Dr. Kate, My Fifth Visit, An Adjustment Sounds Nice? by Mama to be, Abby Jordan

The week before last I absolutely could not wait for my end of the week adjustment. I felt like I had overdone it and literally NEEDED to see Dr. Kate. This week by Thursday night I started thinking that an adjustment sounded good. I wasn't dying for it but was happy that I had an appointment scheduled for Friday morning.

She checked everything that she normally checks and found the same old offenders. My neck, the middle of my back, my pelvis, my hip and my knee. I'm not being technical at all but these are the little things that slip and slide a little (remember relaxin?) and start the hurting. She also adjusted my pubic symphysis. I had no idea that was hurting but when she applied some pressure it felt tender. My pelvis had been tilting back, causing my, let's say it again: "pubic symphysis" to get out of alignment.

To me, it seemed like all the adjustments Dr. Kate had been making for the last 5 weeks had been gradually getting everything back into place. I asked her how she thought the progress was and she explained a few things. She was seeing less of a shift from the offending vertebrae and other bones because they were starting to feel more comfortable back in their original positions. She also explained the muscles around them were healing a bit from the damage to them after being out of alignment for so long. The last thing she explained was that the reasons that these same places continue to slip and move could have to do with being a creature of habit. Maybe my neck is always off in the same place because of how I sleep or work at my desk. They could all be factors.

We've decided to push the next appointment out for two weeks. I'm 33-1/2 weeks pregnant and will definitely continue to see her up until I deliver. Ideally, she will give me an adjustment and then I will go into labor so I know that everything is perfectly aligned! Wishful thinking, of course.

Dr. Kate, My Fourth Visit, I Totally Overdid it This Week! by Mama to be, Abby Jordan

I work in retail. I pretty much always have. The Holiday season is a long one. I mainly focus on meeting sales goals, the last big push of the year, what can I do to literally bend over backwards to get those last sales!!! Well, I've never been pregnant for this lovely season before.

In an effort to get the season started off right, we shipped our biggest order ever on the Monday following Thanksgiving. It was a lot of manual and mental labor but I think the main thing that took a toll was the way I managed the lifting, packing carrying etc. Before you get upset, these were 8 lb boxes at the most. I wasn't carrying 50 lb bags of sugar. The weight was manageable for a pregnant lady. It was just that there were 650 of them. To get through it, I took a tylenol and didn't stop until it was over!!

By that evening I knew I had probably pushed some of those tiny little vertebrae out of their comfortable positions. Not to mention my hip was locked up, my knee was shifted in, I was in need of some adjustment love. My appointment was for Friday and by then I was so excited to see Dr. Kate Hansen!!

Have you ever heard of relaxin? It is a hormone your body produces tons of when you are pregnant to "relax" your pelvis into opening up and letting the baby out. It can also have a negative effect by relaxin' your lower back and joints into falling out of place. I figure this and my bending over backwards for sales have a lot to do with why I keep ending up in pain. The good news is, it can be adjusted. The even better news is I can take proactive steps to helping as well. Heard of yoga? Yeah, I almost forgot too. I used to be so good at stretching every night and somehow over the last few months I have really slowed down my efforts. I'm going to really try and pick it up for the home stretch. Overall, bone, joint and muscle wellness. That's my goal for me and for baby! Good luck to me!! ;)

This won't hurt a bit!

ALRIGHT, OK! I have no idea how to write a blog and I’m sure you’ll all be able to tell that this is my first attempt, BUT, there is something I am SO passionate about that I’m willing to step way out of my comfort zone to talk about it. Pregnant women…..the myths stop here! In my six years of practicing chiropractic, I have heard a recurrent theme: my back hurts, but it’s just because I’m pregnant.

FALSE.

I can tell you as a pregnancy chiropractor and as a mom that has been pregnant twice, you don’t have to be uncomfortable while you’re pregnant. READ THIS CAREFULLY – Back pain during pregnancy isn’t normal. In fact, pain anywhere in your body isn’t “normal”. It’s common, because we often try to ignore it or figure it’s just there, BUT, it’s actually your body’s way of telling you that something isn’t right. Most often in pregnancy, it involves the joints (and muscles and nerves) because of ligament laxity and the changing biomechanics that come with carrying (the BEAUTIFUL!) growing baby belly. I will spare you the anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of pain for blogging etiquette sake, but put simply, back pain is not normal (EVEN WHEN YOU'RE PREGNANT!!!). You don’t have to suffer!

From a woman that has been through pregnancy twice myself, I can assure you that chiropractic adjustments throughout pregnancy are extremely helpful! There is not enough money in the world to make me go through a pregnancy without getting chiropractic care to prevent back pain. (NOT to mention that getting adjusted makes labor faster and easier….but that will be a topic for another time).

I know you might think my opinion is skewed because I do this for a living, SO, I hope you’ll take into consideration what our “pregnant mama”, Abby, had to say.

Check out her blog entry about her first chiropractic experience. (I’m honored to be her first!!)

Dr. Kate, My Second Visit, But I've had this pain for years!! by Mama to be, Abby Jordan

I went to my second chiropractic appointment in my life on Monday. It is so enlightening. I was feeling really good and probably would not have made another appointment but I just kept hearing a voice in my head saying, you need to make follow up appointments to make sure things stay in place. So, I did it. I ran in there thinking, I'm already all good, this will be super quick. I was wrong. My little lower discs had started slipping back to where they had been for the last God knows how long so she moved them back into place, again. I then started complaining about all my ailments from childhood through now. The first thing I told her about were how my knees and hips always hurt really badly after a day of standing or other physical activity. I told her the pain had been way less recently and I read it was because of the glucosamine that your body releases during pregnancy. She agreed but checked me anyway. Well, one of my hips needed to be popped. I say popped because that's what I heard. I am not sure what she did but I went through rounds of Xrays, MRI's etc in college because of this darn hip. I can't wait to feel the results. It already feels better but to not have to baby it or pop ibuprofen will be sweet! Another successful visit with Dr. Kate Hansen. Next, we are going to do acupuncture. Can you imagine the things she is going to discover about me then?

OMG! Dr. Kate is AMAZING! My First Chiropractic Visit! by mama to be, Abby Jordan

For as long as I can remember back I have sworn off of chiropractics. I love massages but for some reason I thought the whole back cracking thing was pushing it. I also love yoga and thought, "Listen, I can get myself aligned okay?" Well, turns out I can't. Since I've been pregnant I've been especially lazy with yoga. I have really been doing it on an as needed method to stretch out sore muscles. Last weekend I had taken things too far. My lower back had been sore all week and finally on Saturday it was almost too much to take. I spent Saturday and Sunday alternating heat and ice. It relieved some of the pain but I thought I would check out a Chiropractor. Since I had been taking the Baby Love Birth Classes I knew about Dr. Kate Hansen. She specializes in prenatal care and I thought she'd be perfect for my leap of faith.

Today, I had my very first session with Dr. Kate Hansen. I had an assessment and it turns out my pelvis and my tail bone were not aligned. Can you believe it? I could!! As soon as she made the adjustment I felt a difference. I know I will need more treatments to ensure everything stays all lined up (something else I've always been skeptical of) but it makes sense. Who knows how long I have been off the track? Of course, my bones and muscles are going to try to revert.

I have been pregnant for almost 30 weeks now and I kept thinking that back pain was part of the process. I kept thinking, "I am gaining weight up front and it must be putting pressure on my back ." I really didn't know that you could go through pregnancy (or life) without back pain.

I'm thrilled I finally hung up my misconceptions and tried it out.