My Pregnancy Journey, Reflections And Recommendations

From preconception to third trimester, this is a detailed look at everything I did (and didn’t do) during pregnancy—from nutrition and mindset to choosing care and prepping for birth. It's packed with the kind of honest, real-life insight I wish I could’ve found when I was newly pregnant. Whether you're planning to conceive, in the thick of your first trimester, or just love reading women's stories—I hope this brings you comfort, clarity, and a sense of sisterhood.

Lifestyle

My Pregnancy Journey, Reflections And Recommendations

What a wild ride! I started writing this at 20 weeks and I’m finishing it with a twelve week old baby!

I knew that as time goes on, I’d forget the little details of each stage. I wanted to get my thoughts down while they’re still fresh.

I know this because when I was in the early stages of pregnancy and reached out to other mums, desperate for information I couldn’t get the level of detail I was craving. Now at twelve weeks postpartum I can see why. You are so mentally occupied with your present, you actually do forget the detail very quickly!

I wanted something that felt like a chat with a friend—or maybe something I’d give to a younger sister (if I had one). So here I am, sharing this with all of you, my dear community.

My hope? That you find guidance in my experience—or at the very least, feel comforted knowing that all those tiny, intricate thoughts you can’t Google… have been felt by someone else.

This isn’t a guide to pregnancy. There’s no “right” way to do this—this is just my experience.

Before We Begin…

Outside of holistic nutrition, I’m not a professional in the baby space. I’m just a headstrong Aries who cares deeply about her health and doesn’t blindly trust the system or convention. But you probably already know that about me.

What you should know:

I’m an obsessive researcher. I need to understand everything in detail before making decisions. The unknown makes me squirm.
I don’t take anything at face value. My first reaction to recommendations (especially from a doctor)? “Says who?”
I explore every extreme perspective before deciding what feels right for me. For example, I dove into “free birth” stories—no scans, no intervention. It wasn’t for me, but hearing those stories helped me find where I stood. If you are like me, I recommend exploring the extremes.
I have a strong gut instinct and I’m decisive AF. I know that’s not how everyone operates, but it’s how I roll. When I know, I know.
I recommend a few resources and books in here, some more out there than others. I took a very mixed approach, I loved learning but ultimately didn’t follow anyone’s advice exactly. I took what resonated and left the rest. I want to stress this, as even in the resources I recommend, I don’t necessarily endorse these things as gospel.

What worked best for me was taking this journey in stages. It’s too overwhelming otherwise. When I was focusing on preconception, I didn’t even think about pregnancy. In my first trimester, I wasn’t worrying about birth yet. At 20 weeks, I hadn’t given postpartum or newborn life much thought.

In the end, I decided not to do too much prep or research about babies. I intuitively felt I could navigate that once I was there. A friend once told me “the best teacher is your baby”, and this could not be more true. Pregnancy, on the other hand, I researched like crazy.

And that’s exactly how I’ll go through everything, sharing my experience in each phase, and summarising with a list of recommendations for that exact phase (even if I only discovered some of them after the fact).

Preconception: The Prep I Actually Did

I didn’t go overboard with preconception prep. Honestly, I knew my lifestyle choices had already set me up in a good place. At the time, I was also planning a wedding (which took up most of my headspace), running my own business, raising two step kids, and being a wife.

Here’s what I did do:

Low-tox swaps: Switched to non-toxic home, cleaning, and body products. You can find my favourite discoveries here.
Strength & alignment: Alongside the activity I was already doing, walks mainly, I started training with a Functional Patterns trainer to focus on posture and body alignment. I only did this for about six months, and stopped once I was pregnant, but I really enjoyed it and felt it gave me really great body awareness and strength, more so than pilates, and helped me pick up a few core weaknesses to work on. That said, now at twelve weeks postpartum I feel like that’s all gone out the window and I’m starting from scratch.
Already eating well: Of course I prioritised whole foods and nutrient-dense meals. This is a non-negotiable for me, in any phase of life. I teach this exact food selection framework in my signature program Whole Food Foundations. I created and shot this a few months before I conceived.
A few supplements: I started taking the All Things Better prenatal and Beef Organ supplements (I like Ancestral Nutrition and Cell Squared). That’s all I took preconception, and fairly irregularly if I’m being honest.
Stress & mindset work: My own version of therapy because I believe we store energy in the body. This kind of work is a constant for me, and most definitely something I believe is important when embarking on a parenting journey. Nothing will test you as much as children, so I believe you need rock solid mental health. For me I do regular To Be Magnetic (I’ve been a pathway member for years), and I love the Open app for daily meditation and breathwork.
No hormonal birth control: I’ve never been on the pill. This isn’t exactly something I did to prep for pregnancy—rather, my entire life and holistic choices up until this point were my preconception phase. It helped me feel confident knowing I was going into conception and pregnancy with a good foundation and didn’t need to scramble to be healthy.
Gave up alcohol – I was never a big drinker anyway and had been keen to officially give up for ages. I did this about a year before our wedding and conception. And yes, I didn’t drink at my wedding—even though I didn’t know I was pregnant!

What I didn’t do:

No blood tests (I go by how I feel, and I felt healthy). I believe there’s an overemphasis and obsession with testing. I take a more fluid approach to my health—I know what choices to make, and if I feel great, I trust that everything is great. I don’t need expensive, rigorous testing to find problems that aren’t there. Too many people fixate on this. Yes, testing can be incredible when working on legitimate concerns, especially with infertility. But outside of that, let me be your example that you don’t need every rigorous test. If you’re eating and living well (like properly—no fake healthy eating—more on what I mean below), you’re good. Many people in the health space are constantly searching for what’s wrong with them. This creates a never-ending negative cycle and a generally negative mindset focused on the problems.
No crazy supplement regime aside from my prenatal, which I took pretty irregularly if I’m being totally honest—thankfully gifted to me by Katherine Hay, the founder of All Things Better. I didn’t do much research since I’m not obsessive about supplements, and I trusted that her formulation would complement my nutritious diet. I truely believe diet makes a far bigger dent in your nutrition for baby than any supplement is capable of doing. While I’ve been sharing my pregnancy on social media, I’ve received countless messages desperately asking which prenatal I took, I totally get where these are coming from but my response to people is always to put that much stress and effort into your real food diet than a supplement. I wholeheartedly go by Lily Nichols pregnancy and fertility recommendations, after a read the book (only after conception) I was pleased to see it was how I ate already, and exactly what I teach in Whole Food Foundations.

Preconception Recommendations

Books: Real Food for Fertility and Real Food For Pregnancy, both by Lily Nichols. There’s very poor information available when it comes to pregnancy nutrition, and an obstetrician won’t even bring it up beyond asking if you are taking a prenatal.
Book: Well Adjusted Babies by Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani. Jennifer is an Australian chiropractor and this book is somewhat of a holistic bible for pregnancy and babies. I read it only once already pregnant but loved it. It’s a very holistic perspective though and in many chapters goes very against conventional medicine. If you are open to that, it’s great to have on hand.
Book: The Nourishing Traditions Book Of Baby And Child Care – by Sally Fallon Morell. This is also a very holistic approach and relatively controversial. I think it’s a great read and lots of it I have implemented, but certainly not all.
All Things Better Prenatal
Whole Food Foundations – my course on how to eat, shop, and cook like a holistic nutritionist (in 21 days)… As a special gift to you because this is such an important time of life, I’ve created a secret code for $50 off, use NOURISHBABY at checkout.

Finding Out I Was Pregnant

We conceived on the first try. I was mentally prepared for it to take a few months, but I also believe in the idea of spirit babies—they come when they’re ready. And ours clearly was.

We conceived just before our wedding. I suspected I was pregnant within 10 days—I just knew. My intuition has always been strong, and during a lymphatic drainage massage, I could feel something different in my lower belly.

I took a test early—way before my period was due—and at first, it was negative. I was shocked. I knew I was pregnant. Sure enough, five minutes later, a faint line appeared. And that leads me to…

The First Trimester: A Rollercoaster of Anxiety

Even though this pregnancy was planned and wanted, finding out was overwhelming to say the least. Anxiety hit hard, especially around the health of the baby, which surprised me as I truely am not an anxious person.

Yet I constantly feared something would go wrong—every little thing sent me spiralling. It eased a bit as routine tests came back clear, but those first 12 weeks were brutal mentally. I overthought every tiny little thing I did before I found out I was pregnant, like I did a really hot sauna, I took coldsore medication and Armaforce, and other things you supposedly aren’t meant to do in pregnancy. I cleared these things with my obstetrician who said I have nothing to worry about, but that didn’t stop me from worrying.

A big part of this anxiety stemmed from my strong aversion to anything medical—I feel deeply uncomfortable in doctors’ offices and hospitals. The thought of having to see any kind of medical professional throughout pregnancy, not to mention giving birth in a hospital, left me feeling terrified and lost. This took a lot of navigating as I had to decide on a mode of care, an anxious journey I will go into later.

To top it off, I got hit with the worst flu of my life at the end of the first trimester, which lasted for three weeks. Being sick while pregnant was next-level hard—it wiped me out and sent my anxiety into overdrive. While I was very grateful not to be nauseous or sick in anyway on the first trimester as I know many women are, the extreme anxiety is something I never want to revisit.

First Trimester Symptoms

No nausea (thank the universe!)
Mild food aversions but manageable
Cravings for citrus (I devoured lemons and oranges)
Extreme exhaustion—I needed naps daily
Insomnia—I’d wake in the middle of the night and be up for hours
Constipation—Annoying but manageable
Giant boobs—Classic pregnancy symptom

First Trimester Recommendations

Books: Birth Space by Gabrielle Nancarrow, Expecting Better by Emily Oster… I found these two were important in helping my mind get a lay of the land. I’d recommend them to anyone starting a conception journey or who’s pregnant for the first time—they really help you get your head around things.
The Pregnancy Podcast – the sound of this woman’s voice is hilarious and still stuck in my head 😅 But the information is really good, I think her view is very honest and well researched and unbiased. It’s neither super conventional or super “anti the system” and I appreciate that. I find almost any topic you can search and find it in there. I can still hear her voice in me head saying “the pregnancy pahhhd-caaast”
The Birthing Class membership – I bought this in my first trimester, before I decided to get a doula, as I thought it would be a nice way to get my head around birth in a more affordable way. It also is loaded with Jacqui’s pregnancy safe classes for each week so I used these a lot to workout my whole pregnancy.

Medical Anxiety & Choosing Care

I’ve never really trusted the medical system. To me, it’s always felt more like sick care than true healthcare—and that skepticism didn’t magically disappear with pregnancy.

Choosing a mode of care felt completely overwhelming at first, like total freak out zone. Private? Public? OB? Midwife? I had no clue what I was doing and definitely had more than a few meltdowns about it.

The only way I could move forward was by taking it one step at a time. I gave myself permission to explore different options with the mindset that if something didn’t feel right, I could always change my mind. That took a lot of pressure off.

I definitely live in a community where private obstetric care is seen as the gold standard, and I think that influenced me. At the time, I equated it with being the “most” care or the most thorough option. Now, after going through it, I don’t necessarily believe that’s true.

A friend recommended a private OB, so my husband and I went to meet him. He seemed nice enough—genuinely passionate about his work—so I decided to go with it, with the plan to “stress test” him along the way and switch if I needed to.

Something I found interesting was that, because my anxiety was so high in the first trimester, I actually took comfort in the extra appointments and scans that come with private care. I really needed those results to come back low-risk in order to feel any kind of peace in the beginning.

At that point, I hadn’t thought much about the actual birth at all yet, I was still completely focused on pregnancy. If I’d known more about birth politics, I may have chosen a different model of care—or at least gone into those early appointments armed with better questions. I’ll definitely be more equipped next time. There’s only one real way to learn, and that’s by going through it.

One trust-building moment with my OB came when we discussed the glucose test. I knew I wasn’t going to drink the Glucola—mainly because it looked disgusting and as I told my OB, I eat a VERY low sugar diet, my body will not handle that intense amount of sugar in one go, but also because my research confirmed that it is not a great quality test, rather it is standardised. When I brought it up, he didn’t push back at all. He acknowledged that it’s a pretty poor-quality test and offered a fasting glucose blood test instead. He said in his exact words, “Oh, I would never make you do that,” assuring me that he’d be monitoring the baby’s size and that was what he really cared about. That helped me start to trust him—it showed me he was willing to think independently and not just tick boxes.

I also liked the fact that we was very open and supportive of me having a doula.

That trust didn’t necessarily deepen, though—not because I didn’t trust him per se, but as my pregnancy progressed, I not only started to learn more about the controversy around birth but I started to feel more grounded and confident in myself, my baby, and my body. (Lots of self-work and energy work with my doula really helped here.)

My pregnancy was routine and low-risk, and I reached a point where I didn’t really feel like I needed an obstetrician. I clashed with him a few times and seriously considered switching care. But in the end, I reframed it: he was there as an insurance policy, just in case something went off track. That perspective gave me peace.

When people would ask me “who is delivering my baby” I would say “i am”.

Lol!! Excuse my Aries boldness but that was my approach in an OB. He wasn’t delivering my baby, he was there as a safety precaution which gave me comfort.

I spent a lot of time listening to birth stories to understand the range of experiences. I loved hearing about wild pregnancies and free births, and though I knew those paths weren’t for me, exploring all perspectives helped me figure out where I felt most aligned and comfortable.

That said, there’s only so much you can do to prepare and you can get to a place of feeling mroe comfortable but you can never truely “know”. Even though I did extensive work, preparation, research, and deliberation, I still felt largely in the dark about the whole experience. There’s so much you simply can’t know until you give birth. I had to make peace with this uncertainty, though I now feel much more knowledgeable and experienced to approach another pregnancy with better understanding.

This is truly a rite of passage that every first-time mother experiences—an initiation into motherhood that teaches you to develop deep coping skills for handling uncertainty and surrender.

Medical Choices During Pregnancy

Whilst I had a very low risk and routine pregnancy, gratefully, there was a few things I chose to do under the guidance of my care team, and my own decisions.

As I have a negative blood type, I had to have two “Anti-D” injections. This is to avoid any issues in subsequent pregnancies if this baby or another has a positive blood type, which is possible since my husband is a positive blood type. The Anti-D injection contains an immunoglobulin. I was fine to have this, but you bet I asked my OB to send me what brand he uses so I could check the ingredients! I’m certain it was the first time he was ever asked that, but for me I don’t blindly inject myself with things without feeling informed.
I had the Pertussis/ Whooping Cough vaccine in pregnancy. I delayed it about a month after my OB recommended it, mainly because I was feeling quite depleted and wanted to give my body a few weeks where I intentionally ramped up immune boosting nutrition before I had the injection. I did this with a nourishing diet, bone broth, ginger, garlic, natural vitamin C, rest and everything else I was already taking. Whilst I really did not want to do this vaccine, as I just didn’t like the idea of having a vaccine while pregnant and I really didn’t like the fact that it’s a 4 in 1 vaccine as it felt annoyingly unnecessary, there is a whooping cough outbreak in Sydney, and it gave me some peace of mind knowing baby would be protected while he was super young, before his immune system developed and had the chance to get loads of breast milk.
I chose not to do the “glucola” test that screens for gestational diabetes, and instead opted for a fasted blood glucose test which came back normal.
I had antibiotics via a drip during the labour due to being GBS positive. This was quite disappointing to me as I hate antibiotics and rarely take them, but in the same breath, it wasn’t the end of the world to me. If this is you, make sure to take probiotics after labour and work to rebuild your gut. I completely forgot because I was so focused on baby and not thinking about myself at all!

To Doula Or Not To Doula

At first, I wasn’t going to have a doula. It seemed like an extra cost when we were already forking out thousands to go through the private system. But as I started learning more about birth (my favourite resources are below), and landed on my preference for a low-intervention, unmedicated birth, I decided I wanted to give it everything I had. I didn’t want to look back and wonder—if I’d had a doula, would things have gone differently?

I ended up absolutely loving having a doula, for a few key reasons. First, it’s really the only continuity of care you get. A doula is there for you during pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and the newborn phase. No other practitioner sticks with you through all of that, and I found that deeply comforting.

She helped me feel more confident heading into the birth. Labour takes so much focus and mental strength, and having someone there to manage the environment and logistics meant I could stay in my birthing bubble. It also took a huge amount of pressure off my husband—he was able to focus on supporting me, instead of running around setting things up or trying to figure out what I needed.

For example, when we got to the hospital, my doula set up everything I’d prepared—electronic candles, my essential oil diffuser, my speaker and playlist. She’d also helped me in advance with what to pack and bring—things that actually made a difference in the moment.

I do have to say, the midwives I had—especially during delivery—were absolutely incredible. Like, I could cry just thinking about them (and I did, many times in the weeks after birth!). I’ll never forget my midwife. She was so respectful, so in tune with me. Shoutout to Lisa at the Prince of Wales! If you’re giving birth there, I hope you’re lucky enough to have her.

Postpartum, it was a godsend to have someone I could text with all kinds of questions. At one point, I literally sent my doula the most graphic close-up of my dripping nipple when my milk was coming in because I didn’t know if it looked normal and I was scared something was wrong. I laugh about it now—but in the moment, that support was everything.

Another thing I really cherished was the experience of being supported by another woman during this time. There’s something so ancient and sacred about that—like a passing down of women’s wisdom. It felt magical, almost tribal. As amazing as my husband is (and he truly was incredibly supportive throughout my entire birth experience), there are just some things a man can’t fully understand or guide you through.

Tip: If you’re not sure whether or not to hire a doula, check out The Birthing Class. It gives you a great taste of what a doula can offer and might help you decide.

They’re all so different, too—so you may need to do a little shopping around and asking around to find someone who feels right for you.

For me, I knew I wanted someone older and experienced. When I was looking at options and saw doulas in their early thirties, it just didn’t feel aligned for me. My doula had six teenage children! That felt grounding to me. But you might feel the opposite—you might prefer someone younger or closer to your own age. There’s no right or wrong. Just trust your gut.

Choosing Care Recommendations

Book: Birth Space by Gabrielle Nancarrow – Like I mentioned above, it helped to get a lay of the land, especially for someone totally clueless like me.
Online Education: The Birthing Class (this isn’t a mode of care, but it provides doula education that covers key points to help you find what feels right for you).
Ask around for friends and family of their experience – since your options will vary depending on your local area (different hospitals, programs, practitioners, funding, options etc), I think the best approach is to ask lots of people of their experience, what was important to them etc and see what feels aligned. I did a lot of asking.

My Approach to Eating During Pregnancy

The Diet Culture Trap

The most important thing I can say here is this: pregnancy is not the time to go balls to the wall with eating. Honestly, it breaks my heart how many women still fall into this trap—years, often decades, of diet culture, calorie-counting, and food guilt set them up to binge during pregnancy. I see it all the time. They’ve never learned to actually listen to their hunger cues or eat intuitively.

So if I have one big tip? Nourish yourself before you’re pregnant. Don’t set yourself up for failure with the binge/restrict cycle—it only gets more intense in pregnancy.

My Approach to Pregnancy Nutrition

Now, pregnancy isn’t a time to “eat for two,” but it is a time to be abundantly nourished. That was my personal approach: not overeating, but making my meals as nutrient-dense as possible. When you’re eating properly—like I teach in Whole Food Foundations—you naturally don’t binge or overeat. You’re satisfied.

Trusting Your Body

That said, I did nothing to try to eat less. I really just ate as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted. I didn’t hold back at all. If I was hungry, I ate. And because I trust my body and my cravings—because I’ve done the work to become a naturally good eater—I knew that what I wanted would mostly be whole, nourishing food. If you’re someone who craves ultra-processed or junk food regularly, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that same “eat anything, anytime” approach. But if you’re like me—someone who doesn’t binge or emotionally eat—I truly believe you can tune into your body and it will tell you exactly what it needs.

Real Food First

I was actually more focused on eating a deeply nourishing, whole foods diet than ever before. And now that I’m breastfeeding, that’s only amplified. I found the book Real Food for Pregnancy incredibly validating—it really emphasises the importance of nutrients from food over supplements. I was relieved (and proud) to realise it lined up exactly with how I already eat—and how I teach others to eat inside Whole Food Foundations. If you’re looking for actual implementation, I go through all of this step-by-step in the program.

After That, Supplements

Another mistake I see a lot of women make? Taking a prenatal and thinking that gives them permission to eat junk the entire pregnancy. Sorry, but no. Supplements are not a replacement for real food. I cannot stress this enough—food is more powerful than any supplement. Nature has designed nutrients to be consumed in their whole, synergistic forms. When we start isolating and synthesising nutrients in labs, it’s never going to be as effective—or as well absorbed—by the body (and therefore, by your baby).

I continued to take the All Things Better Prenatal during pregnancy as well as Foraged For You powder as this is a supplement made from real food. I bought this powder after I had that awful lingering flu as I just felt so incredibly depleted and wanted to give my body a boost.

How My Eating Changed in Pregnancy

Because I’m such an in-tune eater, I was super curious to see how my body’s needs would shift—and wow, did they! Here’s what I noticed:

I needed breakfast. This was totally new for me. Normally I can go quite a while in the morning before eating—I’m not someone who likes a big breakfast. But in pregnancy, I needed something within 30 minutes of waking. Sometimes it was a full meal (eggs and avo), other times just a snack like fruit and nuts to tide me over. But I couldn’t even go for a walk without eating first.
I became a snacker. Normally I don’t snack—I prefer to eat satisfying meals packed with nutrition. But in pregnancy, I had to eat at least every three hours or I’d start to feel drowsy, weak, and just flat. My blood sugar dropped fast, and I really felt it.
I intentionally ate more red meat and oily fish. This was a conscious choice because of the nutrient density and how good those foods are for baby’s development.
Salads were a thing of the past. This was an intuitive one, although I ate plenty of fresh produce, I don’t think I ate a single salad my whole pregnancy, it just did not appeal at all! I opted for cooked vegetables only.
I definitely ate more carbs. I wouldn’t say I ate a high-carb diet (nowhere near the government guidelines which suggest carbs should be the bulk of your intake), but I absolutely leaned more into root veggies, fruit, gluten-free grains, and yes—a good sourdough every now and then! I’d snack on chunks of sourdough with a thick layer of organic butter. Still counts as part of a whole foods diet in my opinion—it’s just not something I’d typically eat very often outside of pregnancy.
And yes, I ate more sugar than usual. I’d still consider it a very low-sugar diet overall—definitely no junk food—but once I’d had my three nourishing meals packed with protein, good fats, and fresh produce… if I wanted a treat, I had one. A Loco Love chocolate. A GF banana bread made with coconut sugar (lathered with butter, obviously). And every now and then, a scoop of Mapo gelato—the only gelato I’ll eat, made with real food ingredients and so good. Because I’ve quit sugar and healed that relationship, I can enjoy these kinds of treats mindfully without spiralling into overdoing it.

No Weighing, No Stress

I made the choice not to weigh myself for the entire pregnancy. Highly recommend! I just went by feel and how my clothes were fitting. Interestingly, my weight gain didn’t follow a linear pattern. I gained a what felt like a lot in the first half, then it sort of plateaued in the second half—which was the opposite of what I expected. Obviously, my belly kept growing, but the rest of my body mostly stayed the same.

I do feel like I was fortunate to “carry well.” I credit a lot of that to my lifestyle choices, but I also know there’s a random genetic element too, and not every woman experiences that.

Pregnancy Food Rules? Let’s Talk

Ah, the rules: raw fish, runny eggs, mayo, tahini… it’s a lot. I did my own reading (mostly in Expecting Better and Real Food for Pregnancy) and made decisions I felt comfortable with. This isn’t advice—you need to do your own research and land where you feel safe.

I didn’t seek out raw fish, but I did eat it a few times. The only thing I strictly avoided was raw oysters. So yes I ate runny eggs, biltong, tahini and soft cheese my entire pregnancy!

Other than that, I focused way more on what I was including in my diet than what I was avoiding. And honestly? I think that’s the more important approach.

Nourishment Recommendations

Here’s a little Cliff’s Notes version of what I personally prioritised—before even thinking about a prenatal supplement. If you want the full breakdown (with the how, what, and why), I highly recommend my course Whole Food Foundations, where I walk you through exactly how I eat, shop, and cook. I actually launched the course just two months before conceiving—so it’s a true reflection of my exact approach!

What I Focused On:

Low sugar (this helps with stable energy, mood, and blood sugar balance)
Oily fish multiple times a week – think wild salmon, sardines, mackerel
Plenty of healthy fats – olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds, and yes, saturated fats like chicken skin and loads of organic butter
Animal foods daily – prioritising bioavailable protein and nutrients
Bone broth daily – for gut health, minerals, and collagen – use the concentrated paste for ease otherwise make your own!
Pasture-raised eggs daily – one of nature’s best multivitamins
Liver and other organ meats – mostly in powdered form for ease
Organic or spray-free fruits and veg, and I always include loads of herbs and spices for their antioxidant and mineral content

Research Recommendations:

Whole Food Foundations – my course on how to eat, shop, and cook like a holistic nutritionist (in 21 days)… As a special gift to you because this is such an important time of life, I’ve created a secret code for $50 off, use NOURISHBABY at checkout.
Book: Real Food For Pregnancy – by Lily Nichols
Book: The Nourishing Traditions Book Of Baby And Child Care – by Sally Fallon Morell

Supplement And Product Recommendations:

All Things Better Prenatal
Foraged For You Powder (this contains liver and is great real food nutrition)
Ancestral Nutrition Women’s Formula (Offal)
Cell Squared Offal Powders
Naternal Mito Mag (my normal magnesium wasn’t pregnancy safe so I took this one instead)
Best Of The Bone Bone Broth Concentrate
Good Fish Canned Fish

Second and Third Trimesters

Body image

By this point, I had definitely moved past the initial overwhelm and “settled in more.” My bump started to show the tiniest bit at about 17 weeks (see this post here!). This was a really awkward dressing phase—I remember feeling like none of my clothes fit or looked nice, and I had no idea how to dress. Though it was a brief period of poor body image, it felt soooo real at the time.

Having a typical curvy figure—small waist and curvy bum—I was initially lost on how to dress when my waist was nowhere to be seen, since all my clothes were styled around it. Now writing this, with my 12-week-old baby strapped to my chest, it seems so trivial, but at the time it felt like a true catastrophe and meltdown material. I felt hideous to be completely honest and I really overthought what that meant for the rest of my pregnancy. So if you feel like that, you are not alone. But also don’t spiral into overthinking like I did.

I bought some new clothes to boost my mood and stored away everything that no longer fit. This left me with a simple pregnancy capsule wardrobe—just a few versatile pieces to rotate, without my regular clothes there to make me feel self-conscious. This surprisingly worked wonders and I felt so much better!

I remember worrying that if I felt that way at just 17 weeks, imagine how I’d feel for the rest of the pregnancy as I got bigger. Thankfully, I was wrong! Once my bump became more visible (around 23 weeks and beyond), I felt so much better. I suddenly felt really cute—I loved dressing my little bump and truly felt confident and sexy. And I stayed that way right through to 40 weeks! Even at full term, I was strutting my stuff in a tiny bikini at the beach, feeling great. The end of my pregnancy coincided with peak Sydney summer—I honestly barely wore clothes and lived in a bikini and sarong the whole time.

Clothes Recommendations

This Indigo Luna skirt/ dress I lived in.
This Cotton On dress I also lived in, particularly the last month of my pregnancy when it was December, boiling hot in Sydney. I had it in green and brown and just rotated every day wearing the same dress.
Boody bras and pyjamas – these were also favourites before pregnancy that I lived in throughout the whole journey (and well into postpartum too—my entire hospital bag was Boody). I recommend these PJ shorts, PJ pants, PJ top, singlet PJ top, nighty, and nursing bra. Oh and the gown! This is the first thing I wore after my first post birth shower and it was the best feeling.
Nimble In Motion Flares – Simply the world’s best flared active pants! These were a favourite before pregnancy, and I wore them throughout too. I have them in multiple colours.
TIP: Store away your old clothes and create a small pregnancy capsule wardrobe—I can’t recommend this enough! Even now postpartum, I’m following the same approach with a compact postpartum wardrobe.

Exercise

As mentioned earlier, I maintained most of my pre-pregnancy exercise routine during the first trimester, just at a lower frequency because I was so fatigued—walking, Pilates, and occasional spin classes. I had an Alo Moves subscription and started doing Emily’s pregnancy classes, which were excellent. I loved her focus on breathing and deep core strength, which I found more thorough than anything else I came across.

In the beginning, everything I did was aimed at helping with postpartum recovery, I was so focused on my core strength and getting my “body back” after birth etc to the point where I think a lot of it was driven by fear – fear of the unknown body changes.

Surprisingly, as I moved into the second and third trimesters, my priorities completely shifted. I found myself drawn to mind-body work, yoga, and exercises that helped open the body in preparation for birth. It became less about “getting back to normal” quickly and more about preparing for the birth itself.

As I was hoping for the lowest intervention birth possible, I really wanted to do as much as I could to help my body and mind to be optimised to give birth and make space for baby to come through.

So I ended up stopping all the obsessive core work entirely and found myself naturally shifting to a few things – strength training with weights – I’m normally not a weights girl at alll but I felt naturally drawn to keeping my strength up and lots of birth specific body balancing (stretching and yoga).

What exactly did this entail? I committed to the Spinning Babies 30-minute routine most days, and did occasional strength sessions on the Sweat App (using the week-specific pregnancy workouts).

Exercise Recommendations

Alo Moves (Emily’s pregnancy-specific workouts)
The Birthing Class (Jacqui’s pilates workouts)
Sweat App – Pregnancy workouts (strength training)
Spinning Babies “Daily Essentials” routine

Birth Preparation in the Third Trimester

While I’m not sharing my birth story just yet as this post is long enough, I do want to share the tools and practices that helped me feel grounded, informed, and emotionally prepared as I approached labour.

I had a strong preference for an unmedicated low intervention labour and birth. And I was extremely well researched to know that I needed to be well informed and to be prepared. This is a big reason why I decided to get a doula as well. I wanted the most support possible.

In addition to what I’ve already mentioned, the Spinning Babies daily routine being a solid point here, this is what else I loved as birth prep. This is all specific to an unmedicated birth, which I always extremely committed to.

I also did twice weekly chiro from about 27 weeks. Make sure to find a well trained pregnancy specific chiropractor, like Dr Vanessa Barry from Inborn Vitality which is where I went and highly recommend. I’m a huge fan of chiropractic wellness as it looks a the whole body and being as one. I think this is a must for pregnancy, especially for birth preparation. I believe this had a lot to do with me feeling very physically well my entire pregnancy, baby being in the right position and giving birth without any tools, emergencies or major complications.

Education Recommendations

Ina May Gaskin Documentary
Birth With Confidence book by Rhea Dempsey
Any podcast interview with Ina May Gaskin
Any podcast interview with Rhea Dempsey
Great Birth Rebellion Podcast
The Pregnancy Podcast
Pop That Mumma Instagram Account

Meditation and visualisation

Pop That Mumma – Birth Box Visualisations – I absolutely loved these and listened to them for hours on end in my last month of pregnancy

Birth Experience (A Small Taste)

While I’m not sharing my full birth story here I know you’ll be interested, especially if you are like me and desiring an unmedicated natural birth. I had a very positive experience, largely because I was extremely prepared and well informed but I didn’t get to tick off everything I desired. I went in to labour naturally at 41+2 and did over 24 hours of unmedicated labour. Unfortunately my cervix didn’t dilate (not even by 1cm after 24 hours of intense contractions!) so I requested and accepted interventions at that stage. I didn’t get to have the active pushing phase I desired but I was grateful I had a smooth vaginal delivery with no tools and a crying happy baby that came straight to my chest for immediate uninterrupted skin to skin contact. I will share more on birth next but wanted to keep this pregnancy focused. I really stand by the Pop That Mumma Birth Box visualisations – I listened to these over and over and over again in the last month of pregnancy. And I believe they had a lot to do with my ability to go through such a long labour without the pain getting to me. I took the interventions because of the lack of dilation, not because of the pain!

And that’s it for now…

This post has been a true labour of love—written slowly over the course of my pregnancy and finished with a baby on my chest. It’s a window into my experience, not a rulebook, but I hope it’s given you some insight, reassurance, or simply the feeling that you’re not alone. As for the birth itself—that deserves its own space. It was powerful, intense, and deeply transformative, and I’ll be sharing more about that part of the journey soon.