adequate protein until the last trimester, you will be a little too late and may still experience swelling.

I am getting most of my protein from homemade bone broth, grass-fed meats, wild-caught pregnancy-safe fish like salmon, free-range eggs, and adding grass-fed collagen powder to tea and smoothies.

I am also going as far as tracking macros in the app My Fitness Pal until I know what a typical 70 gram plus day looks like.

-I’m Protecting My Belly From EMF

I didn’t know anything about electromagnetic fields or how they affect babies during my first pregnancy. In case you aren’t aware of this either, EMF is the energetic field that surrounds electronics. You come in contact with them from your cellphone, everyday appliances such as the microwave or dishwasher, your wifi router, and even the earth itself (although this is generally understood to rebalance your natural energy).

EMFs have the power to produce free radicals inside cells which increases oxidative stress and cell damage. (source)

During my first pregnancy, I worked long hours at the hospital and kept my cellphone right in my pocket next to my son’s head.

Babies are at higher risk from damage from EMF because their brains are made up of more water and they have thinner skulls, making them more conductive.

In order to reduce my baby’s exposure I cover my belly with an EMF blocking blanket anytime I use my laptop and as much as I can remember while using my cellphone. I also turn my phone completely off at night and don’t carry it close to my body anymore.

-I’m Using A Midwife As My Provider

During my first pregnancy, I went to an OBGYN. My years as a NICU nurse led me to believe that this was the safer option because I would have access to advanced medical care.

I now understand the best way to ensure a healthy pregnancy is to eat highly nutritious foods, exercise, and reduce stress as much as possible. The LESS medical intervention the better.

Everything about going to an OBGYN is invasive.

They do at least four pelvic exams but often more.

They give you multiple vaccines during pregnancy.

They make you consume a highly toxic drink that causing your blood sugar to abnormally rise rapidly and then plummet to unsafe levels to “test” for gestational diabetes. (Which can be done with one simple lab draw called a hemaglobin A1C or simply taking your blood sugar at home at regular intervals mid pregnancy.)

During labor, I received 4 doses of antibiotics that messed my digestion up for over a year and gave me yeast infections. I healed myself of both of these naturally at home FYI but it was not fun.

Not to mention the fact that I received, I kid you not, 6 BAGS of IV fluids in a 24-hour period leaving me looking like the Michelin Man.

Related: How to reduce postpartum swelling quickly.

I could barely open my eyes because my eyelids were so swollen!

I don’t want any part of the medical system or the hospital for this pregnancy so I will be doing everything in my power to use a midwife, stay healthy, and birth naturally at home. More on that subject to come.

-I’m Not Taking Tylenol

Ask Google or a medical provider if Tylenol is safe for developing fetuses. They will tell you yes but I am going to tell you HELL to the NO.

If you want to know more about why I will be steering clear of over-the-counters for pain management, check out this post. It goes in depth into the research I have done on this controversial topic.

What I am doing instead is consulting my homeopathy book and using powerful home remedies to help alleviate my sufferings. I have been successful using homeopathy and herbs for almost three years now. My husband is almost cured of his allergies and we are healthier than we have ever been.

I sincerely wished I would have known about homeopathy for my first pregnancy.

-I’m Not Getting A Tdap Or The Flu Shot

Unfortunately, this was another area I was duped into complying with my first pregnancy. At that point, I had been a practicing nurse for 9 years and had not once read any research OR package inserts about vaccines. I blindly trusted the system which resulted in my son having seizures for about five months straight.

If you want to hear more about that story and how I detoxed him, check it out here.

Not only is the Tdap completely ineffective in preventing your baby from getting pertussis, it’s dangerous for pregnant women and contains high doses of neurotoxic additives. It contains WAY more aluminum than the FDA recommends for a preterm infant.

Yet here’s the modern medical world, endorsing shooting pregnant women up with vaccines.

It’s despicable and makes me sick when I think about how many mothers out there just don’t know. I used to be one of them.

-I’m Not Getting An Ultrasound Or Finding Out the Gender

Ultrasounds can give parents a lot of peace of mind that their baby is developing normally plus it is really fun to know what you are having so you can do all the shopping!

Related: How to make an organic baby registry

Here’s my logic behind this decision…

I trust my body to grow and nourish a healthy child. My family does not have any known genetic anomalies for any generation that I am aware of and my diet and lifestyle are on point.

“Ultrasound uses cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing to reveal muscles, tendons, and internal organs. It is generally described as a ‘safe test’ because it does not use mutagenic ionizing radiation, which can pose hazards such as chromosome breakage and cancer development.

However, in 2008, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine published a report which stated that ultrasound indeed pose some potential risks, including fetal thermal effects. Think of a high-pitch operatic voice breaking a glass, only at the level of cells and chromosomes.” (source)

I pray daily over this child. So not only do I have my good genetics and healthy lifestyle going for me, but I have God in my corner. I can wait to find out the gender which will be a great reward after I endure a natural birth.

-I’m Taking Maternity Leave Sooner

During my first pregnancy, I felt like I should work as long as possible and really pushed myself at the end. It got to the point where I was 36 weeks pregnant and basically crying to my unit coordinator because I kept forgetting things and had to walk back to the med room so many times each shift.

My feet hurt so bad!

It seemed to be a common theme among the nurses I worked with to keep working shifts for as long as possible to maximize the paid time off with the baby.

I felt the exact same way and thought it would be wasteful to use maternity leave to put my feet up without my child earthside.

The maternity leave policy in my country is not enough and the last month of pregnancy can be very, very taxing on a woman’s body. It is crucial to rest and destress. This increases the likelihood to have an uncomplicated birth.

Although I don’t work in the hospital anymore, I will be taking maternity leave from my work from home job as early as my body tells me. I want to spent the last month of pregnancy listening to my body, feeding it positive affirmations, and focusing on rest, walking, and nutrition.

If there is any chance for me to have a healthy home birth, I will need to slow down that last month of pregnancy. I refuse to feel guilty about this because in the grand scheme of life it is a mere drop in the bucket for productivity and nothing is more important than my health and the health of my baby.

Final Thoughts

The choices I am making with my second pregnancy is not for everyone.

Some of the things I have mentioned may come as quite the shock. If you are finding this article and have done half of these things during pregnancy, just know that I did all of these my first pregnancy and my son is healthy. You have to do according to your own medical needs and I by no means condone the use of an OBGYN. It just isn’t for me (God willing) this time around.

The past three years have been an awakening for me so to speak. I cannot unknow what I know now.

I don’t plan to spend this pregnancy in a bubble or worrying over every little thing, but what I have outlined in this post are some ways I plan to minimize the toxins and stress from my next child’s gestation. I hope it results in a peaceful pregnancy, birth, and child.

We are at odds with the modern world and even though our bodies are designed to heal, I personally feel a duty to get a little bit back to nature and protect my children to what may seem to some as extreme.

Hopefully you can read this with an open mind and know that I am sharing this in case someone else is worried about these same things. You are not alone. Listen to your intuition and trust your judgement.

I wish you a happy and healthy pregnancy.

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