Things I’m Learning from My Midwife

As I’ve briefly mentioned before, we’re using a midwife for the first time this pregnancy.  We made this decision not from dissatisfaction exactly with our doctor.  It was more we wanted something different.  We wanted to work within a system that was more “us.”   I like doctors when I’m sick.  I like them when things go wrong.  I think there’s a good number of them that are good at preventative care as well.  However, I’m learning that they deal with so many emergencies, so many sick people, that often when you’re pregnant, you get the treatment of a sick person.  Throughout my 4 previous pregnancies with a variety of doctors in a variety of clinics and hospitals, I’ve had consistent issues with doctors giving me things that I don’t need because it’s routine, and those things ended up causing me problems.

I’m not sure if my body is just sensitive.  For instance, my body does not handle synthetic hormones well.  I also don’t handle narcotics well.  Over the years, I’ve found that handling my issues through diet has been the most effective.  Medications must be a last resort for me.  Diet has been first choice, natural supplements have been my second choice as they seem to absorb better in my system, and synthetic supplements are my 3rd choice, but often pass straight through me with little effect.  Don’t even get me started on how my body responds to antibiotics.  I mean, they get rid of the infection just fine, but I’m a bit weathered afterward.

As much as I like doctors, natural remedies aren’t their specialty, or at least most of them aren’t trained in it.  My current OB is about the most knowledgable that I’ve found any OB when it comes to natural remedies, but I think he’d be the first to say that wasn’t his specialty either.

My midwife is full of information that I’ve never had access to before.  I’m learning so much about diet and nutrition that I’m not sure how I managed other pregnancies without her.  I immediately go home and tell Knut all I learn during our lengthy appointments, and he often changes his diet as well.  My parents have shown some interest in it as well.  I feel like our whole family is getting healthier this time around.

So here’s some things that have been different for me in this pregnancy that is all because I went to my midwife.  She’s very individual in her help, so I don’t want anyone to think that what she said for me is for everyone.  However, I’m hoping it will give some people some information that may lead to help for them.

I would like to say that I don’t believe we have to be either/or when it comes to herbs-nutrition and medicine.  Treating symptoms through diet does not mean you hate medicine, or think it invalid.  Herbs may be a religion for some people, but I believe there might be some merit to them.  I’ve always thought at the back of my mind that the cure for cancer is somewhere in the rain forest, and if we knew more about natural remedies, (not just me, but modern scientists).  However, the funding for studies in this area always seem to go to drug companies, and medication producing labs.  If you want an “expert” in nutrition and natural medicine, even if you like modern medicine, you kind of have to search.  As always, I research everything either a doctor or a midwife recommends I take.  It’s their job to advise me, and it’s my job to make good choices because I’m the one who will have to live with my body.  Anyway, here’s what’s new this time around.

This is my first pregnancy that I’m not anemic. 

I’ve just gotten used to the fact that being pregnant meant feeling like you wanted to sleep constantly.  I assumed that’s just how it was.  I have taken prescribed iron supplements in previous pregnancies.  Never once did it effect my numbers.  One pregnancy I learned that Cream of Wheat cereal might increase my iron.  That worked fairly well, as long as I had a bowl every morning.  We also tried cooking on cast iron, and that helped too.  During my 4th pregnancy one nurse suggested I take orange juice with my supplement and that helped too.  It got my numbers at a safe place, but never to a normally functioning place.

My midwife was the first one to point out that the TUMS I was taking for my constant heartburn and acid reflux I tend to get when I’m pregnant was limiting the absorption of iron in my system.  She recommended that I replace the TUMS with Papaya Enzymes.  Now, I research everything to death, even things my OB recommended.  Turns out they are very safe for pregnant women to take, and they don’t taste half bad either.  What really surprised me is I think they work about twice as fast as TUMS in my opinion, and I have to take less of them.  My iron levels have also returned to normal.  Normal levels…in pregnancy.  I never knew that my body could do such a thing.

She also strongly recommended that I eat yogurt every day to help my stomach control the acid causing my heartburn in the first place.  I started taking the papaya enzymes first, and I was taking about 4-6 tablets a day.  Once I started eating yogurt every day, I only needed to take about 1-2 a day.  That really helped as well.

So cross that off my list.  No heartburn this pregnancy, and loads of energy.  I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

I’m learning about the benefits of Kefir.

I’ve tested positive for GBS in every pregnancy except Solveig where I tried a different natural remedy involving garlic that actually worked so I didn’t need that antibiotic during birth.  That was huge for me to be able to avoid that antibiotic that had consistently given me problems post-birth in previous pregnancies.  This time my midwife would like me to add kefir to my diet about a month before my GBS testing as a preventative measure.

For those who don’t know, GBS is a bacteria that many women (about 40%) are carriers of, but it does not make them sick.  However, the baby can contract the bacteria while passing through the birth canal and it can be very serious if they do.  So everyone agrees (both midwives and doctors) that this bacteria should be killed off before the birth. 

The way she explained it was that Kefir is “like yogurt on steriods.”  Researching online, I see it has more diverse good bacteria than yogurt, as well as yeast.  She said that when you take an antibiotic, it kills both the good bacteria and the bad bacteria in your stomach, which is often the cause of the side effects of antibiotics.  She said certainly antibiotics are sometimes necessary, and if I find myself needing them in the future, I should be sure to start drinking Kefir as soon as the antibiotics are done so that the good bacteria is restored in my stomach as soon as possible.  That was good to note should I need that nasty antibiotic in the future.

Anyway, GBS is cultivated in the body pretty far down the digestive tract.  So while yogurt is like a daily pick-me-up for the stomach, kefir works to restore each part of the digestive tract piece by piece.  So it starts restoring the good bacteria to prime levels in the stomach.  As you continue taking it, it moves to restoring good bacteria in the intenstines, and so on.  She said it will take about a month of taking kefir for it to work it’s way to restore the good bacteria all the way down to where the GBS is being produced in my body. 

She did point out that kefir has not always worked, but in about 90% of her clients who normally test positive for GBS, and start adding kefir to their diet, they will test negative for GBS after about a month.

So I just started taking it, and let me tell you, this stuff is awesome.  Knut has started drinking it too, because he said it just makes his stomach feel so good.  That’s pretty much how I’d describe it too.  Reading up on it more at home, we’ve found that studies have been done that of people who are lactose intolerant, their symptoms are decreased by 70% when they add kefir to their day.  It’s known to help your body digest things that are tricky to digest.

Other studies have been done on lab rats of the effects of kefir, but they are inconsistent.  In some lab rats, kefir has lowered cholesterol, in others, it has lowered blood pressure, and in some, it has killed cancer cells.  The data is so inconsistent that it would not be right to claim that kefir does any of those things.  However it is proven to be safe to drink, and it is proven to really help the digestive system.  So it’s not a bad thing.  The only argument among nutritionists/scientists is how much it can actually do. 

So we’ll see what the results of my GBS test is in a few weeks.  The proof will be there for my system.  In the mean time, I’m going to enjoy drinking it.  The kind I bought at the health food store tastes like a strawberry yogurt shake.  It’s very yummy.  I was only planning on drinking it 2-3 times a week, but it’s so yummy I’m drinking it every day, but limiting myself to about a 1 cup portion because it’s pricey.  Well, not too bad.  A small jug for the week costs a bit more than a Starbucks.  If it will help me avoid that nasty antibiotic during birth, I’ll drink it!  Well, actually, I’ll drink it, pour it over granola, or dip fruit in it.  It’s our new favorite food in this house.

I could go on to talk about some of the herbal teas she has been recommending for this last trimester to prepare my blood for birth and is supposed to help prevent hemorrhaging, but I think I’ve already rambled enough for today.

Who knew that as this is my 5th time around making it this far in a pregnancy, there’s still new things to learn.