June 10, 2024 • 12 mins
In this quick listen episode, Tiffany provides a detailed overview of the essential timeline and steps to follow before conception. The episode covers important topics such as cycle charting, the impact of hormonal contraceptives, personal health goals, methylated folate intake, and the significance of choosing the right pregnancy care provider. Tiffany also provides resources and previous episodes for further information on holistic fertility and preconception testing.
00:00 Key Steps Before Getting Pregnant
01:17 Charting Your Cycle
02:35 Coming Off Hormonal Contraceptives
04:24 Personal Health Goals
06:21 Methylated Folate Vitamin
10:01 Choosing a Pregnancy Care Provider
Links to all the extra good stuff:
Episode 140 on Holistic Fertility and Getting Pregnant Naturally: HERE
Episode 157 on Preconception Testing: HERE
Prep for Pregnancy Checklist: HERE
Rupa Health MTHFR Testing: HERE
Childbirth Education Wait List: HERE
Join our email community: HERE
Submit your answer-on-the-show questions: HERE
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to catch every episode. Follow us on Instagram for extra education and antics between episodes at: @beautifulonemidwifery
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to At Home with Kellyand Tiffany, where naturally
minded women gather together aswe pursue simplicity and
confidence in healthalternatives, so we can show up
better in our busy lives andfeel more at home in our bodies.
Join your favorite home birthmidwife duo for conversation,
candor, and community.
Welcome to at home with Tiffanyand Kelly.
(00:22):
Liz is just Tiffany today doinga quick lesson about the
timeline for preconception.
As we get started, I want toanswer a frequently asked
question.
What do I mean to do before Iget pregnant, we get asked that
all the time and we have a lotof suggestions for it, but we
(00:43):
have covered preconception.
And a few other episodes aswell.
So you can jump to those.
After you finish here and I willdirect you to those right now,
we have episode 140.
Which is holistic fertility andgetting pregnant naturally.
And we have episode 157.
Which covers preconceptiontesting.
(01:04):
And those along with theinformation that we share here
today are going to equip you.
For some excellent tools forpreconception.
Right away on your preconceptiontimeline.
You want to start charting yourcycle.
It is a vital sign and all womenshould be doing it hands down.
(01:24):
I truly believe that, but we.
I want to especially payattention to ovulation.
And you want to know as you'repreparing for consumption and
preparing for pregnancy, if youare getting peak oscillation in
every single cycle.
And if you're not, that'ssomething to investigate.
You don't want to beinvestigating some of these
things while you're trying toget pregnant.
(01:46):
This is something that you cando ahead of time to check how
normal your cycles are and howhealthy your hormones are.
Tend to 18% of normal cycles arean ovulatory.
So that means that roughly maybealmost for one fifth of normal
cycles.
So they appear completelynormal.
The woman does not, obviouslyit's so it can be fairly common
(02:10):
to have normal cycles wherethere is not obviously.
And since you can not getpregnant without ovulation, this
is a great time to make surethat you aren't dealing with a
bigger hormonal issue.
It is an often overlooked oreven misunderstood part of
optimal fertility.
Next on the timeline we arewe're working forwards.
(02:30):
We're starting backwards workingforwards.
And this point in the timelineis around nine months or longer
should be spent coming off ofhormonal contraceptives.
Nine months is basically theaverage time it takes to
regulate.
Your hormones after being onbirth control, it could be one
month for some, it could beyears for another, but you want
(02:54):
to give yourself at least a ninemonth buffer to let your body
acclimate.
That would be a wise way to workthe timeline before conceiving.
And hormonal contraceptivesessentially work by suppressing
so the whole time that you areon them, you are not actually
having a monthly hormonal cycle.
(03:14):
You're going to bleed eachmonth.
If you have a period, though,it's from estrogen was drawl.
It's not from a normal buildupof the uterine lining after
ovulation, because you will notoffer you late on hormonal birth
control.
So you've basically beensuppressing all of your
reproductive hormones.
And it can take time for them toget back to functioning again.
(03:36):
That's why we recommend about anine month period for that.
Also women who are coming off ofhormonal birth control will also
do well to focus on a fewspecific things that hormonal
birth control kind of wreakhavoc on.
And that's a gut health andmineral support as these are
often the side effects of beingon hormonal contraceptives.
(03:56):
And if you were dealing withhormonal issues before you went
on hormonal contraceptives, youcan expect that to somewhat pick
up right back where you leftoff, and that sometimes can take
a deeper work and fine tuning.
Tuning to so all this to say, donot let this piece take you by
surprise.
Give yourself plenty of time toirregulate and establish a
(04:17):
fertile baseline.
Okay, moving on our timelinehere.
We're at six months.
Six months or more should bespent working on your own
personal health goals.
Like your gut health, whetheryou have parasite activity or
heavy metal, or there's somespecific detoxing or cleansing
(04:38):
that you want to do, you want todo that far ahead of potential
pregnancy?
You also want to work on bloodsugar stability.
That is such an important way toprepare your body for a healthy,
low risk pregnancy.
And metabolic health is animportant marker for all women,
but understanding how well yourorgans are functioning with some
(05:02):
blood tests.
Knowing what your blood pressureranges are understanding your
your body's cholesterol levelsand your fasting.
Insulin numbers and stuff likethat are all included in
metabolic health.
And you want to make sure thatyou are at the foundational
level, offering your baby areally healthy body to grow in.
(05:27):
It's going to keep yourpregnancy low risk.
It's going to keep you healthy.
It's going to keep.
Your baby low risk and just giveyou an easier time overall.
And I can't tell you how manytimes I have been sitting with
women in pregnancy, trying toget ahead on some of these
items.
That potentially were causingthem issues before.
Pregnancy and not everyone hasthe opportunity to plan so far
(05:50):
ahead.
Of course, about 50% ofpregnancies are planned.
But for those of you who arewondering, what can I do?
What do I need to do before Iget pregnant?
These are great things to spendtime and energy on so that
you're not having to play catchup in pregnancy.
It is a lot harder to work onsome of these things and
pregnancy, because your toolsare reduced for what is safe in
(06:12):
pregnancy.
And you just want to go intopregnancy as healthy as
possible.
I know that about you.
Moving on our timeline nowwe're.
Three months or more.
You want to be on a methylatedfull, late vitamin.
This is something that helps toprevent neural tube defects or
(06:32):
midline defects.
Some of those that we see themost option often are oral
restrictions like tongue tiesand lip ties.
You want to make sure that it isnot folic acid that you are
taking in this fully supplement.
That's why we call itmethylated.
The reason for that is about 30%of women have a gene mutation
(06:56):
called N T H F R.
And that makes it reallydifficult or sometimes
impossible for women tomethylene vitamins on their own,
especially B vitamins and folicacid as a B vitamin or fully.
Folic acid is a synthetic form.
It's not methylated for womenwith this gene mutation.
(07:17):
They are not able to utilize it.
And even more importantly,they're not able to metabolize
it.
So.
It is something that kind ofgets dumped in their body and
doesn't have a way to get outand can cause a lot of toxicity
and symptoms around not beingable.
To detox or methalate some ofthese.
(07:39):
Vitamins.
So you want to know your MTHFRstatus, if that's possible for
you.
We have a.
Historically been able to offerwomen in our care and practice a
blood test for that.
That was$99.
That was like this reallyimportant.
Test.
Price that we were able tonegotiate with one of our
(08:01):
professional co-ops becauseinsurance wants to charge so
much money, like sometimes overa thousand dollars to.
Participate in this test.
However, we have just recentlyadded on at home testing and we
have a brand that we've beenworking with called Rupa health.
(08:22):
And I'm going to link that inthe show notes for you guys, so
that you can take advantage of.
This, it's not a blood test thattests for M T H F R.
It is an oral swab.
So it's incredibly easy to use.
It's only$75.
They mail you all the materialsyou send the test back, they get
the results back to you within acouple of weeks, and you have
(08:44):
your gene mutation status andyou can know how important it is
to pay attention to thismethylation or this homocysteine
issue happening in your body.
Another note on the Foley Vversus folic acid.
You want to make sure that youare reading the labels of any
enriched grain products that youeat because the United States
(09:07):
decided one of the ways thatthey were going to help us with
these neural tube defects forbabies was just making sure
everybody got folic acid, but asyou have just learned.
Folic acid is not appropriatefor many of us.
And so what an important thing.
To avoid in your diet.
You also We'll want to take alook at all of the options that
(09:31):
we have for a preconceptionsupplements.
And we will link that in ourshow notes for you also, so that
you know, what supplements youshould be taking while you are
preparing to conceive.
You know, you will see themethylated fully on that list,
but I know you want to know allthe other things that can be
helpful at this stage.
(09:51):
And then moving along on thetimeline and this can happen any
time, but it seems to happen thecloser you get to actually
getting pregnant.
And that is researching,interviewing and consulting with
pregnancy care providers.
And that means that you have tospend a little bit of time
(10:11):
thinking about what kind ofpregnancy experience that you
want.
Or what kind of.
Birth, you want what your visionis for your birth, what your
hopes and your dreams and yourplans are for your birth.
And so it forces you to take alittle bit of time to think
about what birth setting andwhat birth provider are going to
(10:33):
support that vision and dreamfor you and doing a little bit
of research, doing a little bitof digging, even doing some
face-to-face meetings withpotential care providers is
going to make the transitionfrom trying to get pregnant to,
oh, now I'm pregnant.
Really smooth, you know exactly.
Who's going to take care of you,you know, exactly what to expect
(10:55):
out of their process for cominginto care.
And then you have somebody rightaway that you can start.
Asking questions for and gettingadvice and care from, and anyone
who is listening to a podcastabout what to do before you get
pregnant and the exact timelineyou are also going to be the
person who wants to have aprovider on board.
(11:18):
I almost guarantee it.
That this listener is ready foras much support as possible
surrounding this topic.
So.
You guys have a lot ofinformation on how to navigate
this preconception timeline?
I am leaving the prep forpregnancy checklist inside the
show notes.
It has.
It has.
this timeline.
(11:38):
Delineated for you.
It has supplements.
It also tells you what to avoidwhen trying to conceive and
should just be a really greatresource for you while you
navigate this important periodof time.
We'll also link in those twoepisodes.
So you can continue to gathermore information.
And finally that N T H F R selftest you'll find the link for
(11:59):
that.
In the show notes here.
Thank you ladies for followingalong on this quick, listen, it
was wonderful to share thisinformation with you.
We will catch you next Mondaywith a full episode, Kelly and I
together.
And until then, See you later.
Welcome to At Home with Kellyand Tiffany, where naturally
minded women gather together aswe pursue simplicity and
confidence in healthalternatives, so we can show up
better in our busy lives andfeel more at home in our bodies.
Join your favorite home birthmidwife duo for conversation,
candor, and community.
Welcome to at home with Tiffanyand Kelly.
(00:22):
Liz is just Tiffany today doinga quick lesson about the
timeline for preconception.
As we get started, I want toanswer a frequently asked
question.
What do I mean to do before Iget pregnant, we get asked that
all the time and we have a lotof suggestions for it, but we
(00:43):
have covered preconception.
And a few other episodes aswell.
So you can jump to those.
After you finish here and I willdirect you to those right now,
we have episode 140.
Which is holistic fertility andgetting pregnant naturally.
And we have episode 157.
Which covers preconceptiontesting.
(01:04):
And those along with theinformation that we share here
today are going to equip you.
For some excellent tools forpreconception.
Right away on your preconceptiontimeline.
You want to start charting yourcycle.
It is a vital sign and all womenshould be doing it hands down.
(01:24):
I truly believe that, but we.
I want to especially payattention to ovulation.
And you want to know as you'repreparing for consumption and
preparing for pregnancy, if youare getting peak oscillation in
every single cycle.
And if you're not, that'ssomething to investigate.
You don't want to beinvestigating some of these
things while you're trying toget pregnant.
(01:46):
This is something that you cando ahead of time to check how
normal your cycles are and howhealthy your hormones are.
Tend to 18% of normal cycles arean ovulatory.
So that means that roughly maybealmost for one fifth of normal
cycles.
So they appear completelynormal.
The woman does not, obviouslyit's so it can be fairly common
(02:10):
to have normal cycles wherethere is not obviously.
And since you can not getpregnant without ovulation, this
is a great time to make surethat you aren't dealing with a
bigger hormonal issue.
It is an often overlooked oreven misunderstood part of
optimal fertility.
Next on the timeline we arewe're working forwards.
(02:30):
We're starting backwards workingforwards.
And this point in the timelineis around nine months or longer
should be spent coming off ofhormonal contraceptives.
Nine months is basically theaverage time it takes to
regulate.
Your hormones after being onbirth control, it could be one
month for some, it could beyears for another, but you want
(02:54):
to give yourself at least a ninemonth buffer to let your body
acclimate.
That would be a wise way to workthe timeline before conceiving.
And hormonal contraceptivesessentially work by suppressing
so the whole time that you areon them, you are not actually
having a monthly hormonal cycle.
(03:14):
You're going to bleed eachmonth.
If you have a period, though,it's from estrogen was drawl.
It's not from a normal buildupof the uterine lining after
ovulation, because you will notoffer you late on hormonal birth
control.
So you've basically beensuppressing all of your
reproductive hormones.
And it can take time for them toget back to functioning again.
(03:36):
That's why we recommend about anine month period for that.
Also women who are coming off ofhormonal birth control will also
do well to focus on a fewspecific things that hormonal
birth control kind of wreakhavoc on.
And that's a gut health andmineral support as these are
often the side effects of beingon hormonal contraceptives.
(03:56):
And if you were dealing withhormonal issues before you went
on hormonal contraceptives, youcan expect that to somewhat pick
up right back where you leftoff, and that sometimes can take
a deeper work and fine tuning.
Tuning to so all this to say, donot let this piece take you by
surprise.
Give yourself plenty of time toirregulate and establish a
(04:17):
fertile baseline.
Okay, moving on our timelinehere.
We're at six months.
Six months or more should bespent working on your own
personal health goals.
Like your gut health, whetheryou have parasite activity or
heavy metal, or there's somespecific detoxing or cleansing
(04:38):
that you want to do, you want todo that far ahead of potential
pregnancy?
You also want to work on bloodsugar stability.
That is such an important way toprepare your body for a healthy,
low risk pregnancy.
And metabolic health is animportant marker for all women,
but understanding how well yourorgans are functioning with some
(05:02):
blood tests.
Knowing what your blood pressureranges are understanding your
your body's cholesterol levelsand your fasting.
Insulin numbers and stuff likethat are all included in
metabolic health.
And you want to make sure thatyou are at the foundational
level, offering your baby areally healthy body to grow in.
(05:27):
It's going to keep yourpregnancy low risk.
It's going to keep you healthy.
It's going to keep.
Your baby low risk and just giveyou an easier time overall.
And I can't tell you how manytimes I have been sitting with
women in pregnancy, trying toget ahead on some of these
items.
That potentially were causingthem issues before.
Pregnancy and not everyone hasthe opportunity to plan so far
(05:50):
ahead.
Of course, about 50% ofpregnancies are planned.
But for those of you who arewondering, what can I do?
What do I need to do before Iget pregnant?
These are great things to spendtime and energy on so that
you're not having to play catchup in pregnancy.
It is a lot harder to work onsome of these things and
pregnancy, because your toolsare reduced for what is safe in
(06:12):
pregnancy.
And you just want to go intopregnancy as healthy as
possible.
I know that about you.
Moving on our timeline nowwe're.
Three months or more.
You want to be on a methylatedfull, late vitamin.
This is something that helps toprevent neural tube defects or
(06:32):
midline defects.
Some of those that we see themost option often are oral
restrictions like tongue tiesand lip ties.
You want to make sure that it isnot folic acid that you are
taking in this fully supplement.
That's why we call itmethylated.
The reason for that is about 30%of women have a gene mutation
(06:56):
called N T H F R.
And that makes it reallydifficult or sometimes
impossible for women tomethylene vitamins on their own,
especially B vitamins and folicacid as a B vitamin or fully.
Folic acid is a synthetic form.
It's not methylated for womenwith this gene mutation.
(07:17):
They are not able to utilize it.
And even more importantly,they're not able to metabolize
it.
So.
It is something that kind ofgets dumped in their body and
doesn't have a way to get outand can cause a lot of toxicity
and symptoms around not beingable.
To detox or methalate some ofthese.
(07:39):
Vitamins.
So you want to know your MTHFRstatus, if that's possible for
you.
We have a.
Historically been able to offerwomen in our care and practice a
blood test for that.
That was$99.
That was like this reallyimportant.
Test.
Price that we were able tonegotiate with one of our
(08:01):
professional co-ops becauseinsurance wants to charge so
much money, like sometimes overa thousand dollars to.
Participate in this test.
However, we have just recentlyadded on at home testing and we
have a brand that we've beenworking with called Rupa health.
(08:22):
And I'm going to link that inthe show notes for you guys, so
that you can take advantage of.
This, it's not a blood test thattests for M T H F R.
It is an oral swab.
So it's incredibly easy to use.
It's only$75.
They mail you all the materialsyou send the test back, they get
the results back to you within acouple of weeks, and you have
(08:44):
your gene mutation status andyou can know how important it is
to pay attention to thismethylation or this homocysteine
issue happening in your body.
Another note on the Foley Vversus folic acid.
You want to make sure that youare reading the labels of any
enriched grain products that youeat because the United States
(09:07):
decided one of the ways thatthey were going to help us with
these neural tube defects forbabies was just making sure
everybody got folic acid, but asyou have just learned.
Folic acid is not appropriatefor many of us.
And so what an important thing.
To avoid in your diet.
You also We'll want to take alook at all of the options that
(09:31):
we have for a preconceptionsupplements.
And we will link that in ourshow notes for you also, so that
you know, what supplements youshould be taking while you are
preparing to conceive.
You know, you will see themethylated fully on that list,
but I know you want to know allthe other things that can be
helpful at this stage.
(09:51):
And then moving along on thetimeline and this can happen any
time, but it seems to happen thecloser you get to actually
getting pregnant.
And that is researching,interviewing and consulting with
pregnancy care providers.
And that means that you have tospend a little bit of time
(10:11):
thinking about what kind ofpregnancy experience that you
want.
Or what kind of.
Birth, you want what your visionis for your birth, what your
hopes and your dreams and yourplans are for your birth.
And so it forces you to take alittle bit of time to think
about what birth setting andwhat birth provider are going to
(10:33):
support that vision and dreamfor you and doing a little bit
of research, doing a little bitof digging, even doing some
face-to-face meetings withpotential care providers is
going to make the transitionfrom trying to get pregnant to,
oh, now I'm pregnant.
Really smooth, you know exactly.
Who's going to take care of you,you know, exactly what to expect
(10:55):
out of their process for cominginto care.
And then you have somebody rightaway that you can start.
Asking questions for and gettingadvice and care from, and anyone
who is listening to a podcastabout what to do before you get
pregnant and the exact timelineyou are also going to be the
person who wants to have aprovider on board.
(11:18):
I almost guarantee it.
That this listener is ready foras much support as possible
surrounding this topic.
So.
You guys have a lot ofinformation on how to navigate
this preconception timeline?
I am leaving the prep forpregnancy checklist inside the
show notes.
It has.
It has.
this timeline.
(11:38):
Delineated for you.
It has supplements.
It also tells you what to avoidwhen trying to conceive and
should just be a really greatresource for you while you
navigate this important periodof time.
We'll also link in those twoepisodes.
So you can continue to gathermore information.
And finally that N T H F R selftest you'll find the link for
(11:59):
that.
In the show notes here.
Thank you ladies for followingalong on this quick, listen, it
was wonderful to share thisinformation with you.
We will catch you next Mondaywith a full episode, Kelly and I
together.
And until then, See you later.
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