July 15, 2024 • 19 mins
In this episode, Kelly flies solo to discuss essential tips for supporting conception over the age of 30. The episode covers foundational health tips, the importance of liver health, the value of proper supplementation, and the role of proactive testing and self-advocacy. Whether you are in your thirties and trying to conceive or looking for information on fertility, this episode is packed with practical advice and valuable insights. Tune in for a holistic overview of conception support from the perspective of a midwife.
00:00 Introduction to Quick Listen Episode
00:59 Nineties Nostalgia and Conception Relevance
02:56 Foundations for Conception Support
08:24 Importance of Liver Health
10:28 Proactive Measures and Professional Support
12:05 Medical Self-Advocacy During Pregnancy
18:36 Closing Thoughts and Next Episode Tease
Links to all the extra good stuff:
Holistic Fertility Handbook: HERE
PN Supplement Freebie: HERE
Tracking Your Cycle: HERE
Drainage and Detox Pathways Blog: HERE
Advanced Maternal Age Research: 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.
Hey ladies, this is anotherquick listen of the at-home with
(00:23):
Kelly and Tiffany podcast.
I am Kelly.
I am flying solo this week forthis episode.
That's what we do in our littlequick lessons.
We take our turns.
And our hope in these quickepisodes is for you to just kind
of get a taste of some goodinformation, set your path,
right, as you move forward andsort of reaching more
information, doing research onyour own, that kind of good
(00:45):
stuff for you.
But.
I was just laughing about likewhat this really should be.
And it would really confuseTiffany because she probably
won't listen to this episode isthat you can also vote.
Which one of us should just be asolo act at some point, right?
So if you've never listened tothis.
This podcast before there'susually two of us, my fellow
midwife, Tiffany here.
I am a for sure, a duo throughand through with her.
(01:09):
But just kind of thinking aboutlike, who is the Justin
Timberlake?
It's going to break out of theInsync group.
On that note, on that reallyimportant note, right?
I was team JC when I was in highschool, I was like, dude, he's.
He's my dude.
I'm sure he went back and forthat some point.
But for sure was never team guywith the braids and goggles,
(01:31):
Chris.
Yep.
Never never understood thatsituation.
I mean, those were like suchgood times.
You would have, maybe it's notthat you would never see that
now, but it was just a, thosewere just like very innocent
times.
If you do not know what I amtalking about, please do
yourself a favor.
Go onto Google.
Google, Chris.
Kurt.
Yeah.
Kirk, Kirk, Patrick, ChrisKirkpatrick.
(01:54):
In sync.
Plus goggles.
It is an entire vibe.
You will not be sad looking atpictures of him from the
nineties.
Like the braids that he hadgoing on.
I think he had braces forawhile.
It was a stellar.
So, Actually, you know, what'sso good is that as I was going
down that memory lane realquick.
(02:14):
That little tangent.
Kind of brought up this entirepoint.
It's that.
If you understand what I'mtalking about about in-sync and
about these braids and thesegoggles.
Without actually Googling itbecause maybe you lived it
yourself watching it all unfoldbefore your eyes.
This episode is probably foryou.
Those of us 30 years and older,I'm actually almost in the neck
(02:38):
next, like a decade bracket asof later this year.
So I feel like I just need tosay that out loud to start
getting used to it, but.
Anyway enough of that importantinformation for real, we are
chatting about some keys tosupporting your conception over
the age of 30.
You will not be surprised ifyou've listened to us for any
(03:00):
length of time.
But the foundations forconception support will be the
same at any age, in any seasonof life.
Okay.
So your health status and theway you treat your body is
infinitely more important thanhow old you are.
I want you to, you can repeatthat again, go back, replay it
as many times as you need to.
It absolutely is infinitelymore, more important.
(03:22):
With that being said, though,there are like some nuances
here, right?
Particularly with a couplepieces of health in our thirties
and beyond as well as pregnancyitself.
In thirties and beyond that areworth like, kind of stopping to
think about.
And from our midwiferyperspective to be proactive
about right.
(03:43):
So if you are having sex.
You should always be preparedfor conception.
Because the only way, obviouslyto ensure that like you're never
going to get pregnant isbasically to abstain, to not
have sex.
And so we should always be inthis space if we are
menstruating in like some kindof cyclical nature of any kind,
really basically just not inmenopause.
(04:05):
We should basically be preparedfor that because that's what our
body really wants to do everysingle month.
The thing that happens is somethings can get out of whack.
Hormones can get out of whack,all of that stuff.
And so we just want to make surethat we set the best foundation
for you.
No matter what age you are, butin particular, as we talk about
the thirties today, So I don'twant to get too in depth on
(04:26):
topics that we've coveredelsewhere, because this is a
quick listen, right?
But tracking your cycle.
Understanding when you'reovulating things around your
ovulation peaking up towardswhat happens after you ovulate,
how you are feeling recognizingif things are off with your
cycle.
So that means you get to becomean expert in what is actually
(04:47):
really normal in periods andrecognizing, Hey, is there
something that's, I'mexperiencing?
That's really common for me.
Like this is just par for thecourse, since I was 16.
Right.
But may actually not be normalbecoming aware of those things.
Right.
Connecting with what an actualnormal cycle should or could
look like.
Right.
Supporting your body with propersupplementation, nourishing
(05:10):
foods, all of that good stuff.
This is like the first layerfoundational things.
Right?
I would say that in yourthirties, in particular, if you
are giving yourself a foundationof really like gut happy,
healthy foods real foods, bloodsugar, stabilizing foods, all of
that hydrating yourself well,and really taking your sub your
(05:31):
supplements consistently.
You're going to be pretty wellset.
Some supplements that we usuallyconsider and recommend at this
point would be a prenatal.
If you're at any point in, youknow, planning to conceive.
Prenatals wonderful.
Methylated folate, methylated Bcomplex, vitamin D three.
I love it with K2 because thatreally helps.
(05:52):
The absorption of it.
A quality probiotic of somekind, you can kind of mix and
match as you finish up eachbottle and kind of hop to a new
one for new strains, magnesium,because that is like our little
miracle mineral there.
And Omega's, you can sprinklelike beef liver in there.
You can take some traceminerals, all that good stuff
you would be so very set.
(06:14):
So you can find the link in ourshow notes to our prenatal
supplement freebie for moreinformation on that.
And then there's sort of asidebar here too.
We go really in depth on some ofthese pieces.
In a resource we have in ourshop called the holistic
fertility handbook.
I'm going to link that in theshow notes as well, because
it'll probably come up again aswe're chatting in this episode.
But you may, so we have theselike foundations of food,
(06:37):
nourishment, hydration, right?
You may also want to considersome lab testing before
pregnancy.
Particularly for some issuesthat actually do come up,
technically research wise,right?
As more common for women over30.
So you may not know this, butthese types of things include
like your risk kind of goes upfor these things in pregnancy,
(06:58):
after 30 gestational diabetes,hypertension, liver issues like
coli, stasis, but honestly allof these things can kind of be
traced back in some way, shapeor form to liver health.
So we're going to talk aboutthat in a minute.
Those kinds of things canincrease in your thirties.
So the earlier that you can seea pattern in your body's
functioning, the better chancewe have to support it and
(07:22):
potentially right.
An entirely different story withyour conception and pregnancy
and postpartum.
All of it.
I did actually another quicklesson, all about preconception
testing.
And that's somewhat recent.
It's one of the more recentones.
And that goes in depth on whatwe really recommend for those
types of tests.
(07:42):
But you should have a good pulseon what your body is up to, not
just for your own, like justgeneral knowledge, but for your
fertility picture as a whole.
Again, we are midwives.
So we are always looking forspaces to be as proactive as
possible.
And this is a huge place becauseif there are any flags with your
blood sugar stabilization oryour liver or kidney function,
(08:03):
we would want to know as quicklyas possible.
So we can really dial down someof those pieces.
And help encourage not only ahealthy fertility picture, but a
healthy pregnancy and healthybirth and a healthy, healthy,
postpartum.
Right?
So we're talking about keys toconception, but at the same
time, that leads to the nextseason that leads to the next
season.
That leads to the next season.
Right?
(08:24):
So I did mention liver health,right?
I will always be here for justlike a healthy liver lifestyle.
I love talking about liverhealth.
I have loved kind of deep divingon it for myself in particular.
But I think if you were in yourthirties and wanting to conceive
that it is quite possibly, I, Imean, I don't think this is
really like, Hot takenecessarily, but I think this is
(08:46):
the most untapped resource issupporting your liver health,
getting comfortable with yourdrainage and detox pathways and
supporting them.
So I'm going to link a blog postthat we did on this, in the show
notes.
And it goes really in-depth onsome of these things and some of
these rhythms that I'm gonnakind of gloss over here.
But if you can start doingthings like lymphatic massage,
(09:08):
dry brushing, sweatingconsistently, whether that's
with like a detox bath or asauna or working out, or just.
If you're somewhere.
He lives somewhere.
That's hot being hot.
Right outside.
So sweating consistently poopingdaily, moving your body gently
every day.
Staying well hydrated.
Utilizing herbal infusions, likedandelion, especially as great
(09:28):
for liver health, dandelion andnettles is a great kind of
mixture there.
You will be sitting pretty.
If you are supporting your liverat this point, you will be
sitting pretty because thosethings that I spoke about.
The gestational diabetes,hypertension, other kinds of
liver, things that can pop up,we can point all of that back to
what is going on with the liver.
Of course, it's much morenuanced than that, but as we
(09:51):
talk about some of these keysleaning into a healthy liver
would be one of the main onesthat I would recommend.
That.
So that includes some of thosethings that I talked about.
And in that blog post, it alsogoes into the fact that like,
Hey, where can I decrease someof this burden that I'm putting
on my body?
Where can I get rid of endocrinedisorders?
Where can I kind of clean up mymakeup?
(10:11):
Where can I.
Shift what kind of products I'musing on my body or around my
body and my home, things likethat, that may be kind of
messing up.
Some of these hormones are justsome of this burden that my
liver is dealing with right now.
Right.
So huge untapped resource there.
And any time you're looking atpreconception or any kind of
like just general consciousconception idea, you also have
(10:36):
the ability and I want toencourage you in this to bring
other providers and supportpeople to kind of support your
body.
If you notice it's strugglingwith one thing or another, or if
you're like, Hey, I want to belike the Midwest here and just
be proactive about something.
So if you're noticing somethingthat's not quite right with like
your pelvic floor or your spineor your pelvis or the fascia.
(10:57):
And your body or the drainagethat's happening in your lymph
system.
Right?
All of that, you can bringpeople in to kind of support
that.
As soon as you recognize thereis an issue, or as soon as you
recognize, Hey, this issomething that like, I really.
It feel to be important.
And I want to honor that.
Right.
So chiropractic care massage,pelvic floor therapists, even if
(11:20):
you have never had a baby pelvicfloor therapists are amazing
resources, as well asacupuncturists, all different
types of options that peoplethat you can bring to your care
team, whether you're havingissues or not.
Right.
And they're great to have onyour team as you are looking to
conceive and trying to conceiveas well as throughout pregnancy
(11:40):
can impact your birth experiencecan impact your postpartum
recovery.
All of that.
Super good.
Good stuff.
And then I'm going to jump overconception for a second and
mentioned pregnancy here now,because we kind of talked about
this.
And I mentioned in the fertilityhandbook.
A little bit earlier.
I know that in there, there's aton of medical self-advocacy as
well.
This is something you're goingto have to get really
comfortable with.
(12:02):
If you are looking to conceivein your thirties.
So understanding that you werealways, I mean, no matter what,
in any health situation, right.
But this is always true.
But incredibly important as younavigate pregnancy in your
thirties, especially the secondhalf of your thirties.
And we'll kind of talk about thenuance there.
But understanding that you'realways going to be the final
decision maker, incrediblyimportant.
(12:25):
Can feel kind of scary if youhaven't really lived your life
that way, medically speaking.
But it is incredibly powerful aswell.
So as we discuss some of thethings that pop up, because
women are over 35 in particular,Which like another sidebar.
I won't talk about it in St.
Louis time, but sidebar.
This 35 number it's honestly, inlike the medical model, it seems
(12:47):
like it's sort of this magictime bomb that like you're
blowing your 35th.
Birthday candles out of yourcake and all of a sudden, right?
You just so old in the eyes ofthe medical model at 35 and
beyond in your pregnancy,depending on your provider.
You may be treated with likelittle kid gloves, like, oh my
little, I guess maybe old ladygloves.
(13:10):
Like, oh, you're so breakable.
Everything could just fall apartany second.
Right?
And so it's important for you tounderstand, as you're looking
into conceiving, what that piecemay look like and what kind of
provider you would like to workwith.
So some are truly providers thatwill look at you.
Like you are actually thatticking time bomb, right?
(13:32):
These are the ones who are goingto assume.
And potentially force on you orat least coerce very strongly.
The idea of like geneticscreening or that you'll need a
ton of ultrasounds becauseyou're truly just an old, like
ball of scary pregnant lady.
Right.
But it does not have to be likethat.
(13:53):
And as you are considering theseoptions in your thirties we, we
just always harp on howimportant your care providers.
Philosophy is what your personalphilosophy is in finding a
provider who will match thatwith you.
Right.
So it does not have to actuallybe like that.
Understanding your risks,understanding your options,
(14:14):
understanding that you shouldmove forward.
Absolutely.
With any kind of testing becauseyou want more information, not
because someone's making youfeel fear like fearful, right?
So I included some of theresearch below on this, in
particular, this idea of beingquote advanced maternal age at
35 and above just so you can seeit, these risks, it's not like,
(14:38):
it's not this ticking time bomb,right?
It does not explode at 35.
And only you get to be the onewho looks at sort of the
statistics and the research and.
Only you get to balance like therisks and the benefits of every
single thing, but it's reallyhelpful to have a grid for why
these things would be offered toyou.
If you're in that position oreven potentially more forcefully
(15:01):
or like coercively recommended.
But to come back to the factthat only you can actually
decide what you want to take on,that looks a million different
ways, right?
So we personally in ourmidwifery practice we'll have
clients for sure.
Over 30.
I mean, honestly, we've hadclients over 40.
Who want more information?
They're really interested inthat.
And they want all of the extragenetic screening.
(15:24):
They want that potentially asmuch like carrier screening
before they get pregnant.
They want to know every littlebit of information, right.
They are concerned with theirrisk status due to their age,
and they want extra surveillanceon their baby in terms of like
more ultrasounds and things likethat.
And that's all well and goodwhen it is truly what they
actually want.
(15:45):
Right where it's not comingforcefully from us.
If there's no other risk factorswhere they have done their
research and they see the pros,the cons, the benefits, the
risks, the alternatives, all ofit, and say, yes, that is what I
want.
But we also, I would S prettysafely say we have many more who
are in that age range, who don'tlean towards that route.
And they continue to go on withtheir pregnancy.
(16:06):
Is.
Healthy as they can, they gointo conception as healthy as
they can.
Right.
And feel a lot of peace in doingso.
And I say that to remind youthat there's no route.
That is right, right.
There's no one that's like morethe morally correct.
One.
Except for the one that youchoose for yourself, for you and
(16:27):
your baby with your eyes wideopen.
Right.
And so I can look very differentfor different people, right?
And what's been cool to watch,kind of come to fruition over
these ideas of healthy hormonesand genetic screening and
advanced maternal age andultrasound options and testing
options.
All of that, the many littlenuanced pieces that come into.
(16:49):
Okay, I'm set to conceive.
I've done it.
And now, now what?
Right.
Has been through our childbirtheducation course.
We just get to deep dive on somany topics.
What I just mentioned and like,just a ridiculous amount more.
It's coming out soon.
We just don't have a, like afirm date for that yet.
At the time that I recordedthis, but get on the wait list.
(17:09):
So you have access to all theupdates, early access, all of
that good stuff.
I wanted to throw that in therebecause it's so interrelated,
the information that we share inthere and the links that we give
and just.
The handouts and all of thatstuff is just really rich and
nuanced and important for womento understand.
No matter what kind of careprovider they have.
So if you are somebody who is 30or over and is trying to
(17:33):
conceive, there are a few extraResources in our show notes for
you, including links to a fewother podcasts that we have done
in about tracking your cycle andthings like that in there for
you to get a really goodfoundation.
And I would absolutely recommendif you are struggling with these
things, hopping back,remembering.
(17:55):
Okay.
Liver support.
Yes.
Let's get some testing done.
See, what's going on?
Let me nourish myself.
Well, let me stabilize my bloodsugar.
Let me keep my gut healthy.
Those pieces.
That is enough work for now,right?
And when we work on those thingsthat are the foundational
pieces.
We absolutely start to see thefruit blossom from that.
(18:17):
And so we can hop onto, Hey, letme throw a supplement on that or
a medication on that orsomething.
That can potentially give us theoutcome that we're desiring.
But when we start from thatlower level, really foundational
piece, we see so much morevitality and so much more
healing happening, which is.
Really fun to see him.
So ho hopefully this gives youlike a bit of food for thought,
(18:40):
right?
We will catch you here nextweek.
For another birth story episode,our favorites, like it is.
the richest time that we get tospend chatting with each other.
Going over some of these birthsso far.
This next one next week is areally powerful one that left
us.
Really sitting kind of in Oz,the story of this family played
out not only at the birthitself, but like over the coming
(19:00):
months after the birth, it'sreally intense and beautiful and
hard and all of the things.
So it's just going to foreverhold a spot in our hearts for.
A million meaningful reasons.
So you will have to turn it,tune in to hear that one.
You'll probably laugh.
You probably cry.
I know we will.
For sure.
So, check out the show link orthe show notes for all of those
(19:21):
extra links for you to hop offand do more research and again,
gain more information.
And that is that.
Bye ladies.
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.
Hey ladies, this is anotherquick listen of the at-home with
(00:23):
Kelly and Tiffany podcast.
I am Kelly.
I am flying solo this week forthis episode.
That's what we do in our littlequick lessons.
We take our turns.
And our hope in these quickepisodes is for you to just kind
of get a taste of some goodinformation, set your path,
right, as you move forward andsort of reaching more
information, doing research onyour own, that kind of good
(00:45):
stuff for you.
But.
I was just laughing about likewhat this really should be.
And it would really confuseTiffany because she probably
won't listen to this episode isthat you can also vote.
Which one of us should just be asolo act at some point, right?
So if you've never listened tothis.
This podcast before there'susually two of us, my fellow
midwife, Tiffany here.
I am a for sure, a duo throughand through with her.
(01:09):
But just kind of thinking aboutlike, who is the Justin
Timberlake?
It's going to break out of theInsync group.
On that note, on that reallyimportant note, right?
I was team JC when I was in highschool, I was like, dude, he's.
He's my dude.
I'm sure he went back and forthat some point.
But for sure was never team guywith the braids and goggles,
(01:31):
Chris.
Yep.
Never never understood thatsituation.
I mean, those were like suchgood times.
You would have, maybe it's notthat you would never see that
now, but it was just a, thosewere just like very innocent
times.
If you do not know what I amtalking about, please do
yourself a favor.
Go onto Google.
Google, Chris.
Kurt.
Yeah.
Kirk, Kirk, Patrick, ChrisKirkpatrick.
(01:54):
In sync.
Plus goggles.
It is an entire vibe.
You will not be sad looking atpictures of him from the
nineties.
Like the braids that he hadgoing on.
I think he had braces forawhile.
It was a stellar.
So, Actually, you know, what'sso good is that as I was going
down that memory lane realquick.
(02:14):
That little tangent.
Kind of brought up this entirepoint.
It's that.
If you understand what I'mtalking about about in-sync and
about these braids and thesegoggles.
Without actually Googling itbecause maybe you lived it
yourself watching it all unfoldbefore your eyes.
This episode is probably foryou.
Those of us 30 years and older,I'm actually almost in the neck
(02:38):
next, like a decade bracket asof later this year.
So I feel like I just need tosay that out loud to start
getting used to it, but.
Anyway enough of that importantinformation for real, we are
chatting about some keys tosupporting your conception over
the age of 30.
You will not be surprised ifyou've listened to us for any
(03:00):
length of time.
But the foundations forconception support will be the
same at any age, in any seasonof life.
Okay.
So your health status and theway you treat your body is
infinitely more important thanhow old you are.
I want you to, you can repeatthat again, go back, replay it
as many times as you need to.
It absolutely is infinitelymore, more important.
(03:22):
With that being said, though,there are like some nuances
here, right?
Particularly with a couplepieces of health in our thirties
and beyond as well as pregnancyitself.
In thirties and beyond that areworth like, kind of stopping to
think about.
And from our midwiferyperspective to be proactive
about right.
(03:43):
So if you are having sex.
You should always be preparedfor conception.
Because the only way, obviouslyto ensure that like you're never
going to get pregnant isbasically to abstain, to not
have sex.
And so we should always be inthis space if we are
menstruating in like some kindof cyclical nature of any kind,
really basically just not inmenopause.
(04:05):
We should basically be preparedfor that because that's what our
body really wants to do everysingle month.
The thing that happens is somethings can get out of whack.
Hormones can get out of whack,all of that stuff.
And so we just want to make surethat we set the best foundation
for you.
No matter what age you are, butin particular, as we talk about
the thirties today, So I don'twant to get too in depth on
(04:26):
topics that we've coveredelsewhere, because this is a
quick listen, right?
But tracking your cycle.
Understanding when you'reovulating things around your
ovulation peaking up towardswhat happens after you ovulate,
how you are feeling recognizingif things are off with your
cycle.
So that means you get to becomean expert in what is actually
(04:47):
really normal in periods andrecognizing, Hey, is there
something that's, I'mexperiencing?
That's really common for me.
Like this is just par for thecourse, since I was 16.
Right.
But may actually not be normalbecoming aware of those things.
Right.
Connecting with what an actualnormal cycle should or could
look like.
Right.
Supporting your body with propersupplementation, nourishing
(05:10):
foods, all of that good stuff.
This is like the first layerfoundational things.
Right?
I would say that in yourthirties, in particular, if you
are giving yourself a foundationof really like gut happy,
healthy foods real foods, bloodsugar, stabilizing foods, all of
that hydrating yourself well,and really taking your sub your
(05:31):
supplements consistently.
You're going to be pretty wellset.
Some supplements that we usuallyconsider and recommend at this
point would be a prenatal.
If you're at any point in, youknow, planning to conceive.
Prenatals wonderful.
Methylated folate, methylated Bcomplex, vitamin D three.
I love it with K2 because thatreally helps.
(05:52):
The absorption of it.
A quality probiotic of somekind, you can kind of mix and
match as you finish up eachbottle and kind of hop to a new
one for new strains, magnesium,because that is like our little
miracle mineral there.
And Omega's, you can sprinklelike beef liver in there.
You can take some traceminerals, all that good stuff
you would be so very set.
(06:14):
So you can find the link in ourshow notes to our prenatal
supplement freebie for moreinformation on that.
And then there's sort of asidebar here too.
We go really in depth on some ofthese pieces.
In a resource we have in ourshop called the holistic
fertility handbook.
I'm going to link that in theshow notes as well, because
it'll probably come up again aswe're chatting in this episode.
But you may, so we have theselike foundations of food,
(06:37):
nourishment, hydration, right?
You may also want to considersome lab testing before
pregnancy.
Particularly for some issuesthat actually do come up,
technically research wise,right?
As more common for women over30.
So you may not know this, butthese types of things include
like your risk kind of goes upfor these things in pregnancy,
(06:58):
after 30 gestational diabetes,hypertension, liver issues like
coli, stasis, but honestly allof these things can kind of be
traced back in some way, shapeor form to liver health.
So we're going to talk aboutthat in a minute.
Those kinds of things canincrease in your thirties.
So the earlier that you can seea pattern in your body's
functioning, the better chancewe have to support it and
(07:22):
potentially right.
An entirely different story withyour conception and pregnancy
and postpartum.
All of it.
I did actually another quicklesson, all about preconception
testing.
And that's somewhat recent.
It's one of the more recentones.
And that goes in depth on whatwe really recommend for those
types of tests.
(07:42):
But you should have a good pulseon what your body is up to, not
just for your own, like justgeneral knowledge, but for your
fertility picture as a whole.
Again, we are midwives.
So we are always looking forspaces to be as proactive as
possible.
And this is a huge place becauseif there are any flags with your
blood sugar stabilization oryour liver or kidney function,
(08:03):
we would want to know as quicklyas possible.
So we can really dial down someof those pieces.
And help encourage not only ahealthy fertility picture, but a
healthy pregnancy and healthybirth and a healthy, healthy,
postpartum.
Right?
So we're talking about keys toconception, but at the same
time, that leads to the nextseason that leads to the next
season.
That leads to the next season.
Right?
(08:24):
So I did mention liver health,right?
I will always be here for justlike a healthy liver lifestyle.
I love talking about liverhealth.
I have loved kind of deep divingon it for myself in particular.
But I think if you were in yourthirties and wanting to conceive
that it is quite possibly, I, Imean, I don't think this is
really like, Hot takenecessarily, but I think this is
(08:46):
the most untapped resource issupporting your liver health,
getting comfortable with yourdrainage and detox pathways and
supporting them.
So I'm going to link a blog postthat we did on this, in the show
notes.
And it goes really in-depth onsome of these things and some of
these rhythms that I'm gonnakind of gloss over here.
But if you can start doingthings like lymphatic massage,
(09:08):
dry brushing, sweatingconsistently, whether that's
with like a detox bath or asauna or working out, or just.
If you're somewhere.
He lives somewhere.
That's hot being hot.
Right outside.
So sweating consistently poopingdaily, moving your body gently
every day.
Staying well hydrated.
Utilizing herbal infusions, likedandelion, especially as great
(09:28):
for liver health, dandelion andnettles is a great kind of
mixture there.
You will be sitting pretty.
If you are supporting your liverat this point, you will be
sitting pretty because thosethings that I spoke about.
The gestational diabetes,hypertension, other kinds of
liver, things that can pop up,we can point all of that back to
what is going on with the liver.
Of course, it's much morenuanced than that, but as we
(09:51):
talk about some of these keysleaning into a healthy liver
would be one of the main onesthat I would recommend.
That.
So that includes some of thosethings that I talked about.
And in that blog post, it alsogoes into the fact that like,
Hey, where can I decrease someof this burden that I'm putting
on my body?
Where can I get rid of endocrinedisorders?
Where can I kind of clean up mymakeup?
(10:11):
Where can I.
Shift what kind of products I'musing on my body or around my
body and my home, things likethat, that may be kind of
messing up.
Some of these hormones are justsome of this burden that my
liver is dealing with right now.
Right.
So huge untapped resource there.
And any time you're looking atpreconception or any kind of
like just general consciousconception idea, you also have
(10:36):
the ability and I want toencourage you in this to bring
other providers and supportpeople to kind of support your
body.
If you notice it's strugglingwith one thing or another, or if
you're like, Hey, I want to belike the Midwest here and just
be proactive about something.
So if you're noticing somethingthat's not quite right with like
your pelvic floor or your spineor your pelvis or the fascia.
(10:57):
And your body or the drainagethat's happening in your lymph
system.
Right?
All of that, you can bringpeople in to kind of support
that.
As soon as you recognize thereis an issue, or as soon as you
recognize, Hey, this issomething that like, I really.
It feel to be important.
And I want to honor that.
Right.
So chiropractic care massage,pelvic floor therapists, even if
(11:20):
you have never had a baby pelvicfloor therapists are amazing
resources, as well asacupuncturists, all different
types of options that peoplethat you can bring to your care
team, whether you're havingissues or not.
Right.
And they're great to have onyour team as you are looking to
conceive and trying to conceiveas well as throughout pregnancy
(11:40):
can impact your birth experiencecan impact your postpartum
recovery.
All of that.
Super good.
Good stuff.
And then I'm going to jump overconception for a second and
mentioned pregnancy here now,because we kind of talked about
this.
And I mentioned in the fertilityhandbook.
A little bit earlier.
I know that in there, there's aton of medical self-advocacy as
well.
This is something you're goingto have to get really
comfortable with.
(12:02):
If you are looking to conceivein your thirties.
So understanding that you werealways, I mean, no matter what,
in any health situation, right.
But this is always true.
But incredibly important as younavigate pregnancy in your
thirties, especially the secondhalf of your thirties.
And we'll kind of talk about thenuance there.
But understanding that you'realways going to be the final
decision maker, incrediblyimportant.
(12:25):
Can feel kind of scary if youhaven't really lived your life
that way, medically speaking.
But it is incredibly powerful aswell.
So as we discuss some of thethings that pop up, because
women are over 35 in particular,Which like another sidebar.
I won't talk about it in St.
Louis time, but sidebar.
This 35 number it's honestly, inlike the medical model, it seems
(12:47):
like it's sort of this magictime bomb that like you're
blowing your 35th.
Birthday candles out of yourcake and all of a sudden, right?
You just so old in the eyes ofthe medical model at 35 and
beyond in your pregnancy,depending on your provider.
You may be treated with likelittle kid gloves, like, oh my
little, I guess maybe old ladygloves.
(13:10):
Like, oh, you're so breakable.
Everything could just fall apartany second.
Right?
And so it's important for you tounderstand, as you're looking
into conceiving, what that piecemay look like and what kind of
provider you would like to workwith.
So some are truly providers thatwill look at you.
Like you are actually thatticking time bomb, right?
(13:32):
These are the ones who are goingto assume.
And potentially force on you orat least coerce very strongly.
The idea of like geneticscreening or that you'll need a
ton of ultrasounds becauseyou're truly just an old, like
ball of scary pregnant lady.
Right.
But it does not have to be likethat.
(13:53):
And as you are considering theseoptions in your thirties we, we
just always harp on howimportant your care providers.
Philosophy is what your personalphilosophy is in finding a
provider who will match thatwith you.
Right.
So it does not have to actuallybe like that.
Understanding your risks,understanding your options,
(14:14):
understanding that you shouldmove forward.
Absolutely.
With any kind of testing becauseyou want more information, not
because someone's making youfeel fear like fearful, right?
So I included some of theresearch below on this, in
particular, this idea of beingquote advanced maternal age at
35 and above just so you can seeit, these risks, it's not like,
(14:38):
it's not this ticking time bomb,right?
It does not explode at 35.
And only you get to be the onewho looks at sort of the
statistics and the research and.
Only you get to balance like therisks and the benefits of every
single thing, but it's reallyhelpful to have a grid for why
these things would be offered toyou.
If you're in that position oreven potentially more forcefully
(15:01):
or like coercively recommended.
But to come back to the factthat only you can actually
decide what you want to take on,that looks a million different
ways, right?
So we personally in ourmidwifery practice we'll have
clients for sure.
Over 30.
I mean, honestly, we've hadclients over 40.
Who want more information?
They're really interested inthat.
And they want all of the extragenetic screening.
(15:24):
They want that potentially asmuch like carrier screening
before they get pregnant.
They want to know every littlebit of information, right.
They are concerned with theirrisk status due to their age,
and they want extra surveillanceon their baby in terms of like
more ultrasounds and things likethat.
And that's all well and goodwhen it is truly what they
actually want.
(15:45):
Right where it's not comingforcefully from us.
If there's no other risk factorswhere they have done their
research and they see the pros,the cons, the benefits, the
risks, the alternatives, all ofit, and say, yes, that is what I
want.
But we also, I would S prettysafely say we have many more who
are in that age range, who don'tlean towards that route.
And they continue to go on withtheir pregnancy.
(16:06):
Is.
Healthy as they can, they gointo conception as healthy as
they can.
Right.
And feel a lot of peace in doingso.
And I say that to remind youthat there's no route.
That is right, right.
There's no one that's like morethe morally correct.
One.
Except for the one that youchoose for yourself, for you and
(16:27):
your baby with your eyes wideopen.
Right.
And so I can look very differentfor different people, right?
And what's been cool to watch,kind of come to fruition over
these ideas of healthy hormonesand genetic screening and
advanced maternal age andultrasound options and testing
options.
All of that, the many littlenuanced pieces that come into.
(16:49):
Okay, I'm set to conceive.
I've done it.
And now, now what?
Right.
Has been through our childbirtheducation course.
We just get to deep dive on somany topics.
What I just mentioned and like,just a ridiculous amount more.
It's coming out soon.
We just don't have a, like afirm date for that yet.
At the time that I recordedthis, but get on the wait list.
(17:09):
So you have access to all theupdates, early access, all of
that good stuff.
I wanted to throw that in therebecause it's so interrelated,
the information that we share inthere and the links that we give
and just.
The handouts and all of thatstuff is just really rich and
nuanced and important for womento understand.
No matter what kind of careprovider they have.
So if you are somebody who is 30or over and is trying to
(17:33):
conceive, there are a few extraResources in our show notes for
you, including links to a fewother podcasts that we have done
in about tracking your cycle andthings like that in there for
you to get a really goodfoundation.
And I would absolutely recommendif you are struggling with these
things, hopping back,remembering.
(17:55):
Okay.
Liver support.
Yes.
Let's get some testing done.
See, what's going on?
Let me nourish myself.
Well, let me stabilize my bloodsugar.
Let me keep my gut healthy.
Those pieces.
That is enough work for now,right?
And when we work on those thingsthat are the foundational
pieces.
We absolutely start to see thefruit blossom from that.
(18:17):
And so we can hop onto, Hey, letme throw a supplement on that or
a medication on that orsomething.
That can potentially give us theoutcome that we're desiring.
But when we start from thatlower level, really foundational
piece, we see so much morevitality and so much more
healing happening, which is.
Really fun to see him.
So ho hopefully this gives youlike a bit of food for thought,
(18:40):
right?
We will catch you here nextweek.
For another birth story episode,our favorites, like it is.
the richest time that we get tospend chatting with each other.
Going over some of these birthsso far.
This next one next week is areally powerful one that left
us.
Really sitting kind of in Oz,the story of this family played
out not only at the birthitself, but like over the coming
(19:00):
months after the birth, it'sreally intense and beautiful and
hard and all of the things.
So it's just going to foreverhold a spot in our hearts for.
A million meaningful reasons.
So you will have to turn it,tune in to hear that one.
You'll probably laugh.
You probably cry.
I know we will.
For sure.
So, check out the show link orthe show notes for all of those
(19:21):
extra links for you to hop offand do more research and again,
gain more information.
And that is that.
Bye ladies.
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