Ep 198: Pregnancy Myths Busted: What’s True and What’s Not - Part 1

In this episode of the Aligned Birth Podcast, Dr. Shannon and Doula Rachael discuss various pregnancy myths, debunking common misconceptions about exercise, cravings, and dietary needs during pregnancy. They emphasize the importance of movement, clarify the truth behind cravings, and address the myth of 'eating for two.' The conversation also touches on travel during pregnancy and the impact of stress on maternal health, providing listeners with evidence-based insights and practical advice.

Takeaways

Exercise during pregnancy is beneficial and recommended.

Cravings do not necessarily indicate the baby's needs.

Eating for two is a myth; caloric needs are not doubled.

Traveling during pregnancy can be safe with precautions.

Stress does not inherently harm the baby; it's chronic stress that can be problematic.

Movement can alleviate discomfort during pregnancy.

Consult healthcare providers for personalized advice.

Enjoying food is important, but balance is key.

Hydration and stretching are crucial when traveling pregnant.

Understanding your body can help manage cravings effectively

Transcript

Aligned Birth Podcast (00:01.911)

Hello friends, you are listening to the Aligned Birth Podcast. Both of us are here today. I'm Dr. Shannon, Dula Rachel is here as well. And we are in a powerhouse recording session. So we're on session two of our powerhouse recording. So this is always fun. And what we're gonna do is talk about some pregnancy myths.

things that you might have heard that kind of like little old wives tales maybe or things that you've heard where it's like I don't know or I don't even know where some of these things got started. That would be kind of fun to know like back in the day when they got started or something but we're just gonna kind of bust some of those myths and have a little bit of fun with this today. So hi Rachel.

Rachael (00:55.378)

Hi Dr. Shannon, so good to be chatting with you. I'm very excited for this chat because I think it's super fun and it always astonishes me that like some miss how they just stick and I hear them all the time and I'm like...

Aligned Birth Podcast (01:05.354)

They're still going, yeah.

Rachael (01:08.494)

I ask myself often, where does that come from? And I never really like dive into it, but there are certainly lots of myths. And we think, you know, pregnancy is full enough of like fear and uncertainty. So we're just going to take some of the myths out there and simplify it and separate fact from fiction and have some fun with it.

Aligned Birth Podcast (01:11.841)

I know. No.

Aligned Birth Podcast (01:24.417)

that you don't need to focus on these myths. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (01:35.284)

Yeah!

Aligned Birth Podcast (01:39.902)

So our first myth, and I know I dealt with this one like firsthand, but myth number one, you can't exercise during pregnancy. I hope this one is finally being like flipped on its head a bit because it's important to exercise, but I don't know, you said you still hear it? Yeah.

Rachael (01:57.996)

I still hear it.

Rachael (02:04.794)

Mm-hmm. Or just a lot of uncertainty about what what people can do surrounding exercise.

Aligned Birth Podcast (02:11.639)

And I get it, because exercise can be very, like I run ultra marathons, so that's one form of exercise. And then there's also, I like to walk with my weighted vest, so there's like, you know, there's a big range maybe, so that's maybe where some of that comes from. But you can definitely exercise during pregnancy. it's, yeah.

Rachael (02:37.582)

It's actually recommended.

Aligned Birth Podcast (02:39.831)

Yeah, like the movement is key. It's definitely, and we've talked about this before in some other episodes, it's not the time to like start training for a triathlon. Like we're gonna be, I think that's the big thing. But this is why I love exercise like preconceptively because then we can continue some sort of modifications throughout pregnancy. But I think it's so important. I loved exercising during pregnancy.

Rachael (02:49.14)

Exactly.

Aligned Birth Podcast (03:07.639)

I mean, I did enjoy how my body changed. It got really annoying because I ran through both my pregnancies. And so yeah, like at the end, it was kind of like this like waddle jog thing, you know, but I did enjoy it. Like it was fun to move my body in this new state, in this new form, because it doesn't last very long, you know? I know.

Rachael (03:28.418)

Yeah, yeah. Now, exercising improves your circulation and mood and it reduces discomfort and it is recommended to move. So if you weren't exercising prior, is recommended to exercise like a few times a week, like 30, 45 minutes and start gentle and then progress. So start with gentle.

Aligned Birth Podcast (03:36.535)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (03:45.495)

Go ahead and start.

Aligned Birth Podcast (03:54.558)

Obviously check with your healthcare provider in your specific situation. This is yes. Yes.

Rachael (03:58.304)

Of course, if you have some other, if you have some factors that would truly...

mean you shouldn't exercise but for the vast majority of people it is highly beneficial to exercise in one way or another and if you were exercising prior to you can continue with that even if it's heavy weightlifting, running, cycling, whatever there still are some things to consider for all of those things but you can continue it so long as it continues to feel good for you right and maybe

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:09.942)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:17.879)

you

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:33.932)

Mm-hmm.

Rachael (04:34.954)

cycling becomes stationary cycling. think that is the recommendation versus like being out on the road. Walking is great, prenatal yoga, low impact strength training, all strength training really, and all of this is actually going to make your labor easier.

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:37.345)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:46.241)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:50.315)

Yeah.

Rachael (04:55.086)

because you're going to have the endurance and physical abilities to get through labor because that is a major. always compare it like, you know, that's the marathon. That's the Mount Everest. That's the, know, so you don't usually we're training for it. Like we are literally training for a major physical feat. So like being in good health and making sure you're cardiovascularly and like all these things, it's going to ultimately benefit you and actually reduce your discomfort. Like some people feel like

Aligned Birth Podcast (04:55.361)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (05:03.26)

Mm-hmm. That's what we're trading for. Mm-hmm.

Rachael (05:21.524)

Movement increases discomfort. I would just say if that's happening, you're maybe doing the wrong movements or just stick with it

Aligned Birth Podcast (05:26.517)

Right. And also being mindful of looking at specific like prenatal classes or someone that maybe has training, especially in some like modifications. If there's yoga modifications, pelvic floor PT can really help. Obviously chiropractic care can looking at like, you know, pelvic sacral balance and alignment, you know, things like that. But even checking in and having someone that's prenatal certified. I had a mom recently and I think

Rachael (05:39.66)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael (05:48.758)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (05:56.696)

I sometimes like to check in with, let's say, I'd say society in general feels more stressed than calm. And so I like to ask in some sort of capacity, like what calms you? What brings peace? What grounds you? And one mom had talked about dancing. I'm like, I need you to like take a Zumba class. And like Zumba with your baby, like that was, and she loved it. And she didn't do it all the time, but like getting that movement back.

Rachael (06:05.239)

Hmm.

Rachael (06:14.22)

Mm-hmm.

Rachael (06:18.178)

Yes

Aligned Birth Podcast (06:26.037)

Like, so it's kind of, sometimes you need someone else to ask you, like, to get you out of your thinking brain and be like, what do you like to do? Okay, what could it look like now? Like, you know, so I thought that was fun.

Rachael (06:30.56)

What do you enjoy doing? Yes.

I agree because I think when it comes to physical movements, some people kind of get paralyzed with like, especially if they haven't been into something, but asking, starting with doing what you enjoy, like start there. And then the more you do, the more you do and then just start small and increase it. But knowing that it is a myth. If you hear someone telling you, you can't exercise.

Aligned Birth Podcast (06:39.699)

huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, do exercise. I loved lifting weights at the gym and getting crazy looks from the old dudes there. I love that. That's like one of my favorite things. Except when people would not re-rack their weights. Then that really got on my nerves when I was having to do extra stuff. But I loved it. So move your body, move your body.

Rachael (07:06.413)

Yeah.

Rachael (07:14.744)

funny. Good. Okay.

Aligned Birth Podcast (07:20.565)

Let's see, next, next myth, cravings means the baby wants something specific. I do not know that there is any truth to that. I know I craved certain things, but I do not think that there was any predictive factor, especially towards, so both of mine, I did not find out the gender.

when I was pregnant, which was super fun, because I had a lot of old wives tales of people wanting to guess. so I don't know if there's one that we need to talk about later, one was in the gender aspect, it was kind of like if you're craving like sweet versus sour, I felt like there was one. I did crave like sour. I don't know about you, if you could. I wanted like lemonade. I remember like,

Rachael (08:13.964)

was orange juice. I was a crazy person about orange juice and pickles. Why was like I was cliche with pickles.

Aligned Birth Podcast (08:16.855)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The amount of pickled beets, I know that's random, but the amount of pickled beets I ate when I was pregnant with my first, was working, God, this is like one of my favorite stories. And people still talk to me about it. So when I was back in another life, I worked at the CDC in Atlanta. And so my branch chief, he was my pickle beat hookup. Like I would bring an empty jar.

and he would fill it up with those bright pink pickled beets. And everybody would laugh and make fun of me. mean, I got my pickled beets from Dr. Harry Hannon. And even my CDC friends still now, they talk about, we all thought he was gonna come out bright pink, know, looking like a little pickled beet. I probably would have made, don't think, I can't remember if, no, Harry wasn't there with my second pregnancy. So I missed my pickled beet hook. I probably would have still had pickled beets with my second.

Rachael (09:13.038)

Did you crave it similarly?

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:17.495)

With that second pregnancy? No, but I liked, I still wanted the sour, that real pucker that hits the salivary glands. Not that pickled beets make that, I don't know. They're not, don't think, but anyway, it's pickled beets, so.

Rachael (09:18.752)

Yeah, did you have the same?

Rachael (09:23.917)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. So that...

Rachael (09:33.826)

That was, I was sour too and I had both boys. So again, people is, this is, this is, but I was pickles. I was pickles and, orange juice. Like the joke we still talk about to this day is that if the orange juice container was half full or half empty, whatever, that it would be like Jay on your way home from work.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:36.927)

Okay, well maybe.

Pickles.

Okay.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:54.241)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (09:58.869)

You need to get some more. We're running low! Emergency!

Rachael (10:04.15)

Net I never wanted to run out of orange juice. It gave me anxiety But I and I don't drink orange like I still like orange juice, but I do not it's not in our house I do not drink it. Would wake up in the middle of the night and go chug a glass of orange juice. So Chris, so cravings are real we know I mean Cravings are real. They don't predict anything. So they don't predict gender

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:08.489)

Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:17.023)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't I don't do I haven't eaten pickled beets in a long time.

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:26.785)

Cravings are real, but they don't predict gender stuff. Yeah.

Rachael (10:33.006)

nutritional needs necessarily yeah it's more hormonal and psychological than it is anything else but yeah I mean I love hearing about people's cravings and I have been postpartum too like for the immediate postpartum like mine was I was insane with watermelon like insane and cranberry ginger ale

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:35.319)

We need like a wider study on...

Aligned Birth Podcast (10:51.574)

Rachael (11:02.702)

You

Aligned Birth Podcast (11:04.979)

anything postpartum. That's so funny. I, it's always tough too, because I felt like I really liked, like Kraft mac and cheese, like, you know, like the stuff that's like not good for you? Yeah. And like my belly'd be so big and I would like, my cat would be sitting like on one side of my belly and then I would use it as like a table and then I would eat and I would eat the whole thing. Like I was not sharing and it was, and I have this big bowl, like it's

Rachael (11:18.798)

That's like first trimester stuff, yeah.

Rachael (11:25.834)

You

Aligned Birth Podcast (11:33.918)

It's like, and I still have that bowl and it's like, it's not supposed to be for a single serving. It's supposed to be a serving bowl. I would, and you're kind of like, man, I know I'm not supposed to be eating this unhealthy stuff. I would also do a plate of, and I would put five Chips Ahoy cookies on there and I would put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then be warm cookies and I would have that.

Rachael (11:38.678)

An entire serving. Or an entire box.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:02.835)

It's all the bad stuff, like, yeah. Maybe my pickle beat's like, canceling it out.

Rachael (12:06.498)

Well, that does lead in, that does lead into our next myth, which is about.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:11.991)

Yeah, you don't need to do that. You gotta do it. Don't eat for two! This is our next myth.

Rachael (12:15.402)

eating well how I hear this all the time is that so many things are I did too actually I stopped counting at 40 I don't actually know I stopped and with my second was home birth and they don't weigh you I didn't get weight I was weighing myself at home and then so when I surpassed my husband's weight

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:20.181)

I did gain 40 pounds with both pregnancies. I gained 40. There you go. We don't know.

Yeah. that's amazing.

Yeah. And what you got to a certain point, you're like, we don't need this anymore.

Rachael (12:43.018)

And I was around 40 pounds. I was like, I'm good. I don't actually need to know anymore. But the a lot of eating habits are justified by the phrase, I'm eating for two. Or if someone tells you good, well intended family members who are giving you double servings that you got to eat for two, you know, I think a lot of there's a generation more like my mom's age, like you got to eat.

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:47.091)

I'm

Aligned Birth Podcast (12:55.093)

Yeah.

You need for two. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:06.135)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:10.709)

Yes.

Rachael (13:11.744)

You need they're always worried about me not eating enough. I mean plenty So there are people telling you that you need to eat for two or you you saying that you're eating for two It's a myth. It's I think it's a fun-loving myth You don't need to double your calories Yeah, it's actually a pretty small amount that they say you quote-unquote need And i'm saying this but I did not adhere to this but you know

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:15.745)

I'm eating plenty here. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:22.987)

Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:28.231)

No, that's the thing. Yeah, we don't eat a total calories.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:36.235)

Yeah. I know it's tough.

Rachael (13:41.166)

400 calories a day extra. I'm like, that's like half.

Aligned Birth Podcast (13:44.083)

Mm-hmm. That was just in my, that was in my Chips Ahoy! serving. Like that doesn't... Yeah. yeah.

Rachael (13:51.15)

Okay, fair, but But there is correlation to you know health and nutrition For how your pregnancy unfolds and how your birth unfolds so taking how you eat the things you consume seriously But also balance is everything definitely yourself. Enjoy the treats you know, but Don't let it get out of control with this in mind that you're eating for two

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:07.734)

Yeah.

Don't let it get out of control. Yeah. Right. Eating for two.

Rachael (14:17.046)

And I'll share my late pregnancy sweet because you went to sweets. You mentioned your chips ahoy. And I, it was more with Marshall, my second, because I went to 42 weeks. And I think around week 38, I started eating ice cream with warm peanut butter.

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:22.003)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael (14:39.806)

every night so I would warm the peanut butter. I heated up the peanut butter in the bottom of the bowl first, first, and then I would scoop the ice cream in so that it would kind of melt a little bit and maybe some dark chocolate chips in there. Shannon when I say every night

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:41.244)

Did you like heat up the peanut butter?

Aligned Birth Podcast (14:47.541)

Okay, okay.

It would start to like melt. Yeah.

Maybe.

Rachael (15:02.784)

I mean every night. So do as I say, not as I do. It was amazing. Like I can literally remember how much I and that no one could have told me to stop.

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:06.455)

That's amazing. So those things, yeah, I know. That sounds really good.

Aligned Birth Podcast (15:15.671)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's unreasonable. That's funny. You know, now that I'm thinking about it with with postpartum with Dylan, my second, I honored that time a lot better than I did first time around. I, and I actually took like, well, I was able to take like the 12 weeks off. So I remember Ethan would be in school.

or like his little daycare and my husband would be on shift and just be me and Dylan. And that's when I started like my giant, like I really liked my giant salads that I still do, but I would also pair it with dark chocolate and then I would watch Ellen. That's when, and that was my postpartum craving, I believe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot about that. That's when it started. Yeah, that was.

Rachael (15:59.032)

Like that's what you had to have. Well to me that feels okay. I think that's good balance.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:06.327)

really like to balance things with, yeah. Salad and chocolate. Yeah, it was the same bowl that I ate my macaroni and cheese in. I'm not lying, it the same bowl. I did a salad. Oh, yeah, I still have that bowl.

Rachael (16:08.846)

I love a big salad in a big bowl all chopped up. Hey, I think that's a good shift. You didn't replace it with ice cream. You replaced it with greens. I think that's a good thing.

Alright, so did you have heartburn with either of yours?

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:30.355)

I did not. I did not. I'm not remembering. But I do remember hearing, Harvard means you're gonna have a hairy baby. Yeah, they're gonna have lots of hair. Uh-huh. still.

Rachael (16:33.314)

Were you told that heartburn means they have a lot of hair?

Rachael (16:41.486)

Everyone says it everywhere. Like baby comes out in the birthing space, they got a lot of hair and there's one person in the room who's always like, did you have heartburn? I'm like, Oh, I think a lot of people in pregnancy just have heartburn because your stomach has pushed up into your diaphragm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:49.527)

Burn it.

Aligned Birth Podcast (16:53.719)

Yeah.

There's a lot of, yeah, no, I, yeah, I've not, unless, sometimes I joke in the office though, cause I'll kind of go over, I'm like, all right, well, are we making sure we're not laying down right after eating? Are we being mindful of spicy foods? You know, those types of things. And then all else fails, I'm like, well, no, you're just having a hairy baby now. Yeah.

Rachael (17:13.528)

There are things to help reduce it. Yeah, sure.

Rachael (17:20.302)

Right? Well, if we can't explain it, saying it's because they have a lot of hair feels like a fun thing to do. Because if you're miserable, you might as well laugh a little bit. Or think about that your baby has this hair, you know, I think people love to say, it has a little stinker before they were even born. But the reality is, this heartburn is linked more to hormones and the physical changes, like your stomach getting pushed up, than the hair of the baby.

Aligned Birth Podcast (17:26.121)

Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. Uh-huh.

Aligned Birth Podcast (17:37.075)

Yeah, causing problems. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (17:42.592)

Yeah.

I look at it to, yeah, not the, yeah, no, I don't necessarily think of it as the hairy baby, but, and sometimes to thoracic adjustments because nerve supply to stomach and esophagus and the sphincters there as far as heartburn, the nerve supply is coming from the thoracic spine. And so sometimes too, if we've got overactive.

sympathetic nervous system because that's also in that thoracic spine. So I mean just a fun little nugget sometimes we do specific thoracic adjustments or staying away from that area to see if we can bring a little bit more balance and calm and see how that helps or even like some diaphragm releases because if it's really really tight in that upper diaphragmatic area then there's not a lot of room but there's also sometimes it just happens.

Rachael (18:37.198)

It is what it is. Sometimes it's just there and it's not going away. But I love, you can always try things like that, like chiropractic care to help relieve it if you are struggling with it. Absolutely. That's it. That's super cool to know.

Aligned Birth Podcast (18:44.095)

Yeah, yeah, because I have seen that. I do have lots of moms that travel during pregnancy, but sometimes that is definitely a myth. Or I hear from patients like you're not supposed to fly or travel, and that's very, it's very patient specific, I think, and trimester specific as well too.

Because I know I've got several moms where they'd like, well, doctors don't want me traveling this far, this late in the game. Yeah, exactly. What is the why?

Rachael (19:13.708)

But the why, do you know the why?

It's more so that they're like, you don't want to have your baby on a plane and you don't want to do like, probably don't want to have your baby away from home. So if you're inside the window of like, have a probability of delivering, that's more the why, not because it's unsafe unless you have risk factors, right? Like we have a client right now that actually has risk factors that she was supposed to fly somewhere and they've said no, but there's, there's risk back. There's other things happening. Um, but.

Aligned Birth Podcast (19:21.739)

Exactly.

Aligned Birth Podcast (19:25.949)

Somewhere else. Yes, so that's where there's like that time specific

Aligned Birth Podcast (19:35.145)

and safe. Exactly.

Aligned Birth Podcast (19:42.721)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. But in general. Mm-hmm.

Rachael (19:48.28)

Flying is not dangerous and if you have to fly it 38 weeks and you really need to, it's not that it's dangerous. It's just that you're inside the window of delivering, especially so low-risk pregnancies can usually travel safely. It's always great to check with your provider. We don't know all your ins and outs of your situation, but generally speaking, and if you're flying, and this is good for everybody who flies, but hydration, stretching, compression socks, I'm...

Aligned Birth Podcast (19:55.585)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aligned Birth Podcast (20:06.046)

Right.

Aligned Birth Podcast (20:14.807)

yeah. Yep, yep, yep.

Rachael (20:17.176)

to the age and stage of life where I use compression socks at birth and when I fly and I'm not pregnant, but compression socks can really help with circulation. But getting up and taking breaks, it's like reduces swelling, yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (20:21.783)

That's the biggest thing I try to recommend like if we do like I've had some moms travel for fall break You know and are traveling to Florida from where we are and things like that It's not necessarily like it's a terrible car ride. We can make it you know one stop to get gas one bathroom thing, but

you might, if you're drinking as much water as you need to be drinking, you're probably going to be going to the bathroom a lot more often. So that's where my issue comes in. like, I don't want us to like not drink as much water, risk some dehydration at that point in pregnancy as well too. So it's just being a little bit more flexible in the travel time. It might take a little bit longer.

Rachael (20:49.216)

as you

Rachael (21:09.494)

Yeah, allow more time. Take a couple more extra breaks, like you said, and getting taken the break to go to the bathroom, like you're going to get up and walk. You can stretch, change positions and all of that's going to help your comfort and your circulation and keep you in a good place. So yeah, definitely add, be more flexible, like you said, and then be willing to maybe make a couple extra stops or get up and walk around more often.

Aligned Birth Podcast (21:13.463)

and get used to it. Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (21:32.607)

and get used to it because once baby arrives, you'll never be on a quick trip. I'm just kidding. You'll never get anywhere on time. No.

Rachael (21:42.25)

We are finally to the point now where we can like have one stop on like a six hour car drive car ride and we can really take long plane rides and not worry. I mean I used to not want to go further than like three hour driving radius because it felt so hard with a newborn or a baby then a toddler all those stages were so hard. Yeah yeah and now I'm like we can actually it says five and half hours we can actually get there in like six.

Aligned Birth Podcast (21:45.808)

yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:00.024)

Because it was yeah, three hours is actually six hours, you know, it's like, my god, I can't. Yeah, no, I know. That's a real thing. It's really gonna be I know, I know. It is nice. It does happen.

Rachael (22:10.126)

It's nice. But and now we're now instead of stopping for the kids, we're stopping because I have to pee.

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:16.343)

We have to be I love it Okay, that was travel What do we have yeah, I don't know how much I've heard this one cold weather Will make the baby sick

Rachael (22:22.574)

that's fun. Okay, what else do we have?

Rachael (22:41.73)

Cold weather doesn't make anyone sick. It's a comp all the time. Don't go out without a jacket. You're going to get a cold.

Aligned Birth Podcast (22:43.441)

No. Yeah. Don't go there. There's also the wet hair. Don't go out in the cold with wet hair. I don't think that's a thing. I don't know where that started. I feel like that's like a our grandparents type of thing. It seems like, I don't know. Back when probably a lot of people did die in the cold, not because like there's other factors and things.

Rachael (22:55.127)

No.

Rachael (23:00.436)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now.

Rachael (23:08.99)

Other factors at play. But yeah, the cold weather is not going to make your baby sick. Dress them how you are dressed with like one extra layer. Okay, we also have you must avoid all spicy food.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:12.607)

Other things, yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:19.126)

Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:27.017)

Mm-hmm. I'm It's I mean if it's causing Intense reflux. I mean that makes sense to be like and sometimes it's more of like a acidic food it may be more acidic than like spicy, but you don't have to avoid Spicy foods. Yeah Yeah

Rachael (23:32.833)

Right.

Rachael (23:44.236)

Nope, there's no downsides to spicy food. say it's actually good so long as you can tolerate it. The next one is stressful harm your baby.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:50.944)

Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (23:55.532)

We could do a whole episode on this. We were talking about doing one and Rachel's like, this is really deep and this is gonna take a lot of work. But in general, no.

Rachael (24:07.53)

No. Chronic stress can lead to preterm labor and other issues, but generally speaking, day-to-day stress is not going to harm your baby.

Aligned Birth Podcast (24:18.623)

Mm-hmm, because you got to think too there's there's something called eustress e-u-s-t-r-e-s-s and there's like a good amount That's how your muscles grow with stress. So it's kind of if you're looking at it like that is like a Little bit of exercise is stressful, right? So it's it's kind of the type of stress if we're living in that chronic space That's when it's like, okay, what kind of movement can you do? You know those type of things? That's a whole other I know we'll talk about that but don't

Rachael (24:33.517)

Right.

Rachael (24:39.596)

Yeah, fight or flight is what we want to avoid.

Aligned Birth Podcast (24:44.279)

I guess I relate that back to the exercise because sometimes too maybe it's like you don't want We don't want the heart rate too high we don't want the breathing like there's some aspects of that But there's that level of tension maybe or just that you know that stress level There's healthy ranges for it and being able to yeah manage it so I know these are some fun little

Rachael (25:05.742)

Yeah, stress is healthy.

Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (25:13.943)

Fun little myths. Should we save our other ones? Because we have more. But should we save them for another fun episode? I feel like we should. I don't know.

Rachael (25:24.014)

Sure. What was your favorite myth that we busted today?

Aligned Birth Podcast (25:33.08)

You should eat for two probably because that... Darn it. Because it's real life, I mean, I feel like both Rachel and I are fairly healthy individuals and we like to talk about health and being healthy and then there's also some real life where we like warm peanut butter and some ice cream. Yeah. Yeah.

Rachael (25:35.342)

Yeah, the cravings one and the eating for two was good. I know.

Rachael (25:53.486)

Well, and just knowing where the cravings are coming from, it's so cool to learn about your body, like the hormonal changes and the physical changes and the psychological changes that impact that versus like you think your baby is telling you to eat more because they're not.

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:01.312)

Yeah.

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:07.319)

I think my baby was telling me. Just kidding. Yeah, no, I think that might be mine. What about you?

Rachael (26:17.738)

Yeah, I the cravings like well the cravings one because it took me back to memory lane with my pregnancies. For sure those are those are good and I hear them we hear them a lot. So yeah we'll have more that we'll share another time keep it keep it fresh. I love this was fun and of course always you know we've said it a few times but

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:22.325)

Mm-hmm

Aligned Birth Podcast (26:30.987)

Yeah.

I know, we have some other little fun ones. I know.

Rachael (26:43.918)

Everyone's an individual. Take into consideration your unique situation and history and needs and chat with your provider. If you have any questions, of course, just get the information from a trusted source. You know, if you're making decisions or continuing to believe something, if you question it, just seek out that trusted source to confirm it. And yeah, if anyone has any funness they want to share with us, send them our way.

Aligned Birth Podcast (27:09.474)

Yeah.