Motherhood – Page 4 – NutriFoody Wholly Holism

Prepartum Depression and Postpartum Depression

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

Prepartum and Postpartum Depression

This blog post is for all my mama’s out there and mama’s to be. Let’s get real and let us talk about postpartum depression but only not postpartum but prepartum depression which is something I experienced the first few months of my pregnancy.

It is said that the cause for postpartum depression is unknown but can be linked to rise and drop in hormone levels after giving birth. After a woman gives birth they given six weeks before coming back for their first postpartum checkup. In my opinion that first visit just goes by really fast and because postpartum depression is such a big topic of discussion in motherhood and pregnancy one screening for postpartum depression is not enough. Thats exactly how it went for me and several mama’s out there. During your six week check up you are given a questionnaire to fill basically asking you questions in relation to how you are feeling at that time. If you score above a certain number on that questionnaire it may mean you might have postpartum depression.

After my six week visit everything was good and my doctor said to come back in a year. I was thinking to myself a year? Thats it? That is all? This is where I feel things go wrong screening for postpartum depression should not just be after the first six weeks but should continue throughout that first year of being postpartum.

As for my experience with prepartum depression which I am not sure is really a term but that’s what I would call it, I experienced this between my 2nd to 4th month pregnancy. I just remember feeling really down and like I didn’t feel like myself, I didn’t want to get out of bed. Throughout most of my pregnancy I did feel very sick and was nauseated and dry heaving almost everyday so some of those things could have played a factor to making me feel more depressed but it just a different feeling that I never felt before.

It is very important that we know the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression which are:

Depressed mood or severe mood swings
Excessive crying
Difficulty bonding with your baby
Withdrawing from family and friends
Loss of appetite or eating much more than usual
Inability to sleep (insomnia) or sleeping too much
Overwhelming fatigue or loss of energy
Reduced interest and pleasure in activities you used to enjoy
Intense irritability and anger
Fear that you’re not a good mother
Hopelessness

If you feel that you may be exhibiting any signs of postpartum depression please reach out to your primary care provider

Written By: Vanessa J

Check Out My Youtube Video on Postpartum Depression

Nutrition For Endometriosis

Leave a comment

In today’s blog we are closing out our final topics that were specific to women, for the month of March and this post is going to be about Endometriosis. Now , I’m pretty sure many of you out there may already know what Endometriosis is and there are many that don’t.

If you have not heard about it before, endometriosis is a disorder that affects the female reproductive system. This disorder specifically affects the uterus. The uterus is the area in which when pregnancy occurs the baby grows while inside the embryo sac. The uterus also sheds every month during to release an egg and that is why we have bleeding and have our menstrual cycle.

The tissue that lines the uterus is called “endometrium”. What happens in endometriosis is that the endometrium tissue starts to grow outside of the uterus. The ovaries, fallopian tubes, and tissue in the pelvis can all be involved because the tissue growth can spread.

This is a condition that can be very painful for the women that do have it especially during the time of their monthly menstrual cycle that tissue becomes inflamed due to all the hormones that are being released.

The reason why I wanted to talk about nutrition for endometriosis is because Tia Mowry ( Twin from Sister Sister) has advocated for endometriosis because she has had it for many years and faced struggles with getting pregnant due to endometriosis. She also had to have multiple surgeries to removed the tissue that was growing outside of her uterus even though it would come back. She has advocated that changing her nutrition and diet is what helped her to not only get pregnant but manage her symptoms.

What she focused on was removing foods from her diet that triggered inflammation because it would cause the pain to be worse. She removed processed foods from her diet and a lot of dairy from her diet because dairy causes inflammation in the body. Eating more fruits, and vegetables, and fresh foods was a key to managing her symptoms.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog post and if any have questions about endometriosis or changing your diet please talk to your Primary Care Provider or a Registered Dietitian.

It’s ok to RESET

Leave a comment

Hey everyone, Happy new month, Happy April! . Can you believe that it is already a new month. This year so far is going by so fast. Sometimes just as time goes by fast , we also feel the need to go just as fast as time is going in our daily lives. When we have a goal in mind that we want to accomplish we want to keep going and going. I wrote this blog post to remind you that I see all your hard work but it is also OK to give yourself a break because you deserve it.

When I started this blog and my Instagram page back in 2016/2017 I wouldn’t say I was super consistent but I did post from time to time to make sure I was engaging with my audience and keeping up with giving them the latest tips to help with acid reflux . At one point there were moments when I would not post for a month or two and my Instagram page continued to grow which I was so shocked to see.

After taking a break from my blog for almost a year and a half after I had my son, I decided at the end of 2020 that I was ready to make a comeback and start working hard again and I did just that. I managed between three platforms Instagram, YouTube, and WordPress. I would stay up all night to get my videos done, blog posts done, and content creation done sometimes until 4 am! . Between the months of December and February I was on a high working non stop until finally in March I crashed and burned and needed a break. It is important that we learn to give ourselves the break we deserve and give ourselves self care. After having my son I never really thought much about self care but now a year and a half later having an active 1 year old, trying to get work done, focus on my marriage, and get through this pandemic I realize how important it is to give ourselves that mental break.

I hope this blog helped just a little to realize it’s ok to relax, regroup, recharge, and reset.

Planning A Party During COVID-19

October 5, 2020April 14, 2021Leave a comment

DIY caketopper using cardstock paper designed using phonto app on android and iphone

My husband and I had the special task of planning out a special day. My son’s first birthday party! The challenge was how were we going to do it in compliance with all the Guidelines for COVID 19.

The good thing was that we had planned to have it outdoors at a park so that was perfect for social distancing, which we visited before hand so we could know how much space we were working with. We couldn’t actually reserve any spaces so we just had to hope that the section we wanted wouldn’t be taken the day of the party ( which it wasn’t thank goodness!)

All DIY

We decided on a DIY babyfirst themed party because my son loves babyfirst tv. We didn’t want to have to spend such a large amount of money so we decided to do things ourselves. Supplies was pretty simple because most things we already had on hand such as crayons , markers, and pencils. Other supplies we needed were canvas holders, canvas, black printer ink, and color ink. Ballons , food trays, cupcake holders, hand sanitizer, napkins, paper towels, and cardstock paper. We also got banner paper to create our own banner. We went to stores micheals crafting , dollar tree, and amazon online for supplies.

We wanted to keep things pretty much contact less so there was too much touching going on and everyone had the option to take their food tray home or their cupcakes home. We also reserved a table and set up a handwashing station so that everyone was able to wash their hands. For this we used hand sanitizer , hand washing soap and a spray bottle filled with water to wash off the soap and paper towels.

For the desserts I made the cupcakes myself and was able to put each cupcake in a cupcake holder so that they were not left out in the open. We pretty much kept the cake covered until it was time to cut the cake.

For food we kept it simple and only had six dishes rice and beans, chicken party wings , fried chicken, mac and cheese, fried fish, and salad which my family was able to help me prepare. As for drinks they were served as is we did not have cups to minimize contact and touching.

All in all the party turned out great and everyone was able to social distance which was a relief for me. We had the right number of people and were able to carry out the party safely.

Below I will share links for items that I used ( these links are affiliate links )

Stay safe everyone!

Canvas Pack on Amazon

Cupcake Holders

Balloon Stand

Food Trays ( I got mine from family dollar but saw something similar on amazon)

Balloon Stand Center Piece

Acid Re-flux Update

Leave a comment

Image Source: Google Search / Stocklib.com

Hey guys how are you all doing? I hope you are doing well, staying safe, and healthy during these times.

I just wanted to update on my acid re-flux. To start I can say it has almost been a full year since I have taken any acid re-flux medication. I stopped taking prilosec when I found out I was pregnant and even after giving birth last October I never continued with prilosec and zantac was being pulled off shelves due to that fact that it was found it could cause cancer.
Even though I haven’t been on any medications does not my re-flux has resolved. I still get re-flux symptoms but they have been stable and mild. If you have acid re-flux it is important to make sure that you don’t sweep it under the rug. That’s what I did many years ago and then it just kept getting worse and worse from that point. I haven’t had a major re-flux episode (acid hitting my throat) since 2017 and I want to keep it that way. I also want to continue to help you all on your journey.

The re-flux journey is not an easy one but it takes a lot of time to get better and you must evaluate the foods the you are eating which are your trigger foods. As we know many foods are acidic then alkaline so you have to find the right balance in order to minimize those symptoms.
I am excited to be back and to continue to help you all on this journey!