The one thing I will never again do pregnancy without...

So I'm really hoping that aside from documenting my journey and sharing my story with others, that I can also provide some new ideas or resources for other moms and moms-to-be out there. I figured one thing that I really should talk about in depth, is one thing I have done very differently this time around from last time.

So here it is...the one thing that has helped me more than anything during this pregnancy is...chiropractic care!

Don't stop reading yet...I promise, I was just as scared and skeptical as those reading might be. However, being in massage school, I got to know a great chiropractor. Getting adjusted never really appealed to me. I get queasy when my husband cracks his knuckles...no joke! (Like seriously...it bothers me) Once I got pregnant though, I figured I would give it a try this time around.

When I gave birth to my son, he was born super late. He did not engage well until I hit about 6 cm! (Luckily...phew!) He also was in the wrong position, aka posterior or "Sunny side up." When babies are born, they are supposed to come out face down so that their spine is not against yours. My son's spine was completely against mine, causing some super fun back labor. (Though I will say, this back labor was very easily manageable!) In the end, I had to push extremely hard to get him out, which I did, and he eventually turned into the right position right at the last minute.

Though I have forgiven my son for all this trouble, I have to wonder if perhaps there was something out there I could have done that could have helped my baby get into a better position. My son didn't even turn to head down positioning until 36 weeks, the week they were going to decide if I needed to discuss other options of getting him out! He was breech forever, and then sideways...which was super awkward. Finally at the last minute, he surprised me.

After a lot of research, I actually found that chiropractic care can help with all sorts of issues in pregnancy, including, but not limited to: breech babies, babies not engaging, general aches and pains of pregnancy, nutrition/diet and even can allow women to have faster, easier births. I mean, where do I sign up???

I will say, I was apprehensive because of all the cracking, so I knew I needed someone I already trusted. Luckily this was not hard! I started chiropractic care at 11 weeks pregnant. But I will say, it is never too late! (or too early for that matter)

When I first went in, my chiropractor decided he wanted to do some muscle energy testing and see how my organs were all functioning. This technique is really cool...he could see how all my organs were doing just by having me touch the organ with one finger, and then with my other hand he would have me put my thumb and strongest finger together. He would then try to pull my grip apart...if it pulled apart easily, that organ was weak. If it was difficult to pull apart, I had a good strong organ.

We found that all my organs were functioning really well except for my gall bladder, which was very weak, and my lower intestine which was a little weak. He then went a step further and pulled out some different supplements. He had me hold the supplement while he did the same energy testing to see if my muscle got stronger or weaker. He noticed HCL made me gall bladder stronger, and tried a couple others, but they didn't do much. I thought it was so cool that he could find all this out just by my muscle's response to this supplement being so close to me. He then said there was something he wanted to try, and pulled out some chlorella. Chlorella is a green algae, but it has SO many benefits...it has a ton of protein and naturally strips the body of mercury and other heavy metals. Therefore, this is a great supplement for anyone pregnant and breastfeeding. What he found when introducing this supplement to my muscles, was that all organs got stronger. He also emphasized how much this supplement would benefit my baby. When we are pregnant, often we can feel really good because a lot of our toxins go to the placenta. (and the baby) There are usually over 600 toxins found in the average human placenta. Anything that keeps them filtering out in a gentle way, is a welcome help.

Apparently a study was done in Germany where mothers were given this supplement while pregnant. The babies were referred to as the "chlorella babies." 18 years later, the findings are huge! These chlorella babies are measuring on average, 3 inches taller than their non chlorella counterparts and have higher IQs. I figured as something that could benefit me AND my baby, I would give it a try. And so far, this baby has been measuring ahead...so who knows! Maybe it's working. I do plan to continue taking the chlorella while breastfeeding as well. I want to be as non-toxic as possible for baby. When taking this supplement I had to start small...I took 4 pills twice a day. If you start too high, you can have a toxic reaction, as your body will pull too much at one time. Every week I increased the dosage. I am now at 10 and will stay there, as I don't feel the need to go up much more. Chlorella is also a blood builder, something I really need!

Then, we got to the adjustment. For much of the pregnancy my sacrum has been tilted. First it was tilted to one side, then it went to the other...then yesterday when I went, it was tilted forward on the left side. We just kind of work with it. Because of the relaxin my body is producing, it's normal for joints to move around...it also means I crack significantly more each time I go to get adjusted. Ha! My main complaint during the pregnancy has been my SI joint. I can literally feel it pop in and out. It doesn't hurt, but it's rather weird...as I've never had this happen before.

So I always start our sessions by usually complaining about my lower back and SI joint. There was one point during the pregnancy where I had a bad fall on my face and actually injured my neck pretty bad and threw my first rib out of place. (Hey, don't judge...it happens...) However, usually I'm complaining about my low back, which he always assures me is common and we work with it. We then go on to the actual adjusting. Despite the fact that this is a high velocity treatment, I've always found my chiro to be very gentle. The first session I was a little nervous, but I have come to realize he knows what he is doing and usually after he adjusts me, I feel way better than I did.



During yesterday's session, we worked on the sacrum a little through the SI joint and then there was something on my lumbar spine that needed work. Because I'm getting bigger, I'm starting to develop a lordotic curve in my spine, meaning the belly is pulling my spine forward, so the joints are getting a little jammed up. Luckily, this doesn't cause too much discomfort and for most pregnant women, resolves after birth. He showed me some different stances I could do to work on lessening the curve so I don't develop complications.

After that, we moved on to a couple ribs that were knocked out of place. Thank goodness, because my ribs WERE bothering me a lot in the past couple weeks. Then I had a couple things in my neck that got adjusted, which actually felt really good for my jaw too. It's so important to lessen jaw tension, as the jaw muscles, and muscles in the vagina are directly linked. So thinking ahead for birth, I'll take any relaxation I can get for my jaw!

After this, we are pretty much done and I plan to come back in a month. I am not super diligent about a lot of things in this pregnancy, but I don't mess around with my chiropractic care. When a month has gone by, I get back in that office asap! My chiro himself, often emphasizes the importance and impact for pregnant women, and says many times he has women that come during their pregnancy, because they know the benefits, and then he never sees them again.

The other killer (and of course I can't prove it's the chiropractic care) is that our little baby is ALREADY head down, in a perfect position and right at the cervix, feeling at times as if he/she is ready to bust out! Totally different from big brother! So in addition to measuring really well size-wise, I have to hope that things I'm doing are the right things. Regardless, I plan to keep this up, and in the next month or so, will probably start going twice a month. I am also toying the idea of going to get adjusted after birth, and getting baby adjusted as well. Chiropractic has been proven to help with colic in babies, amongst other things.





So there you have it...a long nerdy schpeel from me. But my bottom line, is that I highly recommend chiropractic care to anyone, but especially an expecting mom!

Our one and only diagnostic ultrasound

So I'm not a huge fan of ultrasounds. My OB uses them at my visits to take a quick peek at baby, and the machine she uses is very old and not invasive at all. She respects that I'm not a huge fan so she literally just uses it for 2 or 3 minutes to check position and then is done. However, she mentioned that I could get a nice fancy ultrasound. (she loves looking at the babies) I decided to cave...I figured it would ease my mind to see for myself that things were okay and there were no big complications. We decided to forego all genetic testing (except for spina bifida) so I figured this would be a good indicator that all was healthy and well and no huge terminal surprises were among us.

I chose to forego genetic testing, largely because the issues we were testing for were things we could live with. I explained to my OB that the only thing I'd really want to know was if there was something terminal, because I'd want to prepare. I figured this ultrasound would be a good way to rule some more of that out. (Not that I was really all that worried in the first place) I knew if I was going to do an ultrasound, I wanted to go before 24 weeks. After 24 weeks, they become largely inaccurate and it is much easier for doctors to "find things." I didn't want anything found. With my last pregnancy, they found low fluid...I do not need that again! Ultrasounds can be very inaccurate at these findings the bigger the baby gets...so since this ultrasound went so well, I will trust that everything is fine and I'm on track to have a great birth! Now for some fun, I'll share some of our pictures.

Our cute little Baby Goose!

You can see the arches in the foot!

This little one is shy...those hands were not moving!

Hands in the face and legs crossed!

Our neonatologist was retired Army. He decided to have some fun with us...but Goose decided to flip him the bird. 

All in all, it was a good time! The general consensus is that we have a very healthy baby. Everything is where it should be. One thing I thought was really cool, was that when checking my ovaries they could tell which side I ovulated from. Maybe I'm the only one who gets excited about that kind of stuff, but I think it's neat. Another really cool aspect is that I think this baby looks a lot like my oldest son. I see a lot of similar features.

So there you have it...my first, and last ultrasound. Next time you see this baby...it will be on the outside!

The Plan

I have had a lot of people start to ask me about what kind of birth I'm envisioning this time. I've been really excited to share this with people, but was kind of hesitant to go too into detail about this pregnancy until now. I'm not really sure why...I guess I was feeling selfish. I was enjoying my little community and my little bubble of support. I have felt so uplifted by everyone, and even encouraged to share my journey. If I can help one person, I will consider it a success, so here goes...

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was absolutely terrified. We were not planning on having another baby for another year or so. (assuming I was going to struggle like I did the first time) I had never even thought about what I would want to do. When I saw that positive test, I grew scared and almost called up the same hospital I delivered my son at to immediately get on track and make appointments. I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that this was not the experience I wanted with this baby.

After my deep breath, I started researching. I came across an OBGYN and midwife practice that prided themselves on being more natural. I was really excited, and called them up to make my first appointment, which wouldn't be for another two weeks. I was excited to deliver at the Hospital on island that seems to respect peoples birthing choices and have had many friends who did deliver through this practice and had good experiences. (years ago)

Well, two weeks is a long time to wait. While I was waiting for my 6 week appointment I started researching birth centers (which there are none on this island) and home birth midwives. I came across a lot, but really just assumed they would never take me. I have thalassemia, a blood disorder that causes my hemoglobin to run low. I did a lot of googling and upon doing that, came across the same conclusion...that birthing at home probably wasn't an option. I really had my heart set on it though.

I looked through a bunch of home birth midwives. Energetically, I didn't connect to most of them. However, there was one that I really loved. I enjoyed her entire website. I enjoyed her views and how she respected and honored birth. I wanted her on my journey with me...my search was over. I figured again, she probably would not take me but I told my husband it could never hurt to ask. I emailed her asking if we could talk more.

The next night, I had a phone date with Selena. From the second we started talking on the phone I felt connected to her. She listened to my birth story about my first son and agreed with me largely that I was mistreated and had a good handle on things. I then had to convince her...I remember saying "I'd really like to have a home birth...but I just don't know if I'd be the right type of person to have one..." She immediately said "Why would you think that?"

I explained my blood disorder to her. What was fascinating to me was that she knew exactly what it was and said she'd had moms with the same disorder deliver with her at home! Most doctors don't even understand thalassemia. I was impressed. She told me about how we could build my blood up and all these natural things we could do. She empowered me in this phone conversation. She made me feel important and capable. I felt I'd found my match. I hung up the phone with Kyle and we made plans to interview her in person later that week.

When Selena showed up, I'd had a rough day. I was throwing up all day and had to work a shift at the clinic. I heard the doorbell ring, and upon opening it, she smiled at me, gave me a huge hug and said "Wow, you're so sick!" It was amazing to me that she could read my energy like that right away. She sat down and gave me these peppermint beadlets to suck on while we talked. She also started mothering me...telling me about how I needed to eat...giving me suggestions, recommending other supplements I could try. I felt so nurtured and important. I hadn't even hired her and she was already so caring. About 10 minutes later she asked me "How are you feeling?" I said "I feel so much better!" She said "Yeah I can tell...I'm going to leave some of those things with you." She was so sweet. I immediately knew I wanted to do this, and Kyle was on board too. Even our 2 year old son just loved her.

Now before everyone freaks out, there was more to the interview than just this. I asked her my million bajillion questions. I was largely freaked out about meconium and what would happen. She helped me to see that the last time when I had meconium it was largely due to stress. She also exaggerated that in any emergency, we would simply pick up and go to the hospital...and she would be right there with me. She is not one to mess around and lead people to believe she has a handle on a situation when she doesn't. But she also emphasizes that many women in this country who are labeled high risk are really not so much. (Like me!) We discussed my blood and she stressed that there are different variations of normal for everyone. She would like to see my hemoglobin at a 10, but we are working with it for now and managing it as best we can. She was just so inspirational, and so humbled and honored that we wanted her to be our midwife.

Since our first meeting, Selena has come over every 2 weeks to check on me and baby. These appointments happen at my house and are super casual. We talk about how I'm feeling physically and emotionally...she checks my blood pressure, urine, swelling (which I've had none), supplements, baby's heart beat, baby's position and the positioning and length of my fundus (uterus). She also brings her assistant midwife, Jaymie with her. Jaymie is a supper bubbly, positive ball of energy and I absolutely love having her around as well. In the event that Selena can't do appointments, Jaymie comes over and does them for her. They will both be with me when I give birth, whether it goes as planned or not. I have really enjoyed getting to know my birth team from 6 weeks on. There's a certain bonding that has happened that is just really nice...I have my village now, a community I can trust through this ordeal.

Now I know if you're reading this...you are probably bursting with questions. Let me answer the biggest ones for you.

What will you do in the event of an emergency?
If an emergency occurs where I have to go to the hospital, I have an amazing back up OB. I have been seeing her since 8 weeks on and she has worked with my midwife before. This OB will do all my labs and tests and she and Selena manage it together. It's called concurrent health care. In the event that I go to the hospital, Selena and her assistant Jaymie will come with me, but the OB will deliver me. In the event that something of urgency happens while I'm at home, I would just go to the nearest hospital with my midwife and her assistant.

This just seems so dangerous. There's just so much that can go wrong. Aren't you scared?
I think one misconception people have about home birth is that it's dangerous, when actually studies have shown it is one of the safer ways to go for a low risk woman. My midwife is equipped to deal with emergencies that happen at home. She has delivered breech babies that she didn't know were breech. She has had moms with meconium. She carries pitocin and oxygen on her. She knows how to resuscitate an infant in the event that baby isn't breathing when he/she comes out. The woman I am entrusting to deliver my baby is not a witch doctor, and has extensive education and training. I'm not scared because I trust her, and I feel safer at home while I don't have any risks that indicate me needing to be in the hospital.

Is that expensive? Did your insurance cover this?
Honestly, we paid about $4,000 out of pocket for this birth. My midwife has many different packages to accommodate all families and is great at working out payment plans. Our particular package comes with the entire birthing kit, and a birth tub so I have the option to birth in the water. She comes every two weeks, will be on call for the birth, responds to any questions I have immediately and also does postpartum care up to 6 weeks. I think I'm getting more than my money's worth. As my chiro said, "It's just money, Kimberly." My midwife recently informed me that tricare is starting to cover home births. Someone on island billed them for a home birth and got reimbursed. It's still in it's infancy, but it's a huge step in an awesome direction. We will most definitely try to bill them too and see if we have any luck.

If anyone has any other questions I'd be happy to answer...I'm really excited to open up about this whole experience and maybe show a lot of my friends and family something different. In the end though, this plan is not a one size fits all...it is what works best for me, and I encourage all my friends who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant to do what works best for them.

Excited to start this blogging journey!