Building a Healthy Pregnancy: Some Food for Thoughtfeatured

When Golden Top (Baby # 1) was born I was told I had a calcified placenta.

This was obviously concerning and caused negative thoughts to flood my mind, “here goes something else malfunctioning” . Do you ever have thoughts like this?

Here’s Golden Top, only a few days old!

I was informed that my calcified placenta was the main reason for Golden Top being 1 month early!

“Of course my first thought was, It must be because of diabetes…it’s my scapegoat! “.

It turns out calcified placentas are more common in people with diabetes. But looking into it, I can’t quite understand why.

I do know that my midwife researched and discovered that calcified placentas can be due to low antioxidants like vitamin c and e.

I’m not here to tell you to take a certain multivitamin or to start loading up on these vitamins, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider about adding anything!

I’m here to share what I’m doing different as I plan for baby #2.

With Golden Top I had many, many fears… first pregnancy… first pregnancy with type one diabetes! I was working and had just barely recovered from hypothyroidism (that is I’d found the right dose 1 month before getting pregnant).

With all of the appointments, exhaustion from pregnancy, and working as a diabetes nurse,  I was tired all the time… and not eating well.

The frequent lows meant I was eating a lot of candy (It was exciting to have a low and indulge in a few Twizzlers). I was eating out a lot (low antioxidant foods) and skipping out on my prenatal vitamins (too many rushed lunches at work).

But I often wonder if between hypoglycaemia and careful carb counting… and maybe skipping out on things like fruit because of their high carb value if PWDs, like myself, get less antioxidants.

What I’m doing differently:

1. Juicing: I purchased a Hurom Juicer a few months ago.
   • My hope was to replace my daily breakfast, a granola bar (grossly low in antioxidants and little nutritional value), with a fresh, antioxidant rich low-carb juice made with the following fruits and vegetables (wheatgrass, beets, carrots, celery, ginger, lemon, kale, cucumber and 1/2 or a full apple or orange).
2. Vitamin C: I’m taking 1200 mg of Vitamin C once daily.
3. A Good Quality Multivitamin: Not all pregnancy multivitamins are created equal. A doctor friend of mine recommends New Chapter: Perfect Prenatal. I really like that it can be taken, they say, on an empty stomach! It’s also made of organic fruit, veg and herbs.
4. Calcium Supplement: I’m always skipping milk, partially because of the carbs but mostly because I don’t like it. Instead I take Bone Strength, a calcium supplement made also by New Chapter.
5. Exercise: To create healthy blood flow to the baby I walk for 30 mins twice weekly and do circuit training twice weekly at Curves.

What are you doing to create a healthy pregnancy? I look forward to hearing your tips!