The mammoth episode many of you have been waiting for. This is part 2 of our childbearing series, and the one where Tahnee and myself dive deep into the practices, philosophy, diet, herbalism and more that went into creating the year in which Tahnee was childbearing little Aiya. This podcast was recorded during the first week of the bubba's life, so the sharing experience of the birth is fresh; something Tahnee was wishing to be able to infuse into this intimate sharing of how she chose to approach nourishing her body during pregnancy. Here’s briefly what we cover in the episode plus some more extensive notes than usual from Tahnee for those who are on their own pregnancy journey:   -Pregnancy + Home Birth Plans -How did I know? -We found out at four weeks, basically I was very aware that something was different in my body!! We’d both felt the baby come in November, and exactly three months later we were pregnant, and I’ve heard that’s common -Our Pregnancy diet -We don’t follow a dietary plan, more intuitive -Generally vegetarian, though we do include meat in our diet, probably once or twice a week? fish, buffalo, occasionally organic chicken and beef, other wild meats (rabbit, goat, boar), broths/stocks -More mindful of eating a variety of foods and definitely eat more quantity, smaller meals, regularly -Organic and local as much as possible - farmers market and Santos/Source keep us fed -Fridge/freezer is stocked -Wild foods, high mineral content -Fermented foods Best supplements during pregnancy -I didn’t take a lot of vitamins or anything like that, apart from lipsomal vitamin C -Lots of herbs, mostly tonics, plus raspberry leaf and nettle, slippery elm occasionally, yellow dock, dandelion, milk thistle, ginger -Lots of probiotics -Iodine until I saturated -Silica -Personally most concerned about losing minerals as bubbas drain mamas (for every baby a tooth, is an old saying!) so been keeping up the minerals -Megahydrate -Estroblock when we had it, just one cap per day of the pro -Clays and charcoal (you might’ve heard of pica - desire to eat clays - common in pregnant women) -DHA, EFA: fish oil, also raw seafood, fish and oysters -Sea minerals The best tonic herbs and medicinal mushrooms during pregnancy -Best suggestion is reishi, but I took everything in the SuperFeast range at various stages, kidney jing herbs lately (postpartum) to heal and boost recovery Best herbs during pregnancy -Avoid steroidal herbs, emmenagogues -Check out Susun Weed’s book and Aviva Romm Symptoms of pregnancy -Been lucky, apart from tiredness and needing to eat a lot more, I’ve had very little to complain about. Have felt body change, but that’s been fine, I’ve enjoyed being pregnant. Heartburn when my uterus got really big (apparently babies with lots of hair give their mamas heartburn…), but that stopped when baby dropped, ‘growing pains’ around my ribs (like when I was a kid), car sickness if I had an empty belly Pregnancy cravings / changes -Started eating meat again, pretty mindfully -Needed lots of simple carbs in the first trimester, regularly. Like, every two hours. Bilbo Baggins style - breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoons I wasn’t a hungry, but at least one snack and then dinner. And often needed to eat in the middle of the night. So I did. ? -Waking up starving - that’s new for me! -Generally more calories -Haven’t put on much weight, I don’t think, except for boobs and belly and in third trimester around my bum and hips. I haven’t weighed myself Exercise during pregnancy -Yoga - only consideration, IMO, is how the mother feels and to listen to her body - if you’re a regular yogi, you will be less flexible in certain areas, this is OK, it’s not about extreme ROM it’s about being mindful about what needs support during the transitions — for me, pecs (chest - boobs!!) and lower traps, rhomboids, hip flexors, quads, glutes and lateral body (QL and thoracolumbar fascia) - I have avoided a lot of ‘hip openers, they