0:00

Welcome to At Home with Kelly and Tiffany,

0:02

where naturally minded women gather together

0:04

as we pursue simplicity and confidence

0:07

in health alternatives, so we can

0:09

show up better in our busy lives and feel

0:11

more at home in our bodies. Join

0:13

your favorite home birth midwife duo for

0:15

conversation, candor, and community.

0:18

Hey ladies, welcome to episode 157

0:22

of at home with Kelly and Tiffany.

0:25

I am your host Kelly. I am flying

0:27

solo today with a quick episode.

0:30

These episodes we're calling quick listens. They're

0:32

just little episodes. You can hop in on,

0:34

get some good education, check out the episode,

0:37

links and description stuff. And

0:39

kind of get more information there and just simply

0:41

go about your lady life. We figure

0:43

sometimes it's just nice to hop in, give

0:46

yourself a handful of minutes and go about your life

0:48

rather than listening to us. Chatting about

0:51

random aspects of our life. So

0:53

we have a totally important topic

0:55

today. It gets a lot of kind of feedback,

0:58

attention, at least on our end, because

1:00

most care providers aren't actually

1:02

talking about it with their clients or

1:04

really aren't giving their clients a lot of information

1:07

or options. So just like

1:09

the episode title suggests,

1:11

we are talking today about

1:13

preconception testing.

1:16

So any woman in any phase of her

1:18

childbearing kind of phase of life,

1:20

right. Which can. Span from like, I don't know,

1:22

about 12 years old to maybe about

1:24

50 years old, who is sexually

1:27

active, should be prepared

1:29

for the possibility of pregnancy.

1:32

Right. We've talked so many times about what your cycle

1:34

is doing. Your body wants to get

1:36

pregnant, right. When it is firing

1:39

on all cylinders, when it is

1:41

functioning well, So even

1:43

birth control with a very high

1:45

efficacy rates can fail

1:48

right with perfect use because your body is

1:50

really desiring and longing for

1:52

that outcome. So if you're listening

1:55

here, Most likely

1:57

you're doing so because you fall

1:59

somewhere in the continuum, right.

2:01

Of wanting to be pregnant. Of

2:04

planning to be pregnant of working,

2:06

to become pregnant. Potentially

2:08

you are, that's far off for

2:10

you, but you want to be prepared. Maybe you're

2:12

deep in the thick of it right now. But

2:14

hopefully this is an episode that just reminds

2:17

you of how your body is desiring to

2:20

function and ways

2:23

that you can kind of check in on what

2:25

is actually going on with that function.

2:27

So as a baseline, really, we truly

2:30

believe that fertility

2:32

is a beautiful aspect

2:34

of womanhood, but because

2:37

of what I just mentioned, your body, always wanting to get

2:39

pregnant. It's also a responsibility,

2:41

right? And we need to steward that really

2:43

well. I feel like when I

2:45

look around in modern culture, it's

2:47

just, we get sent some really confusing

2:50

messages, right. Regarding

2:52

what a healthy respect of our female

2:55

biology really looks like. But

2:58

here on this podcast and kind of what

3:00

we're desiring to do and put out into the world,

3:02

we want to support the beauty

3:04

and just the normalcy and vitality

3:07

of this aspect of. Our

3:09

female health and really

3:11

just kind of provide some scaffolding on how to support

3:14

that process as you work towards

3:17

ideally in this situation, right? The healthiest

3:19

pregnancy possible. So

3:21

many women view preconception

3:24

as those few months that lead up to

3:26

a future pregnancy. But I

3:29

honestly would kind of, insert a bit of an

3:31

argument there that there's so

3:33

much to be gained from a

3:35

lifetime perspective of fertility,

3:38

right. For many of us that can actually

3:40

begin today, even if it's not necessarily

3:42

on your radar or in the very near future

3:45

for you looking towards

3:47

the entirety of our lady

3:49

life and thinking about where

3:51

fertility kind of plays into

3:54

that and where it falls. Into

3:56

that. So no matter where you are kind

3:58

of on that continuum of planning,

4:00

desiring, or even if you're preventing,

4:03

right. There's something ideally

4:05

here for you. So.

4:08

Obviously weren't talking about preconception, addressing

4:11

nutrient deficiency is metabolic

4:13

disease and disorders prior to pregnancy

4:16

is going to be an important aspect. Of

4:18

setting you up for healthy or

4:20

just future pregnancy and an easier time

4:22

conceiving. But it's possible to

4:25

avoid many complications

4:27

in pregnancy. We've had a ton of episodes, especially

4:29

this season about it, because we're just

4:31

really focusing on the fact

4:33

that nobody's really talking about this for

4:35

women. But it is possible to avoid many

4:37

complications in pregnancy with some

4:39

awareness, some education, a little bit

4:41

of planning. And that's kind of what we're chatting about

4:43

here. Well-woman checkup

4:46

which is just like you know, sort of like a physical

4:48

right idea. It can provide access

4:50

to and counseling on the

4:53

testing options that really are a best

4:55

fit for you, depending on which, what

4:57

provider you're going to. Right. But

4:59

here is our list for ladies

5:01

we know who are either desiring

5:04

sort of a baseline before planning

5:06

to conceive. Or who are struggling

5:09

to conceive. Right. And

5:11

anywhere else on that continuum, generally

5:13

speaking. So we have

5:15

five tests. That I'll

5:17

just go over today. In terms of what

5:20

we generally suggest in those situations.

5:23

The first step, a complete thyroid

5:25

panel. So treating fibroid dysfunction

5:28

before getting pregnant. Can

5:30

lead to a million, much

5:32

better outcomes, right? Easier time, conceiving,

5:35

less complicated pregnancy, less complicated

5:37

postpartum recovery. So lab

5:40

assessment, I feel like is the most important aspect

5:42

of this as well. It should be an entire

5:45

panel. If you are just quick,

5:47

just getting TSH tested.

5:49

That is not enough. We have an entire episode

5:51

about that. And it should be assessed

5:53

from an optimal and functional

5:55

lab range result perspective,

5:58

and not just kind of like what a lab,

6:00

similar to lab core or something like that

6:02

has deemed. What is normal,

6:04

right. And so we're looking for optimal

6:07

versus just normal, right?

6:10

We're looking for full body vitality

6:12

and health, rather than just run of the mill

6:15

stuff. The next one up is a

6:17

complete blood count. So a complete

6:19

blood count also known as a CBC. It's

6:21

going to show an accurate picture of like, what's

6:23

going on with your red blood cell function.

6:26

It can reveal prepregnancy blood infections.

6:28

It can reveal anemia.

6:31

A vast majority of women will be anemic

6:34

at some point in their lives.

6:36

And so this is a huge way to

6:38

support your body's baseline functioning

6:41

as well as just kind of feeling better

6:43

also in this season. So

6:45

those are the first two. The third up is a

6:47

comprehensive metabolic panel.

6:50

That is going to show really important

6:52

markers. For a fluid

6:54

electrolyte health liver function,

6:57

kidney function. This

6:59

is an incredibly important.

7:02

Lab range that we run

7:04

for almost all women. And especially

7:06

if you have any history of any complications

7:09

in your pregnancy. Absolutely. Get this run.

7:12

Because that can help you look forward

7:14

and look ahead in terms of

7:17

planning for a complication free pregnancy.

7:20

This is a fasting lab. And it's going to

7:22

give you so much information about

7:24

what's going on. In like those

7:26

major organ systems that absolutely

7:29

can give insight into what's going on

7:31

with your fertility. What's going on with

7:33

conception issues. What's going on. With

7:35

a potential future pregnancy health

7:38

in general. So a definitely

7:40

a vital one to get there. The

7:42

next one up hemoglobin A1C,

7:44

ultra also known as H A1C.

7:47

So that's going to show your average blood sugar

7:49

level over the past, like few

7:51

months, then the last, like two to three months or so.

7:54

And if you've ever listened. To

7:56

any of our content anywhere, you

7:58

will not be surprised to know that

8:00

we find this incredibly

8:03

important. So your blood sugar balance

8:06

is going to impact so

8:08

many other bodily functions, so

8:10

much hormone communication. What's

8:12

going on with your ovulation, your ministration,

8:14

your fertility, just in general.

8:17

So balancing this aspect,

8:20

understanding what your baseline is seeing,

8:22

if there's anything that you need to work towards, right.

8:24

Balancing that aspect, it's going to help

8:26

you. Not only feel better, but it is absolutely

8:28

going to set you up for the healthiest

8:31

pregnancy possible. So that is

8:33

another one of those that we are testing

8:35

on everybody at this point. And

8:38

the last one up is a vitamin D.

8:41

So this one is a really helpful value.

8:43

We see because most women

8:45

are deficient, right. And even though

8:47

like Tiffany are in San Diego,

8:50

very sunny throughout the here, most

8:52

women even here are deficient. And

8:55

there's a risk for kind of related

8:57

complications of vitamin

8:59

D deficiency and those

9:02

with a stronger baseline of vitamin

9:04

D with like the functional

9:06

medicine, stronger baseline,

9:09

that kind of assesses in the fifties rather

9:11

than the. Thirties, which is like what

9:13

lab Corp would say would be normal. They

9:15

have higher rates of fertility and

9:17

full-term pregnancies. So

9:19

again, a stronger baseline of vitamin D

9:22

the correlation is higher rates of fertility

9:24

and full-term pregnancies. Yes, please.

9:27

This is something that absolutely can impact

9:29

how everything kind of plays out from here. Right.

9:31

And so absolutely worth understanding what

9:34

is going on in your body. In

9:36

this particular way. And I really

9:38

do believe that understanding that particular

9:40

aspect of your health what's going on with your vitamin D

9:43

is going to impact so much from

9:46

fertility. Like we're talking about to men. Mental

9:48

health and like, far beyond that.

9:50

So those are the five pieces.

9:53

That if you have not gotten

9:55

any preconception testing and

9:57

you are considering pregnancy, you are

9:59

struggling getting pregnant. These are like really

10:01

great baseline places to

10:03

start. So. If you're

10:05

interested in any more information

10:07

about these tests or what to do

10:09

about assessing results of those tests.

10:12

Kind of what to do from here. We

10:14

have a ton of resources in the show

10:16

notes here. Like I was saying, these quick listens

10:19

are like hop in, listen to the information.

10:21

And then this is like the starting off point

10:24

for you to kind of go do your

10:26

research from here. So in

10:28

those show notes, you're going to find our functional

10:30

thyroid handbook, which is going to

10:32

include all of the lab ranges that I

10:34

was talking about how to assess

10:36

them, what to do about those results.

10:38

Especially if you are finding yourself on

10:40

the lower end or the higher end of any of

10:42

those. You will find an

10:44

iron building support protocol

10:47

in there as well. So if your results

10:49

from that complete blood count are less

10:52

than stellar, you will find some information

10:54

there. You're going to find blood sugar

10:56

balancing support. As well as

10:58

our complete preconception

11:01

and fertility handbook. And

11:03

are preparing for pregnancy checklist

11:05

and timeline for more support.

11:08

So if you do

11:10

one thing after listening to this, it

11:12

is check out our episode description,

11:14

our show notes below. Because

11:16

it is an absolute treasure trove in there

11:18

this week for more research

11:21

and more support for you. And hopefully

11:23

this is a feeling like a

11:25

really tangible place for you to start

11:28

and jump jump into more research.

11:30

Jump into more encouragement

11:33

and just confidence as you go in

11:35

to this next season. So

11:37

again, this is midwife Kelly this week flying

11:40

solo. I hope you enjoyed this

11:42

little quick listen here and we will

11:44

be back next week. With

11:46

a, another installment of

11:49

our birth story series.

11:52

We'll catch you then.