Ep 174: Preparing for Conception

In this episode of the Aligned Birth Podcast, hosts Dr. Shannon and Doula Rachael delve into the essential aspects of preconception health. They discuss the importance of managing stress, optimal nutrition, physical health preparation, movement and exercise, and understanding hormonal health to optimize fertility. 

Takeaways

• Preconception health is crucial for both partners.
• Nutrition plays a significant role in fertility and pregnancy health.
• Exercise and movement can enhance overall well-being and fertility.
• Understanding your menstrual cycle can empower your conception journey.
• A holistic approach to health can improve fertility outcomes.
• Reducing environmental toxins can positively impact reproductive health.
• Incorporating whole foods into your diet is foundational for preconception health.
• Creating a supportive care team is vital for a healthy pregnancy journey. 
• Chronic stress negatively impacts hormonal balance.
• Gut health is closely linked to mental and emotional well-being.
• Open communication with partners is crucial during the preconception phase.
• Understanding and managing expectations can reduce disappointment.
• Chiropractic care can support overall health and fertility.
• Consistency in health habits is key to achieving desired outcomes.

Resources mentioned:
Katie Dudley - https://integrativefitnessandwellness.liveeditaurora.com/
Melinda Delisle - https://confidentpregnancy.com/
Schaefer protocol   - Dr. Marcia, ICPA instructor epigenetics class
Lily Nichols
Dr. Aviva Romm
Taking Charge of Your Fertility

Previous episodes mentioned:
Episode 151: Hug your Hormones

Transcript

Dr. Shannon (00:02.293)
Hello, this is the Aligned Birth Podcast. You have both hosts here today. Dula Rachel is joining us, Dr. Shannon, and we are the host of the show, and we try to provide lots of good birthy topics, preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, go back to labor birth, then postpartum.

Pediatric like all all the parts like trying to think of the timeline And so today's episode is going to be hitting on the front end As it pertains to pregnancy labor and birth and so we're looking at a kind of a preconception Planning and looking at ways to support your mind and body as you prepare for pregnancy. This is not just a It's not specific in that

Sometimes you think of preconceptive health, I think some people's brains go straight to maybe like IVF or some sort of like issues conceiving and it's like, no, this is just a generalized, know, beginning stages of preconception. And I think a good way to hone in on where are some areas that I can focus because it can be overwhelming with there's...

this new supplement, there's this vitamin, there's this you need to do, and this is also healthy, and cholesterol is bad, cholesterol is good, fat's bad, fat's good, like it's like, what's going on? And so that can get annoying, and it's like, where can you hone in and focus things that gives you a little bit of like a roadmap of where to start and looking for that preconception help. I'm excited to chat today with you about that, Rachel.

Rachael Hutchins (01:51.682)
Hi, Dr. Shannon. Yes, I think this is a super important topic that, you know, if you are planning a pregnancy, you probably care about and should care about to ensure, you know, that you can have optimal environment for fertility and a healthy pregnancy to, you know, doing this approach definitely sets you up for on the right direction to have a healthy pregnancy. So that's really cool, too, to know, you know, if there's some things you can do preconceptively.

that will benefit you for pregnancy and beyond, like why not? If you have some control over the situation and can prepare, I think it's a good idea. You know, I think it can give you a good foundation and for what you need to be doing throughout your pregnancy. So I think that's also why it's super important. So, you know, I think you can boost your fertility by doing this and optimize your chance of

conception, is if you're wanting a pregnancy, that's what you want to do. and you can reduce the risk of pregnancy complications too, by doing this and you can improve, you know, the overall health for, for both you and your partner. Get your partner on board with this too. mean, I assume if you're listening, that you're probably female woman and pregnant and, or hoping to get pregnant. That's the majority of our audience. So if there's some gentlemen here, hello, but,

For most of you we want you We want partners to get on board with this too Because it's not just the woman that has to bear the burden all of it So but we so these tips I think most of them are universal of course We're going to talk about some specifics with the the female hormones But you know partners can get on board with this too and reap the benefits of being healthy

Dr. Shannon (03:19.8)
Welcome, you are important as well.

Dr. Shannon (03:30.027)
Mm-mm.

Dr. Shannon (03:44.425)
I mean, it's like our egg health, our hormone health is based on our diet, our food, our nutrition, our sleep, how our nervous system's functioning, our mental state. The same thing goes for dudes in the sperm. Like it's the same, so it's not just this burden for mom to be healthy.

Rachael Hutchins (03:48.438)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (04:07.416)
Yeah, the health of the sperm, even though it reproduces more frequently than, I mean, we have our eggs from birth on, but that is a benefit to the male reproduction like sperm is that it can, you can improve the health of your sperm. Not everyone can, right? There are some like some abnormalities that you can't change, but you know, you can actually improve the health of your sperm with certain habits. So cool fact.

Dr. Shannon (04:12.777)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (04:23.765)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, there's some issues.

Rachael Hutchins (04:34.668)
And this also applies to people going through IVF. If you know you're going be going through IVF, like even more so, like let's get your body primed and ready. Or if you're, you know, conceiving the, you know, the not IVF way, this is still important. And we think it's important to start this about three to six months prior to conception is a good timeframe. If somebody will kind of want that like marker in time.

Dr. Shannon (04:38.549)
Mm-hmm.

Both people.

Rachael Hutchins (05:01.316)
But we're going to start by talking about the physical health preparation, which is probably the meat of all of this. But yeah, I mean, there's physical and there's hormonal, mental, and then professional support. All these these kind of factors play an important role. nutrition for preconception, you know, I think there are changes, you know, to make prior to conception.

Dr. Shannon (05:08.959)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (05:12.779)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (05:31.266)
that can improve your overall health, right? So let's think whole foods, organic when possible. We want to really reduce the toxins that you're getting. So.

Dr. Shannon (05:42.823)
Especially those that can be like the endocrine disruptors because that's going to then impact hormone.

Rachael Hutchins (05:49.036)
Right, right. So definitely the food you put in your body has a direct. So do what you can there. Reduce processed foods like significantly. Really try and be intentional with that. Increasing your fruits, vegetables and healthy fats are going to just basic. This is, that's where we're starting. That's basic layout of nutritional changes that we want you to think about. You know, key vitamins and minerals for fertility. So you got folate, iron.

Dr. Shannon (05:52.479)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (05:58.987)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (06:05.407)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (06:18.572)
Omega-3s and vitamin D are the key players there. eating foods that have these in them, adding supplements to boost them. You know, I don't think you should take all of your nutrients via supplements, but we can use supplements to fill in. Yeah. So diet first and then supplements to enhance or fill in the gaps. You can start taking prenatal vitamins preconceptively.

Dr. Shannon (06:34.151)
Mm-hmm. You can't out supplement a bad diet. Yeah

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (06:48.448)
I did, there's no harm. And then you can also keep taking them afterwards. And then I think additional supplements like magnesium. I love magnesium. helps with absorption of a lot of vitamins and nutrients. Most people tolerate it well. I think it helps us feel better, sleep better, recover better, you know. But obviously we want to make sure you are consulting probably with

Dr. Shannon (06:52.115)
You take them for spartan.

Dr. Shannon (06:58.729)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (07:16.972)
for more specificity or you know, either with your provider and then in conjunction with that a nutritionist. We think working with a nutritionist is really great because they can tailor you know, your unique needs and your history to a diet that works for you. We'll put a couple links in the show notes for in our in the Atlanta area. There are a couple great

ladies that we know who do this and work specifically with people going for pre, know, preconceptive or prenatally to help ensure they are like getting the right foods that are going to support their system to be its healthiest. And then another great recommendation is Real Food for Pregnancy. This is the Science and Wisdom of Prenatal Nutrition by Lily Nichols. I love this book.

Dr. Shannon (07:51.882)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (08:00.585)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (08:09.621)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (08:10.948)
So reading it and starting to implement some of the recommendations in it pre-conceptively I think has many many benefits and it can really reduce the incidence of like hypertension, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure. Yep. So, yeah.

Dr. Shannon (08:19.05)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (08:22.997)
Gestational diabetes, that's a huge one that can be really managed well with food. Not that that's always the case, but you're giving your body the best ability to handle the changes that come with pregnancy. I had...

I don't know where, I know we'll probably mention this at some point. It's probably in the hormones, like when we go into like some of the hormone stuff. But I want to mention this because it just happened that.

I have Dr. Aviva Ram's hormone intelligence book in my office. The moms that I've let borrow it, I don't think they were borrowing it for hormone stuff, I think, because she puts some diet things in there. She's an herbalist as well, Dr. Aviva Ram, a medical doctor and a midwife, and so she, but it's like a diet and food and lifestyle aspect things. And I've had three moms check the book out, and then I had two get pregnant.

from the book, I just had another one. And so I was like, this is fun. One was definitely like, yes, we want this. The other one was trying to like, postpartum and some PCOS stuff. was Caitlin, we had her on the show. Caitlin, she, Wimberly is the prenatal and postpartum fitness. And I interviewed her because she has a podcast as well too. And she checked out the book and her surprise baby. So all that to say.

There were some, I mean, I don't even know the specifics of what they did, but there were minor things that they did that in the diet impacted everything in the body, you know? And so great importance, great importance should be placed on the diet. That sounds like something out of like a Hobbit movie. Great importance should be put on diet. I don't know, but I do think.

Rachael Hutchins (10:08.078)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love it.

Rachael Hutchins (10:25.676)
It's nutrition. It's like supporting the whole body with from the inside out. And, I do, it's just, it's, and it's not about like, I guess I'm not being perfect. It's not about doing it a certain way. And if that there's a one size fits all, it's really trying to figure out what your needs are, how your body responds to certain foods and really calming down inflammation and the nervous system so that it can function optimally and foods.

and lifestyle stressors and stuff impact that. start there. It's a good place to start. Make the changes you can. Leave the rest behind. Like this is not a black and white or pass or fail. We're just trying to optimize the body. And the more you learn about, and this is again, I learned this with my second, cause I had a home birth with my second and had that home birth midwifery care.

Dr. Shannon (11:01.47)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (11:04.949)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (11:09.162)
Right.

Rachael Hutchins (11:23.338)
And my midwives put a huge emphasis on nutrition and diet and lifestyle, like huge, because they're like, there's a direct relationship. Like you want a home birth, we want you to have birth at home, but which you have to be healthy and low risk. So they took it very seriously and went in depth. know, I love that. And I learned so much about, so I was like,

Dr. Shannon (11:39.743)
You have to be healthy.

Rachael Hutchins (11:50.562)
I want other people to take it seriously too and understand the connection to the whole body, mind, spirit and pregnancy and hopeful pregnancy. so the next thing is exercise and movement, which I know you care a lot about. I care a lot about it too, but do you want to talk about it?

Dr. Shannon (11:54.911)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (12:02.437)
Mm-hmm. Nope.

Dr. Shannon (12:08.585)
Yes, yes, I do. I do. You gotta move, you gotta move. It's so much easier to move before pregnancy, because that's not the time when I want people like, I want us to start running or doing those type of things. I keep going back in my brain to hearing

so many moms talk about when they're in labor, in birth, maybe they've had the epidural and they feel confined to the table. And so many of them, when we're processing the birth story, I hear, I just wanted to move. I wanted to move. I wanted to get on all fours. Like this instinctual thing to move in birth. When we move well in pregnancy, I think that helps us move well in the labor and birth space too.

Rachael Hutchins (13:06.019)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (13:06.219)
Sometimes I'm looking at, I remember vividly I had a mom who's like had really bad sciatica issues. And so with her coming in and getting adjusted, we were able to take care of that. She wasn't able to even like bend down or kneel. And then she had her baby in a kneeling stance. And so I loved that was such a good connection. I'm like, we do need to move well so that we can move well later. Like moving well now, moving well later. Plus it feeds a billion with endorphins.

Rachael Hutchins (13:19.14)
Hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (13:30.564)
Well, yeah. And if you start preconceptively, it's going to set you out to be able to move. Hopefully we don't know what pregnancy brings, but move more during pregnancy and then have the active birth that you want. Even if you have an epidural, you still need strength and movement and flexibility so you can change positions because you got to move to get your baby out. so I love that. you know, exercise and movement, helps maintain a healthy body and balanced hormones. And it helps you sleep better.

Dr. Shannon (13:35.434)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (13:40.057)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (13:59.975)
Mm-hmm. All the things.

Rachael Hutchins (14:00.034)
which helps you feel better, helps your balance hormones stay balanced, which helps you sleep better, which it is a cycle. So you got to take care of it all. There's not like, you know, there's not like one, you don't fix one thing and then like it's all connected. Right. I like movements like yoga, walking, strength training, cardio that feels good to you. Like, you don't have to go crazy if you weren't doing anything before. So if you want to start somewhere,

Dr. Shannon (14:05.451)
Mm-hmm

Dr. Shannon (14:13.684)
all connected.

Dr. Shannon (14:25.867)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (14:26.308)
Those are places I like, you know, I think strength training is so, so important. You know, it's not always go out and, you know, hit the treadmill till you pass out. I love running, but like start with something gentle and that you enjoy and then grow from there.

Dr. Shannon (14:38.549)
Mm-hmm.

I love it. It's the, what you enjoy and what someone else enjoys isn't gonna be what you enjoy. I also love the aspect of really being mindful of like changing things up and it's not just one activity. Cause then, you know, as we get older, when we do just one activity, I feel like it can really be a detriment to the body. So I love the like,

Rachael Hutchins (14:49.176)
what you enjoy.

Rachael Hutchins (14:56.736)
Yes, I love that. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (15:08.977)
One day of cardio, one day of weights, one day of yoga, whatever, you know, feeling and moving in that motion. I don't know. I always think of Legally Blonde when it's like, when they, what's the, she does the quote about like when she was exercising and exercise, people who exercise with endorphins and endorphins make you happy and happy people don't kill people. Like it's the whole, like that's the whole.

Rachael Hutchins (15:12.674)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (15:32.696)
Wait, say that again and say it slower.

Dr. Shannon (15:34.679)
It's something about she says like people who exercise have endorphins and endorphins make you happy and Happy people don't kill people It's L. L. McPherson so I don't know whatever her name is but She I I L Woods. Thank you. L McPherson is a real person. what's is not a real person? Maybe send help please send help

Rachael Hutchins (15:42.072)
Happy people don't kill people. This is great. I love this.

Yeah, no, that's great.

L Woods.

Rachael Hutchins (15:55.586)
We're okay over here people. Don't send help. We're under control.

Dr. Shannon (16:03.979)
all that to say that it will make you happy. It does release endorphins and you do release brain drive neurotrophic factor. I can't remember the correct name of it, but there's also things that grow your brain. So there's other aspects of besides, you know, just feeling well that can help. So.

Rachael Hutchins (16:28.995)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (16:32.395)
Balancing the overexertion is key too. Doesn't mean you have to go out and like train for a marathon because then there's certain activities that are also that can be super stressful to the body as well too. Because then you can have a little bit of extra stress and don't you know don't hear what I'm not saying because I am one of those crazy people that you know will run an ultra marathon and you're you can't tell me not to.

Rachael Hutchins (16:45.442)
Right, and then that creates hormones that could interfere with trying to conceive.

Rachael Hutchins (16:57.964)
You've been running your whole life.

Dr. Shannon (16:59.691)
So I'm going to do that. I'm probably not going to do it when I'm pregnant, but it's the balance. It's knowing I'm going to exert myself here and then I'm going to rest and give myself grace here as well. So, but that exercise and movement can, so it's nutrition. We're talking about the physical aspects here. So it's what you eat. It's how you move your body to help maintain a healthy weight, which is

Rachael Hutchins (17:06.361)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (17:28.523)
Key and important, it's not so much the number on the scale. We have learned so much about that. I like, I have a fun time actually weighing myself throughout like a month to see the fluctuation and changes. It's fascinating to me. And also I will, if I run and exert myself and it's summer, I like to see, is this how much water weight I lost? Like, I just think it's neat to really see.

Rachael Hutchins (17:32.074)
Right. It's not like...

Yes.

Rachael Hutchins (17:42.434)
It changes so much.

Rachael Hutchins (17:54.82)
Mm.

Dr. Shannon (17:57.323)
how the body works. And so using that, so you can use that as a tool, but it's not that number on the scale isn't the end all be all when it comes to managing weight.

Rachael Hutchins (17:59.708)
yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (18:09.196)
Right. No. Yeah. You just want to try and maintain a healthy weight that is your healthy weight. And this is different for everybody, but it can, you know, weight can either under or over for your body can impact your fertility and ability to get pregnant. It's just a factor. and so the best thing to do is consult with your care provider and then, and or nutritionists, like having them in the loop too.

Dr. Shannon (18:25.469)
Mm-hmm. Yes, it's a fact.

Dr. Shannon (18:37.354)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (18:38.628)
Because you know, care providers can be one dimensional in this topic. So I think meeting with a nutritionist who can look at the individual person, the holistic, the history and help find, you know, the right weight for you and help you get there, stay there, maintain again, to optimize fertility is what I would, what I would recommend. And what I think is, you know, good advice for someone preconceptively. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (19:01.361)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Rachael Hutchins (19:06.252)
And part of that too is, were you going to add anything about weight? Okay. Yeah, go ahead.

Dr. Shannon (19:08.815)
No, I was going to segue into the providers that you can use in that space along with the nutritionist. And as far as helping with that weight management, just it's like your regular doctor visits, your regular checkups. again, too, that can look, it's like creating your care team. You've got your birth support team that you create, but you can also have this...

Rachael Hutchins (19:19.778)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (19:35.012)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (19:37.891)
Healthcare support team. have several families. Yeah, just your regular welfare. I have people that There's internists. There's family medicine doctors. I've got patients that have functional medicine Clinics that's there and some of them are do the doctor of osteopathy. I've had do's that are ob-gyn's that deliver like I don't you know a whole shrew of of people that you can have that could be

Rachael Hutchins (19:39.972)
for your like well care.

Rachael Hutchins (19:53.06)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (19:58.84)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (20:02.626)
Different, yeah, who.

Dr. Shannon (20:07.753)
Checkpoints I will say there is going to be I think it's kind of fun to mix the world of like maybe a traditional medical model and throwing in a bit of What I would guess term that the functional medicine aspect because they are going to run different blood tests They might look at things differently Not that one's wrong or right not that one's good or bad. It's just looking at numbers

Rachael Hutchins (20:23.812)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (20:33.038)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (20:35.529)
differently and so I think if you can and you have access to it, it's it's it's fun to have both of those both of those things, but at least having those those checkups See where you're at See where you're at

Rachael Hutchins (20:43.822)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (20:47.3)
Yeah, you do health screenings, do blood work to look for underlying conditions, check your thyroid, check your blood sugars, iron levels, hormone levels. And I think a functional medicine doctor is definitely going to be good to add to the mix to help kind of really look deeper and evaluate the results differently. But having both perspectives could be really beneficial.

Dr. Shannon (20:52.715)
you

Dr. Shannon (21:11.465)
And it's not that there's, it's more of if you're doing a traditional medical primary care provider, they are probably seeing a lot more people than maybe a functional medicine provider as well. So it's almost like a little bit of the difference between an OB-GYN and like the midwife as far as like the patient load that we have. So then you have this individualized aspect of care.

Rachael Hutchins (21:37.208)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (21:38.463)
that happens. that I think that's maybe where the distinction can come from. And like this caseload is a little bit smaller. It's different. And it's way more individualized, I feel like, than maybe just a kind of this is for this population of people. But I could be wrong. I think that makes sense to me.

Rachael Hutchins (21:57.132)
Yeah. No, I think it's great. And again, explore your options, see what's in your area, but know that the health screenings and checkups preconceptively are going to help, you know, with you optimizing your fertility and health for getting pregnant and then during pregnancy. So definitely benefits to that. And then it sets you up to, to probably continue care after pregnancy with that continues on. And that's important too, right? Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (22:05.45)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (22:11.445)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (22:15.625)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (22:20.599)
I was going to say that you can't forget to take care of yourself postpartum. Yeah. Yeah. I may not be the best at that.

Rachael Hutchins (22:26.09)
So, the moving into, we talked a little bit about physical health preparation. We also want to talk about hormonal health and fertility awareness. we have a whole episode called hug your hormones that we did that, that breaks down kind of the cycle tracking. Yeah. So we think understanding your mental menstrual mental cycle. That's what I said. I said mental cycle. Yeah. That's why I stopped. Cause I was like, well, that that's the thing.

Dr. Shannon (22:35.86)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (22:40.373)
That was fun. Like the cycle tracking, isn't that the one? Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (22:50.473)
That too, because it's related. It is your mental cycle.

Rachael Hutchins (22:55.588)
Kind of, okay. Understanding your menstrual cycle, learning about the phases of your menstrual cycle can help you feel more confident and prepared to begin conception. Can I say it again for the people in the back learning about the phases of your menstrual cycle, like all of it can help you feel so much more confident and prepared as you begin conception. I did not learn about these things until I started having my first baby. I was 29 going into 30 years old.

Dr. Shannon (23:06.987)
Please say it again. Please say it again.

Rachael Hutchins (23:25.688)
Like, come on now, why am I just learning about this?

Dr. Shannon (23:27.765)
There's three, I know there's three things that come to mind when like, I wish were different. Now I wish that we understood that just because you bleed, maybe you bleed on a regular schedule every month does not mean that you have a healthy cycle. That, cause A, the next part is it goes into,

Rachael Hutchins (23:48.004)
Mm-mm.

Dr. Shannon (23:54.067)
You have to ovulate to have that healthy cycle. And that's a little bit different to there's different things to track. That's all in the other episode. Those are the two things. Those two things there. The third one is the aspect of I wish that we did not view as a society our cycle as this. It's this horrible thing. It's this crappy thing. And it's

It's painful and it's all, feel like there's just so much negativity to it. And yes, there's gonna be parts. There's gonna be people that have endometriosis. There's gonna be people that PCOS and yes, that is it, but.

Rachael Hutchins (24:25.759)
Negative.

Rachael Hutchins (24:30.818)
Yeah, it's not fun.

Dr. Shannon (24:36.573)
I don't know, I just wish we would honor her more.

Rachael Hutchins (24:37.252)
You wish it was viewed by society as a good, positive, beautiful, necessary thing. Yeah. No, I do, but did I think it was cool when I was 16? No. No.

Dr. Shannon (24:41.907)
Yeah, like a, yeah, it's really freaking cool. I think it's really freaking cool that we don't operate. No, no, I did not. And I wish we would do, I remember seeing Rachel Hart, she's a local home birth midwife and we've had her on the show too. And I feel like she did some sort of, I don't know what it's called.

I don't know what she called it. I'm going to call it a blessing ceremony or something of like, I think when one of her daughters had started her period and it was like, it was this little circle and she was surrounded by all these other women. And I was like, I think I needed that, you know, to bring the positivity to it.

Rachael Hutchins (25:10.404)
Mm.

Mm-hmm Yeah to bring the positivity to it mine was cloaked in

Dr. Shannon (25:24.095)
We do not talk about that. You hide everything? Yes.

Rachael Hutchins (25:26.028)
It didn't get talked about. It was like, I mean, I had, was taking care of it, but like I did, I did not understand what was happening. I just knew what's happening, which made it like a scarier thing and a more shameful thing. Like bleeding felt bad versus like, okay, this is what's happening. And then when this is everything that's happening in between the bleeding and not.

Dr. Shannon (25:44.521)
had no clue.

Rachael Hutchins (25:46.488)
Like, well, I love that idea of like a blessing ceremony to celebrate. And I do think more and more people are talking more positively. I do. I'm seeing more of it. Maybe it's just the circles I'm in, but, you know, I think we should should honor our cycles and learn. And in order to do that, you have to be willing to spend some time learning about it because it is a complicated. I mean, it's simple, but it's also like there's a lot there. So.

Dr. Shannon (25:50.612)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (25:59.241)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (26:06.613)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (26:11.092)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (26:11.65)
we encourage you to lean in and try to understand what's happening inside of your body and it will give you confidence. it can also be very, very frustrating when even as you know more about how your cycle works, if it's, if it's not quote unquote working to where conception isn't happening, cause this isn't to say you do all these things, you learn about your cycle, boom, you get pregnant. Cause that's not always the case. You can do all the things and still have a really, really hard time.

Dr. Shannon (26:34.133)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (26:41.06)
but there's still so much confidence that comes from learning about your cycle and it does improve, it can improve your chance.

Dr. Shannon (26:50.465)
there's things, there's, yeah, knowing it can definitely improve your chance. And like we talked about Dr. Aviva Rahm's book. I think that's a wonderful book because hormone intelligence, really looks at all of that, looking at herbs, looking at diet, food, all of those things. You know, in that episode that we did, the hormone one, I think, and I still don't know, I need to look into this more, but I had come across the notion that even looking at like the color,

Rachael Hutchins (27:05.06)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (27:17.915)
of the blood that you have during your menstrual phase? Because you were like, well, what does it mean? I was like, well, I don't know. But you should look at it and see if there's a difference. But it means something, because then I found out recently that there's aspects of you can look at, you maybe estrogen dominant? Are you not based on the color of the blood? And I was like, this is so cool. Old me probably did not think it was cool. Anyways, we could have, know. I think it's fascinating.

Rachael Hutchins (27:20.057)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (27:25.494)
It may, that it does mean something. Yeah, for sure.

Rachael Hutchins (27:34.654)
Mm. Mm.

Rachael Hutchins (27:39.876)
Yeah, there's so much there. No. And that's why we're talking about it. and yeah, I mean, you can, so there's a, so you just mentioned Aviva Rom's hormone intelligence book. We'll link that in the show notes. The other book I like to mention is, taking char taking charge of your fertility, by Tony Weschler. That's also going to be linked. And so in that book, you're going to learn about your cycle, your faith, the phases, the hormones that are happening at different times of your cycle.

Dr. Shannon (27:49.855)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (28:01.567)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (28:08.516)
how you're not on a 24 hour hormone clock, but you're on a like 28 ish day, a hormone cycle, very different than a 24 hour, which is more the male body. so that's how, yep, same thing every day, but hours changes every 10 days or so. Yeah. that's boring. but like you can check your basal body temperature and your cervical mucus, how it changes. And you can even check your cervix.

Dr. Shannon (28:20.412)
It's like Groundhog Day for them. So say, That's boring. I don't want that.

Rachael Hutchins (28:38.124)
I mean to really to track your cycle in that way understand where you're at. But taking charge of your fertility is a great book for helping you learn how to do that, why to do it and what's happening inside your body. So that was a big game changer book for me. It's still pretty popular. I know there are, I mean there are lots of apps out there now. I'm sure there are other books and there's stuff that those those two. Yeah, go lean in, lean in.

Dr. Shannon (28:57.252)
yeah. Go down, but the thing is go down the rabbit hole. Go. Go. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (29:06.18)
And then balancing your hormones is also really important. know that there are hormone disruptors and there are hormone balancers. So disruptors is like frequent stress, poor nutrition, poor sleep, environmental toxins. Balancers are gonna be healthy in the whole food-based diet, chiropractic care, supplements and herbs. And I'll add in exercise.

Dr. Shannon (29:10.355)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (29:15.531)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (29:32.063)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (29:32.1)
exercise and good sleep, right? Like it's kind of the opposite of the disruptors, right? and movement and good sleep are going to reduce your stress, which is going to balance your hormones back to the whole cyclical thing. things that can help reduce your stress. We all have stress to say you, anyone can live stress free is a stretch. So we have stress. How are we going to handle it? So aiming to add mindfulness into your day,

Dr. Shannon (29:35.241)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (29:43.079)
Mm-hmm. It's yeah, it's all connected.

Rachael Hutchins (30:01.152)
meditation, deep breathing. That's my go-to is deep breathing. It's accessible to me. I can do it anywhere. I like the four. I inhale for four, exhale for six, and I do that for five times and I immediately feel better. And journaling, writing stuff out, talking with a, you know, talking with a trusted friend or counselor, therapist. Like you got to find a way to somewhere for that stress to go. Write it down, talk it out, move your body.

Dr. Shannon (30:27.303)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

You don't want to stay in that chronic stress. Yeah. And I look at adjustments as a way to, for the management of that, as far as looking at nervous system regulation, it's not the end all be all, because sometimes too, it's that the perception of a stressful event or environment, even if we're not in that environment. It's like the running from the bear when there is no bear, that chronic stress, because you're going to have things. You need to be stressed. You know what stress is good? Exercise.

Rachael Hutchins (30:31.522)
be mindful.

Rachael Hutchins (30:54.754)
Right. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (31:01.341)
moving your muscles, that's how it builds and grows. That's the eustress, E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S, the good aspect of it. So, no, it's important to, and every way that you mentioned is, yeah, it's wonderful ways to look at. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (31:02.198)
Right, stress is not all bad.

Rachael Hutchins (31:12.864)
Yep, find.

Rachael Hutchins (31:17.24)
Yeah, just explore these options, take what resonates and try it out. and know that any new habit that you're starting, you know, takes a while for it to take hold. So give it some good time, you know, a couple of weeks of doing something consistently more likely to probably stick around. and it might take a minute to see the, and feel the true benefit. Like I know with the deep breathing for me, the first couple of times I do it.

Dr. Shannon (31:33.236)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (31:43.416)
I don't feel so good. feel a little bit actually kind of worse. I feel a little bit stuck. It's almost like it stirs things, but then, so if I stop, it makes me feel worse. But if I keep going until I feel better, I work it out. So knowing that some things as you start them, like meditation for some people that go, no, I can't do that. It's like, well, start with one minute, start with one minute, you know?

Dr. Shannon (31:55.679)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (32:01.151)
That's a hard one. Yeah, that's a hard one to do. have a got it like a little recently got a little red light therapy thing using that. I really like that. I have acupressure mat at the house. I really love that thing. I love that thing.

Rachael Hutchins (32:10.68)
Yeah.

acupressure is fantastic for releasing stress and regulating your system. So add that into the mix. Love that. Also switching for balancing your hormones. And this is male and females, their body, kids, but switching to clean non-toxic products for your household cleaning and skincare, right? Skin is our biggest organ. Think about what you're putting on your body, what's on your sheets and your towels.

Dr. Shannon (32:23.017)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (32:29.413)
Mm-hmm her body

Dr. Shannon (32:36.233)
Mm-hmm. yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (32:42.062)
what you're cleaning your counters with. It's so important and it might feel overwhelming at first. Pick one thing to change in your house. Start there. Pick one thing that you feel like you can adjust. This was me. So I'm 11 years after like truly taking a journey of shifting because I became a mom and you know, everything changed, but it's incremental change. So if you see people on social media who do everything non-toxic and, and whole foods and you know,

Dr. Shannon (32:42.503)
It's important.

Dr. Shannon (32:49.343)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (33:03.307)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (33:12.512)
Exercise every day or whatever Stop it stop it Pick one thing if you feel overwhelmed, right pick one thing and maybe you've already done a few things pick one more thing What else can you? incrementally change or improve that is is better for your body and your home and to reduce toxins reduce talk They're everywhere and not to be scary. It's not doomsday, but they really are everywhere and with the plastics

Dr. Shannon (33:15.164)
Yeah, their get ready with me's, stop it. Stop it. Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (33:42.134)
and cleaners and you know it is the world we live in but they impact our hormones in so many ways that we don't really know and we can't really measure or comprehend. So try to do what you can where you can and know that every little thing you do is going to make a difference. So don't beat yourself up if you miss a day or get it wrong or don't have it all or I don't buy all organic. I do not have not all of my body products are non-toxic. I do what I can.

Dr. Shannon (33:51.657)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (34:04.299)
Mm-mm.

Dr. Shannon (34:10.058)
Hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (34:11.338)
where I can and I try to make incremental change and that's it.

Dr. Shannon (34:12.906)
Mm-hmm.

I know.

Same, because sometimes nothing cleans the bathroom as good as some of those toxic cleaners. You've got to give yourself grace where you can. But it will impact, yeah, but it can impact your hormones as well.

Rachael Hutchins (34:30.53)
Yep, it's true.

Rachael Hutchins (34:35.16)
Yeah, and then you what you learn and we're talking preconceptive right this I think some of these tips apply to pregnancy postpartum beyond but what if you can if you're getting this preconceptively and you're willing to start the shift at that point You like you're way ahead of the ball like you're way ahead So please see that if you're already thinking these things and this is resonating with you Please know like you're already eons ahead. So just go with that know that anything you can start

Dr. Shannon (34:39.359)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (34:49.673)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (34:53.151)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (35:04.236)
it'll grow through the next phase and season versus you know figuring it out 10 years later that you should have been doing something. So just want to encourage.

Dr. Shannon (35:15.603)
Mm-hmm. You you had mentioned mental earlier instead of menstrual our mental cycle There is the mental and emotional prep and we've already talked about this but all of this is connected anyway, so because so much of your immune system

Rachael Hutchins (35:22.774)
Mm-hmm a mental cycle Maybe I'm in a mental cycle right now, and that's why I said that

Dr. Shannon (35:45.619)
and serotonin is made in your gut. immune system, 70 % of your immune system lives in your gut. Serotonin is made in the gut. That's what goes to the brain. So, your food is going to then impact the hormones that are produced, which is going to impact this mental and emotional state too, which is connected to the cycle, which is, yes, yes, yes. So, that's what the next section is, is really looking at mental and emotional prep.

Rachael Hutchins (36:00.206)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (36:13.636)
prep. You gotta kind of peel back the layers. You gotta dig in.

Dr. Shannon (36:17.157)
Yeah, there's something that just keeps coming to mind is that, know, pregnancy is such a big event. And it can bring about triggers that you may not be aware of. may have certain thoughts or feelings during pregnancy that you're like, don't know where this is coming from, as anything in life can.

kind of come that way. so it, but it's a big transition, a big change. And, and you don't want to minimize those thoughts and feelings as well too. And so taking care of your mental health and aspect is important, whether that's through professional help or trusted source help. I actually think both.

Rachael Hutchins (37:15.588)
Both.

Dr. Shannon (37:15.931)
if you are out of space and can do both is good to help process those things. But I think it's important.

Rachael Hutchins (37:25.38)
Yeah, there are perinatal mental health counselors who, who have specialties in preconception. So, or, know, if you're going through infertility or anything like that, they specialize in that. know that even if you're not pregnant yet, you can still see a perinatal mental health counselor. If you know you're, you want to begin that journey and I highly recommend it because it is a journey. And like you said, it's like you're trying, it is, it's, you don't want to say it's like necessary, but it, really is. It's so beneficial. It's worth.

Dr. Shannon (37:30.987)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (37:45.547)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (37:53.162)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (37:55.234)
you know, at least a visit and see what that brings about or what you what you find out. But, know, especially just especially if you struggle with anxiety, depression and increased fear and stuff like that, like if you have a lot swirling and meeting with a mental health counselor can make a big, big difference. And then it sets you off on the right foot for once you are pregnant. So, you know, there are there are different avenues you can go. You know, there's all the things we mentioned before for like

Dr. Shannon (38:06.282)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:15.06)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (38:24.344)
meditation, mindfulness, journaling, exercise, right? Like that's gonna try and what you're eating, like you said, cause your gut, it's all fuels the gut. That's like foundation, right? And then if there are increased fears, concerns, anxieties, then bringing in that professional help is going to really benefit you. And they're gonna be able to give you very specific things, whether you're preconceptive or pregnant or postpartum, right? We think they are a tremendous,

Dr. Shannon (38:27.007)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:34.879)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:42.645)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:51.883)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (38:54.294)
important member of the birth support team.

Dr. Shannon (39:00.461)
With Because I'd mentioned you've got the like that professional aspect to there's partner or even You know, even friend like if you're also going through this frequency or we're thinking about doing this and you have a trusted friend that you want to go through and talk about things you can but also

opening up that line of communication with your partner and spouse as well, you know, to address. Exactly. Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (39:31.874)
Yeah, because most likely there's someone else involved in this, not everyone, but most people. There's a partner who's in on this journey too. Bring them in. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (39:40.069)
Mm-hmm, and it's good to be on the same page with things Yeah, and just talk about the highs the lows the ups downs the fears the excitement whatever Comes up Mm-hmm. That's huge. You definitely need to talk about expectations

Rachael Hutchins (39:51.97)
Yeah. Expectations, your expectations and his expect or their expectations. Like what if they're like really off? Let's try and bridge that gap. Let's try and get on the same page. What are your goals? What do you want out of this? You know, a lot of the preconception responsibility, I feel like falls on the, on the woman. And I really would love to say this is like, we're in this together.

Dr. Shannon (40:18.303)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (40:21.454)
So if you can communicate with your partner ahead of time, like about all of these things, it might could be a better experience. And then to your point having, it's like a buddy, you know, someone who's not your partner, who's not your mental health counselor, someone who is like, you can just vent with, talk with, go to lunch with, who is either on the same journey or gets it or doesn't judge like.

Dr. Shannon (40:35.263)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (40:48.311)
choose wisely, but have that person, use that person. That's going to be huge in the mental and emotional preparation.

Dr. Shannon (40:54.727)
Mm-hmm. That's yeah, that's that's huge I think and kind of the processing aspect of things and it can bring you guys even you know closer in that partner spouse Communication so I'm getting an idea of where their head is at as well

Rachael Hutchins (41:03.843)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (41:12.056)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (41:13.001)
with things. Expectations. I'm always reminded of Brene Brown. I'm talking about like, what is it? Disappointment or something like that is when, you know, someone's not meeting the expectations. But if you're not communicating the expectations, then it's kind of like, Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (41:25.922)
I share this all the time. It's the expectation gap and it was Brene Brown who talked about it. And it's where, and the example I use is like husband wife. Like in my situation, I was at home with the kids for most of the time in this period of our lives. Husband worked, he would come home and there was always tension as he transitioned from work.

Dr. Shannon (41:31.913)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (41:54.284)
And I'm at the end of a long day with being at home with kids. And the reason there was so much tension is that my expectations of what would happen during that time were very, where they weren't being met, but I hadn't communicated them. Right. I had the expectations that I had not communicated and they weren't being met. So therefore I was feeling disappointment or stress at different points. And then.

Dr. Shannon (42:06.133)
We're not being met.

Rachael Hutchins (42:21.794)
He has his own expectations of what this will look like or feel like or be like, right? And it was all about communication and making that expectation gap smaller so that the disappointment wasn't as significant. It was more manageable, right? Game changer.

Dr. Shannon (42:31.05)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (42:35.156)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (42:39.797)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (42:44.029)
Mm-hmm. Now, I remember you telling that story too, and I love that. I love that story of yours because it's just so spot-on and apical, but I was gonna say that's so like everybody's been, you know, in that situation. It's such a good like example of like that's... Just talk about it. Just talk about it. Talk about it. I know. Okay, we did physical.

Rachael Hutchins (42:45.827)
Love, Brene Brown.

Rachael Hutchins (42:52.184)
Who hasn't felt that?

Rachael Hutchins (43:02.788)
Just talk about it, honestly. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (43:13.107)
nutritional, we did the mental kind of professional stuff. So now there are other aspects to preconceptive health to look at.

Rachael Hutchins (43:13.198)
We're into professional now.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (43:31.675)
you... how do I want to start it? If you have been trying and have not been successful with a pregnancy then there's there's an avenue of like the fertility specialist and that's a whole other route and journey and lots of different

Rachael Hutchins (43:40.619)
Mm, mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (43:46.744)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (43:54.929)
lots of different things that will happen. There's an order to it, there's options, things to go there. think the one thing I always want to note on any of this though is like with the partner health is that it takes, I always say it takes two to tango like

Rachael Hutchins (43:56.694)
options and

Rachael Hutchins (44:13.881)
Hmm.

Dr. Shannon (44:15.0)
When looking at any sort of fertility specialist, I personally did not deal with any sort of fertility issues with myself or my husband, so I can speak on it, but I'm not speaking from a certain place on it. But I do think that if you're going to any sort of fertility specialist that there needs to be...

Rachael Hutchins (44:31.086)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (44:40.647)
And if you are in a traditional male-female partnership that both people are assessed, looked at, considered, and seen, it's not just, you can't get pregnant, you are the problem because you are the woman and you are the one that is supposed to carry the baby. That is not how this works. And so I would be very mindful in that both people.

Rachael Hutchins (44:45.891)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (44:49.47)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (45:02.52)
nope.

Dr. Shannon (45:09.949)
are because I know some I guess I'll get into in a minute to a protocol that I know and they've gotten to the point where if the husband is not on board with this they will not take that couple and it has nothing it's not like you're not following my rules and blah blah it's like a the success of this we're we're already starting at you know

50 % less here than if we had both people on board. We're already started at a disadvantage if both people aren't on board. Going back to the communication piece. yeah. Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (45:36.569)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (45:45.58)
No, I think that's perfectly reasonable because they know that, well, they want you to have success. You've come to them. It's like in order to maximize success here, both people ought to be truly on board. And that's why like a lot of these tips. I mean, a lot of these tips can apply to both. So when you're having these conversations preconceptively with your partner,

Dr. Shannon (45:58.783)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (46:04.383)
It's for everybody. It's for both.

Rachael Hutchins (46:10.476)
Let's say let's both of you be doing these things. Both of you be embracing this preconceptive period. Get yourself as healthy as you possibly can with some of these tips we've shared today and you're going to have greater success and it's going to be more enjoyable and less stressful. And then if you do need to go to fertility help, get fertility help, you're both already so invested in the process and you're both on board and you both already been trying versus if one of you is specifically

Dr. Shannon (46:13.555)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (46:24.787)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (46:38.54)
the female is the only one trying, then you go through a period of time without being able to conceive. And then you go to fertility specialists and they're like, well, where's what, what's the partner been doing? And they're like, they've got to catch up versus if you both went and said, well, we've both already been doing this. We've both already been assessing nutrition, movement, mental health. They're going to be like, great. Like we, can check off a lot of the boxes and now move to the next thing versus, well, well, now we've to figure out his side. so.

Dr. Shannon (46:49.923)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (46:54.633)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (47:01.738)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (47:06.98)
Get both on board as much as you can that three to six months before you know you want to try and and do these things. And then that way, if you do end up needing to go down that road, which it does happen and we're you know, it's great that there are so many options for fertility support out there. You're both already in a good place, hopefully going into it. You're going to be probably emotionally. It's going to be hard and you're going to be stressed. not saying like it's going to be easy, but you'll be in a good place because you've you've already tried so many things.

Dr. Shannon (47:12.799)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (47:24.692)
Right.

Dr. Shannon (47:29.685)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Rachael Hutchins (47:36.162)
We did with, so my first, we conceived very easily. We were trying, but it was like quick. And so I thought number two would be the same. And I thought I wanted them about two years apart. So we started trying at that timeframe. And it took 15 months before we conceived and it took one round of

Dr. Shannon (47:43.903)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (47:48.459)
Hmm.

Dr. Shannon (48:00.491)
Hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (48:04.58)
Clomid, which is a fertility. Like I found out I was doing testing. So I found out my were old for my age. And so they do Clomid, right? Yeah, it's great. Super great. I'm like, this is exactly what I wanted to hear. But it was helpful information. So Clomid helps boost the health of your eggs at time of population. At the same time, I also went very hard on, very strict, but not until that point.

Dr. Shannon (48:09.119)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (48:13.908)
I feel great. Yeah. You got all the eggs. I'm sorry.

Dr. Shannon (48:23.017)
Yes.

Rachael Hutchins (48:34.562)
Like it was, was like 30 or 60 days prior to when I actually conceived. went hard on the whole 30, got very serious. So those two things together, we then conceived. I also learned in that process that I was ovulating. We, my ovulation time was late in my phase when I thought it was earlier. So again, it was a journey of learning and exploring about my body. luckily we did end up conceiving, but you know, we,

Dr. Shannon (48:40.433)
Mm. Cutting out inflammation. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (48:53.567)
Hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (49:03.97)
It was cool. I learned a lot. I'm very thankful that it happened when it did. But that's called secondary infertility. Super fun.

Dr. Shannon (49:07.37)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (49:12.915)
Yeah, I mean that's a whole other but that's that that just speaks to the the complexities of of everything and all of this. So yeah, that sounds like that sounds like fun Rachel. I know yeah you can learn some knowledge from it too but yeah that's that's a lot.

Rachael Hutchins (49:18.37)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (49:27.46)
Yeah, it was a journey, but thankful for it because it gave me some perspective and, and, yeah, super. And I like to feel like the whole 30 helped too, because it, I hadn't been, I mean, I'm not, I wasn't like super unhealthy, but like, hadn't been strict. My body probably needed to calm some inflammation. And I think the whole 30 did that and then boost the health of my eggs. Boom. Got her done.

Dr. Shannon (49:43.818)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (49:48.169)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (49:53.653)
No, I do love that how that food played a part, you we've done Whole30 as well too. And I think it's just really, really eye opening. think it brings another level of awareness of how your body reacts to foods. But that's one thing. it's...

Rachael Hutchins (49:57.88)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (50:05.272)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (50:08.92)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (50:11.465)
Part of my brain goes back to when I had spoken about the moms I have in the office that are using Dr. Aviram's book and then got pregnant. I think another fun sidebar with that is that they've both been under care. So they've been under regular care, yes. And so I do not say that chiropractic care is going to...

Rachael Hutchins (50:26.763)
Yeah, chiropractic care.

Dr. Shannon (50:40.177)
enhance fertility, bring on a pregnancy, like those type of things. As a subluxation based chiropractor, I'm looking at how the nervous system is functioning as from a that the nervous system is controlling all the functions of the body. And it's a brain, body, body, brain connection because the body is sending, you know, information back up to the brain about what's going on with the body. So if we can make sure that that connection is optimal and that the nervous system is regulated,

Rachael Hutchins (50:54.692)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (50:58.948)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (51:09.439)
then that's another layer and component of looking at overall health and wellness as well too. So I have worked with several people that are on a fertility journey and it's going really well and it's going real not well. I'll just be honest. I worked with a ton of people and so that's where I come in and it's not like you're gonna come in and get adjusted and do I think

Rachael Hutchins (51:16.9)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (51:28.63)
Yep, same. It's a spectrum. Yeah, it's not a guarantee.

Dr. Shannon (51:39.113)
that when we can get to a regularity of care, that and when people hold their adjustments better when I can, when they are sleeping well, when we're drinking enough water, we're eating right, we're getting enough exercise and our mental state's better. Like obviously when we're taking care of those things, I feel like the adjustments hold better as well too. So it's kind of a full circle thing. So do I think that if we had some regularity to care?

Rachael Hutchins (51:56.91)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (52:06.635)
because we're constantly being bombarded with stressors and how our body is responding to those stressors is constantly changing. And so can, if we've got this nervous system checkup that's on a regular basis, can that be a bit better than some irregularity to care or can it be better than I'm gonna give it a month? You got it one month. I love when people come in with that. I get that. you got, I know I'm like, okay, okay.

Rachael Hutchins (52:06.712)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (52:25.027)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (52:31.684)
You're like, need more. I need more time. I'll take what I can get, but you need more time.

Dr. Shannon (52:36.683)
Let's do a little bit of mindset shift too.

Rachael Hutchins (52:38.936)
Some consistent, all these habits need consistency, including chiropractic care, because that's, that's health of the nervous system. so absolutely hands down, I think it, you know, we could say it anecdotally and I don't know what the numbers are, but that consistency of chiropractic care, because you're addressing that other, that other component of the body that all these other things aren't necessarily addressing. So I can see how that would absolutely improve the chances. Right. Of someone being able to conceive.

Dr. Shannon (53:06.535)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it's, you know, it's a takes two to tango thing again, too. It's not just Mom coming in. Mm-hmm. If you've got both people there, it's good. So it can help impact how nervous system functions. yeah. Mm-hmm. That was good. I think that was it.

Rachael Hutchins (53:13.24)
Yeah. Bring that in. Bring them in.

Rachael Hutchins (53:24.29)
Yeah, love it. I think it's great. This has been super fun conversation. There's going to be lots of links in the notes here because we've mentioned some books and some nutritionists and the Schaeffer protocol.

Dr. Shannon (53:36.399)
there was one other thing. Yeah, I gonna say I didn't mention the Schaeffer Protocol. Dr. Marsha Schaeffer is a chiropractor. She teaches for the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. She does their perinatal epigenetics course. took her, it's all about nutrition and I took her course. I've taken it twice when she first created it and now and the difference there. It's fascinating, but she has, it's kind of what she's seen in practice and what she's learned and the evidence that she's seen in certain

She's got a wonderful success rate with couples conceiving and conceiving naturally. But she's the one where I was talking about where she was, it's kind of like if both people aren't on board, it's not, we're starting at a deficiency, but she has a lot of good information. that is something worth checking out, if you, just one of the random things that I know. So I forgot to mention it. Yes.

Rachael Hutchins (54:12.632)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (54:21.743)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a no-go. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (54:29.208)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (54:32.674)
I love it. We're going to put that in the show notes. So people, want people to read that and learn more about that. And yeah, we'll link everything we've mentioned here because we want you to have the resources. So those will be in the show notes. And we just thank you all for listening and stay tuned. We'll have a new episode out for you here soon. Follow the show so you don't miss any updates and have a beautiful day.