I have this amazing book I got when John and I were first thinking about becoming pregnant called Body, Soul, and Baby, by Dr. Tracy Gaudet, M.D. She's an OB in North Carolina who is specializes in integrative medicine (particularly for women's health), and even though the book is geared toward pregnancy, labor, and delivery, I really love her overall philosophy of medicine. She has the traditional medical background, but is open to bringing in alternative therapies when appropriate--whatever makes the healthiest mom and baby.
The book helped me a lot through pregnancy, and even now I think about it all the time. Something about it just clicked with me. When I was pregnant, I liked that Dr. Gaudet believed that a woman knows best as long as she remains vigilant about checking in with herself (her whole self, body, mind, and soul). It made me feel empowered and active, instead of feeling like a gestating cow (well, most of the time). In this integrated philosophy, a woman must be CONSCIOUS throughout her pregnancy and EDUCATED about warning signs, potential complications, and the process of birth (and its unpredictability), not just reliant on doing what the doctors say. If she does have this awareness and understanding, then she can know what her body needs and make the best choices. The worst things a woman can do, in Dr. G's mind, is not think about the fact that she's pregnant, ignore her body and not check in with herself, and not educate herself. I don't think she believes that women innately "just know" what to do, but she does seem to believe that women have instincts that, once paired with education and awareness, are powerful indicators of the health of the pregnancy.
And, if I ever met her, I would kiss her for all the assistance her book gave me throughout my laboring. Just getting me to approach it and think about it differently was an incredible gift.
For instance, she tells stories of women hell-bent on having natural births who end up with emergency C-Sections and are disappointed and distraught (even though the surgery saves their lives). They just never accept anything other than their "plan" as a possibility. She's also seen women who would not acknowledge their fears (I mean, childbirth is some scary shit..."you mean THAT is going to fit through THERE??") and instead just tell themselves "the moment I get to the hospital, I will have the epidural and everything will be fine". But, they end up not being able to have pain meds for one reason or another, or they don't work like they thought they would, and these women suddenly become paralyzed by the fear of giving birth without them, making the whole experience so much more traumatizing than it should have been. She encourages women to try going natural if they can, but isn't a nazi about it either. She mainly just wants women to think first, and be proactive in their mindset--to be conscious about the decisions they are making and why they are making them.
Knowledge and Awareness. Seems a good philosophy for a whole lot more than just makin' babies, right?
I haven't cracked this book in a good 17 months (to be precise), and it's really amazing to look at it from the perspective of NOT being pregnant. There's some awesome information about becoming more self-aware of one's general health, which is totally a piece I'm missing from my puzzle. When I read it before, I thought of pregnancy as such a unique experience, but never stopped to think about how I could use the knowledge and tools in normal life. I just figured pregnancy was special. Once it was done, I was back to being me.
Man I can be dumb sometimes. I blame in on Pregnancy Brain.
What does Integrative Medicine (specifically Dr. Gaudet) have to say about Health?
Integrative Medicine takes very seriously the idea that health involves not just a healthy body, but also a healthy mind and a healthy soul. As I indicated earlier, there is a strong sense that people should be educated and develop awareness to know when something is up.
Being Mindful. Being sensitive to when things get out of whack. Knowing when it's emotional eating and when it's hunger; when it's not exercising because of self-confidence issues or because the body just needs rest; when it's an uneasy stomach because of a lifestyle problem or because of a food poisoning. Crap, just being aware of an uneasy stomach at all. That's the kind of self-awareness that helps one become healthy.
To help develop the much-sought-after Body Awareness, Dr. Gaudet give four tools (more details are in the book than I can give here, but hopefully this will capture the gist of it):
1) Frequent "Body Quick Pics" - To be done often throughout the day. Take a couple breaths, quickly tune into your body, notice anything weird/off/good/bad/hunger/pain/energy level/etc. Time: 1-2 minutes.
2) Body Scan - To be done once a day. Sit/lie and tune your attention to each part of your body, like doing an imaginary CT scan. Anything good/bad? Time: 5-10 minutes.
3) Dialoguing with your physical self - To be done on occasion (once a week or every other week). Actually personify your body and ask it what it wants to say to you. What do you want to say to it? Imagine a conversation. (Reading her entry on this makes it sound not nearly as crazy as I make it sound, I swear.)
4) Body Monitoring - Weigh yourself regularly. Stand in front of a mirror naked (a horrifying proposition when your pregnant) and look at your general appearance for any changes. Check for signs of disease or imbalance. How does your hair look? Your skin color?
After giving those four tools for awareness, she goes on to explain the Five Centers of Wellness:
1) Mind
2) Nutrition
3) Movement
4) Spirit
5) Sensuality/Sexuality
Then she lays out a series of "Goals" for each of these Centers. (Clearly, the goals are assuming one is pregnant, but I think I can adapt them relatively easily for normal life.)
MIND GOALS-
1) Try every day to bring awareness to your level of stress
2) Trigger your relaxation response at least one time a day (she gives tips on this as well)
3) Explore ways to use mind-body techniques to support the specific needs of your body and soul
NUTRITION GOALS-
1) Explore and understand your relationship with food
2) Bring meal-by-meal consciousness to your food choices
3) Eliminate substances that are known dangers
4) Shift to a more
MOVEMENT GOALS* (I love that she calls it movement instead of exercise. Maybe it's because of the whole pregnancy thing, but I'm sticking with it.)-
1) Make conscious choices about the kinds of activity that your body needs and enjoys every day
2) Do low-impact aerobic activity that you enjoy at least three times a week
3) Strength-train at least three times a week on nonconsecutive days
4) Stretch every day
* I wonder if any of these, especially the low-impact aerobic activity, would translate differently for a non-pregnant woman. Hmm....
SPIRIT GOALS-
1) Think about your sense of your life's meaning and purpose
2) Build a "sacred time" into each day
3) Do one thing every day to fuel or feed a relationship you care about
SENSATION GOALS-
1) Pay attention to which of your senses you are most nurtured by
2) Actively nurture the full range of your senses and sensuality every day
3) Explore and support your sexuality as it evolves throughout your
She obviously gives a whole lot more detail in the book about each of these goals, so I will read back over those and see if there is anything I want to add to El Giganto Criteria list.
It's strange, I didn't even think about this book at first, but I think this is going to be the best resource I have. Who'da thunk?
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