077: How to Use Homeopathy During Pregnancy, Labor and Postpartum (with Emily Ransom)

Ever heard of homeopathy? Ever wonder what it was or if it could help you during your pregnancy, labor, or postpartum? Today we'll find out just what homeopathy is, and just what it isn't, and the different remedies we can use to assist us not only in pregnancy and labor, but into motherhood as well. Our guest today is certified Homeopath, Emily Ransom, which you can find at @homeopathywithemily on Instagram or at homeopatihywithemily.com.

Here are the remedies we discussed in today's episode, what they're used for, and where you can find them:

Ipecacuanha 30c - morning sickness, food aversion during pregnancy, nausea/vomiting during labor

Nux Vomica 30c or 200c - nausea or vomiting during pregnancy or labor, or just “feeling gross”

Arnica Montana 200c - aches and pains of pregnancy, beat-up feeling, exhaustion, contractions, postpartum bleeding

Phytolacca Decandra 30c or 200c - lymph nodes, breast pain, engorgement, mastitis, plugged duct

Cinchona Officianalis 30c - low milk supply, feeling depleted from nursing/loss of fluids

Ignatia Amara 200c - insomnia, anxiety, grief, sadness, weeping, crying, emotions

Sepia 200c - postpartum hormones, irritability, rage, postpartum depression, uterine tone, postpartum headaches/migraines, brain fog 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

It covers everything. And because it's so old and it's been so widely used, it's not guaranteed to help every person, but it does help with every human condition, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Um, and I like to say that we we can give the remedies, but it's God who does the healing.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hi, I'm Kayla Heater, follower of Jesus, wife and mother of five children, Christian childbirth educator in doula, and your host of the Surrendered Birth Stories Podcast, where we share God-centered birth stories, evidence-based birth education, and our pursuit of surrendering our birth plans to God. Let's get started. Hey everyone, I hope your week is off to a great start. Mine is because I just found out my spring childbirth class is almost full already. And usually that doesn't happen until like the week before the class starts or like a couple days before. But we only have one slot left already. Um, so if you are thinking about signing up for it or hadn't reached out to me yet, please do so ASAP, because we only have one spot left for one more couple in our spring childbirth class. Um, and that is for summer due dates. So people do June, July, August. So just reach out if that's you, first come, first serve. So that's super exciting to me. I remember the day when I was just like begging friends of mine to take this childbirth class um and just sort of dream that one day I don't want to turn people away, but you know what I mean? Like dream that one day that every time I taught it, it would be full. And that's just so cool to see God working in that way and answering prayers. It's really, really exciting for me. So I just wanted to share that. I love teaching, love teaching this class. It's so much fun, and I can't wait to teach all these sweet couples here in just a couple months. Also, I got a new review this week, and believe it or not, that doesn't happen every week. So whenever it does happen, I uh I like to recognize that. It you know, it's funny because I'm not a words of affirmation like person until I read these reviews. And then I'm like, I okay, maybe I am. Um, this review is from A Adkins. She says, such a resource. This podcast is gold. Kayla is such a compassionate and knowledgeable listener to each mom who opens up for their birth story. This podcast illustrates how unique birth is every single time. Can't recommend enough, whether you're pregnant, already a mom, well past having babies, or hoping one day too. So engaging. Thank you for leaving that. It really brightens my week anytime I see that somebody's left a new review. And it's so helpful for other people, and it's so easy too. So if you haven't done it yet, please do me the honor of just scrolling down, clicking write a review, and taking the 30 seconds it takes to write a written review. It helps this show get in front of more moms like you who can benefit from hearing these stories. Okay, let's get into this week's episode. Ever heard of homeopathy? Ever wonder what it was or if it could help you during your pregnancy, labor, or postpartum? Today we'll find out just what homeopathy is and just what it isn't, and the different remedies we can use to assist us not only in pregnancy and labor, but into motherhood as well. Our guest today is certified homeopath Emily Ransom, which you can find at homeopathy with Emily on Instagram or at homeopathy with Emily.com. Also, we will be listing all the remedies we discuss in today's episode in the show notes. Welcome to another episode of Surrendered Birth Stories. I am your host, Kayla Heater, and I have Emily back with me today, which is super exciting. Um, she was on here to share her birth stories recently, episode 69 with Emily. So her birth stories are on there. I think it was a wonderful episode that everybody should listen to. So go back and listen to that. But Emily is on here today to share with us all about homeopathy and specifically about how you can use homeopathy during the season of pregnancy and labor and postpartum. So first, Emily, why don't you go ahead and just tell people who maybe didn't get a chance to listen to your birth stories who you are, a little bit about yourself, and then right after that, go straight into how you came to discover homeopathy in the first place.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Hi, everybody. Um, Kayla, thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun. So, my name is Emily. Um, I have five kids, and I'm a homeschooling mom. I've been married um 11 years this month to my high school sweetheart. So we've been together a long time. I've spent half my life with him and a stay-at-home mom. I guess people assume that if you're homeschooling, but that's pretty much my day-to-day. And when I was, I talk about this a little bit in my in my birth story podcast, but I took this naturally leaning childbirth class, which Kayla was a part of. And before that time, I had never given any thought to what I put in my body, you know, epidural, no epidural, never thought about any of that, never even thought about like any kind of drug or over-the-counter medicine and what that might be doing or what the side effects were. I just was kind of bopping along. And I remember somebody saying something in the class. Well, first of all, we had to like track our food. And so that was a window into the kinds of ingredients that are in things. But then I also remember somebody saying in the class, you know, if your kid gets sick, just give them Tylenol, they'll be fine. They'll be fine. And a little tiny seed was planted in my brain. I'm like, well, why would Tylenol not be fine? I don't even know why you're saying that. That makes no sense to me. And so that was just like the first little tiny, like, not even a sprout yet, just a seed that burrowed way back. And I, of course, assumed that my kid would never get sick because I was gonna breastfeed, and all the seeds and bombs can laugh about that because I was just a first-time mom. And I'm like, yeah, they're gonna have the perfect immune system because of breastfeeding. And of course, I do believe that sets us up for success. But I I literally just had no idea what to do when my oldest got sick. She was seven months old, and I was working, so I was like commuting back and forth to work at the time, and my husband was the one who took her to the doctor's appointment. And so you can just imagine like the worry that I had. And of course, husbands don't always relay things, you know, the way that I would want to hear it. They, so anyway, I was just distraught because she had a double ear infection and bronchitis, and I did not want to give antibiotics. I knew kind of enough to know that I didn't want to go that route, but I had no clue what to do. I felt stuck. Um, I had heard of like garlic drops, but I wasn't really sure what that was or even where to get them and didn't know anything about it. I had heard of homeopathy because I was also trying to boost my milk supply using homeopathy, but really had no understanding of what I was doing. I had just kind of heard about this one random tincture. So I didn't have a plan. And so I did end up giving the antibiotic to her, which she's fine. Everything was fine, but I never wanted to be in that position again. I knew that next time somebody in my family got sick, whether it was my infant or a pet or one of us, then I wanted to know what to do and be prepared. So I didn't have that scrambling, panicking feeling. Um, I'll just never forget how I felt. And I have all these things that are like my never-again moments. And I share some of them in my birth story, but a lot of them are homeopathy related too. It's just this whole journey of like realizing the mom I want to be and what's gonna bring me the most peace, and then what's gonna bring me no peace at all. And then having these little aha moments of, oh, it shouldn't be this way. Um, so that was my that was my turning point. I after that like sickness and that whole episode, I ended up buying a homeopathy kit. And then I was like, okay, somebody gets sick so I can use this. And I it was kind of funny I that I invested in that without really having any any more background information, but I just wanted to jump in and try it because I felt like it was everything that I had been looking for. And I see this a lot in like moms groups and just the circles that I'm in. We want to do things naturally and safely for our kids, but we don't have a concrete plan. And so then we have this, like I said, this kind of scrambling when someone gets sick or when something is going wrong. So my absolute passion in life is just educating other moms on how to do this. And so I bought the kit, convinced my husband that I should do this. Um, I started kind of teaching courses in the community, like just little study groups with my close circles of friends. And then I eventually opened that up into bigger groups, like online. Um, thank you, 2020. Now we all know how to use Zoom and we can do these things. And um, and then I decided to go back to school for it and and make it a second career. So I'm now a certified homeopath and I get to um do stuff like this a little bit more often, which is super fun. Um, and I I always, always appreciate the opportunity to talk about it because I just believe that it's life-changing information. I think every mom should know about it. A lot of what you'll see on homeopathy on Instagram and things like that seems kind of elite, like you have to go to school for this to know how to do it. I don't believe that. I believe that every mom can do this in their own home, um, that they can do it really effectively, and that it doesn't have to have all this kind of not fear, but like there doesn't need to be hesitancy around it or feeling like it's too high level. Like we can all practically implement these tools.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

I love it. And I have been following your journey um on Instagram with homeopathy. So this is a very full circle moment for me too. This is exciting to see you now here and certified and all the things. And this is great. So if anyone out there is like me, a few years back, I had heard of the word homeopathy, but I had either no idea what it meant or I had very wrong ideas about what it meant. So could you take a minute, just explain what exactly homeopathy is and how it works?

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah, that's a great question. And I, like many people, thought that it meant home remedies, um, like garlic drops. I mentioned, I thought that it was like apple cider vinegar and putting potatoes in your socks while you're sick or just different home remedies. And it's actually its own form of medicine. So it does not include essential oils, it doesn't include, you know, chiropractic care and teething necklaces and um just all these things that we think of as being holistic. And I use and love a lot of those things, but they're not homeopathy. Homeopathic medicine is its own subset. So there's like, think of a broad umbrella of holistic medicine. And homeopathy is its own little thing under that umbrella. So it is holistic, it is natural, but what makes it a homeopathic medicine is these substances, it can be a plant, um, an animal, a mineral, an element on the periodic table, um, anything on earth pretty much can be made into a homeopathic remedy. And the thing that makes it homeopathic is this dilution process. So if you took like a honey bee, a crushed up honey bee, the remedy is called apus, and that is diluted hundreds and even thousands of times until it becomes curative. So you would get a bee sting from a honey bee, usually. Um, actually, I don't think honey bees sting. Maybe they do, but be a bee sting is toxic to most people. But once that has undergone this dilution process, which happens in pharmacies, now it's no longer going to harm you with the substance. Now it's got this curing ability that goes even deeper than what herbs and oils can do, is that's my opinion. Um, so another example is like St. John's wort. A lot of people are really familiar with that herb. But if you took it in its herbal form, it would have some benefits. But in its homeopathic form, when it's been diluted thousands and thousands and thousands or hundreds and thousands of times, um, what's what happens is this even greater healing ability where not only is it working to relieve the symptoms, but it's also working below the surface to uproot the problem that was causing the symptoms in the first place. So it's the best of both worlds. Everyone wants to feel better, but then it's also going deeper and uprooting the condition. Um, and that's why I say that it was everything I was looking for. It just was this huge aha moment for me. And it's based on the principle that like cures like. So, for another example, if you were chopping an onion, the things that might be happening are, you know, watery, runny eyes, itchy nose, sneezing, maybe a runny nose. And that substance, um, onion, can be made into a remedy called allium sipa. And allium sepa works on allergies and cold symptoms and runny noses. It's not that you would take it because you chopped an onion, it's that it's a similar condition. So the condition that you have when you're getting a cold or having seasonal allergies is similar to the reaction of chopping an onion. So that substance is working to relieve the symptoms of seasonal allergies and um and runny noses. And that's that's just one example. There are tons of these remedies. There's over 6,000. I mainly use about 300. I don't think you really need to know more than more than probably 50 or 100 to do a really, really good job with your family. Um, but they're made in pharmacies. Like I said, it's actually regulated by the FDA and the homeopathic pharmacopia of the United States. They go through really strict guidelines and purity standards when they're being made. And I mean, they these pharmacies are incredible. They can tell you what the weather was like on the day that the plant was harvested. They can tell you what the soil quality was. You know, they're feeding their employees all organic food. Like the quality that goes into making these is just incredible. And I think that we, again, when we hear the word homeopathic, we're thinking of like a mom making something on her kitchen counter, like a like a jar of garlic and honey. And you could make a homeopathic remedy at home, but most often it's done in these pharmacies. And so you can trust the quality because they have put in all this testing and all this research. And it can come in creams, like a lot of people might have heard of calendula cream, that's homeopathic, or Arnica is if you've heard of any of them, you've probably heard of Arnica. But creams, cough syrups, gels, probably the most common is the pellets, but like the blue and purple tubes that you see in health food stores, those are the boron brand, and those are homeopathic. And it's over 200 years old. Um, I wanted to say that also. It's it was founded in Germany in the 1790s, and the remedies that they discovered are still in use today. They're still, you know, developing the research because science, true science, never stops looking for answers and um just gaining even more proof. But that that hypothesis from Samuel Hahnemann, the Law of Similars, that was that he proposed in the 1790s, that has only been built on and expanded. And there's just so much data. I can't even like go into all the nerdy things that that prove how effective this is. But just know that it's used in every continent in the world and in almost every country, except not usually the communist countries. Um and in the US, it's not very well known. But in Europe, oftentimes or in South America, you'll go into a pharmacy and you'll have traditional over-the-counter options, and then you'll also have homeopathic options. And in these poorer parts of the world, it's widely used because it's so inexpensive. These remedies are like$10 or less. So yeah, you can go on my Instagram and look up more.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Right. And we will. We will go look up more.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Yeah, more, more nerdy things if you want to. Um, but yeah, it's it's just this this whole world that my eyes were open to. And I, I mean, I'll be learning about it my whole life. It's something that I'll be a student of forever because it's just that, it's that meaty. It's like it and it's super satisfying because just as soon as I think, oh, this is this is so cool, then I learn something that's even more amazing. And it's um it's but it's a medical science. That's that's important for you to know.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

No, that's good. I think that's a got gave us a pretty good understanding of what it is and and what it isn't. Also, in terms of like these remedies, you mentioned like gels and creams, but for the most part, do you like swallow them or do they dissolve in your mouth?

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Yeah, orally is is the main way that we take them. And you can let them dissolve. I believe that most of the instructions actually say to let them dissolve, but I don't know how to make a toddler or a dog not chew them. Um so we have always chewed them in our family, and it's worked just fine because the medicine is actually coating the outside of those pellets. So your kids are gonna love them because they taste like sugar. Um, because when they were developing these back in the late 1700s, they discovered that sugar was the most shelf-stable substance. That's a tongue twister. Um, so the medicine coats the outside of the sugar pellets. And so you can put it in your mouth and it works like a stimulant. So if you think about like acupuncture, it starts working when the needle touches a pressure point in your skin. Homeopathy starts working when that medicine touches your mucous membranes. So it's sending a message to the body to just gently nudge the body toward healing. It's assisting the body's ability to heal itself. And sometimes our bodies become confused and they need a little bit of help. And that's where homeopathy doesn't, it doesn't suppress anything. It's not just gonna make the symptoms go away. It's also, like I said, it's gonna uproot the problem and just gently push us toward healing so that you're less likely to have, like, let's go back to our allergy example. You're less likely to have severe allergies in the future. Um, and if you do experience allergies again, they would be less severe and maybe the attack would last a shorter amount of time. And that's kind of getting into like a chronic circumstance, but this can be used by anybody, regardless of, you know, expertise or training for those just common acute illnesses that everybody deals with. And like, since this is specifically, you know, we're gonna talk about birth and pregnancy and all that. I mean, think about like UTIs and labor pain and um even just getting a cold when you're pregnant, just all these things that we experience as women and that our children experience, like in our day to day lives, that we might not want to take an over-the-counter drug for. We might want to find a gentler way. And it's it's just a game changer. Um, and those prescriptions or over the counter drugs will always be there if you need them. So I always say, like, why not try the gentle route first?

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Right. And homeopathy, to my understanding. Can be used on any age and any stage. Like you it can be used completely safely during your entire pregnancy and postpartum experience as well as on your newborns, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yeah. And thank you for saying that because that's usually part of my like intro spiel. Um, but these these remedies are safe across the board. Um, you don't have to worry about like, oh, well, you know, my baby is two weeks old. Could I still give this? Well, my baby's nine months old. Can I still give it? Well, I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy. I mean, they're just whoever you are, whether you're a toddler or a newborn or an elderly mom or I mean, anybody. They're safe for they're safe for humankind and they work on pets too. Um, and they even work on plants. I mean, it's just incredible. And there are so many things while you're pregnant and while you have a newborn that are that everybody's saying do not take. It was such a comfort to me to find something that I could take. And if you, if you've had the experience of like being at a traditional OB where they give you those info sheets that say, you know, medications not to take during pregnancy. And then mine gives me a sheet that says medications that are relatively safe. And I'm like, what is relatively safe? Like something bad still might happen. I like that doesn't make me feel confident.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

Um, so the fact that you can use these during pregnancy, like again, if you if you had a cold, if you had a UTI, if you had a yeast infection, it might not be a pregnancy-related symptom. It's just something that you're wanting relief from while you're pregnant. Um, you can you can turn to homeopathy. And that's just like a big sigh of relief for me.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

And there's also no side effects, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:46

That is correct. Um, and so, like, again, why not start with the gentler route first? Why not try it? Because you you won't do harm with these. They have no side effects, they're completely gentle. Like I said, they're just working with the body to help stimulate that healing response. And it it is medicine, so it has to be used wisely. I think we're in a society that loves like every supplement or drink or or herbal tincture that we can get our hands on. We're just like, okay, tell me, tell me everything that I should be taking for for cold and flu season. But homeopathy is medicine, so it should only be used when we're sick. Um, it should only be used when something has gone wrong. And then just like think about you, you wouldn't take a Tylenol daily just because you sometimes get headaches. You would take it when you had a headache. And then if that headache was getting worse, you wouldn't continue taking the Tylenol, you'd find something different. And if it was getting better, you'd maybe take it one or two more times and then you'd back off. So it's completely logical in that way, because again, you're you're taking the homeopathic medicine when you need it, as often as you need it. And the more extreme something is, the more often you can take it. But then when you don't need it anymore, you start backing off, you're seeing what the body can do on its own.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

So, in terms of pregnancy, now I know we do not have the time to go into every single thing you could take in pregnancy for like homeopathy-wise. Um, but if you could just like name a few, uh maybe like some of the bigger ones that might be more common to take during pregnancy and maybe why you might take them, that would be great. I'd be very interested in knowing. I personally tried a lot of homeopathics for nausea this past time. Because that's my number one pregnancy complaint is the nausea. But it's so it's it's been nice having that in our um medicine cabinet because whenever somebody in my house now gets nauseous, like even my husband the other night, I made him take a detox bath and it really worked. Um, and he got like a really big headache afterwards because he was having like detox symptoms and it made him really nauseous. And I went and grabbed him the nausea calm, whatever brand that is, but it was like a homeopathic nausea comm. And he said it really did help him. And I was, I was like, Yeah, it did. Look at that homeopathy. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Um that's awesome. Did you find anything during pregnancy that helped? I remember us talking about a bunch of options um for for nausea.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

See, I didn't try to remember if I talked to you before or after this pastime, but I I think I like just went online and was like, you know, homeopathic remedies for nausea. And I ordered like I don't know, like five or six of them and tried them. But here's the other thing. I was not with a homeopath. Like I didn't have anyone telling me based on like who I was and the exact symptoms I was having. This is what you should take, and this is how often you should take it, and this is how you should take it, and this is how much you should take. Like I didn't have those. So I'm wondering like if that would have made more of an impact on my situation. But I also, I mean, I have HG. So it's like it's extreme. Um, but I know other people who have had great success with using homeopathy for nausea, um, where like it's completely eliminated it for them, which is wonderful. So I'm always willing to try it, of course.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

Yeah, I was just curious um because morning sickness, I mean, I'll I'll be honest, it's a bear. It goes on what can feel like forever. Um, for morning sickness, what I tell people is like, pick one thing that you're gonna try, one homeopathic remedy, and take it several times a day, just again, as often as you need it. So it could be every four hours, it could be every two hours. And if it's helping at all, you're on the right track, keep taking it. And if after about a week, you're like, zero difference. This is not helping at all. I'm still throwing up constantly, then change remedies. But you do need to see for about a week with morning sickness if it's if it's truly helping or not. And that can be tough to discern. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

So I would take it like once. And then and then I was like, this isn't helping. And I'd move on to the next one. So I I I I felt like I didn't go about that right. But this is good to know. Yeah, that's good to do that.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Well, and it's good for people to know that because that can be that can be something that I hear a lot is, well, I took such and such and it didn't help, or I gave this to my baby for teething and it didn't help at all. And I'm like, well, what does that mean? You gave it one time, or did you really like stick with it for a little while? And remember that it's it's a natural medicine, so it's not like a drug that's just gonna knock you out, or we we want things to happen quickly, and of course we do. We want to feel better. We're moms, we want um to get back to our schedules. We want to not be throwing up around the clock, but it can take some time um to really experience that relief. And we have to be really careful about what improvement looks like. Well, I'm still nauseous, but maybe now I can get off the couch, or I'm I'm still throwing up like once or twice a day, but it's not 10 times a day anymore. That's an improvement. That means we're on the right track. Um, I before I wasn't able to hold down anything, and now I can do crackers and ginger ale. You know what I mean? Like we have to, it might not be a total sweet relief, but it could just be like these incremental improvements that we have to be really watchful. And a great, a great medicine for morning sickness is Ipecac 30. And you could use it in a 200 also. And the the letters and numbers is I was gonna say this when I was kind of introducing what it was, but that's that's fine. Um, with homeopathy, if you're wondering if something is homeopathic or not, you're gonna see a Latin word and then a letter number combo. And the reason it's in Latin is because that's the language of science, and this has been around for 200 years, and that's what they used back then. They were classically educated and they they used um the Latin classifications to name these. And then the letter and number combo is how often or how many times it was diluted. So, like a six C is considered a low potency. That means it was diluted six times to the hundredth power. So the C the C stands for hundred. Um so a 30 C would be like a little bit stronger potency, but I I don't even want to use the word stronger because they're all very gentle. And then a 200C is an even higher potency than that. Um, and you don't necessarily have to know that, but just like across the board, they're all of them are safe for anyone. You don't have to do like 6C for babies and 200C for adults. Like I use them interchangeably, just depending on what's going on. But a 30 or a 200 is a great place to start. Great medium potencies that are gentle. So anyway, Ipecac 30 um for morning sickness. And the reason that I'm giving this one up like above any other is because this picture of extreme food aversions is so common. So Ipecac is like turned off by the smell, the sight, the thought of food. Um, it can be relentless vomiting or it can just be um nagging, nausea all the time. But that that food aversion piece, I think, is so common for pregnancy. And so that's definitely one that I would start with um for first trimester. And then Arnica is is a great one. I think, you know, like I said, if you've heard of any remedy, you've probably heard of Arnica. But it's, you know, we have a lot of aches and pains that are just kind of unexplained during pregnancy. Things are moving around and shifting, and there's pressure in in weird places, and Arnica can can help with that. It can even help with like if the baby is beating you up from the inside, like once you get into kind of the third trimester and they're really going crazy and their their kicks and punches can be hard, and it's like you're feeling like you're bruised on the inside. Arnica could help with that. You don't need to take it every day, only when you're having like some pain. But it's also a great one for labor. And I I'm sorry, I don't want to get ahead of myself. But another for pregnancy that I love is Ignacia. And that one, you can do Arnica or Ignatia in like a 30 or a 200, but Ignacia is great for anxiety, emotions, insomnia. So, again, a lot of these things are just so common to the pregnant mom. Even if you have a great pregnancy, you're still probably likely to have some emotions and you're pretty likely to have some insomnia, especially the more kids you have. I don't know about anyone listening, but I, my insomnia got worse with each pregnancy. Um, so Ignacia is a great one for that. And you can take it twice a day, or you can just take it as needed, like, oh, I'm having an extra emotional day. I'll take a dose of this. But Ignacia should probably be like on every woman's bedside just because it's so great for emotions. It's it's helped me a lot with like grief from my miscarriage. I was having what I would have called a cortisol dump because I was just having like these panic attacks in my chest. And this went on for like a year and a half all throughout my next pregnancy. Even after that that next baby was born, I continued having these panic attacks. And it wasn't even accompanying racing thoughts, although it could for anyone listening, but I finally realized I should probably take Ignacia because this has happened to me ever since I lost that pregnancy. So it, even though I wasn't necessarily feeling sad anymore, it was this like grief um response. And so I took Ignacia 200 and the the like relief I felt, I just can't even explain it. It's like, I mean, it's like taking a painkiller almost. You know, you're you're experiencing this panicky feeling, and then all of a sudden it just kind of melts away. But it's not in a numbing way or in a forced way, like taking a Valium or something like that. It's in the gentlest way, you just are gonna feel like yourself again. And what happened after I took that ignatia a few times is I started having the panic attacks less often. Even when I did have one, they would maybe last 20 minutes instead of an hour, instead of like three times a day, it would only happen every few days. And now I hardly have them at all anymore. It's it's just incredible how this works because not only does it make it make us feel better in the moment, but it's also just supporting our body so that so that whatever we were dealing with, whether it's grief or just regular anxiety or just emotions for any reason, it's just gonna help you um long term to uproot whatever the cause was. I hope that makes sense. And I feel like I'm being a little bit repetitive, but I think it's like good for us to hear these things over and over again so we can really like sink our teeth into how it works and be confident in what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, no, that's great. You're doing great. Let's jump in to labor. I'm sure there's like endless remedies we could use for pregnancy, but you can go see Emily for that in your own time. Let's jump in to labor. What are some remedies you would recommend for labor specifically?

SPEAKER_03 33:16

So if I only had one that I could hand you and send you to the hospital or the birth center or your bedside table with, it would be Arnica. Arnica is amazing for pain from contractions. It's amazing for having too much bleeding. It it even does help on an emotional level, um, you know, not only to relieve the pain, but also to just calm us down and help us have like that stamina that's needed for labor. Arnica is incredible. And I would use it in a 200 for um for labor. You can take it maybe every two hours for contractions if you need it. If you're dealing with the contractions, fine. Um, then you don't you don't have to take it by any means. But if you feel like it's needed, or you know, you've talked to whoever's gonna be at your birth, you've talked to them, and you're like, if I'm really not getting through my contractions well, will you please give me Arnica? It's really good to talk about these things ahead of time because you're not gonna be in a headspace to be like, get the homeopathic remedies. Um but it's it's a pain reliever. I mean, that's that's basically what it is, except, like I've been saying, it's also acting on a deeper level. It's not like taking Tylenol or getting an epidural. Um, it's gonna help your body in the way that you need it. So you're you're still gonna feel the contractions. It's still gonna feel like labor, but it's gonna help it soften a little bit and just be more manageable. Um, and then after, if you were having like extreme bleeding, this would definitely be one to keep on hand. I've seen it stop hemorrhages, like in a 1M. So a 1M is considered a higher potency, and I wouldn't recommend it for just like pain management during labor, but definitely if you know that you're at risk for a lot of bleeding, I would definitely have 1M on hand just in case.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

It's cool because I've heard of like different tinctures and herbs and stuff you could take for like hemorrhaging after the fact, like instead of doing like the Pitocin side attack route, which I would really try and avoid at all costs. Um that's cool to know that Arnica can do that too. I'm pretty sure in my second birth, um, I was at the birth center and it was my first natural labor. So my first one without an epidural. And I was in transition and I was in the tub and the midwife came over and she's like, Here, take take these. And I'm like, What is that? And she was like, Just trust me, I was gonna try and help with your pain. Cause I was very vocal about how I was feeling for her. And um just she popped them in my mouth and she's like, It'll just taste like sugar. And I was like, Okay. And I just didn't like I didn't even ask what it was. I didn't even, I just was like, okay, whatever, I'll do whatever you say. Cause that's, you know, the very vulnerable, submissive state of transition. And um but I didn't even know what it was until after the fact, like looking back, I'm like, oh, she totally gave me a homeopathic, it was most likely Arnica.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yeah. So I did take one during that labor. It was near the end, like I was getting ready to push, but that's probably when I needed it the most.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Yeah, that's that's really cool. Um, and some midwives are more familiar with homeopathy than others, but you know, if as long as you're up front about what your plan is and you want to use homeopathy during labor, um, you know, they should they should let you do what you're comfortable with. And there's other ones that can be used too. Um, you could even use IPCAC, like I talked about, for the morning sickness. You could use that in labor if you were feeling like you needed to throw up, or if you actually were vomiting, you could try that. Um, nux vomica is another great one, and that's a great one for morning sickness too. If I could, if I could only give you three, I just said I I could only give you one, but I'm gonna change it to three. If I could only give you three, it would be Arnica, Nux Vomica, and Ignacia, which is the emotions one, um, because they just cover so many things. And then you've got something for pain, something for emotions, and something for like nausea or just feeling gross. Sometimes you're you're not gonna throw up during labor, but you just feel, you just feel off.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Um, nux vomica can really help with that. Um, but there's there's all kinds of other ones. And I could literally go on about this for hours and hours, like for you know, irregular contractions and fear and trauma during birth and homeopathy for getting ready for a C-section. I mean, there it just covers, it covers everything. And because it's so old and it's been so widely used, it's not guaranteed to help every person, but it does help with every human condition, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Um, and I like to say that we we can give the remedies, but it's God who does the healing. There's obviously never a guarantee that somebody is going to be healed or that what they're experiencing in that moment is is going to be immediately relieved, but homeopathy has a track record of relieving any anything you can imagine, any any sickness or symptom or pregnancy or birth or anything human experience-wise that you can think of, homeopathy can help and has helped somebody with it.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

That's what's so cool about this, is it has a great track record.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

Yeah, yeah, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Okay, so let's talk postpartum then. So babies come out and whether it's immediate postpartum, I know we talked about Arnica for hemorrhaging, or just even extended postpartum when you're at home and everything. Um, what could you how could it be helpful during postpartum?

SPEAKER_03 38:50

So I think for me, the hardest thing about postpartum in general is that there's just so much going on. There's the emotional stuff. You you can feel your hormones going crazy. You're trying to figure out breastfeeding. You might also be still in pain from from your delivery. And then you also develop a yeast infection or a UTI. I mean, it's just so much all the time. You have you have breast engorgement and just know that homeopathy can help with all of that. Um, so you know, Arnica for pain, it's great for a beat-up feeling. You just feel, you feel like your body has been beat up, you might feel bruised, you're exhausted, you're sleep deprived. Arnica is great for all that. It's great for bleeding. And it's, again, it's not only helping you feel better, it's working below the surface on the actual tissues and damaged wounds that are inside to repair what's happening. And, you know, Tylenol can't do that. It's helping you feel better, but it's not repairing. That's your body that's healing over time. And you're when you take a Tylenol, you're helping yourself feel better while your body rests and recovers. And so homeopathy is is helping your body um actually actually repair all of those those wounds that happen um when we've just delivered a baby right without the liver damage that comes along with Tylenol and stuff right um yeah without fear of overdosing on that um or being hooked on painkillers right um ignacea is another great one for like postpartum emotions if you were to develop like a yeast infection or anything like that I would tell you to go to or don't you go send your husband or somebody to to like a health food store and look for yeast calm or any of the boron products like there's so many that are that are great for the problems that we experience after we've just had a baby. And then also I actually just posted about this on my Instagram today. The remedy sepia has been huge for me after this postpartum and I didn't really understand how to take it. So I had taken it in the past for postpartum things, but I was taking it too often I think so sepia is one that kind of has to be really specific. It's either every three days or twice a week just depending on how often you need it. And for me twice a week is easier than every three days because then I'm like wait what day am I on?

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Sepia is one because this is total side note off topic was one that was recommended for parosmia like my taste and smell issues that I have um that worked for so many people like there were so many people who took sepia whose um whose parosmia like healed almost instantly. I've tried it and it didn't work for me. But I also I mean again with the dosing it was like ever the way everyone was like oh you have to like put this pellet in water and shake it up and take a sip of the water and then it's like you can't touch it with your hands and you can't do this. And and then other people would be like no you have to put five pellets under your tongue and do it however many times a day. It was like all these different directions where this is how I did it and it worked for me and this is how I did it and it worked for me and and all this stuff. And it was so overwhelming. But I tried it to the best of my ability to what I thought I understood and it didn't work for me but it it did. That was the one that worked for so many people that's crazy. I didn't know about that use for it but I well I think that use got invented for it because it didn't really exist till after COVID.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Right. That's very cool. And that is that can be the confusing thing about homeopathy because it's so widely used everybody kind of has their own little method of of doing it. So some homeopaths will tell you put it in water shake it 10 times and bang it against your hand and then take a small sip of that and then other people will tell you let it dissolve under your tongue and I'm telling you you know you can chew it and everybody has kind of their own take and that doesn't mean that any of it is wrong. But I I mean I have five kids I need to do whatever's easiest. So making a water bottle and like making sure I have that with me if I need it and that to me that's not easy. And having to dissolve something under my tongue that and count out the exact right number of pellets that's not really that easy either. So in general whether you've taken one pellet or five or 10, you've given the body that stimulating message one time. So however many pellets you take and that's kind of confusing but regardless of the number of pellets you've taken in that in that sitting that's one dose because you've given the body that message once if that makes sense. And so you know I think that people maybe look at that and they're like but but what's the rule? Just tell me tell me how many to give and I'm like yeah one or two pellets is fine or or four is fine or if 10 come out and you're in transition and you don't want to fuss with the little pellets that just take all 10. It's going to be fine because you've stimulated the body one time.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

Well that's good to know. I've been giving um Indy whenever he has one of those like reactions I've been getting the one that you recommended the antihistamine one that I can't remember the name of but so much so that like brinkly I'll see me giving it to him. And she's like oh well you know like my eyes are watery my nose is running and I'm feeling itchy so I think I'm gonna take some and she and she does she has a lot of allergy issues but I just gave him some yesterday because I was like eating this leftover chicken with dairy in it and he does he is sensitive to dairy but I'm just I'm just like trying to push past it because I don't want to give it up um for nursing and stuff. But he um he was loving my chicken and eating all of it but it was like I use like heavy cream in the sauce and so he started like breaking out all over his face and so I was like oh let me go grab you one of these little pellets real quick.

SPEAKER_03 44:42

Oh was it histamine as I can't even remember what I thought what we had talked about.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

That sounds right it was in a it was in the purple tube and it was just whatever the one you sent me is the one I ordered. But it I guess like works like antihistamine as much as I can tell.

SPEAKER_03 44:57

So yeah yeah an antihistamine without the the suppressing the the cells doing their job right a natural one.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Yeah so yeah we do have like the clean Genexa liquid for whenever something's like if if I feel like someone's on the verge of not going to be able to swallow anymore. Um because Jensen has reached that level a few times. Jensen has epipins he's quite a quite a case but just for like Indy I'm like I especially when he was so much younger and didn't even like he wasn't going to swallow medication or anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

So it's a relief to be able to give them to to kids that would cite taking medicine. Yeah. Because kids love taking the the remedies they're sweet. They are sugar pills why not? Um but yeah so sepia I did just want to mention so I've been taking that every three days but then I went to twice a week because that was easier sepia 200 um and what that helps with that's a great remedy to know about postpartum because it just covers again so many of these things that are so common to the postpartum experience the the irritability and feeling touched out and maybe you have like mom rage or mood swings and ignatia is more like I can't stop crying. Sepia is like I'm snapping at everybody and when I'm very freshly postpartum and like you know I'm trying to get baby lashed and then my kids are fighting and like somebody's unloading the dishwasher it's just all too much. It's so overstimulating and I'm very irritable and sepia is a great one for that. But it also is a great medicine for the uterus like toning the uterus and if there was any kind of prolapse or like heavy feeling there after delivery it's great for postpartum headaches. That's my main reason for taking it because I get wicked postpartum migraines which I'm still working through um but it is helping with that and just so many other things that are like I said it's it's like this common postpartum picture that almost every woman can relate to. And so again every woman needs probably ignacea and probably sepia um sepia you wouldn't want to take unless you were postpartum. Like you wouldn't take it during pregnancy but it's a great postpartum one because it's specifically for like those hormonal shifts that are happening in the the hormonal imbalances after the fact yeah all right last question I think um breastfeeding is there any homeopathic that could help with anything in terms of breastfeeding whether it's milk supply or engorgement or whatever the issue is what remedy would you recommend for breastfeeding so phytolaca is a great one you can say phytolaca or phytolaca um in a 30 or a 200 you can take it if you have mastitis but it doesn't have to be mastitis it can just be a plugged duct or a or an engorgement it's just a great breast medicine all around. So whatever the issue is I would probably start there and again you don't have to take it it's not like a daily supplement that you're taking to boost your milk supply this is if something is becoming uncomfortable it's causing you problems and you're you're seeking relief then phytolaca is a great one for that. It's also great for lymph nodes. So a lot of times people will have a swollen lymph node along with um breast issues whether that's like a little bit of a a hard spot is developing or engorgement um the lymph nodes can be part of that because it's all connected it's all the lymphatic system. So phytolaca is great for if you had none of that but just swollen lymph nodes, you could try phytolaca for for that. And then another one I can't give just one is cinchona. And I wish I had known about this one when I had my first because I mentioned that I was looking for remedies to boost milk supply and it doesn't really work that way because it's not a supplement but I didn't understand that at the time homeopathy is correcting what's gone wrong. So cinchona is all about loss of fluids. And if you buy it it's gonna say like diarrhea I think because remember these have been used for so long that they have multiple uses they act in multiple different ways. So it can be confusing because you're like well I thought I was getting this for milk supply but it says diarrhea on it. And it's because cinchona is all about fluids, whether you're having too much fluid come out in the form of diarrhea or you're having not enough fluid because you're breastfeeding and your milk supply is dropping. So when you're nursing you could take cinchona for as long as you're breastfeeding because your body is constantly working and producing that fluid and it's like every day you are literally emptying yourself. And we know that figuratively like we're yes we're pouring ourselves out for our kids but literally we're doing that we're we're nourishing another human with our body and that's a hard job. And so cinchona can help with all the things that we feel from that loss of fluid every day the the exhaustion the just I'm I'm feeling totally depleted and in every point in my or in ever with every baby there's always a point in my nursing journey where I'm like, I can't do this anymore. It's usually about six months for me and I'm just feeling like I'm over it. And I know I'm gonna keep going and I know I'm the only one that can do that job. But it's just like that feeling of this is all too much. And cinchona is a a great remedy for that. So to kind of summarize because I I'm going off on all kinds of things now but if if you're having milk supply issues it can help raise your milk supply. And if if you're starting to get like an oversupply like you've taken cinchona and now it's like your baby doesn't even want to lash because they're you're gushing so much milk, then stop taking it. But it can be for low milk supply and needing a boost it can be for those symptoms of feeling exhausted and and depleted. And so there's it it works in whatever way you need it. It's whatever point you are in your nursing journey, if the need for cinchona or phytalaka arises, you have it there in your tool belt.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

I I honestly didn't know there was like anything homeopathic wise you could take for breastfeeding. So that's great to know that there is I mean obviously I've learned that today but it's like now I feel like I can share that information with other people.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Yeah definitely and is it okay if I share another thing about breastfeeding because I know people are going to ask you this uh everyone always wants to know if I if my newborn or my infant is dealing with a cold and I'm nursing, can I take the medicine and that way they're getting the medicine. But remember that homeopathy is a stimulant it's sending a message so you're gonna give it to whoever the problem lies with. So if the baby has a cold, you can just give the medicine directly to the baby because you want to stimulate the baby's body's healing response. So it's you don't have to worry about things going through the breast milk like you do with a drug but at the same time it's because you can only help people with homeopathy you want that to be like as direct as possible. And so if the issue is with you, you you're the one that takes the remedy if the issue is with baby then you just give it straight to them. I hope that makes sense. But I know I know people are going to ask that absolutely does that's great.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

Well if anyone has more questions I am going to list all your information in the show notes and actually it I think it would be great if we listed the remedies that we specifically talked about in the show notes too. Where do you recommend people purchase those things? Like because I know I I can't just go to Walmart and get everything you just said.

SPEAKER_03 52:55

Yeah that's a great question. Although you'd be surprised at what you can find at Walmart you can get like the homeopathics for flu and colds and things like that teeming like Walmart has that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 53:05

It is oh yeah I have gotten some of those like the saucepillium or whatever that's called with the little the little tube of pellets.

SPEAKER_03 53:13

Yeah. Yeah once I once I started learning about homeopathy I was like oh this is actually it's pretty commonly found it's just that nobody really knows what it is. Um but they they are in most drugstores but a lot of these ones that I'm mentioning like five phytolaca and even Arnica 200 yeah sepia you're not going to be finding those on the on the shelves I I just tell people to get them on Amazon. That's the easiest thing everybody knows what Amazon is but I look for the boron brand which is B-O-I-R-O-N and it's the the purple tubes if you're buying the 200s and it's the blue tubes if it's a 30 or a six but um the I just trust their quality a lot but Highlands boron Oleos those are just some of the homeopathic brands um that I'm familiar with and yeah Amazon's probably the easiest place. There's also a lot of like local family owned pharmacies will carry homeopathics. So if you're wanting to to support a local person you could definitely ask and call them and see if they have something but yeah Amazon's easy that's you're not supporting a local person but you can get it pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

As busy moms we understand that well I will list your information in the show notes but do you just want to tell anybody where they could find you or if they have more specific questions um how they could reach you or yeah share that.

SPEAKER_03 54:46

Yeah absolutely so um my Instagram is at homeopathy with Emily and my website is the same it's homeopathywithemily.com and I I really do desire for people to learn how to do this for themselves and they're they're feeling really confident about using this for themselves and their families but sometimes you just need a little extra advice and you you feel like something is um is just beyond what you're comfortable with treating yourself. And so you'd you'd want to submit a either an acute or chronic consult. And so I do offer those. And then also Kayla and I were supposed to record this over the summer and I got really sick and couldn't do it. So it was I was going to share about this course that I had coming up but now the course is behind me. So I still wanted to invite listeners to to be a part of that if they want to the event is over now and Kayla was one of our guests on the event um and it was it was really cool. So if anyone's listening and they want like a deep dive into even more of an introduction, even more specifics on pregnancy and labor and birth and postpartum and newborn care, I mean if you're just like yes I'm this is making so much sense to me. I want all in um if you would just like send me an email through my website and just say I'd like to be added to the course and I'll let you know how you can get signed up for that because we closed it in October. So it's not like you're not gonna find an invitation to sign up for it on my website or my or my Instagram. But like I said if you just like want to email me or you can message me on Instagram and just say I just listened to this podcast with Kayla and how do I get signed up for this course um and I can can get you plugged into that.

SPEAKER_00 56:24

So yeah it was really fun there were lots of like live teachings multiple like teachers and different learning opportunities and PDF files and like all sorts of stuff. It was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 56:35

Yeah thanks for doing that for us it was it was fun and I have been wanting for a long time to put together an event like that because there's just so much centered around pregnancy, birth, labor, recovery, all of it it's it's just really in depth and it's more than I can cover on my Instagram but so I wanted to put together this event where people could really dig into just I want to be super prepared with homeopathy and I want to feel really confident about using it during that time. So if you're if that's you and you want the deep dive um we'd love to have you.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

Awesome well I'll list all that in the show notes too. So and is it okay if I say one more thing? Yeah you say whatever you want.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

I'm sorry for being long-winded I so if you've listened to my birth story podcast if you haven't you don't have to go back and listen to it. I'm I'm like I wish I had said so many things differently but if you did listen um you know I then you already know that things just didn't quite go the way I wanted with birth. I ended up having five C-sections and I was like just my heart was set on having home births and I wanted a big family. But I have worked with a homeopath like for for some of my own things and he said something that just has always stuck with me and resonated with me, which is that the things that happen to us can only benefit us. And so I really do believe that God has just woven like my birth experiences and the experiences that I've had as a mom like it it's all leading to to kind of where I am now and it's been really beautiful to see because I don't know if I would have ever found homeopathy or have even set out looking for that had I not taken that naturally leading birth class and like been really had my heart set on doing things naturally and I felt like that was a calling. And so part of what I shared in that other episode is like I just couldn't get past why would God have called me to this if I didn't get to do it. And I really just think that he, I know I don't think this I know that he wastes nothing. So even if those callings and those stirrons I was feeling wasn't necessarily to have a natural birth, I can still do things naturally to treat myself and my family. I think that being a homeopath is like kind of my next calling that I'm stepping into you know he's he's just woven all of this together and it's it's just been an entire journey of finding my voice, having kind of a backbone about like, no, I'm I'm gonna do this my way and I'm gonna do this the the way that I feel really good about and really confident in because the things that the OBs were telling me gave me no confidence and no peace. And so homeopathy has brought me the opposite of that. And so it's been very redemptive in a way it's the greatest disappointment of my life I I've said that on my Instagram before that I didn't get to birth my babies the way I wanted but I can I can go from that experience and like help others with this information to have the births they wanted. I think I would have maybe not even had a breach baby and maybe not have even had that first C section. But it doesn't, you know, I can't dwell on that but I just think that God has used all of it to to call me to um to what I'm doing now. And it's been very, very cool to get to just help others with this information and hear their stories about like how Ignatia has helped them or how Nux Bamica has helped them and just things that Never would have thought of and just love how the Lord um works all of it together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:06

That's wonderful. And I'm glad that you added that. So thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Thank you for doing this again. Thanks for coming back. Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. You can reach me at Surrendered Birth Services on Instagram or email me at contact at Surrendered Birth Services.com. Be sure not to miss an episode by hitting the follow button. Also, we'd love for you to leave a written review of the show so that more people's births and lives can be changed by the love of Jesus and the empowerment of accurate birth education. If you really enjoyed this episode in particular, please take a screenshot of it and post it to your Instagram story tagging Surrendered Birth Services. If you would like to be a guest on the Surrendered Birth Stories podcast, please click the link in the episode show notes to fill out your interest form. Also, if you're interested in taking my childbirth classes, birth consultations, or having me as your birth doula, please click on the link in the show notes to take you to my website for online and in-person options. Just as a reminder, this show is not giving medical advice. So please continue to see your personal care provider as needs arise. We hope you have a great week. And remember, learn all that you can, make the best plans, and then leave it in God's hands. But it smells less strong now than it did like five minutes ago. So I don't hear anyone screaming and I don't hear the smoke alarms going off. So we're just gonna assume that everything's good out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:01

Okay. If it gets worse, feel free to interrupt me. I will. If you start seeing smoke.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

Right. If I see it coming through the door cracks, I'll be like, okay, I gotta end this.