As I mentioned in my post about Eleanor’s Birth, finding out we were pregnant again was petrifying for me. Not because I was afraid to be a mom of 2. Not because I was afraid of labor & delivery. No. I was terrified of pregnancy.
When I was pregnant with Athena I had all day nausea. I got sick every single day my first trimester. I joked that I had pregnancy narcolepsy. When I wasn’t getting sick, I was sleeping; any time, anywhere. If I was that sick again with #2 how was I EVER going to be able to survive and parent Athena?
I stocked up on my tummy support items from doterra; Ginger Lemon Drops, DigestZEN Softgels, Peppermint Softgels, TerraZyme, and PB Assist. These along with my regular LLV daily vitamins that were perfect pre-natals. Yes, they’re really that good. I also got a tub of TerraGreens in anticipation of struggling to eat food. As soon as I got it all, I couldn’t even think about the Ginger Lemon Drops without wanting to puke. I couldn’t bring myself to add peppermint, or lime, or anything to my water. I barely got my vitamins down. I managed to get about 3 TerraGreen shakes down. It’s always better to be prepared right?
I had a wicked aversion to the smell of cooking meat. I would wake up in the morning feeling great, and hit the wall feeling queasy around 3/4pm in the afternoon. As Ethan was usually coming home not too long after, I was able to more or less keep up with Athena and even sneak in some naps when she was taking hers. Overall I felt pretty good and only got sick 3 times, one of which was self induced. A nice cold glass of milk shocked my stomach…oops.
In my second trimester I was feeling pretty good. I found that even though I was actually able to eat this time around, my stomach did not get the memo. It often felt like my food was just wallowing like a rock in my stomach and not digesting. Thank goodness for TerraZyme- a capsule full of enzymes to help break down food in the stomach. It was like it was made just for me. I would take one every night before bed, along with a Peppermint Softgels. They were life savers.
By about 25 weeks I was getting quite uncomfortable. I tend to grow our babies all up in my chest cavity instead of out. I also had a posterior placenta this time around. It got harder to eat, breathe, and move. It seemed as though because this was baby #2 my body said, “I remember this!” and my hips fell apart and my pubic bone felt like it had been hit with a wrecking ball. I was in ridiculous amounts of pain and discomfort as I could feel my pelvis shift with every step. I also peed my pants every time I sneezed without fail. I went through a lot of Deep Blue Rub, Copaiba Softgels, and Black Pepper finding relief.
My third trimester brought along restless leg syndrome. AromaTouch was a real MVP helping to calm my leg muscles at night when they just wouldn’t relax. The struggle to sleep was real, so I would take 2 Serenity Softgels and 1 Copaiba Softgels at night. Not only did the Copaiba help support my body as a whole, but it helped aid the Serenity Softgels in settling my brain and body for sleep.
For Labor & Delivery I had an entire line up of oils that I was so excited to use. I should have known better that I’d labor too fast to use much. I was craving Frankincense through labor and used the Touch roller down my spine and the sides of my neck often. During transition I got a little nauseous and was able to have Ethan get me a peppermint beadlet; which also helped open my airways and wake me up a bit for pushing. After Eleanor was born, I rolled Frankincense on her feet. I’d made a peri-bottle oil blend to add a drop or 2 whenever I’d use it. Even though I did not tear, it was still very beneficial to use post partum.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of everything I used, or complete play-by-play of how I felt every day. But the link below includes the majority of the products listed above along with some I didn’t. It is completely editable, and is just a way to organize the products I used!
Pregnancy Survival Kit
The Nurtured Bee 