Pre-Pregnancy: Feeling God-Ready and Healthy

May 5, 2024 /

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Before I dive into this blog post, I want to start off with a few things…

I know this can be a sensitive subject for many, so I just want to give a reminder that I’m simply sharing my own experience with what we did to prepare for pregnancy and our journey to being ready in our own way. 

I’m not a medical professional in the slightest. I did my own research, followed so many educational accounts and professionals, was surrounded by a different view of health at my workplace, had an incredible mentor for a boss, and used a little bit more of my own intuition when it came to my health instead of just going with the mainstream flow.

Our journey to becoming pregnant was not long and I don’t take that lightly. I feel like we grow up thinking that getting pregnant is so easy, but for so many women in our generation- it’s simply not. I have lived with a fear for probably 10 years that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant, but that was the enemy using fear against me. I know my purpose in this life is to be a mama, so what better way to distract me from my purpose than with fear.

This blog post is full of a whole lotta Jesus. Anyone that has read any of my blog posts knows that to be true, but again, because this is such a sensitive subject I feel like it’s important to know that all the glory goes to God for this miracle of life that grew in my belly and in my arms today. For me, I see it no other way. All the science in the world, all the health changes and swaps, God is still in control and His timing is perfect.

Last thing before I dive in…if you are in a season of waiting, if you are struggling to conceive, if you have suffered a loss- please know that my prayers are with you. God put that desire on your heart to be a mama for a reason and He always fulfills His promises in some way, even if it’s not the way we originally planned, and even if it takes a little longer than we had anticipated. My prayers are with you. 

I feel like thinking back to the time before we found out about our sweet babe feels like so long ago now, but there are still so many things I want to share from our journey pre-pregnancy to encourage others in a similar season.

Wyatt and I would get asked all the time about when we would grow our family. And truthfully, in our hearts, we trusted that to God’s timing fully. We would respond to that question for years by saying ‘oh, not yet’ and ‘we just aren’t ready yet’. And we were always met with the same response- ‘you’ll never fully be ready, no one ever is’. That made sense to us, but what those people didn’t understand was that we were waiting to feel God-ready. 

We both had the dream, desire, intention, and passion in our hearts to become parents someday and raise sweet little babies together, and we knew that God wouldn’t put that on our hearts if He wasn’t going to fulfill His promises. God-ready to us was that feeling when we both knew it was time to start trying intentionally, or we would simply get pregnant. Either way, we were leaving it all to God. And as always, He keeps His promises. You can read more about that below in the section titled Feeling God-Ready.

It was also important for me to improve my own overall health and wellness so that when we did feel ready to try to start our family, my body would be in a relaxed, healthy state. I’ll dive into that first!

If you’re not interested in reading about any health changes we made to prepare for pregnancy and just want to hear our story of God-ready then scroll down until you see the heading Feeling God-Ready.

Healthy Changes

As I said I wanted to make sure my body was in a good place before getting pregnant to give my babe and myself the best possible chance at a healthy pregnancy. I think what most of us today don’t realize is how much we do on a regular basis to work against our own health, go against what’s actually natural, and do things that stress our bodies out significantly.

I worked as a chiropractic assistant in an office that focuses on wellness and vitality, and several years ago when I was very early into the field and learning a completely different view of health than what I had always known, I got to hear a strong mother and chiropractor speak. And she scared the absolute jeebies out of me. 

I was 24 at the time and she dove into how as women the things we eat, what we drink, medicines we take, what we do, the stress we carry, and so much more can affect our fertility. She was discussing how things that women had done years prior could affect their ability to get pregnant. New into the chiropractic world I was just beginning to learn about the brain/body connection and how every part of us is innately designed to work together and how thoughts, traumas, and toxins affect our nervous system. But it never occurred to me that the mistakes I had already made for my health at 24 could affect my ability to have one of the things I had always wanted in this life.

I was scared when I heard all of this, because I wasn’t ready to hear this information and make the necessary changes for my health. I just felt heavy and concerned after she spoke. So honestly, I put what I had heard out of my mind for a long time. 

Then, as I continued to grow up and learn more about chiropractic and really start to take control of my health, all of her words came back to me. But what I realized this time thinking about her words, is while everything she said was true, I also had the opportunity to take charge of my health now for my own health and fertility and not be defined by things I had done before that could harm my health. 

All that to say, I started down a path to create better health and wellness for myself and my family. In January 2021 I really decided I was going to put my focus into getting my body ready for pregnancy whenever God’s timing would be right for us.

My mindset is that when you know better, then you should do better, but once you start down the road of swapping products and more and more research it can become an overwhelming rabbit hole. We slowly made swaps and changes and didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves or get too expensive too quickly. In our society today there is literally no way to do everything 100% clean and safe- it’s the sad truth- but I found a love for learning and then doing what was best for our home and family and our own wellness journey. Just like with everything else in life, don’t be so focused on what others are doing or tell you that you should be doing, just focus on your own home and family. At the end of the day, ‘clean’ and ‘non-toxic’ are a spectrum and what everyone is comfortable with is going to be different.

Here are some of the things we did to really put a focus on our overall health and wellness- changes we made over time- some small and minute and some a little more major. For me, the importance was cutting down our toxic load and getting our bodies functioning better for us. And it was a team effort. 

Regular Chiropractic Care– we both have been getting adjusted since 2018, and I think it’s one of the most important things you can do for your bodies and overall health. Wyatt and I both get adjusted once a week to keep our nervous systems functioning optimally. This wasn’t for fertility purposes, but the fact that it would help us in that way was simply an added bonus. We get adjusted regularly because it’s a priority for our health that we aren’t willing to slide on and we would rather be proactive with our health instead of reactive. Your health begins with your nervous system.

Here is where I worked for years and where we still remain patients. Dwyer Chiropractic in London, Ohio. You can also find them on Facebook here!

Improved Nutrition– we never ate the cleanest and we still don’t do the best job but focusing on an 80/20 balance when it comes to food is what became priority. So we did just that. I also took an Everlywell Food Sensitivity Test (Using my link gets you 15% off) to cut out things my body was struggling to process and digest. I constantly felt inflammation throughout my body, didn’t go regularly, and could just tell something was off. Cutting out foods that my body struggled with made a huge difference in how I felt, and I know it helped my gut too! Meal planning was huge and having a set day of the week as the day to get groceries helped with consistency.

Use this link for 15% off at Everlywell.

Regular Exercise– okay, I’ll be honest, I am not one of those people that just loves working out. I go in waves of enjoying it and waves of not, but it’s definitely not one of my passions in life. But some kind of exercise is necessary to support your body in a healthy way. So, in January 2021 when we started down this path of making changes for our health, we both started working out regularly together. At first it started out that I wanted to lose some weight I had gained in the big 2020 mess of a year, but then it transitioned into just wanting my body to feel good. I also didn’t want to be completely inactive if we did become pregnant. I at least wanted a foundation of good muscle strength and a stronger core too. And I’m so glad I did. 

Journaled to Our Future Babe– I know this isn’t something everyone can resonate with, but as all of you that are reading this can tell- I love to write. It was therapeutic for me to write to our future child about how I was praying for them, how much I loved them already, and how I couldn’t wait to meet them one day. I love that I can now look at my Easton James and read those journal entries and see God’s promises in fruition.

Essential Oils Over Candles– I’m sure at some point by now you have heard that artificial fragrances can be endocrine disruptors AKA not good for our health at all. Not only is this a big deal for someone like me with a thyroid disease, but also for anyone that wants to get pregnant, anyone with children, etc…Okay everyone should be aware of endocrine disruptors. But we stopped burning all those yummy smelling candles in our home regularly. Honestly, I do still miss those overpowering candles that take over the whole house, but I feel like once you know better you have to do better. We diffuse essential oils instead to freshen up the smell of our home. And as an added bonus, essential oils have other health benefits too, so it’s a win-win. I know there are some great small businesses out there making candles with essential oils, but I have yet to try any for myself. Once I do, I’ll add in the info here if I like them!

Stopped Using Tampons– To be honest, I just stopped wearing them unless completely necessary for swimming. Ladies, do you realize how much garbage is in those things we willingly insert into our bodies? Like our first red flag should have been the fact that we are all warned they can kill us, but for some reason the convenience factor outweighed the logic in that. I know there are some good options out there of tampons made without harmful materials and ingredients, but again I haven’t tried any personally. Same thing with menstrual cups and period panties, I have heard great reviews on each from friends, but don’t have my own experience to share. These are my plans to use when my cycle returns, so I’ll be sure to come back and share my reviews then.

Started Taking Prenatal Vitamins– at my annual gynecologist appointment I had in 2020 the doctor asked if family planning was in our future and I of course answered yes. So she suggested starting on prenatal vitamins ahead of time to not only prepare my body and hormones, but also because by the time women realize they’re pregnant they’re already 4-5 weeks along. So I started taking prenatal vitamins during the summer of 2021 to prepare my body. And to be honest, I wish I had started them sooner. My body felt so much better taking my multivitamin pack with prenatal vitamins than it did with just my regular multivitamin pack. Also I had the best hair that I have had in my life and my nails grew so fast. Here is the prenatal what I was taking.

Started Using Earthley Products– we also transitioned over a lot of our products for much cleaner options. I heard about a company called Earthley from a patient, and after visiting their website and following them on socials I knew this was a company I could get behind! Not to mention it’s local to Ohio and they will never compromise the integrity of their product for the almighty dollar like pretty much every other company these days claiming to be ‘clean’.

Here are the products we order from Earthley regularly and absolutely love:

  • Deodorant 
  • Laundry Detergent
  • Cleaning Spray Concentrate
  • Goodnight Lotion with Magnesium
  • Chapstick
  • Beard Oil

They have a vast inventory of products with incredible benefits. The way we learned we loved some of these products is simply by just adding something new to try to each order.

There are things we now love for Easton too. For him we always have these things on hand:

  • Teeth Tamer
  • Feel Better Fast
  • Goodnight Lotion (Sensitive)
  • Infant Tummy Relief
  • Baby Balm Herbal Salve

Tracked Cycle on the Flo App– this allowed me to know when I was about to start my period, when I was ovulating, track any symptoms I was having, sexual activity, and then when we did start trying I was able to note that and the function of the app changed to better support me in that. I do use the paid version, but in my opinion it was worth it. This is something that I have continued to use now that my cycle has returned. I’ve heard this can become an obsession for some people to track these things, so just be mindful of that.

Used the Microwave Less– I know, I know this one seems a bit out there and also too difficult to enact. We did it though. We actually removed our microwave from our home for several months (until the first trimester hit me and barely being able to function, I needed the convenience of the microwave) but before that we had nixed it. It took more time and thought for food preparation, but I knew it was better for our home to have less tech waves flowing through it. It was a bigger adjustment for Wyatt than myself, but like I said, it is possible. It’s something I would love to be able to get back to removing, but in this season of life it is something that helps our family due to convenience. Like I said initially, you have to find what works best for your family and household.

Used Ovulation Tests– this isn’t a swap or a change, but something we did use in our journey of trying to conceive. I knew they existed and thought if we had any difficulty getting pregnant then we would get some to use, but once we were ready, I thought why the heck not give it our best shot right from the jump! Here were the ones we used.

I just want to reiterate that I wouldn’t say any of this is why I was able to get pregnant without much difficulty, but I do think focusing on my health and wellness was a benefit to take into that next season of life of trying to grow our family. Also, there are like a million other health changes and swaps I could have made and some I still want to make for our home and family when possible, but at that time in 2021 this was the compilation of what we had done to focus on our health and wellness.

I hope this opens up your mind to some of the possibilities of positive changes you can make for your health!

Feeling God-Ready

I finally had that God-ready moment that I knew in my heart that I would have one day, and it stopped me in my tracks. I have always wanted to be a wife and a mom, and I know that that is God’s purpose for me, so I had been praying for that God-ready moment to know His timing in it all. 

I was standing in the kitchen chopping something up and like when I do most mundane things around the house my mind started to wander. Where to, I don’t remember. But then I felt God speak to me. Have you ever felt God speak to you? Truthfully, I never had before, and when I heard people tell their own recollections of God speaking to them it just seemed a little far-fetched. Until it happened to me. Standing at my kitchen counter, chopping, God said it’s time to start your family. And when I tell you I lost it, I really lost it! So many tears were shed. It was the coolest experience. Not only to have God speak to me, but to speak to me about something I’ve wanted my entire life and knowing that this was His timing.

Wyatt was away on a work trip, and I was so eager to tell him this story when he returned home. This just seemed too big to share on one of our phone calls and he would be home the next day. We hadn’t been preventing pregnancy for a long time and we had conversations constantly about when we would start our family. We decided a few months prior to this moment to start praying more intentionally for God’s timing, and now here it was!

When I told Wyatt about this incredible experience, he was obviously amazed. But he didn’t have that experience, so he still didn’t feel that God-readiness that I was now all in on. And this was really, really hard. Being ready to start our family, knowing that my husband wasn’t, required so much patience and faith. I knew this was something we both wanted someday, and I just had to be patient. 

And so, I was. 

And then one January Sunday, Wyatt finally felt ready. So, as I had already been doing, I double checked my dates of ovulation, and because we are all adults and know how this works, a couple weeks later the waiting game began. Could I be? Am I pregnant? There’s no way it could happen this fast and this easily, but maybe?

And then I got my period. The worst day ever it seemed. I was a complete disaster. And my husband who is so good and so pure, as he was comforting me simply said, “God’s not saying no, He’s just saying not yet.” And I tried so hard to carry this in my mind and heart. Because once again, God put the desire on my heart to become a mom and He told me it was time, so I just had to continue to trust and be patient. Trust God’s timing and His process.

I’ll be honest and say, as much as I tried to simply be fine with it and be patient, I was not very successful. The next few weeks were some of the hardest I had experienced, and I wasn’t in a good place emotionally. And after a conversation with a friend, I realized something. Sometimes when we experience feelings and emotions in our lives that are similar to some we have experienced in our past, we revert back to who we were then, and our lowest sense of self. 

The last time I was feeling lost in God’s timing, wanting something so badly, and having to wait, pray, and trust immensely was when I was waiting on the man I knew God would bring into my life- my Wyatt. In that time of waiting for him I had low self-image, struggled to trust God, was very down on myself, and had no clue where God was leading me. And I was feeling all those same things again, simply because I was waiting for our baby, waiting to become a mama.

After this conversation my eyes were opened wide. I didn’t need to carry all that I had been, it was more so past trauma and experience that I needed to release. I just needed to continue to trust God and what He told me. On my drive home that day I worshipped hard and prayed harder. And then it happened again- God spoke to me and said I’m going to give you a baby.

And in that moment, I knew that if it was 3 months or 3 years until we got pregnant, I could wait however long I needed to, because God once again spoke to me. And this time, I heard Him louder and clearer and knew that I would be stronger than my emotions and the fear that set in when I got my period the last time. I turned my music up loud, and with tears rolling down my face sang ‘House of the Lord’ and just thanked God for His promise.

10 days later I found out I was pregnant. God keeps His promises. God puts things on your heart for a reason. It is still surreal to me that in that moment when He said He was going to give me a baby, that there was already a sweet little babe growing inside of me. God is good!

And once we found out I was pregnant, the first trimester was already in full swing! You can read more about that in my next blog post First Trimester: Sickness, Sleepiness, and the Sweetest Blessing.

Lord, I pray for the woman reading this that is yearning to be a mama and waiting for you to fulfill the desires You have placed on her heart. I pray for patience and strength in the waiting season. I pray for her perseverance, health, and ability to trust in Your perfect timing. Lord, I know your hand is in her story and I pray she sees that as well. You are the author of life and I cannot thank you enough for the beautiful way you designed us women to be able to do such amazing things. Lord thank You for the gift of life, the gift of being a woman, and the gift of Your timing and Your plans for all of our lives. Amen.

All the love,