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Overcoming Health Challenges to Become a Mom w/ My Client Lauren
73 Plays8 months ago
My client Lauren joins us to discuss her health journey and the process of becoming a mom and how it changed her diet, habits, and lifestyle for the better.
I specialise in helping women overcome their health challenges so they can thrive at any age. Issues clients come to me with are usually a combination of:
- Fatigue
- Digestive trouble (gas, bloating, constipation)
- Mood issues (anxiety, irritability)
- Sleep problems
- PMS, if still cycling
- Brain fog or diminished cognitive capacities
- Excess "stubborn" weight
Learn more about how I can help you and book a FREE intro call with me here: https://christianyordanov.com/womens-health-consulting/
My latest book on longevity, How to Actually Live Longer, Vol1.: https://amzn.to/3OnZJGl
Follow me on Instagram for informational clips and other health content: https://www.instagram.com/christian_yordanov/
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, welcome back to the podcast. Christian Jordonov here today. I have a special guest. It's one of my clients, Lauren. Lauren, thank you so much for joining us
Lauren's Health Journey Begins
00:00:10
Speaker
today. Hi, thank you for having me. Happy to be here. Yeah. Thanks for, thanks for coming on. And, um, it's always, it's, I always appreciate when folks can share some of their health journey, their previous experiences. So other parents and other women.
00:00:30
Speaker
can learn from them and make better decisions for their health and their children's health, right? So I
Miscarriages and Emotional Impact
00:00:38
Speaker
think let's start with, just to give the folks listening to us a little bit of context, can we maybe start with where did your health journey begin? Okay. Well, it began when I was trying to become a mom and I did not realize
00:00:57
Speaker
how challenging that can be. You know, sometimes you think that you're going to go into motherhood and it's just going to happen so easy. Um, and there's not going to be issues. He's like, Oh, I want to be a mom now. And it's just going to happen. But for most of my twenties, I was positive. I was like, I just want to do my thing. I don't, I'm not ready to be a mom. I'll be a mom when I want to later on. And so it was around the time when I was about 20, 29, I was like, okay, I think I'm ready to start and, um, start motherhood.
00:01:25
Speaker
And I had been on birth control for about 10 years or so straight and had zero idea that birth control was horrible for me. You know, most women don't. They just think, oh, this is good. It just will keep us from having on one pregnancies and all this other stuff. And it's just horrible. So I got off in October and then immediately got pregnant in November, found out I was pregnant. And I was so excited because, you know, you never know how long it's going to take.
00:01:54
Speaker
And that was one
Health Realizations and Naturopathic Consultation
00:01:55
Speaker
of my fears. Like I think every woman kind of has a fear a long time. And so in December, we told our family like for Christmas that there was going to be a baby in August and we have like cute little ways of revealing it. It was just so excited. I mean, the moment you see a positive pregnancy test, you just start thinking about your future. You know, you just start thinking about all the events of this child. And so I went to my eight week appointment for the ultrasound.
00:02:24
Speaker
And when I went there, there was no heartbeat. And that's not the reaction you want to get when you're in there. And they pull it up on the screen, and they can't find a heartbeat. And they were like, OK, come back in a week, and we'll check. And I just felt this gut feeling that something was wrong. And I just knew it, knew something was wrong. And so I ended up having to go to the ER before I even could make the next appointment, because I just
00:02:51
Speaker
started bleeding and, um, knew that a miscarriage was happening. And so I went to the ER and they confirmed, they're like, yep, you are having a miscarriage and you're going to default with your OB. And so that was really depressing. I remember going back to my OB and she sat down with me and like gave me the talk and was gave me some options. She was like, you can either take a pill to speed this up, which I didn't want to do. I didn't want to have any part.
00:03:17
Speaker
of the miscarriage. I was like, if it's going to happen, my body's just going to do it. I'm not going to take a pill to make it happen. Um, and so then it happened, but my OB was like, you're not going to have another one. One in four women have one very unlikely to have another one. So I just kept doing my regular thing. I didn't make any health changes at that time. I just thought, okay, I'll try again. Cause I thought it was just a fluke, but then tried again a month or two later, got pregnant immediately.
00:03:44
Speaker
another miscarriage. Um, but this time we did see the heartbeat. So at that point I was like, there's something wrong with my body. Something is off. Um, something needs to be fixed. We even did a
Diet and Lifestyle Changes
00:03:55
Speaker
miscarriage kit. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but you can, if you have like
00:04:02
Speaker
what happens when you have a miscarriage and you send it in, they can test it and see if there's like chromosomal abnormalities, you know, if it's the baby or if it's the mom. And it came back and it said there were no issues, completely normal, female, like I told me the gender, which was like daggers in my heart just knowing. But then I knew I was like, okay, it's not, there was nothing wrong. It was, it's me.
00:04:26
Speaker
So at that point, I'm like, something's got to change. And I started working books on the subject and miscarriages and like having a healthy pregnancy. I went to a naturopathic physician and he tested me on everything, found out that my thyroid was not optimal, sluggish, low progesterone.
00:04:44
Speaker
I have the NTHFR gene mutation, which that led me down a path of just reading about that, which how it's connected to miscarriages and pregnancy issues. And so it just kind of like opened my eyes to all of these other things I hadn't even considered. And around the time was COVID was happening. So that was also an awakening and another way of just starting to question things and start realizing that all of these things that I had been taught
00:05:13
Speaker
growing up were not what they were. And so they just kind of made me go down the path of seeking truth and what was good for my body and how to become a healthier person in every
Successful Pregnancy and Lifestyle's Role
00:05:25
Speaker
way. Because when I first went into motherhood to become pregnant the first time, I was just unhealthy in every way possible. When I think about it, it wasn't just physically or nutritionally. I was mentally and emotionally and socially
00:05:41
Speaker
It's like unhealthy, every aspect really. And so when I started cutting things out, gluten, dairy, started eating at home, cutting out the processed food, looking at ingredients of everything that I ate, everything that goes into my body, the products I use on my skin. I mean, I became very extreme in every route.
00:06:07
Speaker
Every little detail had to be perfect. You know, I had to get new pots and pans. I had to get new sheets right then. Welcome to orthorexia. Yeah, I drill my husband crazy, you know? And like, I wanted to wear gloves to the store so I didn't touch the receipts, you know? That I approve of. Yes. And I told, and Patrick's like, you're going to look crazy. And I'm like, well, yeah, well, you know? But, um, so I did all the things and it was very strict.
00:06:34
Speaker
cut out alcohol. That's another thing. I used to drink wine every night, glasses on glasses. And so, but I was just very serious about it. I was willing to do everything I possibly could so that I could have a healthy
Perspective on Motherhood and Health
00:06:47
Speaker
baby. Cause that's all that mattered to me. You know, I was going to exhaust my resources. Um, sorry, getting an acupuncture. Uh, I was reading about other women's journeys and what they did. And a lot of them talked about their diet, you know, they started eating cleaner.
00:07:03
Speaker
So many things. And so after I did all those things for several months, I went back to that doctor. He tested me. My test scores were so much better. My inflammation was down. My thyroid was functioning better. My progesterone was higher. And he gave me the green light. He's like, okay, you're good. You're going to have a healthy pregnancy now. How many months was that? So that I, let's see.
00:07:27
Speaker
from when I first saw him, I think it was about four months. Four months, I was like, I'm a strict regimen. That's amazing. Yeah. And I just, like I took it very seriously. Like I didn't have any, any sort of sugar at all. Like maybe some like berries, but that was it. Like nothing sweet, no sugar or anything. And that's hard for me because I have a sweet tooth, but I was just so serious because I didn't want to go back to him and tell me, no, you need to wait longer. Yeah.
00:07:55
Speaker
And so thankfully, the next time I tried my third pregnancy, it started progressing better. I mean, I'm still very scared to go back to the doctor and have your ultrasound because the first two, it's kind of traumatic because you remember the last two went a certain way. So the third time you go and you're like,
00:08:15
Speaker
Absolutely. It's like, you know, it's going to progress. And I had a little scares during that pregnancy and I feel like it was really hard not to be paranoid about stuff because I was trying so hard to just avoid every little toxic thing I possibly could, which now I know I can only control so much and I can't let it consume you where I feel insane because that's not healthy. I just try to make better decisions. But ever since then, I mean, I am not the same person. Like it changed me so much to where I think
00:08:44
Speaker
I know I'm a better mom now. I wouldn't have been as good of a mom had I just gotten pregnant the first time because I was totally different. I didn't look at the world the way I do now. I didn't look at food the way I do now, you know, I didn't look at health. And so I feel like I have all this knowledge now that I'm just a better person and a better mom for it.
Permanent Lifestyle Changes
00:09:05
Speaker
And so that experience really shaped me.
00:09:08
Speaker
And I always thought when I was going through it, when I was cutting out all this stuff in my mind, I was like, this is temporary. As soon as I get pregnant, I'm going back the way it was. Right? That's what I was thinking. I thought I'm just going to do it so I can get pregnant. I'm going to go back to having my whole milk lattes in the morning and I'm going to go back to having pizza every week, all those things. But then.
00:09:30
Speaker
I had her, I gave birth to her and I was like, no, I didn't feel right. And I was like, I'm just going to continue it as I'm breastfeeding. Like I just was just nervous. And now it's been four years of living this way. And I'm thinking I'm never going to go back to that because I don't want to. I don't want to go back to living like that. It's like my desires have changed. I know I don't know.
00:09:50
Speaker
I don't want to eat those sort of things anymore. I don't want to eat garbage, you know? You crave better foods. Once you get healthy, you just crave doing things which are conducive to either maintaining or improving your health. Even like sleep, I think, especially in our twenties, we disregard sleep. Oh, you know, okay, I'll go to bed at two. I've got to wake up at eight and I can't sleep for an hour, but five hours is going to be fine.
00:10:17
Speaker
And now in our thirties, it's such a big priority, isn't it?
Pregnancy Anxieties and Birth Experience
00:10:22
Speaker
The thirties are just better. Thirties are just way, everyone told me thirties would be better, but in my twenties, I was so scared about getting older. I was like, oh, I don't want to get older, you know? And now I'm like, thirties are so much better. Twenties were a mess. I was a mess in my twenties.
00:10:35
Speaker
It's an idiot. Yeah, absolutely. I think if we continue to maintain our health and our body and all that good stuff, I think things should get better as we age. I really do, because you give a crap less about what other people think, what to expect of you, and you're more comfortable in where you're going with your life. So it's great. It's great to be able to be in that position. It really is so true. I like myself better now than I did before.
00:11:03
Speaker
I actually like who I am now. Before, I was just like, you are a mess girl, get it together. Do you want to share any of the stresses during the pregnancy? During the pregnancy, obviously, I was always so scared that I would see any blood at any point, terrified of that. It was so hard not to
00:11:31
Speaker
freak out about stuff. I remember going to the dentist cause they tell you gotta get, you know, go to the dentist while you're pregnant. Um, and I had made sure, don't use fluoride. Do not put, do not. And I was like, I had, they probably thought I was so crazy cause you know, they give you paperwork to fill out and I'm like writing notes all over it. Like I don't want this. I don't want this cause they want to do X-rays too. And I said, absolutely not. You're not doing X-rays. And they were like, it's just in your mouth. And I was like, I don't care. I am pregnant and I don't want any X-rays near me. But, um,
00:12:00
Speaker
That's just every little thing. I was so nervous about carrying anything that was too heavy. I was so scared about, it was so hard to relax. I really felt like I was holding my breath. I really did. And I just kept thinking, I can't like, as soon as she gets here and she's in my arms and I know that she's here, I just got everything like, but now I know that there's new worries. You know, I'm so thankful to be a mom, but I realized you're always going to worry. You know, I thought that as soon as she was out of my body, I would no longer feel as worried.
00:12:28
Speaker
but that never goes away. There's just new worries, you know, except now I have the blessing of being a mom, you know, but other things during pregnancy that were hard was just, you know, anytime you'd get a weird little symptom or if you didn't feel enough movement or if, you know what they say, don't sleep on your back, right? When you're pregnant at a certain point, there are times I wake up and I'd be on my back and I would be so panicked like, Oh no, I'm on my back, you know, like,
00:12:57
Speaker
You don't want to do anything wrong. I didn't want to do anything wrong. Oh gosh, I remember I hated it when I'd be outside and I walked by someone who's smoking. I would be so disgusted cause I'm like, if I just inhaled your smoke, I have, I'm growing this life inside of me. You know, like every little detail is just, it was a lie. And then I would look at other women and it's like, they didn't have a worry in their mind. You know what I mean? It was just a guaranteed thing to them.
00:13:24
Speaker
I just thought that must be nice to just be pregnant and not feel scared or worried or terrified that something bad is going to happen. You know, just, just to be chill. But then they were also like eating garbage and it was so hard not to judge them because I'm like,
00:13:38
Speaker
What are you putting into your mouth? You're growing a baby and they'll say, Oh, my baby really wants this. I'm like, no, you're deaf. Your baby does not want that. Your baby does not want a McDonald's cheeseburger. Like you're craving that. But now's the other thing. A lot of times people ask me. It's craving, my baby's craving vitamin R in the McDonald's cheeseburger. Sometimes they'll say, Oh, the baby's really craving this. And it's like garbage and I'm
00:14:04
Speaker
And they would, and some people would ask me, Oh, what are you craving? And I'm like, it really doesn't matter. Cause I don't eat my cravings. Like I don't eat that way anymore. So like, I, I never just, I don't know. A lot of times I think women give that as an excuse to kind of splurge when they're pregnant. Cause they're like, I'm growing a baby. I want this. I want this. But to me, I kept thinking everything that goes in my body, my baby is absorbing my baby. It's like feeding my baby. Like these nutrients are so important. Oh, the other thing is, so I have to take baby aspirin every day.
00:14:34
Speaker
And I was really nervous about that at the time, just because it's not natural. And in my mind, I was trying to be so natural. And so for some reason, that was hard for me to do. I was just nervous about it. I mean, I took it every day because I guess when you have several miscarriages, it's a preventive way just for the possible clotting. It helps with that.
00:14:59
Speaker
But yeah, I feel like I kind of calmed down a little bit in a third trimester and didn't feel as scared just because I felt like I was almost to the finish line. You know, I kept having little milestones that I would try to get to and check off, you know? But it was a scary time. I just, it's just, you're vulnerable, you know? You want something so bad. Yeah, you did a hospital birth, right? Yes, I did. And my goal going into it was for it to be unmedicated and I didn't want to take anything. I didn't know if I was going to be strong
Home Birth Stories and Hospital Birthing Culture
00:15:28
Speaker
enough to do it.
00:15:29
Speaker
Cause you know, you, you say one thing and then when you're in the moment, you don't know if you're actually going to do it. And so, um, I stayed at home and labor the most, like the whole time there. I had a doula, which I think was really helpful just to have that like extra assistance and someone that will like help you remind you like this is what you want. You can do it, you know, instead of relying just on your husband to, to kind of, to do all that. Nothing, nothing against them.
00:15:57
Speaker
But I, yeah, I had my contractions at home. It wasn't a long labor. I think I was in labor like eight hours total, but I made sure to stay at the house as long as possible because I knew the moment I got to the hospital, if I was in pain for too long there, I may have given in, you know, to, uh, an upper drill or something. Just as you get to a certain point where you're like, I can't take the pain anymore. But by the time we got to the hospital,
00:16:25
Speaker
they had to rush me into a delivery room right away. Like there was no time for vitals. There was no time for anything. I couldn't fill out paperwork because she was coming. Like it was, they were like, they said, if you had waited like five minutes, she would have been born in the car. Wow. So I have really waited to the very end, which I'm thankful I did because I think it was really helpful and having an unmedicated birth because the longer you're at the hospital, just waiting, I think you're more likely to give into something, you know, medication wise,
00:16:53
Speaker
But that was a very empowering moment for me because I didn't know if I was going to be strong enough to do it. I was scared. And once I did it, I was so proud of myself. The fact that I had given birth with no drugs in my body, nothing, you know? And after she was out, she was born. I remember the nurse saying, oh, here you want some Tylenol for your cramps?
00:17:16
Speaker
without any medication, now you think I wanna take medication? I'm good. She's like, are you sure? I'm like, just take it away, please. I don't want it. But my goal for my next one is to have a home birth or go to a birthing center. Now that I know that I can do it, but I can do it without any medication. But that was just very empowering. I don't know, I was really proud of myself to do that. But it was a good birth.
00:17:46
Speaker
Thankfully, cause that's also scary cause you know, anything can happen really, but, um, someone contacted me on Instagram that listens to my children's health podcast and they shared a podcast. That's all about sort of free birthing and stuff. And I'm like, that is next level. These women did, uh, we actually have one friend where she didn't even,
00:18:16
Speaker
hire a midwife for her home birth. She had a doula that she was working with, who's the same doula that we were working with. And the doula didn't even make it to the birth, basically. She called her, it's time. And then the doula is like, okay, I'm on my way. And she got to our friend's house and she already had the baby.
00:18:38
Speaker
Oh my God. It's just a testament to, I mean, how else would women have been doing this? That's true. Even 300 years
Challenges of Motherhood and Child's Health
00:18:46
Speaker
ago. So I think we are a little bit brainwashed basically that we need to go to a big old hospital and have all these procedures done. It's so true. It's really true. I mean, it's absolutely true. They do put that fear into like, you have to be at a hospital, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:07
Speaker
But it's natural. You're supposed to just be able to have your baby. I know there are complications that arise and stuff. So the birth was done. How did things unfold for you after that? It was good. I'm sure you felt the same way. The moment you have your baby, you're like, now what? What do I do? This fragile thing in my hands.
00:19:35
Speaker
Breastfeeding was a very important thing to me. And that was another thing I was nervous about. What if I can't breastfeed? Because in my mind, I was like, I have to breastfeed. And, and thankfully, you know, I was able to do that for a long time. But, you know, everything was fine with the hospital, really, except I remember
00:19:56
Speaker
You'll laugh at this actually. This just came back to me. Being at the hospital is very just distrusting, very distrusting of everyone around me. I didn't want to close my eyes for a second. Cause I was just like, what are they going to do? You know, um, I had my birth plan. I'll print it up. I had several copies to make sure that they didn't do any of the things I didn't want. Like do not be my baby. Do not take my baby away. Do not do this. My baby in bowl. Like just so many things that was in, in, um,
00:20:24
Speaker
I remember that after she was born, I was holding on to her and she was like nursing on me, my baby. And I remember asking the nurse, when I fall asleep, you're not going to come in here and give her the hepatitis B shot, right? Cause I don't want that. Like I want to make sure you're not going to do that when I sleep. She's like, Oh no, we would never. I'm like, okay, just making sure that you're not going to try to give her any shots while I'm asleep. That was one thing I was nervous about, but they would like try to sneak in. It was also probably my postpartum.
00:20:53
Speaker
anxiety, you know? I was so anxious that I just felt this overall need to protect her every little second, you know? And I didn't want her to have any shots. And so I was just like, don't try to give her a shot when I'm sleeping, but... Yeah, because you're in a foreign environment. So when we were at home,
00:21:14
Speaker
Because we did a home birth. My wife, she was exhausted. It was like a 17 hour labor and all that stuff. It was really pretty damn traumatic on her. But at least after her daughter was born, she went to bed and whatever. And she was with her little baby. There wasn't a need to be vigilant who's around us because
00:21:36
Speaker
It's just our dog. The midwives, the doodlers went home and yeah. That's what I want because it was very annoying with the lights bright. Everyone, so many nurses would keep coming in. This one nurse, I couldn't stand because she was making me feel like I needed to start giving her formula. And yeah, she was starting to, she was, I really did not like her and I couldn't wait for her time to change. You know, they have staff changes, but she would come in and start saying,
00:22:01
Speaker
you might want to consider giving her formula. And I'm like, I just gave birth a few hours ago. What are you talking about? You know, and she came in with like a little pump, like trying to tell me I need to start pumping. And she just was the worst because so many women think that their milk is supposed to come in at day one. And that's not true. Like the baby just needs the colostrum. You know, their stomachs are so small. All they need is a colostrum in the first day or two or whatever. But a lot of women are pushed into giving them formula at the hospital because of these
00:22:31
Speaker
it gets scared, you know, like, oh, my baby's hungry, and I don't have any milk. So I'm gonna give them formula. But so that was really frustrating to me because she like put this fear and like, my milk doesn't come in. But I didn't mean I think ever me but I was happy to go on behavior. Yeah, I was really happy to go home because it just I don't like you know, hospitals, they depress me. It's just the environment.
00:22:54
Speaker
She's not for me. I don't, doesn't, I don't enjoy it. Um, so it was nice finally just being home with her and not having a bunch of strangers like in my face. Yeah. But I mean, it was, yeah, I don't know. I have any big issues or complaints that happened at the hospital. Like besides that, everything was fine for the most part, but I don't want to go back.
00:23:18
Speaker
Oh, I mean, just quick, quick, quick side story. The day before my wife went into labor.
00:23:27
Speaker
they make you go to the hospital to do other bullshit scans and whatever. And it was hot COVID stuff. So everyone had to wear masks, go in and accompany her. So she went in and it's so horrible here in these hospitals. They make you like, they're so rude and they tell you go there, you have to fill out a form. So they made her like walk up and down like to departments to write, fill out forms and
00:23:52
Speaker
She just called me crying. I went back and the whole time I was telling her the day before, we don't need to go to this. We're going, we're doing a home birth. Like these are nonsense. I'm just kind of, you know, none of this matters. These cans are stupid and whatever else. And then at least in hindsight, she went through it and now she understands that it's all of that is worthless. It's just needless bureaucracy, needless procedures just to charge insurance and other stuff.
00:24:21
Speaker
So true. And just like, for instance, I don't know, I'm sure you've heard of this, I heard this from but apparently, they the hospitals make money off of selling the placenta that you leave behind. Yeah. And I and now that I know that I'm so mad that I left mine behind, I wish I would have taken away with me like
00:24:40
Speaker
You know, they apparently can, they sell it off and can make tons of money from it. Yeah. Yeah. That's why, that's why giving blood is really, is another thing that they, a lot of that blood is being sold for experimentation, for pharma companies are buying it. Exactly. I do have regrets of not even, I didn't even look at the placenta after she was born and I regret that. I wish, I didn't even think about it. I wish I would have looked at it. I wish it would have taken it home with me.
00:25:09
Speaker
I know some people are like, what would you have done with it at home? But I've seen that some women or people, they plant it in their garden. Like, you know, there's just, there's beautiful things that you
Daughter's Health Challenges and Christian's Help
00:25:18
Speaker
can do with it. I mean, it held life for so long. I feel kind of guilty that it was just discarded so easily. I made a tincture from the placenta, a piece of placenta.
00:25:27
Speaker
and another tincture from the cord so that you can make homeopathics from that and to be honest I still haven't actually used it but I will probably do that now because at the moment my daughter has some something like a histamine thing like I don't know she's scratching a lot
00:25:45
Speaker
So maybe that's what the doula said, she's into homeopathics. She said, you could dilute it like 200 times, that kind of way. And anytime the she's sick or the mother is sick, you can actually give them that, it actually bolsters there. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to say this, but my wife actually ate the placenta. No, no, they do that here and they can capitalize it.
00:26:10
Speaker
No, she, we chopped it up into like an ice cube tray. Yeah, she was hating it. I had to put like ham on it and honey. She said it tasted gross. Yeah, she was just a bit repulsed by it. But I'm sure those nutrients were very beneficial. Yeah, absolutely. Because she kind of, we were eating a lot of liver.
00:26:33
Speaker
before she got pregnant, then she couldn't stomach liver. I can't either. I tried something about the texture and really makes me want to puke. Like I have such an aversion to it. Patrick and I both tried to make it like he, he's such a good cook. He seasoned it up. Well, it was something about the texture. Just felt like I was chewing a tongue. It just, I got to figure out another way to eat it. Cause it was like really hard to eat. It was like making me sick. Honestly, I'm gonna put it so good for me.
00:26:59
Speaker
just making me nauseous. We work on that. So let's let's fast forward. So we started working together about a year ago, you were having some issues with your daughter's bowel movements, constipation. And I think before that, about I think three or four months before that, before we started working together, you had a trip to the emergency room, I think so, right? Yeah, right. So, yeah, that was really scary. So Harlow, she was about
00:27:30
Speaker
a year and a half or so. And she had gotten really sick. I mean, it just happened so quickly. It was the day of she had a fever. I was monitoring her. She was sleeping a lot. Her fever wasn't even that high. Um, but I went, my mom was here and my mom was with her and I went to the store. The store's like two minutes away. And while I was at the store, my husband calls me and he's freaking out and telling me I need to get home immediately, which is terrifying for me because I'm like, what's going on? So I rush home and
00:28:00
Speaker
So I didn't witness it happen, but she had had a febrile seizure with my mom where she, I guess, you know, the fever spiked really quickly and she just went out and like flailed back and her eyes rolled back. And so we didn't, we didn't know what it was. We didn't know it was a febrile seizure. So we're all freaking out.
00:28:22
Speaker
We literally, I grab her and Patrick drives us to the hospital and I'm sitting in the back with her. I didn't put him in the car seat and I had to hold onto her because I was so terrified. She was breathing, but she was out, like just out. You know what I mean? She was sleeping. It seemed like she was sleeping, but I didn't know that she was sleeping. I just knew she was breathing, but she was like not herself. She's out. And so we get to the hospital and I'm in a panic and I don't know what's going on.
00:28:48
Speaker
And they, you know, rush us into a room and they get her on IV, but she was so out of it that she like didn't respond to getting an IV or having all these people poking at her. And that's just like not like a normal toddler. They would be freaking out and crying. Like she was just out of it. And so it was really terrifying because I had no idea what this was. And of course, all of a sudden the doctor is just asking me how she had all of her vaccinations. And I said,
00:29:18
Speaker
She's had some, I just told her that him that because I have seen parents in parent groups talk about how if you tell in hospital that you don't vaccinate, they can call Child Protective Services on you or they can, it's really scary. And so I was terrified of that. So I told them, yeah, she's had some because I was so scared in the moment. And then my husband comes over and he's like, no, she hasn't had any.
00:29:47
Speaker
You know, so scared because I don't want to have that conversation with them because at this moment, even though I'm very confident in my choice, I was so scared for, for my daughter and what was going on. And I didn't, the last thing I needed was a doctor to scold me about something. I made a decision on from being informed. And so, you know, he grilled into me and was all like, Oh, how could you not do that? You really should have done that. Why didn't you get, give her like acting like I, I was negligent basically. And I just didn't have the energy to get into argument with him about it.
00:30:16
Speaker
But from that moment, the whole time we were there, they just kept bringing up the vaccines as if that's why we were there. If that's why this happened because she hasn't had her vaccines and blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. And I was just about to lose it because every new person would say, oh, I see she hasn't had all of her vaccines. And I'm like, that's not why we're here. Like that has nothing to do with this. You know, it's insane. The way they pester you about it or like berate you about it, really.
00:30:44
Speaker
I mean, we have a religious exemption now so that if we ever go back to the hospital, I can say I have legal paperwork that says she is legally exempt from it. Like don't give me a hard time about this. But anyway, so they confirmed that it was just a febrile seizure. There was nothing other thing that happened really. It was just that her fever spiked too fast. Like she was fine. After a few hours, she was back to normal talking and happy and
00:31:09
Speaker
But I was terrified because I was like, how do I avoid this from ever happening again? Because it's really scary. And I just, I didn't really even know where to begin because I didn't want to start giving her medication for her fever because I know that the body has a fever. It's for a reason. It's to fight an infection. And when you suppress that, like you're not really helping your immune system, you know? So I was torn with that because, you know, I'm sure other parents would say, well, you better start, you know, giving her medication right away.
00:31:40
Speaker
In the long run, like, are you really helping your child with that? You know, so I w so after that happened in December, another one happened in February and I witnessed that one and it was really terrifying. We were at home together and she once again had a fever. I was holding her on the couch and all of a sudden she made this noise and like, like did the thing with her body. And I just looked in her eyes and like, you can just tell when they're like fading out and it's horrifying.
00:32:09
Speaker
And her eyes rolled back and I'm like trying to figure out what to do in this moment, you know? And she like immediately threw up and I like screamed for my husband to come in. And at this point I had read up about febrile seizures, about what to do when it happens. So I was a little bit more prepared. So I, you know, made sure to hold her up and, you know, upright position on her side. And I was just trying to like hold her so she can like flail around and like bite her tongue or hurt her head or anything.
00:32:38
Speaker
It didn't last long. Thankfully it was only, um, maybe like 10 seconds. And then she was just out of it, like sleeping and not so normal. Whenever there's a febrile seizure, they just are so exhausted. They just sleep. And so now that I knew that I had just let her sleep on me and I started giving her, um, like droppers of coconut water, cause I was really worried about her being dehydrated. And so I was just giving her that while she was sleeping. And then literally later that night she was fine. It just totally fine. And so,
00:33:08
Speaker
After that, I was like, I need to find someone to help me. I need, I don't want to experience this anymore. Um, and so I was, you know, trying to do some work research and one day I was listening to you have set up Tim foil podcast, right? And you were on and it was perfect timing. Cause that in that moment I was so stressed out about the situation and I was like, I don't even know where to begin. I don't know who to find to help me, how to help her because number one, she also had the constipation issues too. So it was the febrile seizures.
00:33:38
Speaker
and in a constipation. And so when I heard you on the episode, I was like, this feels like a sign. He knows what he's talking about. This is his forte. But I had no idea that you were taking clients or that you actually help people. I wasn't sure. And so I go to look at your website and I see that you're doing calls. And it just felt like it was meant to be, you know, like it was put in my path. Like this is what I needed. And, um, we had our call and I felt really good about it. And since working with you,
00:34:07
Speaker
You know, those issues have improved, you know, drastically, you know, um, Harlow is doing a lot better with the constipation. You know, we're back on the biocidant like, and that's made a big difference. She's been really, really good about it. Thankfully. And the febrile seizures we haven't had. So, you know, she been, she hasn't been sick too much. She's not too much. You know, we did have a stomach bug, but.
00:34:38
Speaker
that would last only like a few hours or a day for her. Like she was good after that. There was another time that she got sick and had a fever. I took her to the chiropractor as soon as she had a fever and she had adjusted. And it's really amazing cause I took her temperature after she was adjusted and it started going down. Wow. So that's, yeah. So now when she gets a fever, I'll just take her to the chiropractor wide away just immediately. And it really, you that quickly.
00:35:03
Speaker
Yes, seriously. And then it goes down and it doesn't come back and she's fine. Cause cause like, you know, your spine is in control of your nervous system. So if it's adjusted, then it can help, I suppose, regulate the way your body handles his fever. It's amazing. So I feel like now that I have more information on the topic and I have people like you helping me, I can get through it and figure out, okay, what do I need to do to avoid this or, you know, stop it from happening again. Yeah.
00:35:31
Speaker
But it goes to show that as a parent, there's always something that's always something you have to work on with your child as a challenge. But it can be really stressful because you just want your child to be healthy and happy and safe. You want to do all the right things. But sometimes, I think you even said this, you can't
00:35:51
Speaker
control the cards you're given, you just have to deal with them, right? Yeah, exactly. And what I noticed with not with you, but with plenty of clients, the kids get sick a lot at the start when we start working together. And the same with adults, of course, but the we with the kids, we always
00:36:13
Speaker
Well, no, I shouldn't include myself in this because even before I had kids, I was like, that's an excuse. Chocking it up to they're in preschool, they're getting a lot of viruses, this this malarkey. It's it's not that it's really they're not getting any more viruses or any less viruses at any any point in time.
00:36:32
Speaker
It's more their immune system, their gut microbiota, their nutritional status is affecting that. So if all of those things are suboptimal, you're going to be getting sick more often.
00:36:47
Speaker
And in your case, you were already doing so many things, right? So it wasn't really an issue. She wasn't getting sick once every month like a lot of other kids are. But what we notice is once we get those ducks in a row, the diet, maybe some probiotics, some herbals, all that good stuff, the kids get sick less often. And touch wood, my daughter's only been sick
00:37:12
Speaker
maybe five or six times that you could say was more than a sniffle for a day or two. Yeah, I can say the same thing too for us. It hasn't been as much as like my other friends and their children, they get sick a lot more often.
00:37:26
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, I know at times you were a little bit disheartened that you were doing so many things, right? You were having issues with Harlow's constipation and then others, other kids just eat any old crap they want and they don't have any health issues. But when you actually zoom out and you look at
00:37:48
Speaker
not just the previous history, but what will happen in the future. I think the case for clean diet, environment, all that good stuff, there's a good case to be made because like you said yourself, if she's only been sick a handful of times, other kids are getting sick literally once a month. It's a big difference for the parent. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it is easy to get discouraged sometimes if you feel like you're trying
00:38:17
Speaker
So I mean, when you're trying to do so many things and you're like, Oh, I try to, I try to be so like strict and extreme about, you know, being healthy and living a less toxic lifestyle. And so you expect to never have any issues, I guess, when you feel like you're doing so much more than other people and you see other people and they're kind of like, just don't care. And they eat fast food all the time or they just, and so sometimes you compare yourself to that and then you think, well, why am I doing all this? If I'm just going to have problems, but,
00:38:46
Speaker
At the end of the day, everyone has some sort of problem and some are worse than others. Just because I have friends whose kids poop more than Harlow, that doesn't mean that a child doesn't have other issues and health concerns.
00:39:01
Speaker
So it's just... And in your case, we did with that stool test that was showing an actual Frank pathogen, right? So more often than not with the kids,
00:39:17
Speaker
There's not a pathogen that like cryptosporidium, something pretty nasty. It's a number of different things like an overgrowth of certain inflammatory bacteria, maybe some actually, some species of the quote unquote, good bacteria, let's say the commensals, sometimes they're completely missing. So we see that. So there's an imbalance. Some are
00:39:39
Speaker
incredibly overgrown and others are there's very low numbers of so it's quite rare to have an overt pathogen so she could have gotten that from any anywhere just playing in the dirt you just you don't know you don't know so you can't really this is where I try to kind of always give you that perspective so you don't blame yourself for is it something wrong I'm doing because at the end of the day the world we live in
00:40:09
Speaker
Even if
Role of Medication and Health Benefits
00:40:10
Speaker
you do things perfectly, as you know, you continue to use plastics everywhere, be exposed to all kinds of industrial and air pollution. So we can do everything perfectly, but you just don't know at the end of the day, there's a lot of randomness in life, what's going to happen. That's so true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we live in a very toxic world, so only control so much, you know.
00:40:33
Speaker
Yeah. But you're doing the right things and that's all we can do. And I think that gives us a sense of power when you have more control of your life. So I'm proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, you've been a huge help. I've learned so much from you. And when I went into this, I thought that I knew certain things and I realized, okay, I don't really know things that I thought I knew. For example, when I was drinking so much almond milk, I had no idea that it wasn't
00:41:03
Speaker
like optimal. I had no idea. Never heard that before. Right. And when you told me that almonds were hard on the gut, I was just like, wow, this is the first time hearing this, you know, just so many things that I've learned from you that
00:41:17
Speaker
I had no idea. Yeah. And for me, from every client, I learned so much as well because I'm always discovering new things because it's such a unique situation, every family and so on. So in your case, like for me, what was actually particularly interesting and something we could probably discuss as we wrap it up. So your natural, he was a naturopath. So he's an integrative. So he started as an MD and then became integrative.
00:41:47
Speaker
He can still prescribe certain medications, but he tries to do the natural way, like looking for the underlying root cause of an issue. Right. So you were on progesterone and desiccated thyroid throughout the pregnancy. So as you got pregnant. So that's interesting because I really think the given
00:42:12
Speaker
how just want to say this without oversharing given how because just for the listeners, you're still breastfeeding just to come to get that contest. So that is a big burden to continue breastfeeding for multiple years after a child is born. So but in spite of that, and you still work,
00:42:35
Speaker
and you're doing the sort of homemaker thing. So in spite of all of that, your spirit seems to always be high and you seem to be in pretty damn good shape. So I think, what's your take? Do you think the support from the progesterone and the thyroid, do you think that's a big help?
00:42:57
Speaker
I think it definitely, definitely is because before being on those things, I was just so tired all the time where I had zero energy. I mean, I'll get tired now, but it's different before I just felt like I didn't, I don't know. I was just exhausted all the time. And since being on those two things, I do feel like it's kind of kept me calm, but also like
00:43:18
Speaker
I'm able to do more stuff or I don't feel so tired. It definitely has made a difference. And you take the progesterone every single day? Every night. Every night? Yeah, every night before bed. This entire time? Yeah. This entire time and then the thyroid medication in the morning. And there are days if I miss it, like if I'm, I just don't take it and I do feel more sluggish and more, you know, worn out really.
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Because with cycling women, they recommend that most companies recommend just to take it the last two weeks. Yes. And that's what he had me do when I was trying to actively get pregnant. He'd only let me take it at certain points. But now since he said, I'm not trying to get pregnant right now, that it's fine to take it every night. But whenever I am ready to start to have another child, then I need to take it in a certain period of time so that I, yeah.
00:44:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. It's such an amazing thing. It's such a great thing, at least in the USA, that it's over the counter, so a lot of women can just get some. And I rarely, I don't think I've heard too many not positive sort of testimonials of a woman starting progesterone. In some cases, it can kind of
00:44:36
Speaker
mess the period up for a while. It can make it longer or shorter for a while while you figure out the cadence on which to take it. But other than that, generally people feel women feel so much better because it's such an estrogenic environment. Phytoestrogens from plants, xenoestrogens from plastics and toxins. So anything you can do to optimize that ratio with even a little bit is going to be beneficial.
Advice to Mothers on Health Choices
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:06
Speaker
So as we wrap up, Lauren, do you have any words of wisdom for women trying to have maybe their second child or the first child or just had a child? Any words of wisdom or advice you would leave us with? Yeah. One of them would be, I think as a mom, sometimes we let other people get in our head where we kind of second guess ourselves and we doubt ourselves of what we know to be true for our child and what we feel in our gut, right? Because
00:45:37
Speaker
Either it goes against what the mainstream or the norm is, right? If you don't want to do something a certain way that everyone else is doing it, you start to second guessing yourself, you doubt yourself. And I would just say, be confident in the decisions you have for your child. You know your child better than anyone else. You are their mother. It is your job to protect them. And don't let anyone else get in your head. If you feel a certain way in your gut, follow that.
00:46:06
Speaker
doesn't matter what anyone else says about it. You know, just be confident in it. Cause there's a many times I've just been kind of, I'll be timid in the moment and I'll look back and I'm like, what, you know, why am I letting them make me feel this way? Like I know why I feel this way, why I'm doing this with my child. And at the end of the day, like you are responsible for raising your child. So you raise them the way you feel is right. You know? And the other thing I would say is, you know, do the best you can with
00:46:35
Speaker
your health, like investing into your body and into your child. I think sometimes people can just think it doesn't matter. And like that doesn't matter. I didn't, I didn't do it when I was young and I'm fine. Right. That's saying, but to strive for more than fine, you know, every little thing does matter. Like what you can control, you can control the food you keep at your house. You can control how often you go out to eat, what you eat when you go out. Um, just try to make better decisions, um, for the health of yourself and your child.
00:47:04
Speaker
Um, but then don't let it overwhelm you. Cause I've had moments myself where I obsess and, and it's, you can't avoid it all. You can't. And so you just do what you can and live your life. You know, like the 80 20 rule, 80% is clean, 20% not clean, or else you'll go insane because it's never going to be a hundred percent. Unfortunately, this is the way it is. But I think if you.
00:47:31
Speaker
you love your child so much and everything you do is out of love of just trying to be the best person for them and raise the best person, then that's what matters most. Like you just really be intentional about your choices as a mom. I think, you know, like think about every little thing, you know, everything really does matter.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah, we have to rethink a lot of things because we just have been growing up into a world and we just accept, oh, that's the way it's always been done.
Reflections on Conscious Living
00:47:58
Speaker
But unless we step out of that for a minute, have a look, should we really be doing these things on a daily basis? Exactly. And then we realize some of them are actually going to shorten our lives at the end of the day. Absolutely. And that makes you think, like, question everything, like, especially as a mom, as a parent, and
00:48:16
Speaker
when it comes to your child, question everything. Does it matter who it is, where it's from, what it is? Just question everything. Especially certain, let's just call them procedures that have only been around for like 60 years or whatever. Exactly. And look at the ingredients and everything, like everything. If you wouldn't have it in your food, then don't inject it in your body. I don't cook with aluminum foil. I don't put it with my food, so I'm not gonna- You don't season your food with mercury, no?
00:48:46
Speaker
you know like i'm not going to use it to wrap my food up so i personally wouldn't want to inject anything that has aluminum in it you know
00:48:54
Speaker
Yeah. But you're not a scientist, Lauren. No, I'm not. What do I know? What do we know? We should trust the science for the algorithm. Yeah. And we mean that algorithm. We know you're listening. We know you're listening, bro. I think more people are becoming more like us. I think people are waking up and starting to
00:49:19
Speaker
just question things and do things differently, which is comforting. Exactly. Being more conscious, right? Exactly. This is like when I was in my twenties, there was a lot of unconscious decision patterns. So drinking, cigarettes, whatever, whatever it was, bad food. Absolutely. And it's just satisfying immediate needs without consciously thinking, what am I doing to myself, my body and whatever else. So once we become conscious of what we're doing,
00:49:48
Speaker
then we have the power to change it. And then, of course, we have to educate ourselves a little bit. And that's why I love doing these podcasts and informational pieces and books and whatever else. Yeah, and I agree completely. So true. Well, thank you so much for your time, Lauren. Thank you so much for having me. Seriously, it's been an honor. Thank you.