106. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:
1. My immune system. There is truly nothing I value more right now than feeling healthy again after being struck down with a horrific cold.
2. The loud gasp my husband and I let out when we saw a front door mat with a big anchor on it. Everyone within a 5 meter radius at Freedom turned to face us.
3. How kindly forgiving it is painting with watercolours.
4. Eating a delicious lamb roast with vegies at 4:30pm on a rainy Sunday arvo.
5. Seeing Baby Caller up on the ultrasound screen just chilling out sucking its thumb!!
Emma the Naturopath xx
PS. Well I told you I’d have an announcement for you didn’t I… Yes you read correctly!! Emma the naturopath is growing a little human! It’s the size of a lemon and has been cooking for just over 14 weeks now -hello second trimester. Our little Aquarian is due 2nd Feb (my 30th birthday and our 3rd wedding anniversary)! Have you been wondering about all the baking recipes I’ve been posting lately? (aka. nesting).
Never fear, the ‘Essential Health Coffs’ Facebook page will not be bombarded with pregnancy/baby related paraphernalia. An exciting new segment titled *MATERNAL MONDAYS* will be starting tomorrow for those who want to chat about being up the duff and take a little peak into my new chapter!
I fell in love with the following Deepak Chopra excerpt from his book The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life:
“If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another.
The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience.
If this sounds too mystical, refer again to the body. Every significant vital sign—body temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on—alters the moment you decide to do anything… decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction.”
-Deepak Chopra
Let’s keep moving forward together.
*MATERNAL MONDAYS*
THE FIRST TRIMESTER: Finding out
The pregnancy test lit up as soon as I managed to awkwardly pee on it.
“I’m pregnant…” I said out aloud to no one. “I’m pregnant… I’m pregnant... I’m pregnant…”
It wasn’t an exclamation. It wasn’t fearful. They were just two words I’d never said in the same sentence before.
I was home from work that day. I think Ellen was on. I walked back out into the lounge room and sat down on the bean bag, pregnancy test in tow. I sat it on the coffee table next to me and watched it out of the corner of my eye.
“I’m pregnant... I’m pregnant... I’m pregnant...”
Those two words felt odd and surreal. But also made me feel incredibly excited and giggly! It fele so fragile, like if I sneezed, that it might jump out!
It is still unfathomable to me, that my baby grew from the size of a poppy seed to a peach in 3 months, completely made of building blocks from, well, me! Each week I would read things out aloud to my husband like “Listen to this honey!! This week, our baby is growing ear canals!” It absolutely fascinates me.
I’ll leave you with an excerpt from Kaz Cooke’s hilarious book Up the Duff about home pregnancy tests…
“What always happened was more like sticking a thimble under a waterfall and then snatching it out again and finding that, although you had wee on your hand, the outside of the jar, your hair, the cuffs of your trousers and some articles in another room entirely, you’d managed to miss the jar.”
*Please feel free to share how you felt in YOUR first trimester and what thoughts ran through your head?
Emma the Naturopath xx
PS. *THANKYOU* all so much for your lovely comments on the Top 5 yesterday, you kind humans :)
"We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order"
-Susan Taylor
107. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:
1. Eating the best (giant) passionfruit ever that my parents brought back for me from far north Queensland. I literally found myself grinning after I’d finished eating it.
2. Baked beans on toast.
3. The old lady who literally skipped into my shop yesterday announcing “I don’t need vitamins today love! I’m still on a high from last night’s win”!! She was decked out head to toe in Rabittohs gear. Even her matching hand bag was red and green.
4. Mum bringing over a “menu” and a collaged card that I had made dad for his birthday when I was little. Every Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/birthday I would make my parent’s a menu so I could prepare them breakfast in bed. I went to town with the glitter pens.
5. Nayyirah Waheed’s simple and delicate poetry. I’ll leave you with a few of my favourites below.
Emma the Naturopath xx
PS.
“she asked,
‘you are in love,
what does love look like’
to which i replied,
‘like everything i’ve ever lost
come back to me”
“chemistry
is
you touching my arm
and
it
setting fire to my mind”
"i am mine,
before I am ever anyone else’s"
-Nayyirah Waheed
*MATERNAL MONDAYS*
If you were to plant a veggie patch, it’s beneficial to prepare the soil, do some research into what plants will flourish that particular season and chose the right fertiliser for them before sowing the seeds right?
I feel incredibly passionate about PRECONCEPTION CARE: getting your body (and mind) “ready” for pregnancy. Not just you, but your partner as well. I know there are a lot of giggles at this concept because realistically not every baby is planned and some conceptions begin after a boozy night on the dance floor! And that’s fine too!
I truly believe that because my husband and I did preconception care for at least 6 months, we were able to conceive straight away and I’ve had such a smooth pregnancy so far (touch wood!). I saw our herbalist who specialises in hormones and fertility, every 2 months and my husband went a couple of times too.
Conception through to birth is such an intricate web of reactions in the body which can always benefit from support. You don’t need to wait until there is an issue with falling/staying pregnant to do something about it. Or to get to a stage where you start trying and then realise there’s an underlying issue.
The sperm and egg will be a blueprint of your baby’s future health. So this is the time for both you and your partner to get super healthy to iron out your allergies, gut issues, psoriasis, anxiety, or whatever so you can minimise the chance of passing these negative health issues on to your bubba.
Your preconception practitioner (eg herbalist, naturopath, nutritionist) will ensure you’re taking the right supplements for YOU, not just any cheap tub of multi’s from the supermarket They will order you the correct blood tests and go over them with a fine toothed comb. It’s a time to clean up the diet, achieve a healthy weight, swap to natural products for your body/home and learn to manage stress better. Also looking at any medications you are both taking, like the Pill.
There are no guarantees that you will definitely get pregnant by doing preconception care. But it helps to put the odds in your favour. What do you think about preconception care? Did you and your partner look into it before having a baby or did you get a lovely surprise?
For anyone interested, my herbalist is Jayne Elder in Coffs Harbour. One of the most incredibly knowledgeable, supportive and joyful women I’ve ever met.
Emma the Naturopath xx
(15 weeks –the size of a lemon)
How beautiful is this yoga card I picked this morning. My husband goes “Oh look, it’s you!”
On the back it says:
TRANSITION: You are changing. Say goodbye to the old and embrace new beginnings with a fresh approach.
Malasana Pose Preparation
(Garland Pose)
When I was driving to work this morning I was thinking about how many things have been shifting for myself and a lot of people around me lately. An abundance of pregnancies, births, passing overs, weddings, resignations, new career directions, moving house. It made me appreciate how BRAVE people are to take a chance and improve their current situations.
I wondered if there was some sort of big planetary energetic shift going on, but I think I’m putting it down to the new season approaching. With only two weeks left of winter I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re ready for some warm air, bright flowers and new beginnings, which is what Spring is all about: old chapters closing, new chapters opening.
Now is a perfect time to decide what is not serving your life in a positive way and make a change for the better. Don’t be afraid, we’re all doing it!
“When a woman conceives her true self, a miracle occurs and life around her begins again”
-Marianne Williamson
Are there new doors opening in your world at the moment?
108. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:
1. Waking up in the middle of the night to find that my husband was sleeping holding my baby bump –which has been making a loud and proud appearance these last couple of weeks!
2. My fave Insta right now: Yoga213.
3. Using Frankie posters as wrapping paper.
4. Spending a rainy Saturday morning in bed together going through all the photos from our Japan and Hawaii trip on the laptop (well over 1000) then choosing our faves which we printed and put into albums.
5. The fact that when we go to my parents’ house for dinner, mum makes not one, but TWO desserts. Gluten free blackberry crumble cake for after dinner and then chocolate dipped strawberries to have with our cups of tea.
Emma the Naturopath xx
PS.
“Stretching herself too thin.
She breaks her connections.
Staying too busy.
She has no time.
Doing for others.
She neglects herself.
Defining herself only through others.
She loses her own definition
A wise women waters her own garden first.”
-The Tao for Women
You gotta look after number one. I always give my clients the analogy that when a plane is going down, you have to put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others.
This week I’m getting back on track after being so snowed under with work recently. I’m going to a new meditation class tomorrow night. I’m seeing my herbalist. I’ve done my healthy food prep for the week. I’ve written my to-do list so I can manage my time better and have some quality time not doing anything but looking after ME! I can’t wait
Give yourself the oxygen you need this week.
Emma the Naturopath xx
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