Omg! My third trimester kicked my ass! I was not ready for it at all. Honestly it's taken me this long to get back to any sense of normalcy and my baby is 15 ( She was 7 months when I started writing this) months already. Mamas going through your last trimester in the end of summer heat you are true warriors and you have my undying respect, love, and admiration. That is seriously hard!
If you are looking for essential oils to help with the first trimester, click here.
Here’s the thing. During my first pregnancy I was not into essential oils. I was barely out of high school and had no idea who I was yet as a person. I did know at that point that I wasn’t a fan of doctors, hospital or medication though- which is part of the reason why I didn’t find out I was pregnant until I was way into my second trimester and getting really sick. But this time around I am older, and I have grown into who I am. I know that I enjoy a natural approach to medicine and that essential oils are something I have been working with specifically for 5, almost 6 years now for myself, my family, and those around me. What I hadn’t done thus far was learn about essential oils for during pregnancy, and this was a daunting aspect for me since I found out very quickly that my first OBGYN wasn’t going to be any help and that I was now in a situation where I was going to need medication and I had no one to help point me in the right direction. My husband and I had been struggling for the past 4 years with fertility, and conceiving, and unfortunately went through the grief of a few miscarriages, but things finally took a turn for the better, and I am currently 32 weeks today!
If you are looking for essential oils that can help increase your fertility, click here.
**Before I get started letting you all know what I took, let me start with a quick disclosure notice, because essential oils in general, and the products I am about to mention are not FDA regulated. So, let me confirm that I am not a doctor, or a chemist, or a prenatal specialist of any kind. No one is paying me to write what I am writing, and none of these facts have been checked by the FDA. What I will do is provide links to articles and additional material so that you can do your own research. The information given in this post is not meant to take the place of doctor treatment or recommendations and I always recommend that you ask your doctor before trying anything new. Essential oils, just like many other things can interfere with medications and treatments and should not be used without your doctors’ consent.**
STEP 1: The first thing I did was make sure that what I was using was legit. – Most therapeutic or essential oils out there are total BS because essential oils do not fall into a category that is FDA regulated. So, I did my research and was pleased to find that not only were the oils I was using as pure as pure could get... but that was only step 1. I do want to mention for those of you reading this that you will see me mention using some of these essential oils internally and depending on what companies you use this is probably not a possibility. If you are interested in using the same company and products as are listed throughout this blog, I can help you with a free consultation; I’ll leave my contact at the bottom of this post.
Another thing I did was to find myself a midwife who work in a practice in a hospital who was familiar with doterra essential oils and was comfortable assisting me from a medical standpoint.
Step 2 was to find out what I absolutely could not take, and the list is quite long and is not the same on every site. I played it really safe only using things when absolutely necessary and even then I didn’t use anything without talking to my doctor and midwife first. Here is a list I have compiled of oils that shouldn’t be used during the third trimester:
Peppermint- this is only for those of you who plan to breast feed. Peppermint has the ability to deplete or inhibit milk supply so best to avoid it if possible.
Clary Sage (and blends containing it- clary calm) or sage- up until you are in labor you dont want to use clary sage since it can induce labor. If you are thinking of using clary sage to induce labor, please check with your midwife or dr first.
Also when your close to your due date you may want to avoid large amounts blood thinning oils such as:
Yarrow
Birch Cinnamon
Wintergreen
Birch
Sage
Clary Sage
Peppermint(if your planning on breastfeeding)
Now let's get to the good stuff! What did I use during my third trimester, and why!?
First off, if you've read any of my other pregnancy blogs you know I took my LLV. So if you've already heard me talk about it a million times please feel free to skip ahead, but for those who haven't the LLV is about to ROCK YOUR WORLD!!!
Seriously. I swear by this stuff. Basically it's a 3 part multi-vitamin that targets 3 areas of your body: your brain, your gut, your cells. Let me explain:
LLV: LLV stands for Life Long Vitality which is a 3-part multi-vitamin. Personally, I am not a fan of prenatal vitamins because of the size of them and the fact that you have to take them with food (sometimes I don’t have an appetite first thing in the morning, but I still need to take my vitamins before I leave the house). The LLV has a “tummy tamer” blend in all three parts which allows you to be able to take them without food. I also liked this because it came as a vegan option, and although I am not a vegan most baby books will tell you to try to get as much of your nutrition from raw plants, so this seemed like the perfect fit for me. Now I was taking these before I was pregnant so by the time I was pregnant I was taking the full dose which is 2 of each vitamin 2 times a day. If you are looking to try a new multivitamin, I suggest starting at a ½ dose and working you way up because it can be a lot al at once.
Part1- Vegan Microplex MVZ: This formula includes a balanced blend of essential antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E, and an energy complex of B vitamins presented in a patented glycoprotein matrix. It also contains chelated minerals including calcium, magnesium, and zinc for optimal bone and metabolic health, and is encapsulated using sodium lauryl sulfate-free vegetable capsules
Part 2- Alpha CRS+: This is a proprietary formula combining potent levels of natural botanical extracts that support healthy cell function with important metabolic factors of cellular energy. It is to be used as a comprehensive dietary supplement foundation for a lifetime of vitality and wellness.
Part 3- vEO Mega: This is a revolutionary, 100 percent vegetarian-friendly formula blending CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade essential oils with natural, plant-sourced essential fatty acids. -SIDE NOTE- during this trimester I actually took 3 of these in the morning and 3 at night because of the extra Omegas needed during that part of babys brain development.
* Vegan Microplex MVZ does include Folate, but I did take an additional Folic Acid supplement
I also used a few other supplements during this trimester.
Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex- I had some of the worst hip pain during pregnancy like to the point of not being able to walk at all at times. This little vitamin which I took 2 of every morning helped keep me on my feet throughout my pregnancy. Now I took the full dose in the morning because these have green tea in them because I am super sensitive to caffeine and pregnant mamas know how difficult it is to get sleep during those last few months so I was not about to add to that struggle.
Mito2Max- being pregnant is exhausting and sometimes you cant be that exhausted especially if you have other kids so for me I took Mito2Max. Being that I was getting caffeine in my DeepBlue I didnt want to drink any caffeine so I needed to find alternative forms of energy: enter B vitamins. Mito2Max is full of B vitamins to help you wake up and stay active throughout the day without any crashing or jitters.
Copaiba - I love love love copaiba essential oil, but with everything I was taking and using during pregnancy it was easiest for me to include the copaiba softgels with my night time vitamins. This bad boy does so much from boosting your immunity to relieving stress, to reducing inflammation and so much more. I used it nightly to reduce my stress to help me sleep as well as to help give the DeepBlue I took in the morning a little boost through the night.
Womens Bone Complex - I was highly anemic during pregnancy to the point of popping iron pills like candy all throughout the day and never increasing my iron levels. One of the interesting things I found out was that the calcium supplements I was taking were actually hindering my bodies ability to process the iron I was taking so I switched from a straight calcium vitamin to the women bone complex which adds some many other vital nutrients help help keep your bones strong and healthy in addition to calcium which aloud for strong bones, less calcium in my body and more iron to be processed in my body.
Iron - as I mentioned... super anemic!!! I was taking so much iron. Now everyone is different so I'm not going to talk about how much I took (honestly I thought I was too much) what I will do is tell you some of the things I learned. 1. Iron is super harsh on your tummy, so if you are taking it regularly or in high doses consider using something like orange essential oil applied to your belly to help sooth your stomach after taking a beating from iron (this is actually where the spinach and mandarin orange salad idea came from). 2. Iron isn't always absorbed orally. For some people taking iron through foods or vitamins isn't going to do the trick, in which case asking your Dr. about an IV dose is an option that may work better for you.
Folic acid - who doesn't know about folic acid? If you are pregnant you should be taking folic acid. It helps your babys' brain grow and develop especially during the first few weeks of pregnancy, but it should be used throughout all of pregnancy. Because I was not using a "prenatal" vitamin I took a little extra on the side, but keep in mind that if you are taking LLV there is a form of folic acid in the vitamin already- also fun fact side note is that in men folic acid can help increase fertility
It's not a supplement, but I also made myself some vegan collagen gummies to help with skin elasticity here's the gelatin powder I used.
Essential oils
Immortelle blend: for skin elasticity
Lavender: sleep aid
Chamomile: sleep aid
Cedarwood: sleep aid
Serenity blend: sleep aid
Neroli: this floral oil helps reduce stretch marks, dark spots and scared tissue.
Baby body butter:
1/2 cup cocoa butter
1/2 cup Shea butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
Melt, mix (whip if possible), and let cool some.
1 T vitamin E oil or rosebud oil
20 drops melaleuca
20 drops lavender
20 drops frankincense
Mix and store a room temp
This stuff makes your skin feel A-MAZING! unless it's the middle of summer - like it was for me- in which case you end up sweating a lot and just rolling around in a mixture of sweat and oils that feels super slimy. So this is great for every season except summer.
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