We started planning the first few logistics of the postpartum plan from more of an energetic perspective. What is going to be best for both Charlie and the two of us as the child enters the world and our lives completely transform into being full-time parents?

I have been waiting for the all too common pregnancy complaint of occasional constipation. But I have yet to experience it and I can say that I am quite thankful for that! My bowels are normally quite regular, but I think that some good habits have helped me. In this article let’s explore why this happens in the first place, what can help keep you regular, and what to do if you run into that occasional period of constipation.

For every fetus, the mother should increase her caloric intake only by about 300 kcal/day (and if you are starting at a normal BMI, you can increase that number to about 500 kcal/day in the third trimester). These are nutrient-rich calories. Where should those extra calories come from?

How do we rebalance our sacred womb after birth? In India, the Ayurvedic system recommends the mother receive care for 42 days after the baby is born. This means the mother is given the support to rest, sleep, eat, and get nourishment after the baby is born. This window in time is deeply critical for the mother and the child to acclimate to each other, heal, and bond as a family. In our “western” culture we are asked to move quickly into the mother role and jump back to our responsibilities in and outside of the home. In addition, it takes a woman’s body a minimum of 1-2 years to fully recover from the birth experience. It can be longer if you are breast-feeding, became pregnant with another child, or did not take the important steps to recover.

During week 16, we explored the three doshas or energies of the mind, sattva, rajas, and tamas, as it applies to the emotions of our being and the passion we live life with. As I enter month five, I began to think about those concepts as it relates to consciousness and higher psychological centers (in contrast to the intellect, or buddhi which is to come during month six). This center is that place of deep insight and intuition, far beyond the reaches of the intellect. According to Ayurveda, this part of Charlie (what we call the baby) begins to take strong development during this month.

I started my pregnancy care pretty rapidly with a physician. It was what kind of fell into my lap with a recommendation from another physician friend. Plus I was fairly new to this small town in West Texas, where, at the time, there were not any options besides a pretty traditional hospital delivery, with or without doula support. I loved my obstetrician. She was kind, intelligent, and capable. But something just was not clicking for me.

I shifted into the twentieth week this week, and I can say that my belly is noticeably getting larger. After yoga class one day, my brother and sister-in-law looked at my belly and exclaimed, “Woah! Your belly grew over night!” It really did seem to be so, since over the week several people, including my brother-in-law, my husband, and yoga teacher all commented on how much bigger my belly is.

This was a bit of a relief to me since many people barely noticed that I was pregnant until the last few weeks, unless I work a tighter shirt. But Charlie (what we call the baby) is right on point, and will grow at an even faster rate over the next several weeks.

There is this idea that, as much as possible, do not intrude on the baby. It is in a very private place, where it cannot be seen—likely for a reason. The baby is processing and is very internal. For this reason, though it is said you can feel the baby’s pulse through the mother’s (and hence tell the prakriti of the baby), generally it is not advised to do so.

I came back from my trip this past week to the decision of whether to do genetic testing or not. If you are at this stage of your pregnancy (about 4 months) and have not already been asked this question by your provider, you should be soon. There are several types of testing that you can do (talk to your provider), but most of them involve some combination of blood tests and may also involve a sonogram. You can even have your blood tested for placental fragments, which hold your baby’s DNA. From that simple blood test, you can tell all about your baby’s genetics.

I am now feeling much better, with more energy. Almost like my old self. With that, many women at this point are ready to tend to their sex life with their partner if they haven’t already started to do so. This is a topic that my clients almost always ask me about.

It is a topic that people can get very charged about, especially if they do not get the answer that they want (which varies quite a bit!). Sex is, after all, about intimacy, relationships, self-expression, and pleasure.

Rather than looking at this from the point of view of morality, right and wrong, and other views that are very subjective, let us explore it from the point of view of the doshas (vata, pitta, kapha).

During the fourth, fifth, and sixth months of the pregnancy, critical parts of the baby’s brain and mind develop. The fourth month is dominated by the development of the heart center, which involves emotions and the ability to sympathize and empathize, as well as desires and tendencies of the personality. Normally, we do not necessarily associate emotions and passion with either the heart or the brain alone. But the heart center, specifically the fourth chakra, is the center from where we connect with the outside world—which is why our hands will come first to our heart area when something moves us before they move to the head. Ayurveda has beautifully spoken about the mind in terms of a different set of doshas. Like vata, pitta, and kapha, all three have important functions in the mind in a healthy and balanced state.

This week I left home for a three-week journey with my spiritual teacher. There will be a lot of movement, a lot of high-altitudes, which means a lot of potential for vata. Taking time to balance vata will be very important for me, and any pregnant mother planning on travel during pregnancy. There are also a number of things that go along with travel that raises questions in pregnant mothers’ minds.

For those that are familiar with the Patanjali Yoga Sutras (the ancient scriptures that first talked about yoga) and its yamas (social disciplines) and niyamas (individual disciplines), you will recall that one of the niyamas is sauca (cleanliness). Over the years, this concept has broadened in its meaning and applicability in my life.

In this entry of our "Birthing Ayurveda" series, Vrinda documents her process of incorporating exercise and yoga into her daily routine during her pregnancy.

We are trustees of this Soul, responsible for its growth and nurturing for the next several years until it has grown into itself, at which time we are simply his or her friend and companion in life. At the end of his or her growth with us, we hand the Soul back to the Universe, hopefully with the satisfaction that we lived as solid examples and nurtured the Soul to its fullest expression.

My constitution is Pitta-Vata, though a vata imbalance is usually what manifests in my body. So it is no surprise that vata has been making a star appearance in my body the last several weeks.

Along with pitta heartburn, I get incredibly bloated after meals (I have become a burping monster). I wake up between 2 and 4 am every morning—wide awake. And then I wake up every half or hour until I finally get up around 6 am. Luckily, constipation, a common vata and pregnancy symptom, is not something I am struggling with.

I had been eating only mung dal cooked with veggies, with fruit as my snacks, for two to three weeks. And I just about had it. One day I was eating a bowl of my dal, and I looked at it with exhaustion. My taste buds were not interested and it almost made me nauseated. I came to the kitchen table where some of my family was sitting and prepping for dinner, and I announced that all I want to eat is a tostada!

I started paying a lot more attention to Vrinda this week—what her thoughts were, the little things that irked her, the subtle comparisons and judgments she makes, excuses she makes. It’s all subtle, but it adds up. And Charlie (our nickname for the baby) is constantly watching and listening to all this—the Mother spoke about how the child’s education starts well before birth.

This week I got real friendly with our toilet… and the airport toilet. I had spent the weekend with my parents and in-laws in Virginia and on the way back things just went haywire. This was a bit of a surprise to me since I hadn’t really had any vomiting. The day after I got back was my recovery day, that is, before I hit the bathroom again the next day.

Fear is a funny thing. Those who are familiar with Ayurveda know that fear and anxiety are vata emotions because they have such an airy quality to them. In other words, there’s no real substance to it—yet, they have this amazing ability to completely take over and dominate the mind and one’s existence. 

More often than not, they are products of our imagination. The mind goes into “what-if’s” about the unknown—an area that the mind has absolutely no knowledge of or experience with and therefore cannot make any judgments or opinions with real basis.

Finding out that I am pregnant is probably one of the most frightening things I have ever experienced. This pregnancy was completely unexpected. I actually took the test to prove to my husband that he was wrong about me being pregnant (he has always had this annoyingly accurate intuition).