Preconception and Fertility
Dr. Calhoun’s professional work with childhood chronic disease and personal history with infertility, has propelled her passion to work with couples prior to pregnancy to optimize the landscape for creating a baby. She has found that preconception care can drastically reduce the risk of immune system and neurodevelopment disorders in the offspring. However, preconception wellness is not only important for the health of the baby, It is also a crucial window for mom to optimize her health prior to becoming a mother! This aligns well with our mission of creating physically and mentally fierce mothers. Whether you are struggling with infertility and looking to address the root cause or are simply wanting to optimize the health of mom and baby, we would love to walk with you on this journey and facilitate transformation that will benefit your family's wellbeing for years to come.
In supporting families prepare for conception, we assess the following:
HORMONE HEALTH:
A presence of a period signals a rise and fall in. hormones, but not an appropriate balance. In order to get pregnant, the relationship between your hormones and the relative balance is extremely important. You can have a period and still not be ovulation, have low progesterone, have suboptimal thyroid function, have low androgens (male hormones), or have elevated estrogen. Each of these imbalances can impact the chances of achieving viable conception.
GUT HEALTH:
Your child is colonized with YOUR gut microbiome. We know there are many benefits to vaginal birth and breastfeeding, and many of the benefits are around the positive impact these measures have on the development of the baby’s microbiome. Unfortunately, you don’t just pass on your good bugs- your bad ones can be transferred as well!. The gut microbiome drastically impacts their digestive health, immune health, oral health, behavior, skin health, and more!
NUTRIENT STATUS:
Micronutrient deficiency can negatively impact egg quality and hormone balances, decreasing your chances of getting pregnant. Nutrient deficiencies can further disrupt normal fetal development, and the impacts can last throughout the child’s life. Finally, certain deficiencies can increase the mother’s risk of complications, like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, and postpartum depression.
TOXINS:
Numerous toxins in our environment are known teratogens- meaning that they damage the normal development of the fetus. We know that mom’s transfer a large amount of their own toxic burden to their child in utero and during breastfeeding. In fact, one study showed that 80% of toxins within mom were transferred to the baby in utero, and numerous studies show that maternal toxin levels fall with breastfeeding.
Exposure to toxins in this day and age is ubiquitous. It is not “if” you have been exposed- it’s “how much,” and how efficient is your body with detoxification.
INFLAMMATION/ IMMUNE:
Prenatal inflammation is at the crux of many neurodevelopment disorders, like Autism and ADHD. Inflammation from autoimmunity, allergies, stress, and eczema have been shown to increase the risk of a neurodevelopment disorders through epigenetic alternations and antibody attack.