How Important is Prenatal and Postpartum Care?

At BodaHealth we strive to be Vancouver’s premier natural health clinic focusing on fertility and pre and postpartum care. We understand that adding to your family is an important time in your life, and we’re committed to getting it right. That means offering a wide variety of clinically effective treatments, having well-trained and experienced practitioners on staff and a commitment to offering our patients the best natural care possible.

Prenatal Care

Whether you have become pregnant naturally or with assisted reproductive technology, your health and that of your baby plays an essential role in having a safe and healthy pregnancy, labor and delivery. In fact, mothers who lack prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low birth weight baby, raising the risk for a variety of health issues.

Ideally, prenatal care begins in the three months prior to your becoming pregnant, and for women who are undergoing IVF and other fertility treatments, that care may begin even sooner. We understand that your pregnancy is an exciting time, but we also know that it comes with many ups and downs. Your baby is growing, your hormones are fluctuating and your emotions may cause you to feel like you’re on a roller coaster. At BodaHealth, we understand these physical and emotional shifts, and are prepared to support you in the following ways:

• We provide an emotionally safe and supportive space for your care.
• We can address common pregnancy symptoms as they arise.
• We will help anticipate, manage and prevent problems in a proactive way to help reduce your requirement for medical treatment.
• We will provide you with safe and effective drug-free treatments, but if necessary we have providers who can prescribe medications.

Our practitioners are experienced and skilled in treating a wide array of prenatal conditions including:

• Threatened miscarriage
• Digestive issues, such as morning sickness, heartburn, constipation, hemorrhoids and cholestasis (a liver/gallbladder problem)
• Fatigue and related problems, including insomnia and anemia
• Pain-related conditions that are common during pregnancy, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, neck or back pain, sciatica and pelvic pain
• High blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and edema
• Gestational diabetes
• Urinary tract infections
• Emotional health, including mood swings, anxiety and depression
• Premature labor, breech presentation and ripening your cervix for labor induction

Postpartum Care

The importance of your health doesn’t end with labor and delivery. The two months after your baby is born is also a significant time in your health care. While the terms postpartum and postnatal are often used interchangeably, postpartum actually refers to the health of the mother, and postnatal refers to that of the baby. The postpartum period can often be difficult because you’re trying to recover from labor and delivery while caring for a new baby at the same time. To make things even more complicated, you’re going through profound physical and emotional changes as your body returns to its pre-pregnancy state. This means that you need good care as you restore your strength. At BodaHealth, we can help you do this by helping you with the following issues:

• Fatigue
• Mood changes, postpartum depression, anxiety
• Bladder issues, injury to the pelvic floor muscles
• Contractions and pain as your uterus shrinks back to normal
• Returning to normal bowel movements, relieving hemorrhoids
• Breast tenderness, lactation issues
• Recovery from Caesarian surgery
• Losing pregnancy weight, water retention

Needless to say, the postpartum period has its challenges, but know that with time, your body will recover. At BodaHealth, we’re here to help you do that.

Pre and Postpartum Treatment Options

At BodaHealth, we understand that each woman is different and has unique needs. That’s one reason that we choose to offer a wide variety of treatment options—we focus on what works best for you.

-Acupuncture has a history of treating pre and postpartum conditions for thousands of years. Despite its ancient history, modern researchers have found that acupuncture is an effective treatment for pelvic and low back pain during and after pregnancy, morning sickness, depression (including postpartum depression and improving sleep quality. As you approach labor and delivery, acupuncture can help ripen your cervix and promote a smooth labor. In the postpartum period, acupuncture helps speed your recovery, reduces fatigue and has a beneficial calming effect.

-Whether you’re trying to become pregnant, avoid miscarriage, have pregnancy-related health conditions or are recovering after labor and delivery, Chinese herbal medicine may be a good choice for you. Each herb in the formulary has a specific set of actions, from draining edema to promoting better sleep and boosting your energy. Several herbs are combined into a formula based on your specific needs and are aimed at treating the underlying cause of your symptoms. Chinese herbs are a great way to support and extend the impact of acupuncture treatments. Traditional Chinese medicine is also used to support lactation and address any issues that may arise.

-We’re proud to have naturopathic physicians on our team. They support your health and that of your baby by assessing your diet and digestion, ensuring that you’re getting the right nutrients and recommending supplementation when necessary. They also treat a wide range of pre and post-pregnancy symptoms, manage any complications that may arise and test for and treat anemia, gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. While our naturopathic physicians are committed to primarily providing natural treatments, when necessary they are able to run lab tests and prescribe Western medications.

-While many people think of massage as an occasional way to spoil yourself, massage therapy plays a large role in promoting both pre and postpartum health. During your pregnancy, massage therapy can help relieve pain in your muscles and joints, especially as your body changes. It can be beneficial in relieving sciatic pain, low back and hip pain and relieving strain on your neck and shoulders. Massage therapy helps you sleep better, can decrease swelling from fluid buildup and researchers have concluded that prenatal massage helps to calm your nervous system and relax muscle tension in your body. After you’ve given birth, massage therapy can help balance your hormones, including dopamine and serotonin that are responsible for leveling out your mood. Furthermore, massage therapy can promote better sleep, especially when sleep is at a premium with a new baby. It’s also beneficial for postpartum pain and edema.  Massage is safe both during and after pregnancy—our therapists are trained and experienced in positioning, appropriate techniques and tailoring their treatments to your specific stage of pregnancy or post-pregnancy.

-Most women are familiar with the use of prenatal vitamins, which underscores the importance of good nutrition, before, during and after your pregnancy. However, good often involves more than just prenatal vitamins. At BodaHealth, we clearly understand that each woman has different nutritional needs and that those needs may change as your pregnancy progresses. Our acupuncture practitioners, naturopathic doctors and holistic nutritionists are versed in assessing and diagnosing nutritional deficiencies, uncovering digestive issues that may impact your nutritional status and recommending supplements, treatments and lifestyle changes to optimize your nutrition, enhance your energy and optimize your health.

-At BodaHealth in Vancouver, we’re pleased to offer cold laser therapy to our patients to treat a variety of health conditions, including those related to pre and postpartum care. Cold laser is low-level laser therapy that gently penetrates deep within your tissues to trigger a cascade of healing events. Cold laser therapy can be safely used during pregnancy and after labor and delivery to relieve joint and muscle pain, reduce inflammation, remodel scar tissue, build healthy connective tissue and promote healing.

At BodaHealth fertility, pregnancy and the postpartum period are concentrations of special interest to all of us. This means that our practitioners have completed extensive post-graduate training in obstetrics. They’re committed to providing the best natural health care throughout every stage of a woman’s life. We understand that your pregnancy journey can be an emotionally charged time, and we’re dedicated to providing you with a safe and calm space, as well as the best in natural health care. If you’d like to find out more about working with our team for fertility, prenatal or postpartum care, contact us today.

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