REAL LIFE: “After my miscarriage, THIS is how I healed my body and conceived again”
Nutritionist Shelley McKenzie now has a one-year-old son.
By Shelley McKenzie, Nutritionist at Freedom Wellness
My first pregnancy, I miscarried at 13 weeks pregnant.
I had always known this could be a possibility, not only because the statistics are sadly 1 in 4 women but because I also suffer from a thyroid condition called Hashimotos which can increase the chances of miscarriage.
Maybe because I almost had prepared myself for the ‘worst’, I wasn’t all that surprised. It was still devastating and extremely depleting on my body, but my husband and I were quickly able to find the positives in our situation.
The main one being, that up until falling pregnant we really didn’t even know if that was a possibility for us.
Luckily my miscarriage was managed extremely well by the hospital and no further complications arose.
So, in order to prepare my body again to conceive I started focusing largely on restoring my depleted nutrients.
After her miscarriage, Shelley says she and her husband were able to find positives in the situation.
I also pared these with foods rich in vitamin C to help increase the iron absorption. I incorporated daily bone broth powders because these are so rich in key fertility boosting nutrients such as an array of vitamins, minerals and amino acids, protein and essential fats.
I was acutely aware of the stress that my body and mind had gone through and knew this had to be a key focus in order to conceive again.
At least three nights a week I soaked in Magnesium baths with lavender oil. I drank beautiful calming teas with passionflower and chamomile herbs in them to help relax my nervous system.
I ate foods rich in Magnesium such as cacao (yep dark chocolate), cashews, figs, eggs and leafy greens. As well as foods rich in B vitamins such as almonds, avocados, sprouts and broccoli. My husband and I meditated every night even if it were only 5 for minutes before drifting off to sleep.
And I partook in no strenuous exercise. When I felt ready to move again, I went for light daily walks in the sunshine to soak up some Vitamin D, I stretched in my backyard and fully surrendered to healing and nourishing my body.
Six weeks later we fall pregnant again. We were over the moon with excitement but obviously still had our fears.
Shelley is now a proud mama to one-year-old, Van.
I look back now and am so proud of my body and all that it was able to do. However, throughout that entire pregnancy I held so much fear of miscarriage.
In all I did to heal my body to fall pregnant again I also wish I seeked professional help from a psychologist to mentally help me deal with the trauma I had been through so I could have enjoyed my next pregnancy with my son more.