I was 26 when this happened. While I was ready physically, in other ways, less so. I had a lot of fun in the years before, travelling in a van across much of Canada and the United States. Living close to nature with an active lifestyle, eating and growing delicious food. I learned about the medicines that are all around us. I made things by hand, traded and sold them at markets and fairs. What I did not have was a steady income, a house, a supportive family or partner. I was briefly married to the father of my child, and that breakup was a stressfest.
I seemed to be constantly nauseous during the entire pregnancy. I supplemented with B vitamins and drank ginger tea. I had to avoid all crucifers (cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli), my already sensitive digestion was on high alert. Apparently for some people, pregnancy hormones are something their body reacts against like a toxin. I was a slim, small breasted, boyish type physically, but had always eaten whatever I wanted, and had been into health since my teens. I know everyone is different in this aspect and you might not experience pregnancy the same as your mother, sister, etc. I know the stress I was under didn't help. I also experienced an itchy tummy rash that I didn't have with my other two pregnancies.
Drinking warm goats milk was my favourite way to start the day. I was lucky to have a source for raw organic milk from a friend nearby. I would also drink it mixed with super nutritious carob powder. I drank carrot juice on a daily basis, and had been for some years before. I mention this as when you are pregnant is not the time to radically change your diet. Any cleansing is best left until after the child is weaned. By all means cut out cigarettes and alcohol, perhaps introduce fresh juice if you wish, but take it slow and even diluted with water can make it more gentle on you at a time when your digestion may not be as strong. One thing worth adding to your diet is flax or hemp oil, it can be substituted for other oils in a salad dressing, added to smoothies, or substituted for butter, etc. on toast, for example. These highly beneficial oils should not be heated. I have used flax oil for over 20 years, hemp oil has become widely available more recently, and has an ideal ratio of omega oils for the human body. I mention these oils because it is to themI attribute my total lack of stretch marks. Of course I moisturized my belly on the outside as well, but with our brains comprised of sixty percent, it makes sense to provide our bodies with the highest quality oils we can, especially when we are building an entire other body within.
Going beyond food, other important elements of my pregnancies were of course, regular gentle exercise (I favour long walks, and also yoga) and baths with essential oils (lavendar, chamomile, neroli), avoiding stress, and nesting. Babies grow so rapidly that they don't wear things out, it is possible to get almost everything secondhand, one can save so much money that way. Having as much as possible in order before hand goes a long way towards settling mothers' nerves. I also made a sort of empowerment poster for myself. I collected different images representing god/goddess, community, the earth, I found meditating on, or holding some of these images in my mind, relaxing and strengthening
