Navigating Pregnancy, Birth, and Infancy Part 1
Episode 122
In this episode of Integrative Wellness Radio, Dr. Nicole speaks to the fellow expectant mother and Life Coach, Tara Pollifrone. Together, they get real and raw about some of the most commonly asked questions surrounding the journey from pregnancy to infancy. Dr. Nicole discusses the obstacles to conception you may not realize and how to take an integrative approach to prenatal and pregnancy nutrition. During this conversation, Dr. Nicole helps expectant mothers understand how to maximize their health in order to maximize the health of their babies. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Nicole and Tara share some of their personal pregnancy and birthing choices and discuss how to navigate making informed decisions that uphold your individual values. Stay tuned for the next episode where Dr. Nicole and Tara continue the conversation and discuss how your birthing plan can impact your baby’s immune system, the unfortunate realities of breastfeeding, and vaccinations... Interested in working with IWG? Book a complimentary consult call to learn more using this link: https://bit.ly/IWRcall2021 Noteworthy Time Stamps: 2:10 How Tara discovered Integrative Wellness Group 6:01 Understanding how our bodies differ from one another 8:35 Tara shares her journey of pregnancy & healing 10:56 Obstacles to conception you may not be thinking about 14:22 Aspects of pregnancy and birth that contribute to your baby’s healthy immune system 21:05 The root cause of your morning sickness, acid reflux, and more 25:32 The “pregnancy palette” can transfer to your children
Topics: pregnancy, integrative, tara, wellness, nicole, questions, immune, baby
Key takeaways from this episode
- Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine to learn about what the limitations are with testing and what you can do to start your health journey.
- And as we navigate this very temperamental conversation is just kinda understanding that there is aspects of your pregnancy, there's aspects of your birth, um, that will contribute to the overall health of the baby and the immune system of the baby.
- So welcome to Integrative Wellness Radio and we have Tara here.
- Your values are also going to differ from Tara's but the common denominator here is, a lot of us are just trying to be the best parents we can.
- Yeah, I mean it it wouldn't have been brought to my attention honestly, um, so as we're about to embark on a conversation about pregnancy and birthing and, um, infancy, um, I'm pregnant with my first.
Pull quotes
Imagine if medicine actually loo looked at you as a whole opposed to looking at you as a bunch of separate systems.
Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine to learn about what the limitations are with testing and what you can do to start your health journey.
So Tara actually reached out to me on Instagram and sent me I think it was like five voice memos.
Transcript
I've been up all night, no sleep. I feel like I'm always dreaming. Imagine if medicine actually loo looked at you as a whole opposed to looking at you as a bunch of separate systems. Dive into Integrative Wellness Radio with Dr. Nick and Dr. Nicole to learn more about the top trends in integrative medicine to learn about what the limitations are with testing and what you can do to start your health journey. Hello everyone. So welcome to Integrative Wellness Radio and we have Tara here. So Tara actually reached out to me on Instagram and sent me I think it was like five voice memos. And, um, she had just really, really great questions and I really loved just her willingness and confidence to just say, hey like I'm, I wanna learn more and, and I like what you're putting out there and I just want to hear your feedback about some of these specific topics and I responded back and just stated, I'm like these questions that you have are really good questions and I'm sure a lot of other people have them. So we're here today and we're going to be talking a little bit about pregnancy to birth to infancy and, um, how to keep your baby healthy, how to keep yourself healthy, how to navigate, you know, this entire, uh, world of pediatrics and making sure your baby has a good immune system and, you know, if you should be, you know, what what where should where does it fall from conventional to the holistic integrative medicine side, you know, what do you need to know on how to really maximize your baby's health. Did I cover it? Yes, that's exactly what I want to know. And after hearing your passion on one of your IGTVs and I do not believe like I don't think anything is a coincidence, I believe everything is like divinely dropped to us when we need it and I happened to log on I've been following you for a while, not really like reading any of your stuff and then you had your IGTV and I was like, oh my gosh like I love her passion. I love how she's explaining things and like then I looked up your profile and I saw like integrative wellness and I'm like, what is integrative wellness and I feel like I've been looking for that balance of like conventional and holistic and putting it together and I'm like, I need to know, I need to, I need to learn from her. Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for having me on, on today. Of course, of course, well, like I said, it's just the questions that you have are very real they're very raw and I know that there's a lot of people that are trying to navigate, you know, those same questions. But, uh, unfortunately, you know, I I should say fortunately and unfortunately, we live in a world that we have access to a lot of information. So there's obviously amazing benefits that go hand in hand with that, but then there's also conflicting information there's overwhelming information and very often people just they're like, I don't know what's right, what's wrong and I don't even know what to do with this information so they kinda take that step back and just go back into, you know, what is the most commonly accepted. So that's really the biggest thing I hope people gain from today is that we're going to talk about things but this is also not about my opinion or and, you know, abiding by or adhering or or buying into it. It's just kinda talking about some foundational aspects that are not always being talked about and for you to really be able to make your own decisions from there. Absolutely. And that's where I kinda feel like I'm at. Um I've been on this journey of like tapping into my intuition and getting connected with my body and learning how I make decisions best and, um, as I'm expecting to be a mom very, very soon, um, you know, I question a lot and like where should my sources come from and like what can I trust versus what can I not and, you know, in today's world I just feel like, um, it's been confusing to like really tap into that, so. And and that's the thing is we it's not about us buying into someone else's belief system. It's really a matter of looking at the things that are most important to us, which not a lot of people have actually taken the time to know like what do they truly value in life? That's like one of the cool things we do at Integrative Wellness Group is I don't personally do it, it's actually my husband is he helps people to figure out what their values are and we have so many people that are, you know, in their 50s and 60s and they're like, I can't believe this is the first time in my life that I'm figuring out what's important to me and I'm glad that I'm finally doing it, but wow, how valuable, how valuable would have this been, you know, in the past. So that's the thing is, you guys have to understand is, as you're listening is, your values are going to differ from mine. Your values are also going to differ from Tara's but the common denominator here is, a lot of us are just trying to be the best parents we can. Um, and of course, like especially going through this crazy past two years is we're also looking for like, how can we stay healthy? How can we be proactive in our health and how do we know what is the best way to do that? And yes there are herbal supplements that you can read about that will boost your immune system and things like that, but it's really knowing that, you know, my body and Tara's body, like, they they operate differently and what she needs to stay healthy is definitely going to look different. That doesn't mean that, you know, there aren't some common denominators, there are but, um, but it's also, there's lifestyle, there's also, um, other variables, like in the sense of what do we value? So like for me, I personally love, um, food like biggest foodie ever, quality time around food is one of my highest values and it's something that like going on a super strict elimination diet that all I eat is, you know, superfoods and I never can eat out again, like that's not a good balance for me even though on paper some people are like that's the way that you are healthy is if you have the cleanest diet with best foods and you eat tons of fruits and vegetables and you don't eat meat and whatever else. But for my mental health then that's not a good fit for me and both of those are equally as important what you eat and how you think are both equally as valuable when it comes to being healthy. And I I kinda wanted to preface with that because this is not just about, you know, what you're doing biochemically to your body from a diet perspective or a vitamin perspective or a prenatal perspective. This is also how are you managing your stress, how are you being congruent with what's important to you and not surrounding yourself with toxic people. No, yes. Yeah. We've all learned a little bit about that this year. Um, so one other thing that I wanted to mention cuz I was just asking you a little bit about yourself and I I loved what you said is that you you've been working in an education system but you now branched and have had a lot of courage to start your own side business, correct? Yes. Yeah. And it's really just about not necessarily life coaching but, uh, self-discovery and I'm assuming that's because of your own journey? Yes, it is. Um, but something you said I loved was it's, it's a matter of like figuring out who you are and maybe not who you were programmed to be, which is I think it's just such a valuable thing that people aren't thinking about. Yeah, I mean it it wouldn't have been brought to my attention honestly, um, so as we're about to embark on a conversation about pregnancy and birthing and, um, infancy, um, I'm pregnant with my first. Um, it took 18 months to conceive and, um, when you're talking I feel like this all ties into what you were just saying about value. So one of my values is to just like do things very holistically and like very naturally, um, which I didn't know was one of my values until being on this journey. And um, through my conceiving journey, um, and again this I there is no judgment for anyone who does this or feels that it's right for them to do it, but it didn't feel right to me to do any fertility treatments. Um, I just had this like inner calling that was just like dive deep into yourself like there's things that needs to be healed and I believe that through my journey like I became the person, um, that I needed to be to to be the mom that I'm meant to be and, um, I had to heal a lot of wounds that my child now won't have to carry, um, in their life, but one of the things that I learned through this healing process when I first started it and honestly when I started my healing process and like went into some like inner child work and all of that to clear that up and learn how to just like re-condition my body to like not be in a state of stress all the time. Um, I learned that it was not about learning something new because innately like I knew who I was. I just had all these layers on me of like who society and my upbringing and my environments and my circles like kind of taught me or programed you programmed me to be and like it was more about unlearning so much. Um, that was like a big thing for me and again led me here. So now as I have like all these like past beliefs regarding health and how I've done things in the past as I'm stepping into this like I want to call it like new version of myself, which it's not a new version, it's always been me. Um, I'm realizing how much I value holistic health and, um, I want to do what's best for my baby and like questioning what's what's the best thing, so yeah. Yeah. Well, I love what you just said because it's actually something I've been meaning to even do a podcast about in reference to doing the emotional groundwork, uh, to conceive is just as important as doing the biochemical work or the detox, um, or the prenatals because there that's an obstacle that not a lot of women are even thinking about when they're having trouble with fertility is that, you know, is my stress level contributing to this? Is the fact that I'm terrified to have a baby because I went through abuse when I was young and I don't want that to happen and that might be a conscious fear, that might be an unconscious fear is that all of those things are extremely relevant and unfortunately, most conventional doctors and obstetricians and gynecologists are gonna say that has nothing to do with the fact that you're not conceiving, but it does. And so what we talk about today is like talking about pregnancy and how to maximize your body, to maximize the immunity of your baby is extremely important, but also part of that conversation is where are you at mentally and emotionally through your pregnancy? Right. Yeah. I know first trimester for me was very rough. I don't know, this baby inside me is a healer in all sorts of ways and like I feel like I learned stuff to heal so much prior and then when I actually did conceive after months of trying, um, you know, I thought I would feel like joy and ecstatic and instead it was like every fear I had regarding being a mom was like to the surface and I'm like no one warns me about any of this. What is going on and like you're at that phase at least I felt this way like I and I recognize that it was like my my core wound of like fear of death, right? I was like fear of losing the baby, which is a thing, right? Um, fear of losing myself, fear of losing my marriage and the identity we have around that and like fear of like loo like can we afford this? Like like literally feeling like I wasn't gonna have enough money we were gonna die like. Um, so that was my first trimester so I wish I knew you then. Uh, but my second trimester has been a lot better, but again, like I believe that all of those fears come up for a reason and when we embrace them and learn to sit with them and, um, instead of bypassing them, which I did for a very long time, they don't hold us heavy in our bodies and, you know, now I can just be able to like consciously be like, okay right now fear is trying to make it's way through like there's no room for you today. I'm sorry, but Yeah. Yeah, they come. Yeah. So, so that's fine. It's I know. Yeah. It's it's all relevant that is for sure. So, um, all right, so as we dive in, I know that, you know, some of the biggest questions that you've had is, you know, how do I how do I feel confident that once this baby is born that this baby is going to have a strong immune system and, you know, really where does, um, vaccinations and inoculations come in when, um, you know, with this baby. And as we navigate this very temperamental conversation is just kinda understanding that there is aspects of your pregnancy, there's aspects of your birth, um, that will contribute to the overall health of the baby and the immune system of the baby. So we're gonna dive into understanding a little bit more about that and then really being able to provide some valuable guidance and resources around, you know, making your own decision around how you're going to implement pediatric care. Um, and if that's working with a holistic pediatrician, if it's working with a conventional pediatrician and then, um, understanding more about, you know, where vaccinations come in and the vaccine schedule as well. Um, and I definitely do not claim to be an expert in, you know, vaccines, but I obviously it's something that I I know a lot about. Um, so it's not about really diving into tons of minute details around it but really looking at big picture overall. So one of the aspects of of pregnancy we've already established is that, you know, there are very specific things to consider through your pregnancy to keep the your immune system strong number one, and number two is assure that the development of the baby and the development of the immune system and the neurological system are are being fueled appropriately. So, uh, unfortunately, well, the unfortunate reality is that most of the prenatals that we have been told are the standard. So you correct me if I'm wrong but, um, because in the nature of what I do, I went a very different approach with my prenatals. Um, but very often the prenatal recommended is an all-in-one pill and you have all of those nutrients in that pill. Was that primarily what you were recommended? It was. I did some research on like, which one's like didn't have like these added ingredients in them. But I am taking the all-in-one. Yeah. Um, and you know, and for some women that's totally fine but one of the things that I always consider with, um, women that I work with that I am working with from because they're pregnant and they're just trying to maximize their pregnancy is, you know, we just dig a little bit deeper into their vitamins, minerals and something called methylation and we look to see, okay first of all are there any genetic factors that would be affecting how well they are assimilating or absorbing, uh, B vitamins, folate, and I'll explain why in just a second, and then we also look at their nutrient levels. You know, are they deficient in anything in particular just based off of their diet, their lifestyle or currently where their body is at. So, I've worked with many women and a lot of my friends I've given support to through their pregnancies and it's interesting, so like for myself as an example, I literally didn't take iron my entire pregnancy and my best friend took six capsules of, uh, a very specific iron that I gave her throughout the entire pregnancy and she's like, this stuff is great, I feel amazing. So, she had a very significant iron deficiency. For me, prior to getting pregnant, I I've actually people will be totally grossed out but yes, I eat like liver and chicken liver mousse and things like that. I eat red meat. So like, I've been tested throughout my entire pregnancy and I have never needed additional iron, which is actually kinda unheard of. So, it's just interesting like women are very different in what their prenatals should be. Um, but even too with the whole methylation conversation, there's actually a huge difference between folate and folic acid. So most women are getting recommended folic acid, which is actually synthetic. Folate is naturally derived in nature, um, particularly in like dark leafy greens. So when it comes to, um, what's going to best help with the development of the neurological system for the baby is folate. But some people genetically they have a lot of trouble with folate. It's a specific mutation called MTHFR. I don't know if you've ever heard of that. Some women have heard about it, but MTHFR is something that really will affect how well you're taking in and absorbing folate. So in that nature, you could have a pretty rough first trimester, um, with feeling very sick when you don't have appropriate amounts of folate. Yeah. Oh, that makes sense to me and I'm like all about like what's good for one person is not good for everybody like everyone has to find like what works for them and how I do it is different than how you do it and etc. But yeah, that makes a lot a lot of sense. I'm very curious now I want to like go get my bottle of prenatal and be like, because I want this is not folic acid or folate. Yeah, you'd be surprised a lot of, a lot of them have folic acid, but secondary is anyone who focuses more on a prescription prenatal, um, almost 100% of the time, it's going to be folic acid opposed to folate. So this is really helpful and women that are pregnant or have been pregnant and they're like, oh my gosh, like I didn't have any of this like obviously don't freak yourselves out. Um, there's always ways to replenish those deficiencies. Um, if, you know, if you're pregnant right now and you start taking folate tomorrow, you know, obviously you're gonna do good. Um, and then if your baby is born and maybe is deficient in folate, then you obviously there's liquid folates that you can give to children as well. So, um, so it's never too late, so don't move into that place of like oh my gosh, I didn't do that. Yeah, exactly. For sure. That's fine. As you're saying that like leafy Greens have folate and I'm thinking to myself, well, if there's any like I I was eating lots of leafy greens prior to being pregnant but like my first trimester, I don't think I ate one leafy green because I was just like give me all the bread. Um, that was just like what my body was craving, so I don't I if my prenatal didn't have it, the baby wasn't getting it. Well, that's interesting you say that because being pregnant, um, you know, there's a lot of things that I learned textbook wise as to why women have a lot of nausea in their first trimester and one of the biggest, um, focuses that I was taught in school was, oh, it's a choline deficiency and choline deficiency can stem from the liver. And, uh, in being pregnant and going through the experience, I realize that the primary root cause of the nausea or, you know, the limited, um, palate is blood sugar, bad blood sugar. And unfortunately, if you've ever listened to my podcast, I did a whole podcast on the like endemic of bad blood sugar in, you know, in the US, but it's really just a matter of, it's partly diet but it's very much lifestyle and a lot of us are now intermittent fasting, so it's a lot of people like are just getting up in the morning, they're not eating anything and they have coffee and then they, you know, they eat 10, 11 o'clock, maybe even later and this is something that's perpetuating blood sugar issues. It's really like the lack of, um, eating. So people that are eating one, two meals a day, never snacking, they can actually create issues with their blood sugar and that then gets perpetuated once you're pregnant. So it's the irregular blood sugar that makes you extremely nauseous and unable to eat. So one of the things that I was actually taking was a super potent, um, it it was actually potent cinnamon. It it's called gluco optimizer. It was a supplement through Cellcore and that's not a, that's not a conventional, um, prenatal but when I took it and I felt the nausea completely dissipate, I was like huh, can you believe it? It's a blood sugar issue. So I started being super, super, super diligent on my eating habits and then leveraging the that cinnamon supplement when I needed it and I didn't have nausea at all. So and I'm not saying that's to rub it in anyone who's listening because I know women are like, oh you like I feel like shit. Yeah, I was very fortunate that I only had nausea for like week six through eight and it wasn't like morning sickness, it was all day sickness. Not it doesn't matter what it felt like. No. Yeah, I know it's gonna be tough. It was but that went away. But again, like as you're mentioning this, um, I would love to know if there's a reason or what you have experienced of acid reflux. Mhm. So that's horrible. Yeah. So it's actually interesting because I had reflux or I had heartburn for the first time in my life like two weeks ago and I was like, oh, what is this? This is terrible. What's that about? Um, so and then everybody was like, oh it means your baby has hair. I was like, Yeah. I don't know about that, but okay. You know, all the wives tells of like why you feel the way you do. Um, so it, it's actually interesting because, uh, with the the blood sugar, or the the heartburn, one of the instances was actually totally my fault because I was laying down like eating something because I was being lazy cuz I didn't want to get up. So that was like the worst of it, but it happened like one or two times and I just started trying to pay attention. I'm like, okay, is this something I'm eating, is this, you know, something else completely and then of course I tested the whole blood sugar, um, theory of like, is this my blood sugar acting up again and it was the blood sugar. So, um, I was able to just make sure that I was eating more frequently and then also, because in my third like, uh, later part of my second trimester into the third trimester, my appetite is kinda back to normal like the way it was prior to being pregnant. So, I wasn't eating as rigorously, but then I started to just get busy again and then do the whole like, I'm not eating enough. So then that like kicked my butt and was like, no, no, no, you you gotta eat more. Okay, that makes sense. So, so those are definitely some things. Yeah. Basically carbs only. I was like this is all I could stomach. I I'm getting in protein now thank goodness. Yeah. Now, I know your palette changes a lot, um, but there's definitely things that we just have to try to get in even if we're like kicking and screaming through it. Um, but trying to have diversity and this is something this is a theory. This is more of a theory than anything else, but I realize that so many, um, good friends of mine that I'm obviously very involved with them and now their kids is that they're like, oh my kids are so picky they won't eat so many things and when I we talk about what they ate while they were pregnant is they had very limited diversity of their diet because they were so focused on eating, you know, carbs and things that just either made them feel good mentally, emotionally, or actually physically. Right. Um, so that actually does translate into the limited palette of your child. So, that's something that I've been keeping in mind is really trying to be diligent about diversifying that so that, um, my child is not going to be like, I only want bread pancakes and french toast. We thank you for being a listener and subscriber to Integrative Wellness Radio. If you're looking to learn more about Integrative Wellness Group as well as Dr. Nick or Dr. Nicole, you can check out integrativewellnessgroup.com.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
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