WEEK 10 – EMOTIONS & EXHAUSTION

Weekly Baby News

Foetus: 3.5cm, weighing less than 4 grams – size of a plump cherry tomato

This week the primitive reflex response begins, this response plus the increased responsiveness of the nervous system can have the little bub moving depending what mum is up to. The heart is almost completely developed and beautiful rich blood is oxygenated through the placenta. Your growing baby may start to grow some fuzzy hair this week and his/her legs and arms are getting long enough to be touching. Pancreas development and pancreatic hormone secretion increases. This unfortunately (or fortunately) can increase sugar cravings.

Naturopathic Advice

With potential sugar cravings essential it is important to come up with alternatives that won’t spike blood sugar and increase risk of gestational diabetes (GD). Ensuring you keep your blood sugar regulated is helpful not only the reduce the risk of GD but also to regulate your energy levels, moods and emotions, which becomes very important once those hormones really kick in in a few weeks. Foods high in sugar put more pressure on your body to produce insulin to reduce the sugar levels in the blood and turn it into energy. However during pregnancy due to hormones your body reduces the effect of insulin. Specific foods and diets can get confusing and overwhelming though a easy way to be mindful around your eating habits is to opt for LOW GI FOODS, stay away from refined or processed sugars, and consume good amounts of fibre.

When it comes to energy you want to gain energy from PROTEIN and GOOD FATS. These will not only assist energy levels but also contribute to healthy growth of bub, nourishing development of neurological system plus protection of yours, support cognitive function and muscle growth, and assist in reduction of nausea if still present.

For more information or to identify your personal risk factors speak to your naturopath or nutritionist.

A great reference with many recipes, meal ideas and a shopping list click the link below to the Glycemic Index Foundation  http://www.gisymbol.com/recipes/

My Journey

Inching closer to the 12 week mark!! Not that the 12 week mark means much to me as I’ve already started telling people and I’m not getting the 12 week scan. However I am super excited to get to the 2nd trimester and this is when I also plan to release the blog online to all you guys!

This week I hit a new level of exhaustion and lost my pregnancy glow and replaced it with dark circles and my new fatigue face. I even had a few of my honest/raw clients tell me I look terrible.. gee thanks! No it was fine, I love my clients and especially love when they are honest and real with me, as that is what life is!! So why try and pretty it? Nothing bothers me more than people-pleasing, fake conversations and having to attend to people which leads to living a life that is constantly false and you attract false people and false conversations. I have spent my time in this place and over the last year have decided to be DONE with it. Yes my friend count has dropped however I have gained QUALITY friendships and REAL HONEST TRUTHFUL relationships and no longer dreading having to see someone and carry out a surface unconscious conversation. I found by living my truth, will attract my true journey. Working in mental health, plus dealing with depression and anxiety in the past myself has certainly helped me find reality/honesty/truth and how important it is. A lot of mental health conditions are a result from living fake, dishonest lives and attending to other people’s needs. Rawness, honesty, vulnerability of feelings and emotions are always welcome in my life, hence why I love clients and friends when they speak their truth and don’t ‘fluff up’ life. Lets be honest FLUFFY life sucks and is exhausting.

Anyway slightly off topic, obviously you can start to tell what is important to me, and also I’m finding when pregnant things are AMPLIFIED, and I just can’t ignore thoughts and emotions that come up, just ask my best friends or husband haha.

Back to exhaustion… it is real and no way was I going to pretend I was ok when I was struggling this week. This week helped me say ‘No’ to extra work and running around and respected my body yelling at me to slow down. This week had a level of emotional exhaustion also from saying goodbye to a friend who had passed, she was my age and while I’m usually ok with death this time it was very hard to swallow due to circumstances as well as being pregnant surely gets you thinking differently of life and death. I met many beautiful souls on the day of the funeral that I haven’t crossed paths with before. Death brings people together and helps to acknowledge regardless of job, background, clothes, lifestyle, colour, religion we ARE all the same. We are all souls searching, struggling, grieving and journeying through life. This day helped me appreciate life in general, the highs/ lows we experience, the beauty each person holds in their own right and how connection is vital in life. A very heartfelt week for both my husband and I, life certainly has got very real for us in the last few months.

This week was also a new moon so seeing as my love for the moon has grown and has become very symbolic for me and my pregnancy, I thought I would join and attend a woman’s moon circle. These beauties gather every new moon and connect with the new moon and what it brings. This new moon is in Capricorn that activates and initiates around structures, resources and nature. Stimulating ambition, success, organisation, self-discipline, patience, recognition, integrity and responsibility. This energy/ lessons, to me, wasn’t that exciting initially as I am usually quite good at structure and responsibility. However with so much going on in the last week I have definitely needed to call upon this new moon to help get me motivated and disciplined to actually get things done! Like last quarter’s bookwork for my business and my husband’s, also actually making the time to get to my blog writing. This moon and the circle of woman made me so grateful that I stumbled upon them, it was beautiful to unite with open souls that shared their experiences and held such a delicious space to speak freely and connect whole-heartedly. The type of space I’d like to create and hold for my bub’s life – acceptance, free, open, honest and whole-hearted.

Yours in health and acceptance

Talita x