Being pregnant is amazing, such a sense of wonder associated with carrying life, but I didn’t find it was always the bliss that others spoke about.
You may be a healthy, fit woman with just a few very mild health issues: perhaps the occasional indigestion and bloating, a little muscle tension, and some stress. Introduce pregnancy and these symptoms seem to escalate – digestion issues may turn into morning sickness, and the stress doesn’t stop now we are responsible for this life growing within, financial burdens, juggling the needs of other children, managing expectations of our workplace and families, plus of course our own expectations about this pregnancy.
Stress is a very normal part of pregnancy, however managing that stress so it doesn’t become overwhelming is important to the health of both mother and child. Stress stimulates our fight/flight response and it doesn’t just have to be physical event to generate that stress, our body doesn’t differentiate between emotional stress and physical stress – both will stimulate our stress hormones. What helps you retain a sense of calm? I find it helpful to focus on what I’m touching, really feeling the shape, temperature, smell, and texture, along with abdominal breathing for a count of 5 in breaths, then 5 out breaths (repeating 5-6 times). Anything that stops the thoughts from circulating is helpful to manage stress, this could be exercise, abdominal breathing, meditation, mindfulness, walking in nature. What helps you?
My youngest is now 17 but the months spent pregnant are not forgotten. In fact my pregnancy has a lot to do with why I became a Naturopath. Our first baby was born after an uneventful pregnancy and birth, and he’s still a dream. Unfortunately, two miscarriages followed, the first at 8 weeks, the second at 20 weeks! Falling pregnant again a few months later was scary, my midwife was incredibly tolerant putting up with very regular calls while I was worrying about everything. We had far too many scans but each one helped to reduce my panic. How does this stress affect the pregnancy and baby? A question I wish I’d examined in more detail at the time.
I developed gestational diabetes, which research is now showing may be more likely to occur with highly stressed women. It was probably the best outcome for me as it meant that I could focus on more than just the stress, I could handle this hiccup to the best of my ability and ensure it didn’t get worse. It gave me a great understanding of the effect of food and exercise on our body, mind, and emotions. For instance, watching my blood sugar levels rise after eating pizza, then how those levels would drop after exercise.
Gestational diabetes is one of the most common health issues within pregnancy, it occurs when a woman has high levels of glucose in her blood because she can’t produce adequate insulin. Risk factors include a history of diabetes in a close family member, being overweight, being over the age of 30, a previous miscarriage, previous pregnancy generated high blood pressure, and previous high birth weight (over 4kg) (refer to www.diabetes.org.nz/gestational-diabetes). Following a healthy diet and exercising regularly is the key for potentially avoiding or treating gestational diabetes. I was very fortunate as I was able to manage the diabetes with careful food glycaemic index analysis and daily exercise. As I said above, testing blood sugar levels regularly enabled me to see what my body needed, and I knew that the health of my child relied on me eating the correct food. I know I was lucky despite the challenges, at the end of the pregnancy I delivered a gorgeous baby boy.
If you wish to see how a Naturopath can support you during your pregnancy then please call me for a free 15 minute chat. Gina Sarten, Naturopath, ph 021-576149.
