Conscious Pregnancy
If you’ve read about Antonia’s personal journey to health and wellness in “Antonia’s Way”, then you’ll be excited and intrigued to know that Antonia is now just a few weeks away from embarking on the next stage of her journey - motherhood. In this revealing and inspiring blog, Antonia talks about her experiences of being a pregnant vegan, and how she has approached her nutrition and wellbeing throughout the first two trimesters...
Antonia readily admits that she is blessed to have fallen pregnant so quickly and so easily and believes that this is due to taking care of herself – especially once she and her husband had decided to start a family.
Antonia tried even harder than usual to get in touch with her body and focused in particular on her gut health as this is the key to everything. She made a couple of adjustments to her diet, notably adding free-range eggs from the Leafy Greens Farm to ensure she was getting enough folic acid.
Rather than supplements, Antonia concentrated on real food sources of the vitamins and minerals she felt that her body – and her baby - needed. Naturally, this included superfoods such as hemp protein powder and Maca powder.
Antonia’s abiding rule has been to be gentle with herself and to listen to her body and to her baby, and to try and eat what she has really needed. Like many expectant mothers, Antonia experienced tiredness and fatigue during her first trimester, and she found that she felt more aversions to certain foods than cravings.
The one occasional craving that did surprise her (as she was also taking tissue salts) was for salty chips. Rather than feel guilty, she would make peace with this and move forward. Ironically, there were times during the early stages of her pregnancy that she felt unable to eat greens – normally her staple diet.
Later, she began to experience cravings for dairy products, which she rationalised as the baby’s need for bone-building calcium. Antonia found a great solution in the shape of kefirs and other easily-digested, fermented products. Ultimately, she realised that nutrition during pregnancy is about making the best choices in the circumstances.
As well as being a mom, Antonia plans to continue her work at Leafy Greens. She’s conscious that her life is about to change dramatically but is extremely grateful to have a wonderfully loving and supportive network of family and colleagues around her.
Antonia (and her son) will continue to spend time with Leafy Greens customers, and the farm environment will doubtless be a wonderful one in which to grow up. It’s also the perfect place for parents who want to spend lots of quality time with their child, and still also get on with life.
Antonia’s excitement about becoming a mom is very apparent, and it’s clear that the decision to have a child was one that was taken consciously, by two people who are in the right place to be parents – in every sense.
Once the baby is a month or two old, we’ll check in on Antonia again for the next instalment of the Vegnant Blog. For now, we’ll leave her to plan the final details of the home birth (with – responsibly - a hospital as plan B).
For Antonia, pregnancy has been an amazing experience and one that has taught her a lot. You can see the full Vegnant interview with Antonia by clicking on the link below. It’s very definitely worth watching if you’re expecting or trying to fall pregnant.