Our Surrogacy in Hawai'i - Part 3

Hey there,

I wanted to tell you about the products I used to prepare my body for the IVF process and getting pregnant. As you know, I am a health & wellness educator and birth & postpartum doula. Over the past 4 years, I’ve educated dozens and dozens and dozens of mommas on how to prepare their body for conception, use natural solutions during pregnancy, and support their birth and postpartum experience with essential oils and other holistic supplements & treatments.

I was introduced to doTERRA essential oils when I was 7 months pregnant with our little DJ. My Mom flew to New Zealand for my Master of Public Health degree graduation in May 2013 and delivered a little gift box of lemon / lavender / peppermint oils with an info sheet on how to use them for pregnancy, birth and baby. My auntie Sue (Mom’s best friend) thought I would enjoy them. She was right! I was intrigued by the info sheet and decided to use the lavender and peppermint in an aromatherapy spray for our labor and birth. The spray was calming, yet invigorating. Needless to say, I was very excited to do pregnancy and childbirth again with all the knowledge I now have from the past 5 years of educating myself on holistic, natural remedies. It has made SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE to this pregnancy, and probably a huge reason this has been my easiest pregnancy of the three.

Leading up to the transfer day in February, I didn’t do too much outside my usual daily wellness routine, which is as follows:

doTERRA’s Lifelong Vitality Vitamins. These vitamins are a great prenatal, with the recommended amounts of folate and DHA for baby. Plus, they are packed with all sorts of other goodness. I usually take a half-dose (two of each), but did try to take the full-dose (4 of each) when I could handle it.

doTERRA’s PB Assist. I take one of these probiotics every. single. day. Never skip a day.

doTERRA’s Terrazyme digestive enzymes. I take one of these digestive enzymes every morning and usually take another one later in the day if I’ve eaten meat.

Lemon or grapefruit water. I add one drop of lemon or grapefruit essential oil to my water every morning. It’s important to cleanse our bodies from toxic build up. When our body is able to focus on being healthy (instead of battling toxic overload), all of our “normal” body systems can work at optimal levels. I wanted to make sure my reproductive system didn’t get distracted, so I support my body by keeping it as clean as possible. When you do IVF, you need to take several different prescription medications. When we take meds, there is inevitably some of it that our body does not absorb and the “waste” gets left in our body. Citrus can help support internal cleansing.

doTERRA’s Phytoestrogen Essential Complex, Bone Nutrient Complex, and Mito 2 Max. I don’t take these every single day, but a few times a week (probably 2-3 days). I did want to make sure my hormones were the most balanced as possible before adding hormone high-jacking medications to my body. The Mito2Max is simply because I don’t drink caffeinated coffee anymore. I switched to decaf 4.5 years ago, and now only have caffeine every now and again. I prefer natural, plant-based energy that doesn’t make me jitter like a spaz. Lol.

Natural Calm powder. Since I don’t take the Bone Nutrient supplement every single day, I also use this powder to promote healthy magnesium and calcium levels in my body. We also serve this to the girls when they are taking their morning vitamins. It is estimated that up to 80% of us are magnesium deficient. Magnesium helps our cells and muscles to relax. Read more about the fizzy drink here.

Reduce toxins and boost immunity. I also used a variety of essential oils as perfume, which I do daily. I don’t use beauty or cosmetic products with chemicals and other toxic ingredients. I smell essential oils throughout the day to elevate my mood. Our family is also constantly boosting immunity. I knew in preparation for the IVF process I needed my body in the healthiest state possible, so we used a variety of products to make sure I did not get sick. I have a saying, “A drop of On Guard a day, keep the doctor away.” Praise God, no winter sickness came my way.

Weight loss and clean eating. Another, kinda major, thing we did to prepare my body was Dr. Josh Axe’s Keto360 program. While I don’t philosophically align with the paleo or keto lifestyles (I like to eat more plant-based and just do occasional meat and dairy products), the weight loss and whole food was very helpful leading up to the IVF transfer day. I am embarrassed to say that I gained about 25 pounds since 2015. I got down to 140 pounds (a great weight for me, when I’m strong) in 2014. Over two years, I did lots of travel for my business, got out of a consistent exercise routine, and obviously was eating too much. We do eat healthy, organic whole food - but my portions are far bigger than they need to be. Anyway, Brad and I started Keto360 January 12 and continued to February 13. I lost 15 pounds!!! Whew. My body was now much more ready for pregnancy. Eating clean and being a healthy weight are incredibly important for conception and supporting your reproductive system. I’m still 10 pounds “overweight” this pregnancy, so I have work to do.

Chiropractic care and massage. I also see my chiropractor once every 4-6 weeks. Leading up to the transfer day, I went and saw Dr. Carie Kwan with Island Family Chiropractic and also received a full-body massage the morning we flew out to LAX (the day before the transfer). My bones and muscles were in alignment and relaxed —-> body in optimal state to receive an embryo.

Okay, that’s a lot of information for one post. If you’re preparing your body for pregnancy, I hope you found this helpful.

I’ll share more on what I’ve been using in pregnancy in another post. I’m curious to hear from you if you have other recommendations for supporting our bodies for conception. I know there are so many natural, holistic remedies out there. I am always learning and adding to my repertoire of knowledge.

Part 4 is all about our first trimester of the journey. Click here to read more.

Much love,

Jenna