Pregnancy from the Other Side
June 28, 2017
Posted By: Shaunescy
WRITTEN BY ALI SCHWEITZER
As I enter my third trimester, it’s getting harder and harder to find a comfortable position, and I can’t help but think, “I’m done…done being pregnant.” Maybe because this is my second pregnancy, this thought comes to me much sooner than last time. It also makes me reflect on my first pregnancy, and before that, to when I had just started my journey as a chiropractor specializing in pregnancy care.
Fresh out of school, I was excited to start helping pregnant women with all of their aches and pains. I had all the answers and knew exactly what to do to help. I know I was naive, but I knew more than enough to help my patients who were pregnant, even though I had no idea exactly what they were feeling. Then, two years later, I found myself on the other side of the chiropractic table. It was now my turn to really learn about pregnancy. My first pregnancy made me a much better chiropractor because I had empathy for those I was treating. I loved being pregnant and felt great during my pregnancy; it didn’t hurt that I also had a husband who was a chiropractor, so I worked up until I had our son. Seven weeks after giving birth, I was back in the office with baby in tow. I had now been through pregnancy and childbirth and was even more prepared to help my patients.
Fast-forward to today: My practice is successful, and with 85 percent of my patient base consisting of pregnant women and kids, I still can’t believe that there are some pregnant women out there who are not getting adjusted. And once again I find myself on the other side of the chiropractic table, pregnant, yet this time with a few more complaints.
As I sat on my chiropractic table around trimester two and complained to my husband about my pubic pain and how I had never felt this kind of discomfort with our son, I heard him say, “Ali, every pregnancy is different.” “Yeah, well it’s too early to be this uncomfortable,” I blurted back. And then I heard it, the same thing I always tell my patients during their second, third and fourth pregnancies: “Everything happens sooner the second time around.” Ugh, he was right, but I’m still so unprepared for what’s to come.
My second time around has been trying, with way more and way different aches and pains. Pubic pain is the worst! Also, chasing after a 4-year-old while pregnant is not easy. All I want to do is take a nap, and that doesn’t happen often. By the time I arrange all my pillows to make me comfortable, I have someone yelling “MOM!” Things are different this time, and I already know that I am not planning to work up until the day I have baby number two and I will be taking more than seven weeks off for maternity leave (I leave my patients in the very capable hands of my husband, without whom I would not be functioning as I have him adjust me on a regular basis). But I will come back, baby in tow, an even better chiropractor with even more compassion and knowledge than before, ready to help pregnant patients whether it’s their first baby or their tenth.
To all those pregnant women out there, I just want to say you’re amazing…whether this is your first pregnancy or you’ve done this before, and whether you feel great or you’ve got a few more aches and pains than you want, you truly are amazing and so is your body! From personal experience, if you haven’t experienced chiropractic care during your pregnancy, get in and get adjusted. Your changing body will thank you. I know I’d be lying on the floor, unable to get up and move if it wasn’t for my husband/chiropractor, and I’d be complaining a whole lot more.
Doctors Ali & Josh of Active Family Chiropractic enjoy helping pregnant women during all stages of pregnancy, and truly see the benefits of chiropractic care on a daily basis.
