PRECONCEPTION CARE
Preconception care starts 3-12 months before you conceive: preparing your body and mind before conceiving sets up your baby’s future
Fertility support: setting yourself up for success
That period before you start trying to conceive is a really special time for both yourself and your baby. Whether you are planning on getting pregnant in 3 months, a year, or longer, this is the best time for you to take steps to nourish yourself as best as you can do help prepare your body for pregnancy. In addition to being mentally prepared to bring new life into this world, supporting your physical body is just as important. When the body feels good, when we are nourished and when we are feeling food, it really helps support fertility. Preconception care also looks like supporting your period – if you have menstrual irregularities, this is the time to get them sorted so that you are setting yourself up for success!
BENEFITS OF PRECONCEPTION SUPPORT
If you’re ovulating, you can get pregnant. If you’re ovulating, but you’re experiencing severe menstrual pains, period cramps, period acne, irregular menstrual cycles, dealing with endometriosis or PCOS, then your chances of dealing with unwanted pregnancy symptoms increase. If you are someone who is dealing with digestive issues such as IBS, frequent constipation or diarrhea, indigestion, then being pregnant might not be smooth sailing either. The point is, preconception care helps you feel better before getting pregnant to support your pregnancy while simultaneously helping your body get the nutrients it needs to help them grow well while in utero!
ACHIEVING THAT PREGNANCY GLOW AND MITIGATING COMMON PREGNANCY SYMPTOMS
It all starts before we get pregnant! We all dream of that pregnancy glow, that magical pregnancy period… While we wish that, we rarely take the time to stop and think of what we can do to help us feel great throughout pregnancy. While it’s true that our hormones can sometimes play tricks on us during pregnancy, it’s usually from some form of deficiency that can be corrected along the way. To get that pregnancy glow (while growing a healthy baby), your best bet is to take steps before getting pregnant to help you achieve that! If you’re dealing with pre-menstrual symptoms (PMS), endometriosis, PCOS, digestive issues, fatigue, increased stress, these should all be corrected prior to getting pregnant. These are all symptoms of inadequate nourishment, high stress, internal imbalances – all symptoms that can generally be mitigated by using simple diet and lifestyle changes, changes that I’d recommend you implement before getting pregnant.
WHAT FERTILITY SUPPORT LOOKS LIKE
First, an assessment. A detailed history, a dietary and lifestyle overview is completed and if you’re local to me, live blood analysis. With the information gathered during our time together, we will come up with a plan to help support you and your bodies needs. I meet you where you are in your health journey and we go at a pace that is best suited for you.
Appointments go as follows:
- Initial consultation +/- live blood analysis
- Report of findings: review the plan together
- Follow-ups: online or in-person on a bi-weekly or monthly basis
We will discuss and address:
- How to understand and read your menses (fertility awareness method)
- Menstrual irregularities and what they mean
- Fertility optimization
- Meal support for fertility
- Digestion, and how to optimize
- Meal planning
Resources that will be shared with you:
- Foundations booklet
- Recipe book
- Access to FAM and cycle literacy documentation
- Access to Unleash Your Pregnancy Potential program
- Meal planning tips, dietary, lifestyle and supplement recommendations
- Any other additional documentation that’s discussed during our time together
- Live blood analysis report and pictures (if local to me)
START PRECONCEPTION CARE
You can call or email at any time to schedule an appointment!
In-person Appointments:
Durham, Ontario (in-person) – Chicory Common (Facebook page)
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursdays between 4PM-6PM
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s up to you to determine how much time you’d need to prepare for pregnancy. As a general rule of thumb, I’d say that you should aim to be nourishing your body as best you can for at least 3 months leading up to conception, longer if you have health issues. It takes 3 months for eggs to mature and be released, let’s give those oocytes (eggs) the best possible nutrition leading up to insemination for a healthy offspring and pregnancy!
Listen, there are no guarantees in life, for anyone. I cannot guarantee that this will help you get pregnant right away, because the reality of the matter is that I don’t know your body. What I can say though, is this – your amazing, womanly body was designed to conceive and carry life. You were built for this. Blockages (be it physical, or emotional) can cause fertility issues, and I will do everything I can to help you move through those blockages so that you body can feel safe and welcoming to new life.
No, it’s not a requirement that your husband see me for preconception support for us to work together, but it’s highly recommended. Your egg represents 50% of the picture and the sperm provided by your husband is the other 50%. What your husband does to support sperm health is just as important in conception as the work you do, mama. Additionally, the health of the sperm has been shown to play a large role in how the woman’s first three months of pregnancy play out, so… men, I’d say it’s time you start doing your part in this fertility journey, too!
- Any supplement protocol that’s given to you for fertility support will be based on your needs. I try to stay away from supplements unless there’s a need to push things to move a little faster, and I also try to stick to the effective herbal medicine and homeopathy.
Don’t hate me for saying this, but the number one thing that I think every future mother needs to work on before getting pregnant, is making sure they have healthy stress management coping skills. Ooooof, sorry! Stress, overthinking, self sabotaging thoughts… All those can shut your body and reproductive system down! This is why we take the time to discuss stress management in addition to diet and supplements for fertility support.
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