Pregnancy heat survival tips: hydration, salt balance, cooling strategies, summer comfort, and midwife-approved ways to prevent overheating and dehydration.

Learn a simple, research-informed way to do daily baby kick counts so you can track fetal movement, reduce worry, and stay more connected to your baby’s well-being in late pregnancy.

It’s common on the web to bicker about the dramatic risks or benefits of drinking red raspberry leaf tea at certain stages of pregnancy. (Namely that if used too early it “might cause a miscarriage!” or should be saved to the end as it can “put you into a strong labor.”) As a midwife who has safely used red raspberry herbals with pregnant and lactating clients for over four decades, there’s so much more to know! Unfortunately, a lot of incomplete information and fear-mongering has been repeated in authoritative ways. Let’s clear up the confusion!

While some swelling (or ‘edema’) is normal in well-nourishing pregnancies, nutrition plays a big role in how much swelling a woman might experience. It’s not true that it’s only ‘luck of the draw’ or that you have to ‘just wait it out’ until the baby’s born. As a holistic midwife, nutrition is a part of our very first consultation because of its powerful role in keeping mom comfortable and both of them healthy.