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S2Ep4 -Your Cycle Isn’t Random: Periods, Fertility Windows, & Hormone Disruptors
78 Plays16 days ago
This episode starts the only way it can: a surprise toddler interruption… and a reminder that real life does not pause for podcast recordings.
Then we get into it: the female hormone cycle — simplified, practical, and actually useful. We walk through what “day one” really means, what a healthy period should look like (and what’s a red flag), how to recognize your fertile window without blindly trusting an app, and why you usually feel like your hottest, most productive self around ovulation… followed by the infamous luteal phase crash.
We also cover why cycle education is basically nonexistent, why one-time hormone bloodwork can be misleading, and the most alarming story ever: a 22-year-old who’s taken Plan B 30 times (yes, thirty). Finally, we talk about common hormone disruptors we see all the time — fragrance, plastics, and the sneaky stuff hiding in everyday products.
Next episode, we’ll get into symptom clues and general cycle/fertility support (spoiler: it’s a lot of whole foods… with a couple herbs sprinkled in).
The Fifth Vital Sign book
This is Your Brain on Birth Control book
Cozyla Digital Calendar
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Welcome and Reflection
00:00:51
Felicia Devine
Hello, Natalie.
00:00:52
Natalie Richards
Hi, Felicia.
00:00:53
Felicia Devine
Welcome back to episode four.
00:00:56
Natalie Richards
For season two. I love it
00:00:58
Felicia Devine
Season two. This is our 21st episode. Is that right?
00:01:02
Natalie Richards
Yeah, that sounds right. Mm-hmm.
00:01:04
Felicia Devine
i think we did 17 in our first season. I love saying because it feels like we're like professionals.
00:01:09
Natalie Richards
like a brand new, brand new us.
00:01:10
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:01:14
Natalie Richards
us
00:01:15
Felicia Devine
And episode four, we're like just getting started.
00:01:17
Natalie Richards
Oh man. Oh, and of course. Okay. Just as we start, here comes Jeannie.
00:01:20
Felicia Devine
Oh, hi, Jean.
00:01:21
Natalie Richards
Hi buddy. Do you want to come say hi before we start? You can come say
00:01:27
Felicia Devine
Come say hi.
00:01:29
Natalie Richards
Come here. Come here, love bug. poop and my Oh, you do?
00:01:36
Natalie Richards
Real life.
00:01:37
Felicia Devine
You're live. OK, hi, Jean.
00:01:39
Natalie Richards
Oh, Felicia's saying hi to you, sweetie.
00:01:42
Felicia Devine
Hi.
Potty Training Challenges
00:01:44
Natalie Richards
We can't see your lovely face. You do have a poopy, don't you? Should we take a little pause?
00:01:49
Felicia Devine
Yeah, I'll pass.
00:01:50
Natalie Richards
dangerous All the animals are dangerous. Oh, my gosh.
00:01:55
Felicia Devine
And we're back.
00:01:56
Natalie Richards
And we're back. Sorry about that.
00:01:58
Felicia Devine
you We had little stage delay.
00:02:01
Natalie Richards
Little pause. I know this kid, he will, he'll potty in the potty. He potties in the toilet most of the day.
00:02:07
Felicia Devine
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
00:02:10
Natalie Richards
And the pooping in the in the diaper thing, like he just won't poop in the toilet.
00:02:14
Felicia Devine
Really?
00:02:15
Natalie Richards
Yeah. So it's a very interesting thing.
00:02:15
Felicia Devine
Oh. I think every kid has their own thing.
00:02:19
Natalie Richards
Yeah. So we're working on it. We just started a reward chart, like a star chart, because I got one of those ridiculous calendars that are like those like tablet things that you put on your counter.
00:02:21
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:02:24
Felicia Devine
Oh, what comes with that?
00:02:28
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:02:31
Natalie Richards
And so it like syncs everything with your phone.
00:02:31
Felicia Devine
Oh yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:02:34
Natalie Richards
And it has like a task section so I can make like a star chart.
00:02:37
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:02:39
Natalie Richards
So it's like, what, like if he helps with the chores and cleans up his toys and goes potty in the potty.
00:02:40
Felicia Devine
Oh. Mm-hmm.
00:02:45
Natalie Richards
And if he goes poop in the potty, he gets 10 stars and that's an immediate prize.
00:02:46
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:02:49
Felicia Devine
Whoa.
00:02:53
Natalie Richards
but And he knows that and he goes, okay, oh my gosh, I'm going to, I'm going to poop in the potty.
00:02:54
Felicia Devine
Oh my God. I love the rules.
00:02:58
Natalie Richards
And then it comes to that point and it just, he can't quite get there.
00:02:58
Felicia Devine
Oh my goodness. Yeah.
00:03:05
Felicia Devine
10 stars immediate prize.
00:03:06
Natalie Richards
immediate prize.
00:03:07
Felicia Devine
I'll do anything.
00:03:11
Felicia Devine
That's really funny.
00:03:11
Natalie Richards
but it's But he's been taking to that very well.
00:03:14
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:03:14
Natalie Richards
like Like he will, if I tell him, oh, you're going to get a star taken away. He's like, no no, no, no, no. Okay. You tell me what I need to do.
00:03:20
Felicia Devine
No, no, no.
00:03:22
Natalie Richards
So that's been really cute.
00:03:24
Felicia Devine
Good.
Calendar Apps and Synchronization
00:03:24
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:03:25
Felicia Devine
OK.
00:03:25
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:03:25
Felicia Devine
How do you like your calendar?
00:03:27
Natalie Richards
I like it. I think it's like it has it's not perfect, but I do like it.
00:03:27
Felicia Devine
Yeah. where
00:03:31
Natalie Richards
Kyle actually has been using it and he, i got the, well, there's like a skylight.
00:03:33
Felicia Devine
What's it called again? Starlight?
00:03:36
Natalie Richards
I didn't get that one.
00:03:36
Felicia Devine
Skylight? OK.
00:03:37
Natalie Richards
I got the Kozyla or something. I don't know.
00:03:40
Felicia Devine
OK.
00:03:40
Natalie Richards
It was all over my Instagram.
00:03:40
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:42
Natalie Richards
So I was like, sure, maybe this will make my life a little easier. I've liked it so far.
00:03:46
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:03:47
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:03:47
Felicia Devine
Good.
00:03:47
Natalie Richards
And Kyle can like see everything that's going on and he hated the Apple calendar because I had like invited him to the calendar thing.
00:03:47
Felicia Devine
Good.
00:03:50
Felicia Devine
and
00:03:53
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:03:55
Natalie Richards
You can share whatever.
00:03:56
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:03:57
Natalie Richards
he hated it. So. Yeah.
00:03:59
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Dan and I struggle with the Apple calendar because he has a work Apple calendar and then we have our personal family one and then he's like, oh, I thought I i thought you could see the Green Valley one. And I'm like, we have some scheduling conflicts and it's just so we need to figure out a new calendar situation.
00:04:08
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:04:11
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah. So I have liked this and you can like, you can input from Google calendars and Apple calendars and all that stuff.
00:04:15
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:04:19
Felicia Devine
And it sinks.
00:04:20
Natalie Richards
It does. Yeah. For the most part.
00:04:22
Felicia Devine
So if you go to like add an event or something, do you go to an app?
00:04:23
Natalie Richards
boom
00:04:28
Natalie Richards
You, yes, you could either add it into your Apple calendar and it will sync or you can add it or you go to the, to the app or you can do it directly on the little screen.
00:04:31
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Oh, okay.
00:04:37
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:04:38
Felicia Devine
Oh, cool.
00:04:38
Natalie Richards
Yeah. So I really do like it.
00:04:40
Felicia Devine
Oh, yeah.
00:04:40
Natalie Richards
I think I have to learn it a little bit better, but for the most part.
00:04:42
Felicia Devine
Yeah. That might be our next family organization.
00:04:45
Natalie Richards
Yeah. I've like, I've felt good about it.
00:04:47
Felicia Devine
fa Yeah.
00:04:48
Natalie Richards
I've felt good about it since I've gotten it. So I just have to get used to looking at it now and like all the way it looks is different than what I'm used to.
00:04:50
Felicia Devine
Good. here
00:04:55
Felicia Devine
hey
00:04:57
Natalie Richards
So sometimes, and I don't, I don't know how to compare. Like, I don't know if the skylight really would have been better.
00:05:02
Felicia Devine
Oh, right.
00:05:02
Natalie Richards
i don't have a clue. I don't have a clue.
00:05:04
Felicia Devine
I don't either. I don't either.
00:05:05
Natalie Richards
So
00:05:06
Felicia Devine
My brother got his wife the skylight, I think.
00:05:10
Natalie Richards
That one's like the most common one.
00:05:10
Felicia Devine
So I should like fiddle around with that when I'm at their house.
00:05:13
Natalie Richards
See if you like it. See if you like the look of it.
00:05:14
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And ask them.
00:05:15
Natalie Richards
See if you, yeah.
00:05:16
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:05:17
Natalie Richards
Cause there's, I'm sure there's downfalls of both of them, but for the most part, I do like, I do like it.
00:05:20
Felicia Devine
Right. Right. Yeah.
00:05:24
Natalie Richards
so today, now that we've gotten through our little, we're gonna, oh but yeah, tell me, tell me.
00:05:26
Felicia Devine
Now we got some admin out of the way. Oh, wait. Speaking of calendars, Natalie texts me this morning and goes, oh, I'll just be another minute. I'm looking for a hat.
00:05:39
Felicia Devine
And I go, I'm at the grocery store. What do you mean? i said, Natalie, I have my calendar says next Sunday. She goes, well, I'm in Banff next Sunday. So my calendar says this Sunday.
00:05:55
Felicia Devine
So we need to sing calendars, Natalie.
00:05:55
Natalie Richards
Oh my. We do actually.
00:05:59
Felicia Devine
Yeah, I remember you telling me that. And I don't know why i clicked the wrong Sunday. But yeah.
00:06:04
Natalie Richards
Because that's what it would have been. we would have been next Sunday for sure.
00:06:08
Felicia Devine
Yeah. So I was like, let me just lock in and and get my morning done. And then Natalie shifted her day around and we were able to squeeze this in.
00:06:19
Natalie Richards
This time works great for me, honestly. Like I don't care.
00:06:21
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:06:22
Natalie Richards
it doesn't matter to me.
00:06:22
Felicia Devine
Okay. Because this is nap time for us. So this is easy for me. And Dan doesn't have to be like...
00:06:26
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:06:28
Felicia Devine
in the calendar for this.
00:06:30
Natalie Richards
Right. And that it's just one less, one less thing to
00:06:30
Felicia Devine
but here
Gator the Dog's Urban Tracking Certification
00:06:34
Natalie Richards
worry about.
00:06:34
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:06:34
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:06:34
Felicia Devine
One less calendar to share.
00:06:36
Natalie Richards
I know.
00:06:36
Felicia Devine
so
00:06:36
Natalie Richards
I told Kyle, I was like, oh, well, I'm, I'm, we like rescheduled the podcast and he well, I'm going dog training. It's fine.
00:06:42
Felicia Devine
It's fine.
00:06:43
Natalie Richards
Go. Bye. See ya.
00:06:44
Felicia Devine
Jean and I will handle it.
00:06:46
Natalie Richards
It's fine.
00:06:47
Felicia Devine
Yeah. I saw Gator got, I love, I bring up Gator every week. I saw Gator got another certification.
00:06:54
Natalie Richards
Yes. it's like I think it was like an urban tracking something.
00:06:55
Felicia Devine
what a tell me.
00:06:59
Natalie Richards
So like tracking on pavement, which is much harder than like tracking on soft ground where you can see the footprints and you can see like the rustling because they track.
00:07:00
Felicia Devine
It's so cool. Yeah.
00:07:05
Felicia Devine
Really?
00:07:09
Felicia Devine
And I'm sure the scent sticks better to natural.
00:07:10
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yes. So it's much harder to track in like an urban environment. So that was cool.
00:07:17
Felicia Devine
Urban Gator. oh my gosh, so proud of him.
00:07:20
Natalie Richards
Gator is like, he's really, he's a good dog.
00:07:24
Felicia Devine
Our next podcast cover photo is be us, our kids, and Gator.
00:07:29
Natalie Richards
Gator has to be included.
00:07:31
Felicia Devine
Our mascot. Mascot, you know, Gator.
00:07:33
Natalie Richards
I'll put Gator's face behind me. Also, I'm in a new location today, so we'll see how this works out.
00:07:35
Felicia Devine
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:38
Felicia Devine
Natalie's trying out a new podcast studio.
00:07:41
Natalie Richards
Yeah, the studio. My living room.
00:07:45
Felicia Devine
I saw your setup with your computer on a plastic bin.
00:07:47
Natalie Richards
Oh my God. Yes, a bin. i haven't, it just, the table I had just wasn't quite high enough, but we do what we have to do.
00:07:53
Felicia Devine
Right. It was giving up the nose.
00:07:55
Natalie Richards
Yeah, exactly.
00:07:55
Felicia Devine
So you had to erase your computer. Yeah.
00:07:57
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:07:58
Natalie Richards
So we're
00:07:58
Felicia Devine
Eventually we'll get to the point where we have professional setups, but until that sponsorship comes through.
00:07:59
Natalie Richards
We're getting there. Yeah. But honestly, who cares? If Kyle was here, I'd have the I'd have the wood stove going in the background.
00:08:08
Felicia Devine
oh is he the wood stove guy?
00:08:10
Natalie Richards
Yeah, he's the wood stove guy.
00:08:11
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:08:12
Natalie Richards
I mean, I could probably figure it out, but it would take me an hour.
00:08:12
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:08:16
Natalie Richards
switch.
00:08:17
Felicia Devine
We've an electric fireplace. Yeah.
00:08:19
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:08:20
Felicia Devine
I love it I'm like, oh, I want a fire. oh I'm done with the fire.
00:08:23
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:08:23
Felicia Devine
Like, it's so nice.
00:08:24
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Oh, I love it.
00:08:25
Felicia Devine
And it gets really hot.
00:08:27
Natalie Richards
I love it. And actually our sauna is in here too.
00:08:27
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:08:29
Natalie Richards
So that's nice.
00:08:30
Felicia Devine
Oh, wait, you should podcast from the sauna.
00:08:30
Natalie Richards
This is, that's sitting right next to me from the sauna. I could, you know what?
00:08:35
Felicia Devine
Okay,
00:08:35
Natalie Richards
I could sit right there. Oh, that's a great idea.
00:08:39
Felicia Devine
okay next week. Well, you'll be in Banff next week, but next session.
00:08:40
Natalie Richards
Next week. That's true. It's time.
Understanding the Female Hormone Cycle
00:08:45
Felicia Devine
Okay, so the purpose of today's podcast, Natalie, please explain.
00:08:49
Natalie Richards
Yes, we're going to be talking about the female hormone cycle a little bit.
00:08:54
Felicia Devine
Yes.
00:08:55
Natalie Richards
Not like super in-depth. We know a lot, but we're also not complete experts, okay? Yes.
00:09:03
Felicia Devine
We have so much anecdotal evidence
00:09:05
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:09:06
Felicia Devine
From not only being in our clinics and like that side of the world, but also personally, you and I have both had babies.
00:09:09
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:09:12
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:09:14
Felicia Devine
So we kind of know all the preconception stuff, what normal female cycles look like, what abnormal looks like.
00:09:15
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:09:18
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:09:23
Felicia Devine
So we'll give you our opinions.
00:09:24
Natalie Richards
Yep. And totally, definitely opinions, but also what I have seen to work really, really well with the patients that I've helped along this journey.
00:09:26
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:09:37
Natalie Richards
So there's there tends to be certain things that really work to balance things out without having to get in the weeds of like super detailed stuff.
00:09:37
Felicia Devine
Yep.
00:09:41
Felicia Devine
Right. Right.
00:09:47
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:09:48
Natalie Richards
Like you can go and have a Dutch test done and you can see how all your hormones are are leveling out and doing whatever at a certain time of the month, but you also can look at your symptoms and you can you can figure out with the help of someone, you can you really can figure out what you need to
00:09:50
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:09:54
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:09:58
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:10:03
Natalie Richards
to switch around a little bit.
00:10:04
Felicia Devine
which hormone might be high, which one might be low.
00:10:06
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:10:07
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:10:07
Felicia Devine
Your symptoms are very telling of which hormone is out of whack.
00:10:12
Natalie Richards
Absolutely.
00:10:13
Felicia Devine
So we're just like little detectives.
00:10:13
Natalie Richards
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:10:15
Felicia Devine
That's what I always tell new patients. I'm like, I'm just a little detective and we're going figure out what your problems are.
00:10:18
Natalie Richards
Kind of.
00:10:20
Felicia Devine
And if you ask the right questions,
00:10:20
Natalie Richards
And also, Yes. If you ask the right questions, you can get the right answer.
00:10:24
Felicia Devine
who you can get the right answer.
00:10:27
Natalie Richards
Knowing that but we are not built like a textbook and every single person is different and will respond differently to different things.
00:10:31
Felicia Devine
no
00:10:34
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:10:36
Natalie Richards
So like, it's really easy to say, okay, this is happening and then you do this, but that's not how, that's not what real life is.
00:10:37
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:10:44
Natalie Richards
So yes, I do.
00:10:44
Felicia Devine
You want to hear something crazy? i had a new patient and she's like 22. And she was like, yeah, because I always ask about a cycle. Every new female patient, I always ask about their cycle.
00:10:53
Natalie Richards
and huh
00:10:56
Natalie Richards
Definitely.
00:10:56
Felicia Devine
And I like to hear what they think is normal.
00:10:59
Natalie Richards
Oh yeah.
00:10:59
Felicia Devine
Cause they're like, oh, it's pretty normal. And then they give me this smathering of things.
00:11:01
Natalie Richards
Oh yeah.
00:11:02
Felicia Devine
And I'm like, oof. So she was like, yeah, I went to the OB cause have really heavy periods.
00:11:05
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:11:08
Felicia Devine
And she wanted to put me on a perimenopause medication. She's 22.
00:11:13
Natalie Richards
Good nest.
00:11:14
Felicia Devine
I go, oh, what was the point of that? Well, my periods are really, really heavy.
00:11:18
Natalie Richards
Oh.
00:11:18
Felicia Devine
And I'm like, okay. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, what? I like, don't even know why I asked this, but I was like, have you ever taken plan B? And she was like, yeah.
00:11:27
Natalie Richards
m
00:11:27
Felicia Devine
And I was like, oh, like how many times have you taken plan B? 30 times. 30.
00:11:33
Natalie Richards
Oh no.
00:11:34
Felicia Devine
She's 22.
00:11:35
Natalie Richards
Shut it.
00:11:36
Felicia Devine
thirty
00:11:37
Natalie Richards
No.
00:11:37
Felicia Devine
she's twentytwo
00:11:39
Natalie Richards
makes
00:11:40
Felicia Devine
30. said, did your OB go over that with you? Like, did you guys talk about that? Might be like anything in in the realm of what's going on. She was like, no. So i i was like, did they do any blood work?
00:11:50
Natalie Richards
makes me so sad.
00:11:53
Felicia Devine
She said, no. I was like, that's frightening.
00:11:56
Natalie Richards
Oh no.
00:11:57
Felicia Devine
i was like, this isn't necessarily my scope. Like, I'm not an OB.
00:12:01
Natalie Richards
No.
00:12:01
Felicia Devine
I'm not like, but I was like, you need like testing done to see if something's like severely out of whack.
00:12:08
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:12:09
Felicia Devine
Like that's terrifying.
00:12:10
Natalie Richards
Oh, that's terrifying.
00:12:10
Felicia Devine
And also you need to read the label of why you would use plan B. I don't even think she understood what it does because you can only get pregnant one and a half days of the month.
00:12:18
Natalie Richards
Like what it is and what it actually does.
00:12:25
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:12:26
Felicia Devine
And that's, that's generous.
00:12:28
Natalie Richards
This is just like what is wrong with our society, truthfully.
00:12:31
Felicia Devine
So I'm like, at most, you should take plan B once a month at most.
00:12:35
Natalie Richards
at most.
00:12:39
Felicia Devine
I was just like, oh, that's really concerning. And she didn't seem that, obviously she wasn't that concerned about it, but it was just really crazy.
00:12:43
Natalie Richards
Oh, gosh. Obviously not concerned.
00:12:47
Felicia Devine
So anyway, I digress.
00:12:48
Natalie Richards
Gosh, that makes me sad.
00:12:49
Natalie Richards
No, that's like a really good like a really good synopsis of all the things that are wrong.
00:12:50
Felicia Devine
There's, yeah. yeah What we see.
00:12:57
Natalie Richards
Because A, people don't know a dang thing about their cycle.
00:13:02
Felicia Devine
No.
00:13:02
Natalie Richards
People also don't know how ovulation works.
00:13:06
Felicia Devine
no
00:13:07
Natalie Richards
and i the amount of times I've asked people who are trying to conceive...
00:13:14
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:13:15
Natalie Richards
I've asked them, okay, so like when, you know, like how the cycle works and like on ovulation day, that's when you need like around ovulation day, that's when you need to be focusing more on, on having sex.
00:13:20
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:13:27
Natalie Richards
And they go, what?
00:13:27
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:13:28
Natalie Richards
what
00:13:31
Felicia Devine
Come again?
00:13:32
Natalie Richards
And I can't actually believe that people don't know that, but they don't.
00:13:35
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:13:35
Natalie Richards
And that's totally okay if you don't know that, but you need to like learn about your body because if you are trying to have something happen and you're trying to have a baby or trying to prevent, like you have to know this so you don't have to take plan b every month.
00:13:35
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Right.
00:13:43
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:13:46
Felicia Devine
Or you're trying not to have a baby. Yeah. or Or hormonal birth control.
00:13:52
Natalie Richards
That's so horrible or hormonal birth control. We have to get away from this necessity of relying on this stuff.
00:13:57
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. Because... Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:00
Natalie Richards
Hi, Jean.
00:14:01
Felicia Devine
So if you know you're normal...
00:14:03
Natalie Richards
You need more water? Okay.
00:14:07
Natalie Richards
Mom, I need more water.
00:14:09
Felicia Devine
so no
00:14:10
Natalie Richards
Okay, Jean, I'll get it for you. Hold on.
00:14:12
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:14:13
Natalie Richards
no it's okay.
00:14:13
Felicia Devine
I'll pause it.
00:14:13
Natalie Richards
It's okay. It's okay.
00:14:14
Felicia Devine
Oh, okay.
00:14:15
Natalie Richards
It's all right. I'll get it for him in a second.
00:14:16
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:14:16
Natalie Richards
king
00:14:16
Felicia Devine
So if you know you're normal, then you know when something's off and you know when you're ovulating.
00:14:20
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah. Like this is what should be taught in sex ed in school, but no, it's abstinence, birth control.
00:14:26
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:14:30
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:14:30
Natalie Richards
I don't even know. i don't even know what they teach.
00:14:31
Felicia Devine
I don't even know.
00:14:32
Natalie Richards
Do they teach anything?
00:14:33
Felicia Devine
I don't even know.
00:14:33
Natalie Richards
I have no idea.
00:14:34
Felicia Devine
Not a clue.
00:14:35
Natalie Richards
I have no idea.
00:14:35
Felicia Devine
and I don't even know if it's a thing anymore.
00:14:37
Natalie Richards
I don't know if it is.
00:14:38
Felicia Devine
Because it's probably like a liability and like probably goes against people's like gender identification and stuff.
00:14:40
Natalie Richards
I'm sure.
00:14:44
Natalie Richards
Oh, I cannot. So-
00:14:46
Felicia Devine
So i I wouldn't be surprised if it's not taught.
00:14:50
Natalie Richards
Oh, goodness. And here we are in a society also where there's chemicals and there's toxins and there's all this stuff that these girls, young girls, 13, I mean, nine, i have a patient who multiple that have gotten their periods at nine.
00:14:52
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:14:57
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:15:05
Felicia Devine
Oh, that is scary.
00:15:05
Natalie Richards
That's scary. Yeah. that's scary, scary. That's a lot of responsibility to put on a nine-year-old.
00:15:11
Felicia Devine
Nine year old. Yeah.
00:15:13
Natalie Richards
And I don't think anyone knows how to talk through that.
00:15:18
Felicia Devine
Mm hmm.
00:15:19
Natalie Richards
It's really tough. So teaching these young, young girls how their bodies actually work and maybe we need to do a court, a class.
00:15:20
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:15:25
Felicia Devine
Mm hmm.
00:15:28
Natalie Richards
I don't know.
00:15:29
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:15:30
Felicia Devine
Okay. Let's go through the cycle. Let's go through like day one a typical, because everyone's cycle can be like your normal could be 31 days.
00:15:30
Natalie Richards
Things out there exist.
00:15:33
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:15:36
Natalie Richards
Typical.
00:15:39
Felicia Devine
Your normal could be 28 days.
00:15:40
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:15:41
Felicia Devine
That normal is different from person to person.
00:15:44
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:15:44
Felicia Devine
it should be in that range. But let's talk through like around day one. What does day one mean?
00:15:51
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:15:52
Felicia Devine
Because some people don't even know when day one is.
00:15:55
Natalie Richards
Day one is initiation of your period.
00:15:58
Felicia Devine
of bleeding.
00:15:59
Natalie Richards
Bleeding.
00:15:59
Felicia Devine
Okay. So that resets the clock. So you go backwards in time and you say, okay, day one, and you should document this.
00:16:01
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:16:04
Natalie Richards
Day one. Yes.
00:16:07
Felicia Devine
This should be documented. Some people are like against documenting in the apps because there's like conspiracy that the government is using your like data. And then if you so happen to have a miscarriage, that like, I don't care where you write it down, make an etch on the bark in your favorite tree.
00:16:16
Natalie Richards
Fine.
00:16:20
Natalie Richards
Fine. Just whatever.
00:16:23
Felicia Devine
Like,
00:16:23
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:16:25
Felicia Devine
Whatever you choose to document, whether it be on like a paper calendar or your phone, or I use Oura Ring. And my Oura Ring, I just document like day one.
00:16:39
Natalie Richards
Because it knows. Yeah.
00:16:42
Felicia Devine
But I still like have to verify like day one.
00:16:44
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Oura Ring's great. Natural Cycles is great.
00:16:46
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:16:47
Natalie Richards
There's other tracking apps, but like the ovulation prediction is not going to be correct if you're not taking your temperature along with
00:16:47
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:16:52
Felicia Devine
Correct. Yeah, and that is a lot of responsibility as well.
00:16:55
Natalie Richards
Or tracking something, but we can get into that. That's a lot of responsibility.
00:16:59
Felicia Devine
Basilar temperature is so finicky unless you're wearing a device all the time without failure.
00:16:59
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's very hard.
00:17:06
Felicia Devine
Okay, so day one commences bleed.
00:17:07
Natalie Richards
Okay. So day one bleed. Now we're not talking about pink. We're not talking about brown.
00:17:12
Felicia Devine
if a
00:17:14
Natalie Richards
Those really, that like that's all abnormal.
00:17:15
Felicia Devine
Spotting.
00:17:17
Natalie Richards
So if that's happening to you the first day of your your cycle, something's off.
00:17:17
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:17:20
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Like if you're spotting like here and there and then you get your period, that's not normal.
00:17:22
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:17:25
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:17:25
Natalie Richards
Not normal. Just red flag number one.
00:17:28
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:17:28
Natalie Richards
So day one would be initiation of a pretty decent bleed.
00:17:32
Felicia Devine
And you want it to be not thick, but like heavy volume wise.
00:17:32
Natalie Richards
it Pretty heavy. Pretty heavy. Like volume-wise, you should be needing to use some sort of long, like a super tampon or like a pretty thick pad to...
00:17:43
Felicia Devine
okay And a pad and a diaper.
00:17:45
Natalie Richards
Hopefully not to that extent.
00:17:46
Felicia Devine
I'm just kidding. I'm teasing.
00:17:49
Natalie Richards
But it should be like a pretty good amount of blood.
00:17:51
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:17:52
Natalie Richards
First, second day probably is about the same amount.
00:17:54
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:17:55
Natalie Richards
Third day typically trails off a little, but it's still bright red, no clumps.
00:17:57
Felicia Devine
Lightens up.
00:18:00
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:18:01
Natalie Richards
And we talked about this last time a little bit, but...
00:18:02
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:03
Natalie Richards
Not clumpy, not stringy, not dark brown bits.
00:18:08
Felicia Devine
Not clotty. Mm-hmm.
00:18:09
Natalie Richards
Pure, bright red blood. That's normal. That's your uterus shedding its lining appropriately.
00:18:14
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:18:17
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:18:18
Natalie Richards
it's contracting appropriately.
00:18:20
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:18:20
Natalie Richards
all of it.
00:18:22
Felicia Devine
So what had happened what had happened leading up to day one was that your uterus was building up a blood lining inside of it.
00:18:22
Natalie Richards
Fourth day, Yes.
00:18:29
Felicia Devine
So it was building up this like little cocoon in order to nourish a growing fetus.
00:18:29
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:18:35
Felicia Devine
And when it decides, oh, there is nothing there to nourish, that's when you're shedding. So the first day is that that that shedding of that lining that was building up throughout your period the last cycle.
00:18:48
Felicia Devine
So that shedding occurs because your uterus is contracting. You have no hormone spike that creates that like, oh, I'm pregnant vibe.
00:18:57
Natalie Richards
Correct.
00:18:57
Natalie Richards
You have a drastic decrease. of hormones, which then allows everything to go.
00:19:00
Felicia Devine
who Yeah.
00:19:03
Natalie Richards
So like, yeah.
00:19:03
Felicia Devine
To shed. Mm-hmm.
00:19:05
Natalie Richards
So fourth day, probably still reddish, maybe starting to brown up a little bit.
00:19:08
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:19:11
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:19:12
Natalie Richards
Definitely lighter. Day five, if you get there, definitely like brownish trailing off.
00:19:18
Felicia Devine
If you're a day fiver. no.
00:19:21
Natalie Richards
Honestly, in my opinion, you shouldn't really get to day six and seven, truthfully. Like it should really be five But that, of course, can can vary a little.
00:19:33
Natalie Richards
But if you're okay okay if you're going like like still real bleed day six and seven, there's also an issue.
00:19:33
Felicia Devine
I have a story to to add in when you're done with this thought.
00:19:41
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:19:43
Natalie Richards
There's also an issue. Okay.
00:19:44
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:19:44
Natalie Richards
What's your story?
00:19:45
Felicia Devine
So i think it was like a month or two ago. i was like, oh, Danny, I need tampons. And he was like, okay, I'll go get like dance my man.
00:19:51
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:19:52
Felicia Devine
All right. If it's midnight and I'm like, Danny, I need chocolate.
00:19:53
Natalie Richards
Yeah. He's doing it.
00:19:55
Felicia Devine
He'll be like, where, tell me where. So he goes out and I was like, yeah, get me like, what did I say? I don't even know what I said. I said, get me like a couple months worth or some, I said something super vague, but like get a lot.
00:20:10
Felicia Devine
Okay. So he comes back with one box. And I'm like, one box. I was like, did they run out? Are they sold out? He goes, no, the box said three months supply.
00:20:22
Felicia Devine
I'm like, three months supply? I'm like, this little tiny box. And I'm looking at it. And I do the math. I'm like, three months supply would mean I'm wearing like two tampons a day.
00:20:33
Felicia Devine
I'm like, who? I'm like, this doesn't make sense.
00:20:36
Natalie Richards
Well, I mean, i will change mine every time I go to the bathroom.
00:20:40
Felicia Devine
Oh, same.
00:20:41
Natalie Richards
So like if you're only going to the bathroom two times a day.
00:20:41
Felicia Devine
i I know. I was like also toxic shock. I was like, what is going on?
00:20:45
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:20:47
Felicia Devine
I was so very confused.
00:20:47
Natalie Richards
Oh, how interesting.
00:20:48
Felicia Devine
I was like, this doesn't make any sense. So he thought in his head, he bought me three months supply.
00:20:52
Natalie Richards
That's so oh funny. I will say I stop putting one in usually like by the third day.
00:20:55
Felicia Devine
I changed mine. Yeah.
00:20:58
Natalie Richards
I'm like, I'm just going to kind of let things roll.
00:21:00
Felicia Devine
Yeah. But I was just like, wait a minute.
00:21:02
Natalie Richards
Oh my gosh.
00:21:04
Felicia Devine
That's crazy because i And I will say I do change mine more than probably necessary.
00:21:05
Natalie Richards
That's funny.
00:21:09
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:21:09
Felicia Devine
But I just am like, I don't know.
00:21:10
Natalie Richards
I don't think that's a problem. I don't think that's a problem at all.
00:21:12
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:15
Felicia Devine
Okay. So.
00:21:16
Natalie Richards
Oh, you've used to use a cup though, didn't you? Like a diva cup?
00:21:19
Felicia Devine
No, I tried.
00:21:20
Natalie Richards
Oh, yeah.
00:21:20
Felicia Devine
I hated it It was so painful.
00:21:20
Natalie Richards
We try. I can't. like It's one of my mental blocks.
00:21:23
Felicia Devine
But now that I've been in pelvic floor for two years, I realized it was because my pelvic floor was as tight as like the Alcatraz security system.
00:21:24
Natalie Richards
I can't do it.
00:21:29
Natalie Richards
That makes sense.
00:21:33
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:21:33
Felicia Devine
All right.
00:21:34
Natalie Richards
That makes sense.
00:21:34
Felicia Devine
There was nothing that was staying up there.
00:21:35
Natalie Richards
That makes sense. That makes sense.
00:21:37
Felicia Devine
who a
00:21:39
Natalie Richards
So true.
00:21:39
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:21:40
Natalie Richards
Should have been red flag.
00:21:40
Felicia Devine
I could, yeah red flag number one, going to tear in half during labor.
00:21:45
Natalie Richards
Oh no.
00:21:46
Felicia Devine
I couldn't wear a cup. But now that I've been in pelvic floor therapy, my my life has changed.
00:21:51
Natalie Richards
Amazing.
00:21:52
Felicia Devine
you
00:21:52
Natalie Richards
I love that. Finding a good pelvic floor therapist is very important.
00:21:53
Felicia Devine
So, yeah, it is. So maybe I should try a cup again.
00:21:59
Natalie Richards
Maybe i'd be
00:22:00
Felicia Devine
But honestly, like, how do you change a cup in public?
00:22:02
Natalie Richards
It stresses me out. It stresses me out. I can't – like those are the things that I don't want to have to deal with.
00:22:04
Felicia Devine
So scary.
00:22:06
Natalie Richards
So I'm like I'll just wear a tampon.
00:22:07
Felicia Devine
Yeah. I love it for the girlies that love it.
00:22:09
Natalie Richards
I don't know. I do too. Good for you.
00:22:12
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:13
Felicia Devine
Okay. So you're done bleeding. okay
00:22:14
Natalie Richards
So then we get – yeah, so done bleeding around ideally day five.
00:22:20
Natalie Richards
You then have probably about 10 more days that, okay, you have about five days after you stop bleeding to when you become potentially fertile.
00:22:32
Felicia Devine
Potentially.
00:22:32
Natalie Richards
Potentially. Around day 10, then you would start to think like, maybe I should start being a little more cautious.
00:22:34
Felicia Devine
You have a window. okay
00:22:40
Felicia Devine
Cautious. Yeah.
00:22:41
Natalie Richards
Now, where I'm not even going to give a TMI disclosure because nothing is TMI, okay?
00:22:47
Felicia Devine
We're this far.
00:22:49
Natalie Richards
so You can turn it off, okay?
00:22:50
Felicia Devine
We've made it far. This is not for the the young years anyway.
00:22:53
Natalie Richards
So if you also know how to track your cervical mucus or your other bodily symptoms, around day 10, you're also going to notice a shift in the consistency
00:22:57
Felicia Devine
okay
00:23:01
Felicia Devine
okay
00:23:05
Natalie Richards
of
00:23:05
Felicia Devine
And volume. Mm-hmm.
00:23:06
Natalie Richards
of your discharge and mucus. Yes. And volume. So it's going to change from like real, from thick or not much of anything to, it's going to start to produce a little bit more and it's going to be a little thinner, not quite the egg white yet, but like day 10, it's going to start to shift.
00:23:14
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:23:21
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:23:23
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:23:24
Natalie Richards
this is all taught in like the fertility, fertility awareness method, the rhythm method,
00:23:29
Felicia Devine
Okay. I think my friend, i think the Catholics.
00:23:32
Natalie Richards
natural family planning, like if you're Catholic, like all kinds.
00:23:35
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:23:36
Natalie Richards
Oh, it that's how it begins.
00:23:37
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:23:39
Natalie Richards
That's how it started.
00:23:39
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:23:40
Natalie Richards
Well, not, maybe not started, but I remember my mom took me to a, to like a Catholic, a Catholic, like family planning thing when I was definitely maybe 12,
00:23:42
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:23:49
Felicia Devine
Oh, Anita.
00:23:54
Felicia Devine
but you're already going to the club, so.
00:23:55
Natalie Richards
but it was meant, it was meant for like the initiation of, of your period and all of that stuff.
00:23:59
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:24:00
Natalie Richards
So it actually was really helpful. I learned so much from that seminar that honestly everyone should know.
00:24:05
Felicia Devine
yeah Yeah.
00:24:08
Natalie Richards
So I learned about tracking your cervical mucus and I learned about that you can take your basal body temperature and I learned all these other things.
00:24:10
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:24:15
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:24:16
Natalie Richards
And it's so liberating to actually know how this stuff works and that these symptoms you're having are not abnormal.
00:24:18
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:24:24
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:24:25
Natalie Richards
they don't It's not gross.
00:24:26
Felicia Devine
Right.
00:24:26
Natalie Richards
It's not like...
00:24:27
Felicia Devine
Right. You're not like, oh my God, what's happening?
00:24:30
Natalie Richards
Where did I hear this? It was on a podcast. I heard somebody, somebody's patient was trying to get pregnant and she said, yeah, whenever there's mucus, like we don't have sex because I, because it's gross and they're trying to have a baby.
00:24:33
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:24:48
Natalie Richards
And it's like, no, no, no. No, no. that's That's how you know.
00:24:53
Felicia Devine
That's how you make a baby.
00:24:54
Natalie Richards
That's how you make a baby. So like they were only having sex when there wasn't mucus. And it's just like, it's so sad to me.
00:25:03
Felicia Devine
It's so sad.
00:25:04
Natalie Richards
It's so sad.
00:25:04
Felicia Devine
It's so sad. i know.
00:25:06
Natalie Richards
There's such a gap in education. So we've got to figure that out. So if you have a young girl who is potentially going to be starting her cycle or has started her cycle and they they really need to know about their bodies, it's really, really important.
00:25:21
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:23
Natalie Richards
Okay. So I digress. Okay.
00:25:25
Felicia Devine
So this is when like you're getting a surge in some of those like hormones that help with like starting the egg to release from the ovary and move through the fallopian.
00:25:35
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:25:36
Felicia Devine
So this is like a big hormonal shift.
00:25:37
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:25:39
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:25:39
Natalie Richards
Big hormonal shift at that, like day 10, 12-ish.
00:25:41
Felicia Devine
<unk> there
00:25:44
Natalie Richards
Then,
00:25:44
Felicia Devine
you can track these things by peeing on a stick that tracks luteinizing hormone.
00:25:47
Natalie Richards
Yeah, exactly.
00:25:49
Felicia Devine
And that will show your like peak in moving towards ovulation because luteinizing hormone doesn't necessarily mean you ovulated, but it can give you indications that you're making your progress to that direction or coming off of it.
00:25:52
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:25:56
Natalie Richards
Right. Yep.
00:26:02
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:26:03
Felicia Devine
So, yeah.
00:26:04
Natalie Richards
Yep, exactly. So then like, let's just say for ease, day 15 is typically ovulation day.
00:26:06
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:26:14
Natalie Richards
Your cervical mucus leading up to that day is going to be like maybe two days of stringy egg white clear.
00:26:22
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:26:23
Natalie Richards
That would be considered fertile mucus.
00:26:26
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:26:26
Natalie Richards
Now,
00:26:26
Felicia Devine
Yeah. It's like a slip and slide for little spermies.
00:26:29
Natalie Richards
they' It's a slip and slide. so
00:26:32
Felicia Devine
It's what helps get them to your cervix.
00:26:34
Natalie Richards
it allows the sperm to travel through the cervix to get to the place that they need to be.
00:26:37
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. So it's very useful.
00:26:39
Natalie Richards
Before that, the cervical mucus actually will prevent sperm from getting up into the cervix.
00:26:45
Felicia Devine
Because it's so thick.
00:26:45
Natalie Richards
That's just how it is.
00:26:45
Felicia Devine
It's like slime.
00:26:46
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:26:47
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:26:47
Natalie Richards
And it actually has properties in it that will kill sperm potentially on contact.
00:26:51
Felicia Devine
The pH.
00:26:52
Natalie Richards
Okay. So there's so many so many ways that you – if your cycle is regular, but think of course, like there's nuances.
00:26:59
Felicia Devine
There's nuances.
00:27:02
Natalie Richards
So like if your cycle is not regular, your hormones are all over the place from being on birth control for a long time or taking plan B or whatever it may be.
00:27:08
Felicia Devine
hey
00:27:12
Felicia Devine
Hormone disruptors.
00:27:12
Natalie Richards
hormone disruptors, whatever, you're going to have you're going to potentially not fall in this in this realm.
00:27:20
Felicia Devine
Right. We are describing a very normal and predictable 28 to 31 days.
00:27:21
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:27:25
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:27:27
Natalie Richards
This is what you should strive for though, because this means peak female health.
00:27:27
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:27:29
Felicia Devine
yeah yeah
00:27:32
Natalie Richards
To have a normal cycle the way we're describing it is pe corps peak human female health.
00:27:35
Felicia Devine
yeah yeah
00:27:39
Felicia Devine
Now, between days 10 and 15, you're going to feel hot. You're going to feel skinny. You're going to glow.
00:27:44
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:27:45
Felicia Devine
You're going to be your best self.
00:27:45
Natalie Richards
Oh, yeah.
00:27:46
Felicia Devine
You're going to have the most energy. You're going to be your funniest. You are going to have, you're going your hot girl self.
00:27:49
Natalie Richards
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:27:52
Felicia Devine
And the reason being is because your hormones are like priming you for making a baby.
00:27:53
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:27:58
Felicia Devine
So you're attracting the male aura to you.
00:27:59
Natalie Richards
ready. Yes. The pheromones are going crazy.
00:28:03
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Like you're going to feel your best self. So this is when you want to plan things like projects to get done, creative things you want to accomplish, things you want to launch, photo shoots, anything that you want to do.
00:28:11
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:28:15
Natalie Richards
Anything you want to take a picture of yourself.
00:28:16
Felicia Devine
like Anything you want accomplish in an entire month, you're going to do in five days. Okay. And then other times of the month, you're out of commission.
00:28:22
Natalie Richards
m
00:28:25
Natalie Richards
You're not going to feel like you want to do anything.
00:28:26
Felicia Devine
You're not.
00:28:26
Natalie Richards
And that's okay.
00:28:27
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:28:27
Natalie Richards
This is normal.
00:28:27
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:28:28
Natalie Richards
This is normal.
00:28:29
Felicia Devine
It's a normal. I also tell my families that are like trying to conceive and having trouble. I'm like, don't look at the people that have these one night stands and have babies.
00:28:37
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:28:37
Felicia Devine
The reason that a lot of people have these one night stands and have babies is because they're going out and they're feeling good. And it's the time that they're feeling their hottest self. And then they accidentally got pregnant.
00:28:44
Natalie Richards
Yeah. And they attract, they attract some male.
00:28:46
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:48
Natalie Richards
it This is kind of how it works.
00:28:48
Felicia Devine
so So it's kind of how it works. But don't base your journey off of people who are like accidentally getting pregnant.
00:28:56
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:28:57
Felicia Devine
Like the accidental isn't that accidental. It's people that weren't paying attention to their cycle.
00:28:59
Natalie Richards
No.
00:29:03
Natalie Richards
Yep. And biology got the best of them.
00:29:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:29:05
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:29:07
Felicia Devine
And selective.
00:29:07
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:29:08
Felicia Devine
what's Wait, what's the Darwinism? Natural selection.
00:29:12
Natalie Richards
Natural selection.
00:29:13
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:29:14
Natalie Richards
Well, there are certain things where like certain pheromones will attract a certain type of person and.
00:29:15
Felicia Devine
this
00:29:18
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. Wait, did you hear about how if you're on birth control, your hormone attraction is different?
00:29:23
Natalie Richards
hmm.
00:29:26
Natalie Richards
Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.
00:29:28
Felicia Devine
oh Oh, wow.
00:29:28
Natalie Richards
It's wild. Your brain works differently.
00:29:30
Felicia Devine
Scary stuff.
00:29:32
Natalie Richards
Your pheromone scent is different. so you're going to attract potentially like a less a less masculine man.
00:29:35
Felicia Devine
You're attracted to different Manly.
00:29:40
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:29:40
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:29:41
Natalie Richards
I know.
00:29:42
Felicia Devine
Scary.
00:29:43
Natalie Richards
It's very interesting.
00:29:44
Felicia Devine
Scary.
00:29:45
Natalie Richards
Oh, there's so many ways people can dive into this stuff. What's the book? Sarah Hill? Is that her name?
00:29:51
Felicia Devine
I don't know.
00:29:51
Natalie Richards
This is Your Brain on Birth Control, I think is what the book It's great.
00:29:53
Felicia Devine
Oh, I haven't read that.
00:29:54
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:29:54
Felicia Devine
Oh, okay. Okay.
00:29:56
Natalie Richards
i'm pretty Sarah Hill, I'm pretty sure is is her name.
00:29:59
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:29:59
Natalie Richards
Dr. Sarah Hill? I don't remember.
00:30:02
Felicia Devine
Yeah, throw a doctor in front of her.
00:30:03
Natalie Richards
Sure.
00:30:03
Felicia Devine
She sounds smart.
00:30:04
Natalie Richards
She's well read.
00:30:07
Felicia Devine
Anyone who writes a book deserves to be a doctor. Yeah.
00:30:10
Natalie Richards
So she like has researched like the actual brain changes that happen with birth control.
00:30:14
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
00:30:17
Natalie Richards
Plan B is a whole other thing, by the way.
00:30:17
Felicia Devine
Okay. Yeah.
00:30:19
Natalie Richards
It's like birth control on steroids.
00:30:22
Felicia Devine
Yeah, it's like a mega dose.
00:30:24
Natalie Richards
It's a mega dose of like a lot of hormones that you do not want in your system if you can avoid it.
00:30:28
Felicia Devine
No. Yeah.
00:30:30
Natalie Richards
Really like bad news, like potential like years of years of damage after even just one time of using it.
00:30:30
Felicia Devine
and Yeah. Yeah. Damage. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:30:39
Natalie Richards
So like it's, it's bad news.
00:30:39
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:30:41
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:30:41
Felicia Devine
That definitely should be plan B.
00:30:41
Natalie Richards
So we're on day 15. Anything else we need to say about ovulation?
00:30:46
Felicia Devine
I'm sorry about my throat, you guys. I'm still recovering from this head cold.
00:30:50
Felicia Devine
So you can turn me down if you need to. no, I just think like those signs and symptoms, your mood, your behavior, your look, your, activity level, your creativeness, like all of those things peak at that like 10 to 15 day range. And so being cognizant of that and like planning your week around that, planning your life around that, that is,
00:31:13
Natalie Richards
It can be very helpful.
00:31:13
Felicia Devine
That's a biohack. Like if you're not hacking your hormones for your productivity, for your work life, for like those things, then you're kind of missing out.
00:31:15
Natalie Richards
That's when you'd be, again
00:31:19
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:31:23
Natalie Richards
Yeah. That's when you'd be ready to let do like a pretty heavy workout. You can tolerate those things.
00:31:27
Felicia Devine
Yeah. <unk>
00:31:28
Natalie Richards
Like you can you can do more. Your capacity is more around that time.
00:31:31
Felicia Devine
Yeah. yeah Yeah.
00:31:34
Natalie Richards
So then we're getting into the luteal phase, which everyone throws around that term, luteal phase.
00:31:35
Felicia Devine
Okay. Yeah. Oh, my worst nightmare.
00:31:42
Natalie Richards
Does anybody know what they're talking about?
00:31:43
Felicia Devine
Yeah. No, but I tell you, I start to second guess myself.
00:31:50
Natalie Richards
Things happen. Things happen.
00:31:51
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:31:51
Natalie Richards
You feel like you're not as capable of doing workouts.
00:31:53
Felicia Devine
No.
00:31:54
Natalie Richards
You're not as capable of function.
00:31:57
Felicia Devine
No.
00:31:58
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:31:58
Felicia Devine
I started to get those intrusive thoughts ramping up again.
00:32:00
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:32:01
Felicia Devine
i start to question whether or not things around the house are getting done.
00:32:05
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:32:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:32:06
Natalie Richards
But this is also time to like nourish yourself because you're starting to really like build up that blood lining in your uterus.
00:32:07
Felicia Devine
yeah Yeah. Slow down.
00:32:16
Natalie Richards
So like you really need those nourishing iron rich foods to prepare you for then.
00:32:16
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:32:22
Natalie Richards
the bleed.
00:32:22
Felicia Devine
And resting.
00:32:22
Natalie Richards
You don't, yeah, absolutely.
00:32:23
Felicia Devine
here
00:32:24
Natalie Richards
Rest.
00:32:25
Felicia Devine
is he
00:32:26
Natalie Richards
There's a lot of things happening in your hormones that are telling you to calm it down because this also could be the time when your body is either deciding whether it's going to implant that egg if you're trying to be pregnant or it's not.
00:32:31
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:34
Felicia Devine
That your. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. The nitrogen spark.
00:32:42
Natalie Richards
Yes. So it it it you could potentially have that spark and your body says, oh, too stressed.
00:32:43
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:32:47
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:32:49
Felicia Devine
Too stressed, not nourished enough, not getting enough sleep, too fatigued, to not enough blood.
00:32:51
Natalie Richards
stressed, not nourished enough. We're not doing this this month. Yeah, exactly.
00:32:58
Felicia Devine
There's so many things that can go.
00:32:58
Natalie Richards
So many things.
00:33:00
Felicia Devine
So your your pregnancy is dependent also on how well you nourish and keep your body post-ovulation. It's not just like, oh, we ovulated and we like fertilized, quote unquote.
00:33:08
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:33:13
Felicia Devine
If that egg doesn't implant,
00:33:13
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:33:15
Felicia Devine
If that implant's in a bad spot because your uterine lining is all wonky, if you don't have enough of a lining, like all those things can determine whether or not the pregnancy is viable.
00:33:17
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:33:24
Felicia Devine
So it's not just like, oh, we got to ovulation day.
00:33:24
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:33:28
Felicia Devine
It's what happens after that.
00:33:30
Natalie Richards
Yep. Very important.
00:33:31
Felicia Devine
So, yep.
00:33:33
Natalie Richards
So
00:33:36
Natalie Richards
yeah I think that's all. That's the main things that I wanted to say about the luteal phase.
00:33:38
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:40
Natalie Richards
It's kind of like, it is what it is.
00:33:40
Felicia Devine
But you'll feel, you'll usually feel just like not the the peak version of yourself.
00:33:41
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:33:45
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yep.
00:33:46
Felicia Devine
Hormonally, like you're shifting and you're, you're just not your hot self anymore.
00:33:48
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:33:51
Natalie Richards
Now this phase is typically the same length for everyone-ish.
00:33:55
Felicia Devine
okay Okay.
00:33:58
Natalie Richards
I say for everyone, that's general, but to typically, even if you have a super long cycle, your luteal phase is usually about the same length.
00:34:00
Felicia Devine
Normal.
00:34:06
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:34:09
Natalie Richards
The problems will arise.
00:34:10
Felicia Devine
How many days is that? is that Is
00:34:12
Natalie Richards
It would be about 12 days.
00:34:18
Felicia Devine
that 10? 12. Okay.
00:34:18
Natalie Richards
Yeah, to maybe is is normal
00:34:19
Felicia Devine
Man, I get stuck in that luteal phase and I'm like, it's never ending.
00:34:25
Natalie Richards
I know. And sometimes, well, sometimes it can like your hormones or your stress level can extend it like a couple days potentially.
00:34:30
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:34:32
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:34:34
Natalie Richards
But typically if you have a really long or a short cycle, the issue is actually in the beginning phase of the cycle.
00:34:37
Felicia Devine
who
00:34:40
Natalie Richards
So like in your in your follicular phase.
00:34:40
Felicia Devine
and
00:34:44
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:34:46
Natalie Richards
So your lining is building up.
00:34:49
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:34:49
Natalie Richards
if it If your body realizes that there's not an implanted egg, it will then slough
00:34:53
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:34:54
Natalie Richards
the hormone shifts happen and it sloughs off that blood. Like we said, day one, typically if you have a normal cycle, you're somewhere between, i would say 27.
00:34:58
Felicia Devine
At day one. Mm-hmm.
00:35:06
Natalie Richards
If you're getting to 26 days, that's like, that's just a little too low.
00:35:07
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:35:10
Felicia Devine
pushing it.
00:35:11
Natalie Richards
I think 27, 28, 29, 30, maybe 31.
00:35:12
Felicia Devine
oh
00:35:12
Natalie Richards
still considering
00:35:16
Natalie Richards
thirty one i'm still considering normal
00:35:19
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:35:20
Natalie Richards
I actually think if you get past 32, I think there's a sign something's a little off.
00:35:25
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:35:26
Natalie Richards
That's just me.
00:35:26
Felicia Devine
Something's too long.
00:35:27
Natalie Richards
Something's happening. Maybe not drastically, but something is happening.
00:35:28
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:35:31
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:35:31
Natalie Richards
So typically longer cycles, like full length cycles, we're not talking about just the bleed. If you have like a 36, like 34 to, I don't know, people have 40, 50 day cycles sometimes.
00:35:44
Felicia Devine
Some people miss a period and they're like, oh yeah, I haven't had a period in two months.
00:35:45
Natalie Richards
Some people completely will miss one. mate and
00:35:49
Felicia Devine
I'm like, what?
00:35:49
Natalie Richards
And sometimes it's just like, okay, your body didn't feel safe to ovulate that month. I don't know.
00:35:53
Felicia Devine
That's true. Yeah.
00:35:54
Natalie Richards
Sometimes if you're super stressed, if you have a ton going on, whatever, stress will affect that beginning phase of the cycle for sure.
00:35:55
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:35:57
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:36:01
Felicia Devine
here
00:36:02
Natalie Richards
Sickness will affect that beginning phase of the cycle. So like if you're sick during your follicular or around ovulation, your body will definitely push ovulation a few days.
00:36:05
Felicia Devine
no
00:36:11
Felicia Devine
Yeah. yeah
00:36:13
Natalie Richards
Let's see. Oh, longer cycles will typically indicate some sort of testosterone imbalance, some sort of blood sugar imbalance, some sort of like PCOS situation, insulin resistance, all of that stuff.
00:36:23
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:36:26
Felicia Devine
Insulin resistance. Mm-hmm.
00:36:28
Natalie Richards
So typically, that sometimes it's just that you need more hormones of some of some sort or cortisol.
00:36:29
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:36:36
Natalie Richards
Cortisol is off.
00:36:37
Felicia Devine
Now, so many people get these diagnoses of, oh, i have PCOS.
00:36:37
Natalie Richards
That can be the case.
00:36:43
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:36:43
Felicia Devine
And it's it's one of those diagnoses kind of like fibromyalgia where it's like they're just kind of giving it out because they don't know what's wrong with you.
00:36:47
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:36:50
Natalie Richards
It's a, yeah. it's It's like a grenade diagnosis.
00:36:54
Felicia Devine
It is.
00:36:54
Natalie Richards
It's like, yeah, we'll just say you have this.
00:36:54
Felicia Devine
And it's sad because then I honestly think your mental state around preconception, around conception is so important. And if you go into it thinking, oh, I have these alphabet soup diagnoses and it's going to be harder for me to get pregnant.
00:37:03
Natalie Richards
Oh, yeah.
00:37:13
Felicia Devine
I think mentally it's way more challenging and your body's going to take that stress and turn it into abnormal cycles.
00:37:13
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:37:20
Natalie Richards
Totally.
00:37:21
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:37:21
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:37:22
Felicia Devine
And I think it's a disservice to women to just say, you have PCOS, be on your way. When, how do we rebalance our hormones?
00:37:26
Natalie Richards
Definitely.
00:37:29
Felicia Devine
How do we remove disruptors?
00:37:29
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:37:31
Felicia Devine
Let's go through what some of like the common disruptors are for women.
00:37:31
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:37:35
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:37:35
Felicia Devine
Cause they're different for everyone. But like some really, really common ones that I find like are trendy are scented candles.
00:37:43
Natalie Richards
It's fragrance in general.
00:37:45
Felicia Devine
Get those out of your house.
00:37:47
Natalie Richards
Fragrance, air fresheners, body sprays, lotion.
00:37:47
Felicia Devine
Oh, and those body sprays. Oh my God, the lotion with the fragrance.
00:37:52
Natalie Richards
Oh, it's and it's anything that's going to for sure be touching your skin or that you're breathing in like constantly for a long period of time.
00:37:54
Felicia Devine
I just,
00:37:58
Felicia Devine
long-term. e Yeah, because Natalie and I joke about, we have to somewhat, like at some point, cycle back to your hair journey. But like when I'm washing my hair, i know it's gonna be on my body and my scalp for like 30 seconds max.
00:38:08
Natalie Richards
Oh, my gosh, I know.
00:38:16
Felicia Devine
But if I'm putting Rio de Janeiro body cream all over my body and smothering my skin with it and it's absorbing in and that fragrance is seeping through my cells, that to me is infinitely worse than purple shampoo.
00:38:22
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:38:26
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:38:31
Natalie Richards
One million percent.
00:38:32
Felicia Devine
Now, everybody's everybody's scale is going to be different.
00:38:36
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:38:38
Natalie Richards
if you like If you want to wear perfume, fine.
00:38:40
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:38:41
Natalie Richards
Spray it on your clothes.
00:38:42
Felicia Devine
Spray it on your clothes.
00:38:43
Natalie Richards
Do not put it on your skin.
00:38:44
Felicia Devine
If you have a child, what I have found, i have this one perfume I like. It's like all natural. What I do is I spray it in the air. I turn around and I have it get on the back of my shirt.
00:38:55
Natalie Richards
Sure.
00:38:55
Felicia Devine
You do not want to put anything where you're going to have an a baby, a toddler, a child anywhere near that fragrance.
00:39:02
Natalie Richards
This is like very real, very, very real.
00:39:03
Felicia Devine
Like, yeah.
00:39:05
Natalie Richards
So the first thing first, like if you have any cycle issues, get the fragrances out of your life as much as you can.
00:39:05
Felicia Devine
Like, very. Mm-hmm.
00:39:12
Natalie Richards
It's so hard.
00:39:12
Felicia Devine
car fresheners, car air fresheners, scented candles, Glade plugins, any cleaning products that have scents in them.
00:39:13
Natalie Richards
Car air fresheners, plug in air fresheners. the I could throw up thinking about smelling one of those. Yep.
00:39:23
Felicia Devine
Oh, there's so many, Natalie.
00:39:24
Natalie Richards
Those are major. Those are the major ones.
00:39:26
Felicia Devine
Detergent.
00:39:27
Natalie Richards
Riturgeon's big because that's on your clothes all day.
00:39:28
Felicia Devine
If you're using a smelly detergent, oh, I can't even believe those are like literally allowed to be sold in America, but I'm not surprised.
00:39:32
Natalie Richards
Scent beads, dryer sheets. well
00:39:38
Natalie Richards
I know. I know.
00:39:40
Natalie Richards
So these are like, that's number one. That's number one.
00:39:41
Felicia Devine
so those are like, and that's what we, we talk about hormone disruptors.
00:39:45
Felicia Devine
I think that term is really popular, but no one knows what it actually means.
00:39:47
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:39:48
Felicia Devine
What it's doing is it's disrupting your normal hormonal cascade that allows for a normal cycle.
00:39:49
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:39:53
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Because those molecules are essentially like the same type of molecule as your hormones are.
00:39:59
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:40:00
Natalie Richards
So they bind your receptors and they mimic they mimic what your natural hormones would be doing.
00:40:00
Felicia Devine
It's like mimicry. Yeah.
00:40:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:40:06
Natalie Richards
What else was I just thinking about? Oh, plastics. Plastics are like they're another xenoestrogen that is is a problem, major problem.
00:40:10
Felicia Devine
Oh my gosh. So xenoestrogen is simply, like we just said, like a mimicry thing. So the molecule itself looks very similar to an estrogen molecule.
00:40:23
Felicia Devine
And what your body does is it will bind to the microplastic instead of binding to natural estrogen. And then you'll be like, your body's confused.
00:40:29
Natalie Richards
Right. Yeah.
00:40:33
Felicia Devine
It's confused. Yeah.
00:40:34
Natalie Richards
So this is where like natural products come in and why we are harping on this so much for pretty much everyone.
00:40:36
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:40:39
Felicia Devine
why We are neurotic. and
00:40:41
Natalie Richards
But this is also causing issues in guys. So testosterone levels are going down.
00:40:44
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Right.
00:40:46
Natalie Richards
Sperm counts are going down drastically.
00:40:48
Felicia Devine
Spermotility. Yeah.
00:40:50
Natalie Richards
Very scary.
00:40:50
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:40:51
Natalie Richards
So like we need to we need to do stuff about this.
00:40:51
Felicia Devine
yeah So it's not just about the girlies, but the girlies typically are leading the change in the household for those kinds of products.
00:40:54
Natalie Richards
No.
00:40:59
Natalie Richards
Yeah. You know, an amazing book, Real Food for Fertility is so good.
00:41:02
Felicia Devine
What?
00:41:04
Felicia Devine
Ooh.
00:41:05
Natalie Richards
Now, Real Food for Pregnancy is a really popular book.
00:41:08
Felicia Devine
Oh, yeah. I've read that one.
00:41:08
Natalie Richards
It's the same same author plus plus the other author who wrote, shoot,
00:41:09
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:17
Natalie Richards
your fifth vital sign, the that all those books about your cycle.
00:41:19
Felicia Devine
Oh.
00:41:21
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:41:21
Natalie Richards
So it's both of them together and they created this book.
00:41:23
Felicia Devine
yeah
00:41:24
Natalie Richards
It's thick, like it's a thick book.
00:41:25
Felicia Devine
oh
00:41:26
Natalie Richards
But if you or your partner or whatever, anybody's curious about like fertility, dietary stuff, they talk about all the ins and outs of how the cycle is supposed to look.
00:41:29
Felicia Devine
you
00:41:38
Natalie Richards
It's an incredible, incredible book.
00:41:40
Felicia Devine
who
00:41:40
Natalie Richards
That's like all you need to know really.
00:41:43
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:41:43
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:41:43
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Well, and it takes about three months for an egg to – like when we're talking about preconception health and like normal cycles, like you want to focus three months in advance. Yeah.
00:41:56
Natalie Richards
Yeah, at least.
00:41:57
Felicia Devine
So you like at least, so if you're like, yeah.
00:41:58
Natalie Richards
For men, three, yeah.
00:42:00
Felicia Devine
So if you're like really trying to clean your act up and be like, okay, we're planning for the future. Like it's it's not just like in two weeks from now, like you really have to like clean these things out of your system because it takes a while for your body to detox them out.
00:42:08
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:42:13
Felicia Devine
then that takes us back to the detox pathways.
00:42:13
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:42:15
Felicia Devine
If those aren't open, if you're not detoxing, then you can change what candle you're burning. But if you're not detoxing what you were smelling last month, then like it doesn't like, so there all these things.
00:42:28
Natalie Richards
Yeah. It's not going to move the needle very fast.
00:42:31
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:32
Natalie Richards
there's so it It is so much more complicated than just getting off birth control and like
Productivity and Menstrual Cycles
00:42:36
Felicia Devine
Yeah. And just like winging it.
00:42:36
Natalie Richards
seeing what's going to happen.
00:42:37
Natalie Richards
It's really complicated. Yeah.
00:42:39
Felicia Devine
that peopleup People that are like, oh, we're like not trying, but we're not preventing. And I'm just like, I'm like, there has to be, yeah, there has to be like a plan in place to like prepare for preconception.
00:42:43
Natalie Richards
Right. But what are you doing to prepare? Yeah.
00:42:50
Natalie Richards
Yep.
00:42:50
Felicia Devine
And yeah.
00:42:51
Natalie Richards
I see it all the time that it really – if your hormones are – off at all in your normal cycle, you are going to end up with with symptoms in pregnancy.
00:42:57
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:43:05
Natalie Richards
You're gonna have undesirable symptoms more than likely.
00:43:05
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:43:08
Felicia Devine
I had under desirable symptoms and I had the most spot on pregnancy.
00:43:11
Natalie Richards
I know, i know.
00:43:12
Felicia Devine
So imagine if you have not good pre periods.
00:43:14
Natalie Richards
it's It's complicated.
00:43:18
Natalie Richards
then we get back to like day one and we're back where we began.
00:43:20
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:43:21
Natalie Richards
Yeah,
00:43:21
Felicia Devine
And we're back where we started. And it's like, a I don't know what it's called. Groundhog's Day. It's like Groundhog's Day.
00:43:26
Natalie Richards
yeah yeah. And then it happens again. And then you can monitor how your life went over that past month depending on how your period looks.
00:43:35
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:37
Natalie Richards
It's pretty great.
00:43:38
Felicia Devine
Now, I wonder what the correlation is to like successful people in life and their cycles versus like unsuccessful people and like people who can't like follow through or like can't start a project or like are in a rut.
00:43:52
Felicia Devine
Like I wonder if that has – I mean there's probably some evidence out there, but I don't know.
00:43:55
Natalie Richards
Oh, I'm sure. i will say let's just say like for our current corporate focus with women, i will say it is beneficial to probably be on birth control. Let's just say.
00:44:12
Natalie Richards
Because
00:44:13
Felicia Devine
Oh.
00:44:13
Natalie Richards
Because you can be the same. You're like a man.
00:44:17
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:44:17
Natalie Richards
You're essentially a man.
00:44:18
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:44:19
Natalie Richards
And you don't have the you don't have the cycling. You don't have the changes going on. There's no change. like you could do You could accomplish the same thing every day and be pretty in line if your birth control working for you.
00:44:28
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:44:37
Natalie Richards
That's not the case for a lot of people, but like essentially that's kind of how it is
00:44:37
Felicia Devine
That's so fascinating.
00:44:41
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Yeah. Like if you want to be a corporate girly and never have a family and you want to get paid the same, that is so controversial, Natalie.
00:44:49
Natalie Richards
Go for it. I don't know. So bad.
00:44:54
Felicia Devine
But if you're like the rest of us that like actually want a family someday and like are interested in your like vitality and the longevity of your cycle and like, yeah.
00:44:54
Natalie Richards
But.
00:44:58
Natalie Richards
Right.
00:45:02
Natalie Richards
And want to like embrace feminism and embrace your, your God given body and hormone cycle.
00:45:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:45:09
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:45:10
Natalie Richards
it it you have superpowers that cannot be achieved on birth control.
00:45:13
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm. Yeah. This takes me to a point.
00:45:17
Natalie Richards
It's not going to happen. Yes.
00:45:19
Felicia Devine
Everyone wants this, like, iconic flat stomach.
00:45:22
Natalie Richards
m
00:45:23
Felicia Devine
That's not healthy.
00:45:24
Natalie Richards
No, it's not.
00:45:25
Felicia Devine
That's not healthy. You should have, first off, you should have a little fat pad in front of there because it's protective, okay?
00:45:26
Natalie Richards
And you're,
00:45:33
Natalie Richards
Just a little.
00:45:34
Felicia Devine
You should have a little pooch, right? A little one, not a big one, a little one, okay?
00:45:35
Natalie Richards
Just a little. Little. Yeah.
00:45:38
Felicia Devine
A little pooch under the belly button.
00:45:39
Natalie Richards
Mine's mind's a little little too big right now. I got to figure it out.
00:45:42
Felicia Devine
That little poochy pooch. No, but like you should have a layer of fat that is like protective in nature to your uterus.
00:45:51
Natalie Richards
Yes.
00:45:51
Felicia Devine
Like that's good.
00:45:51
Natalie Richards
Also, throughout your cycle, your uterus tilts forward and backward, and it'll punch out a little bit in order to accept that egg.
00:45:52
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:45:57
Felicia Devine
and punches out and I go, boop, boop. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah. Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah.
00:46:04
Natalie Richards
And then it's going to come back at the rest of your cycle.
00:46:06
Felicia Devine
It's like a like an animal balloon that they tie at the, what's it called?
00:46:07
Natalie Richards
It's amazing.
00:46:10
Felicia Devine
They tie at like birthday parties. That's what it looks like, okay? It's like a little tube sock, okay?
00:46:15
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:46:16
Felicia Devine
And it's gonna go, boop, boop, boop. It's gonna go in and out, okay? So you might get that little pooch, you might get a little fluff there.
00:46:23
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:46:23
Felicia Devine
That's okay, normal.
00:46:24
Natalie Richards
Normal. Normal.
00:46:27
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:46:27
Natalie Richards
it's funny to me, myself included, until I realized this happens, i
00:46:31
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:46:35
Natalie Richards
when I went to the gynecologist, I've maybe been maybe twice in my life, okay?
00:46:41
Felicia Devine
don't take our Don't take our personal lives for advice.
00:46:42
Natalie Richards
Don't take my advice on that, okay?
00:46:44
Felicia Devine
Okay.
00:46:45
Natalie Richards
and they she goes, oh you have like a retroverted uterus.
00:46:49
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:46:49
Natalie Richards
I'm like, yeah, at that point in my cycle, I did.
00:46:52
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:46:52
Natalie Richards
And other people will say that to me all the time. Oh yeah, you know, my uterus is tilted back.
00:46:54
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:46:57
Natalie Richards
It's, yeah, it moves.
00:46:58
Felicia Devine
It moves. It's like a car wash blow. up
00:47:01
Natalie Richards
It depends on what what day of your cycle you're on, whether it's going to be back or forward.
00:47:04
Felicia Devine
Blowing with the wind.
00:47:06
Natalie Richards
It's so funny. And it's like, do these these people don't know this.
00:47:09
Felicia Devine
o or
00:47:10
Natalie Richards
They're obstetricians. They don't know that.
00:47:13
Felicia Devine
Or people get their blood work done and they're like, oh my God, I have i have really low progesterone.
00:47:16
Natalie Richards
Oh my God.
00:47:20
Felicia Devine
And I'm like, well, when was your blood taken? Like that's a snapshot in time.
00:47:24
Natalie Richards
I can't.
00:47:25
Felicia Devine
I'm sorry. Snapshot in time.
00:47:26
Natalie Richards
And it happens all the time. It happens all the time.
00:47:28
Felicia Devine
and If you're getting true hormone testing done, A, you're going to get a variety of styles tested.
00:47:34
Natalie Richards
h
00:47:34
Felicia Devine
You're not just going to get blood work, saliva.
00:47:35
Natalie Richards
Blood, saliva, and urine.
00:47:37
Felicia Devine
And like if you're just getting blood, that's not even the full picture.
00:47:38
Natalie Richards
ahha
00:47:42
Natalie Richards
No. And if it's on one day, oh, oh.
00:47:43
Felicia Devine
And if it's on one day, not it, not, nope.
00:47:46
Natalie Richards
you oh
00:47:48
Felicia Devine
You should be testing throughout your cycle and there should be checkpoints throughout the cycle that you're doing certain things on. So if you're getting, yeah, mm-hmm.
00:47:53
Natalie Richards
And if your doctor isn't doing that, you're at the wrong doctor to figure out your hormones.
00:47:58
Felicia Devine
You're getting the wrong testing done.
00:47:59
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:48:00
Felicia Devine
you cannot you can get You cannot get a full picture of your hormones in one day through one test.
00:48:00
Natalie Richards
Just so you know.
00:48:05
Natalie Richards
No. No.
00:48:08
Felicia Devine
No. Oh, I have some fun news.
00:48:10
Natalie Richards
Oh, what?
00:48:11
Felicia Devine
So my pelvic surgeon that I had do my repair five months postpartum, she was at our local hospital system.
00:48:16
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:48:22
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:48:22
Felicia Devine
And she has recently left the hospital system and she's opening her own private practice.
00:48:22
Natalie Richards
Yeah.
00:48:29
Felicia Devine
That's holistic based gynecological care.
00:48:33
Natalie Richards
I love that.
00:48:35
Felicia Devine
I can't get over it.
00:48:36
Natalie Richards
I love it.
00:48:36
Felicia Devine
She's fabulous. She focused on nourishment. She focuses on movement. She focuses on like all the popular things that are like wellness indicated, but then like funnels them into like actual like women's health, gynecological health.
00:48:49
Natalie Richards
Love it.
00:48:49
Felicia Devine
Like she's an MD. The girl is, she's for the girlies.
00:48:53
Natalie Richards
Once you get this stuff and once you know things outside of the norm, you cannot stay in the system.
00:48:55
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:48:59
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:49:00
Natalie Richards
Like it doesn't, it's not going to work.
00:49:00
Felicia Devine
No, she, she probably couldn't un, unsee the system.
00:49:03
Natalie Richards
No, no, you can't. If you take, take one book that you read and you, you dive in a little bit, you're like, what am I doing?
00:49:05
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:49:08
Felicia Devine
<unk> Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:12
Natalie Richards
So I love that.
00:49:13
Natalie Richards
I commend her. That's incredible.
00:49:14
Felicia Devine
Yeah. So if you're local to Pennsylvania and you're listening, her know her name is Dr.
00:49:15
Natalie Richards
Incredible.
00:49:18
Felicia Devine
Toya Gordon and she's opening Journey Well. Now I'm going to forget how to say it properly. I don't want to mispronounce what she's opening.
00:49:25
Natalie Richards
yeah That is so, that's so great.
00:49:28
Felicia Devine
I know.
00:49:28
Natalie Richards
It's very encouraging.
00:49:29
Felicia Devine
Journey, let's see.
00:49:30
Natalie Richards
I'm also back on my Pellegrino bottles and I take these in the car with me and i if I'm driving by and somebody's looking at me, they're like, are you drinking a wine bottle?
00:49:34
Felicia Devine
I love
00:49:39
Felicia Devine
Like that girl is drinking a wine bottle. It's just journey while. So I was correct. So her name is Dr. Toya Gordon and she is just like so fabulous.
00:49:46
Natalie Richards
That's so awesome.
Future Topics Preview
00:49:48
Natalie Richards
That's great.
00:49:48
Felicia Devine
So anyway, I know I'm very proud of her and I want to support that and also like utilize those services because it's very hard to find in this like insurance-based medical land because an insurance-based model is not going to support holistic routes.
00:49:50
Natalie Richards
I love it.
00:49:56
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:07
Natalie Richards
Gosh, no.
00:50:07
Felicia Devine
They're not.
00:50:08
Natalie Richards
That's for sure.
00:50:09
Felicia Devine
because it takes longer.
00:50:11
Natalie Richards
That's right.
00:50:13
Felicia Devine
And it's not petroleum-based.
00:50:15
Natalie Richards
yeah
00:50:17
Felicia Devine
her Yeah.
00:50:19
Natalie Richards
Okay. think we should get into like the supplements and preconception support maybe next time because we're already at 50 minutes.
00:50:24
Felicia Devine
Yeah. Oh, fabulous.
00:50:29
Felicia Devine
We've already yapped long enough.
00:50:31
Natalie Richards
Oh my gosh. And i have things I have things I can talk about next time that I was going to talk about today, but yeah, we're fine.
00:50:33
Felicia Devine
I love it.
00:50:35
Felicia Devine
Yeah, yeah. I have plenty to add. Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us for this episode. Again, Natalie and i are not considered experts in this area, but we see a ton in our practices because we will serve that population of women in the preconception, post-conception phase, and postpartum.
00:50:54
Natalie Richards
Mm-hmm.
00:50:55
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:50:56
Natalie Richards
Yeah. Next time we will talk about specifics. If you have like certain types of things happening in your cycle, maybe how you can fix it a little bit or just giving kind of general hormone support.
00:51:00
Felicia Devine
Mm-hmm.
00:51:04
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:51:06
Felicia Devine
Yeah.
00:51:11
Felicia Devine
Supporting. Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:13
Natalie Richards
Okay.
00:51:13
Felicia Devine
And spoiler alert, it's a lot of whole food options.
00:51:17
Natalie Richards
It's not that complicated with a couple herbs sprinkled in there.
00:51:18
Felicia Devine
It's not that complicated.
00:51:22
Felicia Devine
Add in beef liver and you'll solve a lot of problems.
00:51:24
Natalie Richards
if le Yeah, it's kind of true.
00:51:29
Felicia Devine
Well, thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.
00:51:31
Natalie Richards
Bye.
00:51:32
Felicia Devine
Bye.