Ep 284: Keeping an Open Mind with Infant Craniosacral Therapist Meaghan Beames

Dr. Nicole (00:00): In this episode, we're talking about a topic that's really new to me, craniosacral therapy. Welcome to the All about Pregnancy and birth podcast. If you're having a baby in the hospital, you are giving birth in a system that too often takes away power from women over what happens in their own bodies. I'm Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, a practicing board certified OB GYN, who's had the privilege of helping well over a thousand babies into this world. I've been a doctor for over 20 years, and I'm here to help you take back your power, advocate for yourself, and have the beautiful pregnancy and birth that you deserve. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and it's not a substitute for medical advice. Check out the full disclaimer drnicolerankins.com/disclaimer. Now, let's get to it. Hello there. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. This is episode number 284.

(00:59): Whether it is your first time listening or you have listened before, I'm so glad you're spending some time with me today. In today's episode, we have Meaghan Beams. Meaghan is a registered massage therapist, a craniosacral therapist, and she's been treating babies with craniosacral therapy since 2018. She owns a private clinic in downtown Toronto and she's the founder of Beam's CST Training Center. There she teaches health professionals in the perinatal space to use craniosacral therapy on babies. Mankins mission is to ensure that there are highly qualified infant craniosacral therapists in every city in North America and beyond, so families can avoid common struggles that are easily addressable, like colic, reflux and feeding issues. She is a mom, a competitive cheerleader, an indoor rock climber, and she cannot decide which is better tea or coffee. I can tell you for me, it is very clearly coffee. So we have an engaging conversation about what exactly is craniosacral therapy, what are conditions where craniosacral therapy can be used to help in pregnancy?

(02:15): How can craniosacral therapy be used to help infants? How is it done? What parts of the body, how many sessions do you need? What do you need to look for if you are looking for a practitioner who does craniosacral therapy? And then what does the research show about the effectiveness? Now, I'll be honest, I was a little hesitant about this episode. While craniosacral therapy is offered at many mainstream big institutions like the Cleveland Clinic, duke or Harvard, some folks say that craniosacral therapy is pseudoscience, and it's relatively new in pregnancy and infants. However, I ultimately decided that this is an important topic to share. I learned a lot and I know that you will too. Now, before we get into the episode, are you on my email list? My email list is the best way to stay in touch with all of the things that I have going on in my world.

(03:20): I send a weekly newsletter, and then from time to time send additional emails about important topics just to help you stay updated, informed, and in the loop. You can hop on my email list at drnicolerankins.com/email. I do not sell anybody's information or anything like that. This is a much better place to stay in touch with me than social media. As a matter of fact, I'm probably going to start pulling back a bit from social media, getting to be a bit much. So hop on my email list, drnicolerankins.com/email, and we can always stay connected there. All right, let's get into the conversation with Meaghan. Thank you so much, Meaghan, for agreeing to come onto the podcast. As I was sharing before I hit record, I have never heard of craniosacral therapy, so I am really excited to learn about it, and I know my listeners will be too.

Meaghan (04:23): Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I look forward to sharing about this. You're not the only one who hasn't heard about it.

Dr. Nicole (04:30): Okay. Okay. All right. Well, let's get into it. Why don't we start off by having you tell us a bit about yourself and your work and even your family if you'd like

Meaghan (04:38): For sure. So my name's Meaghan Beams. I am a mom of two. My first is eight. His name's Lincoln and my second Ruby, she's six, and we live in Toronto, Canada. I am a registered massage therapist. I'm also an infant, craniosacral therapist, craniosacral therapist, and I also treat toddlers, kids, adults, all ages really, and I'm obsessed with it.

Dr. Nicole (05:09): Well, we are going to benefit from your obsession today in helping us learn about it. Absolutely. Why don't we start off by having you tell us what training do you go through in order to do cranial sacral therapy? And I do that. I ask that because I always like my listeners to know the background that people came from and what exactly it entails, just because there's so many people online in general who just hang up shingles and say, Hey, I'm doing this thing. So just tell us about what training you go through for it.

Meaghan (05:42): And I think that parents should be weary about people who say, I do craniosacral, because there are some times where you can do a weekend course and it's about five hours of training, and you can say, I do craniosacral. And so that to me is the furthest thing from being ready to actually practice craniosacral therapy, especially on a baby. But for me personally, I started in 2018 with Carol Gray. She's in Portland, Oregon. So I took my three month old baby to Portland, Oregon to train with her, and I learned infant craniosacral therapy. I learned the basics there at that time, and infant CST, and as soon as I took it, I was hooked and I needed more. I wanted more training. So I did up ledger training as well. So up ledger institute that is gold standard for people who are in biomechanical craniosacral therapy. And so through both Carol Gray and Up Ledger Institute, I've taken nine craniosacral therapy classes, including CSD for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, which I was really happy to take. Okay.

Dr. Nicole (06:56): Okay, awesome. Awesome.

Meaghan (06:58): Yeah, so a lot of training. Me personally, I've done a lot of training, and so I also teach craniosacral therapy, and for anyone who's coming through my classes, they have a minimum of 20 hours of training before they even start touching a baby.

Dr. Nicole (07:17): Okay. Okay. Alright. So then what exactly is craniosacral therapy?

Meaghan (07:22): It's a great question and one that I think a lot of people actually have trouble describing, but I've kind of broken it down to this. So our body is full of systems. We've got the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, the digestive system, and the craniosacral system is another one. It's just not very well known. And just like the other systems in our body, it can become dysregulated. So we could just have a dysfunctional digestive tract, and most people know what that means. And there's lots of reasons why we would have a dysfunctional digestive system. And so when it comes to craniosacral therapy, we are working with that system of the body. Now, what that system entails, this is the boring part, but I'll try to make it a little bit exciting. Sure. It entails the cerebral spinal fluid. So we've got the cerebral spinal fluid that goes from the cranium to the sacrum in this up and down wave, wave-like pattern. And so cerebral spinal fluid, it helps to clean out our body. It helps to clean out our nervous system, our brain, and to have optimal functioning of the body. So when this system becomes either dysfunctional or dysregulated, it's usually because of tight tissues around nerves, around different body parts that could be limiting that flow of cerebral spinal fluid. So then our body can't really heal itself or clean itself out.

Dr. Nicole (09:00): Okay.

Meaghan (09:01): So what we do, we find we use incredibly gentle touch to find areas of the body that are tight that could be throwing off this system. We release them and then hopefully we get a much more optimal functioning nervous system, but also musculoskeletal system because this tissue wraps around our muscles, our organs, our nerves and everything. Yeah.

Dr. Nicole (09:25): Right. Okay. Alright. And what is the research show about craniosacral therapy? Before we even get into how it works, I'm just curious what the effectiveness of it and what it can be used for.

Meaghan (09:37): So for babies specifically research, I always say research. I don't know why it comes up that way. Research it almost. I almost did it again. So specifically for infants, research shows that it's effective and safe for infantile colic. And what it does is it reduces the number of crying hours. It can reduce colic severity and then also increase the total hours of sleep, which I think for parents, that's wonderful. Sure. And then it's also effective method for infants when working with babies with plagiocephaly because it can help positively influence the head shape because the head is also made up of tissues and soft tissues surrounding these cranial bones. So it can help improve the head shape, their posture, because these tissues around the body, maybe there's a side preference, maybe they have torticollis, and this can inhibit bilateral movement or bilateral milestone developmental reaching these developmental milestones. So what it does is it helps the body to function optimally, both sides using incredibly gentle touch. So it's five grams of pressure.

Dr. Nicole (11:03): Okay. Okay. All right. Any research on it in pregnancy at all?

Meaghan (11:08): Dr. Up ledger, he is the man who created it as he has many studies on pregnancy, even conception, preconception, and then birth and postpartum.

Dr. Nicole (11:21): Okay. So how long has this been around?

Meaghan (11:24): So I've already said his name, Dr. Ledger, he was a student of osteopathy and back in the 1960s, I believe. And then between the 1960s and the 1970s, he did research and studies on cranio psychotherapy at the Michigan State University and test the efficacy and validity, let's call

(11:49): It,

(11:49): Of this incredibly gentle touch, which even still, I think there was a study from 19 20 18 studying the effectiveness and using five grams of pressure on fascia. So we work with fascia, the majority, and how five grams of pressure is really all we need in order to allow these tissues to release and settle into an optimal position. Okay.

Dr. Nicole (12:21): Alright. Alright. Very interesting.

Meaghan (12:23): So it's been around since the 1970s, but it's only just become, I think mainstream in the last about five years, I think because of how effective it is on babies and parents are really tuning into the needs of babies.

Dr. Nicole (12:41): Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. So you said it can work for colic. What are other areas where it can be used in infants?

Meaghan (12:49): So for infants it can be used in latching issues. So perhaps they have either a really clampy jaw, a really tight jaw, and so there's pain, there's pain on latching or perhaps they have a weak latch, and so they dribble a lot of milk and then they've got failure to thrive because they're not pulling, if they're trying to breastfeed. It can also help with babies whose parents want to breastfeed but who say it's too hard, it's too much. They're not producing enough milk, this baby's not latching properly. And a lot of times it's because birth was probably troublesome for them and it causes tension in their body that throws off all of these other systems. So it's helpful for plagiocephaly, tor coly reflux colic. So plagiocephaly and brachycephaly are where the head is flatter on the back or on the side, and that's not just a cosmetic thing that can lead to future issues such as crowded teeth, poor airway, things like snoring, sleep apnea. So when we get to it early on and we help encourage this rounding out of their head, then we can possibly prevent some of these tougher issues when they're older.

Dr. Nicole (14:16): Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, what are any conditions where cranial sacral therapy can be used in pregnancy?

Meaghan (14:23): Oh, absolutely. So pregnancy is one that I would say if you're not getting your baby treated with craniosacral therapy, then please get yourself treated a few sessions during pregnancy because what it can do is it can help get this baby into an optimal positioning for birth. So we as humans have accidents, we fall, we can get lots of tension in our pubic bones, so pub or pelvic bones including the sacrum, and that could shift the positioning of the uterus within this pelvic space. And that shift of the uterus can also shift a baby into a suboptimal birthing position. And usually it's because of tension within fascia in that pelvic region, but also it could be they've got one leg longer than the other

Dr. Nicole (15:20): That's

Meaghan (15:20): Going to throw off the pelvis. So what we can do in pregnancy is help, not guarantee, but help get this baby into a more optimal positioning for birth. It can help with fluid retention, so maybe they've got really, really swollen ankles in their second trimester. That's pretty early to have really swollen ankles. So fluid retention, we might be able to get some more fluids flowing. It can help with stress reduction and even fear of labor. So really tuning in to your own body to the sensations you have in your body, and then also learning to trust your body when it comes to birth.

Dr. Nicole (16:01): Gotcha, gotcha. What about any pain like pelvic pain or anything like that?

Meaghan (16:06): Yeah, around ligament pain, back pain, it can also help with pubic synthesis pain, greater trocanter pain. And again, because if this baby is in a suboptimal position, it can put more pressure on different areas of the back of the pelvis, the pubic bone, especially the pubic bone, the people who have pubic synthesis pain, what I know is that this baby, there's so much weight of this baby sitting on that pubic synthesis. So if we could get mean, that could be due to weak muscles, but if we could get this baby up and off that pubic synthesis and a little bit more into or up into the abdominal cavity, we could take a little pressure off that pubic synthesis. And then if they have round ligament pain on one side, we know this baby's sitting more on one side than the other, are they in a suboptimal positioning? So it can help with lots of different areas of pain.

Dr. Nicole (17:08): Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So walk us through how craniosacral therapy is done. Is it one session more than one? How long does it last? So how does it work?

Meaghan (17:20): Yeah, for sure. So with infants especially, it can be done as soon as they're born. Well, let's say a few hours after. We want them to have this hour with their mother and some bonding experiences, but it can be done right away. Usually the younger they are, the more we want them to stay with their parent and we can treat them in the arms of their parent. Sometimes they are just in a diaper, sometimes they're fully clothed. It really doesn't matter whether they have clothes on or off. It's not like massage. We're not rubbing oils or that type of thing. We place our hands very gently and we'll hold in that position for maybe even up to two to five minutes until we feel that softening of the tissue. And we see that body really relaxing and settling. And usually we work on babies who are full term preemies can have this done as long as they haven't had a brain bleed or their doctor has cleared them from a brain bleed or stroke. And so we just have our hands all over the body, wherever there is tissue, which is everywhere, so we can have our hands and treat the ankles, we can treat the knees, the hips, the umbilicus. So if they had the cord wrapped around their neck, that can cause lots of tension in their belly button area, which can cause reflux symptoms later.

(18:55): And so then if they had the cord wrapped around their neck, they could also have lots of tension in their throat. So we'll work in the throat release tension there so that they can extend their neck and get a deep wide latch. Because again, tension throws off lots of different systems.

(19:18): So

(19:19): Some babies, it depends on how, let's say traumatic pregnancy and birth was, because even trauma can happen within the pregnancy, like they fall or there's excessive scans and fear and all of these things around is this baby going to make it? And so there can be stress and trauma in pregnancy for these babies, but also during the labor process. And so depending on, let's say severity of stress and trauma in this baby, we can either see them once and the things that the parents come in for has been resolved, or we might need to see them for six weekly sessions and then monthly to make sure that they're meeting those developmental milestones. And those babies are usually ones who have torticollis, the ones who have plagiocephaly and brachycephaly. So the flattening of the head.

Dr. Nicole (20:14): Okay. So how are people, and I guess is it similar for pregnancy that it could be one session, it could be more sessions?

Meaghan (20:22): Exactly.

Dr. Nicole (20:23): And you're touching all parts of the body, potentially

Meaghan (20:26): All parts of the body. And so when it comes to pregnancy, I treat a lot of people who are, they could be five weeks pregnant or they could be 37 weeks pregnant. But what I'm getting to is usually parts of fear that is stored in their body. And once they process these stored areas of fear and trauma, it almost allows them to experience, enjoy pregnancy a little bit more, and hopefully decrease pain as well as, but yeah, so I'll place my hands in many different areas of the body. Sometimes I hold the womb itself and follow and see if I can feel for tension patterns within those round ligaments

(21:20): Sometimes. And so they'll be seated on a ball, which is kind of fun. And what I do is I allow them to move their body in the ways that feels good, and then we stop when it doesn't feel good because that tells me, oh, right here, there's probably an area of restriction or resistance. So what happens when we go into the resistance? Does it feel better or does it feel worse? Okay, great. Let's go the opposite direction. Oh, now your body's feeling softer. Okay, great. So now we know we're getting into this deeper tissue that is wrapped around the ligaments, the wrapped around within the uterus itself and softening that.

Dr. Nicole (21:58): All right. Are there any risk from doing craniosacral therapy?

Meaghan (22:04): So the risks do include babies who have had, or actually not babies, anyone who has had a recent stroke or brain bleed. Because what craniosacral therapy does is it increases fluid movement throughout the body. We don't want to increase fluid within the cranium. So that is the only contraindication is when it comes to brain bleeds. So that's why I said premies can have it as long as they haven't had a brain bleed recently or have been cleared.

Dr. Nicole (22:34): Okay. Okay. Okay. And how does it differ from something like chiropractic care or massage therapy?

Meaghan (22:44): Yeah, so chiropractic care focuses a lot more on the joint mobility and the health of the joints themselves and leading into the viscera, whereas craniosacral therapy focuses the majority on fascial tissue. So how is that fascia throughout the body? Is it tight in the left hip and the right shoulder? Great. Well, that can cause a torsion in the spine. So for us, we are not going to try to release the torsion in the spine. We're going to try to release the left hip and the right shoulder. So that torsion kind of is less, there's a lot less pulling.

Dr. Nicole (23:26): Got it.

Meaghan (23:27): Right. And so we work with the soft tissue, whereas chiro works with joints and for adults, they use faster mobility, faster movements like jolts. And we are very, very much not that way. It's almost boring to have

Dr. Nicole (23:44): A cardio psychotherapy session. And how long do the sessions last? Did you say that?

Meaghan (23:50): Yeah. So it depends on, again, what's happening for either the baby or the person who is either pregnant or postpartum. But generally speaking for babies, my initial assessment is about 75 minutes and follow ups are an hour. And that's the same for pregnancy postpartum, because I don't want it to be quick. So some, let's say chiros or even CSC practitioners say, oh, we just need 15 minutes, but that's not enough time, I don't think to understand the story, listen to the story.

Dr. Nicole (24:23): Sure.

Meaghan (24:25): Fully understand the circumstances within this baby, within this parent and within the

Dr. Nicole (24:30): Home

Meaghan (24:32): To truly get a full broad spectrum picture on what could be causing these symptoms within the baby or within this person who is pregnant or postpartum.

Dr. Nicole (24:44): Gotcha. Gotcha. So if someone is thinking about doing craniosacral therapy for themselves or for their babies, what are the things that you want them to know?

Meaghan (24:56): So as I said at the top of the episode, please make sure that the person who is saying that they do cranio psychotherapy has taken more than a weekend course. Sure. They might be able to provide you with a few things that you can do at home, but you're not going to get the same level of care as if you had had someone who had done 60 to 80 hours of training. And I mean obviously, but look for someone who you align with their values. If you're okay with your baby scream crying through the session, that's fine. You can find someone who does see ft. If you don't want your person, your baby to scream, cry through sessions, then going for someone who has CST is a little bit better just because their principles are a little bit different.

Dr. Nicole (25:47): Got it.

Meaghan (25:48): And so deciding between CFT and CST, I know we haven't talked about

Dr. Nicole (25:53): Ccft. I was scared to say, what is ccft?

Meaghan (25:56): Craniosacral fascial therapy is they just do a little bit, work a little bit more into fascial stretch and craniosacral therapy does not do the fascial stretch a little bit. Also, I haven't taken the CFT training, so I can't speak directly on it. I know that they've got a few other rhythms that they listen to within the brain specifically, and we don't NCST. Yeah. So I think understanding the principles, the other thing is to look between biodynamic cranio psychotherapy and biomechanical cranio psychotherapy. Biodynamic. Yeah. Biodynamic does not look for pathology, meaning they're not looking for areas of restriction. They're only looking for areas of health and trying to align the body to areas of health. Again, I have not taken biodynamic, so that is an incredibly rudimentary explanation. But when it comes to biomechanical, which is the up ledger Institute style of cranio psychotherapy is we are looking for areas that are stuck because when areas are stuck to their neighbors, this can throw off function. And we're looking for those areas and we're then looking to release them to improve function. Okay.

Dr. Nicole (27:16): Okay. This is all very interesting. So is the CFT related to craniosacral therapy?

Meaghan (27:23): Yes. So CFT is just a little bit different in that they push past what this body is telling them to do. So with craniosacral therapy, we only do what this body is telling us is okay in the moment. And fascial stretch, sure, we can hold a stretch and stretch is beneficial for older bodies. I would say perhaps for babies, stretching is something that you can do after you've done the craniosacral therapy, which is the gentle touch. Sure. Because we don't want to overstretch an

Dr. Nicole (28:04): Area. Gotcha. I mean, you said gentle touch and you said the how much pressure, but literally, what does that translate into? I mean, really, I know very light. What does that mean?

Meaghan (28:15): So when we are assessing, we are using five grams of pressure. Very light touch means think of a water spider sitting on top of water that is five grams of pressure. So we are not digging deep. And that's the difference also between massage therapy. Massage therapy is digging Well, yeah, I'm a massage therapist. I can say these things digging into muscles to release, let's say a trigger point. And so people assume that in order to release an area, you must apply a lot of pressure, which in craniosacral therapy, it is the absolute opposite. Now we use five grams to assess, but sometimes we use a little bit more pressure when the area that we're working on calls for it, maybe we feel like, I feel like we could probably add just a little bit more pressure. And then the body's like, yes, thank you. And it's almost like this softening.

Dr. Nicole (29:16): Gotcha, gotcha.

Meaghan (29:18): Except for on the cranium, when we're working on tissue within the cranium, it is five grams of pressure or less.

Dr. Nicole (29:25): Okay. Okay. All right. That makes sense. I guess you don't want to put a lot of pressure on the head.

Meaghan (29:30): No. And if you ever get your own, no, you don't. If you get someone who does use a lot of pressure, you could get a headache after. It can make you feel dizzy. It can make you feel if they do use too much pressure.

Dr. Nicole (29:43): Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Well then as we wrap up, what would you say is the most frustrating part of your work?

Meaghan (29:51): I think the most frustrating part of my work is that when a parent comes to me who has seen their doctor about their baby with colic, a reflux or all of these things, and the doctor says to them, oh, don't worry, it's just a phase. In a couple of months, they'll be fine. And so for me, I say, well, in a couple of months they'll be different, growth is real. However, this baby is going to be growing and developing in chronic pain. And I usually have some of the answers to relieve this chronic pain or eliminate this chronic pain. And so doctors, their pediatricians or their family doctors say a wait it out. And I say, let's find the root cause. And then the parents go to the doctor and say, we're going to see craniosacral therapist. And they're like, well, if that's what you want to do. I'm like, why does the word craniosacral therapy sound so woowoo and out there, that's the most, oh, it's getting my blood boiling.

Dr. Nicole (31:06): We just don't get a lot of exposure to it. Like I said, 20 years, I had never heard of it before. I know. I think this is great to have these conversations to learn more about it. And then I guess on the flip side, what would you say is the most rewarding part of your work?

Meaghan (31:20): The most rewarding part of my work is when a parent comes in and says that their baby has three states sleeping, eating, and screaming. And after one or two sessions they report back saying that their baby is a completely different baby, that they knew all along that this screaming baby was a happy baby, and now they sleep better. They actually laugh now, and this parent is no longer stressed out. They're actually enjoying this newborn phase. That to me is like, this is why I do what I do.

Dr. Nicole (31:55): Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. So then what would be your favorite piece of advice to give to expectant families?

Meaghan (32:03): Oh yeah. So especially if you're in pregnancy and you're wanting to do the least amount of interventions when it comes to labor and delivery is working on your own body's mechanics. So getting to know what areas of your body are stuck. Did you have an injury on your sacrum? Were you a figure skater? Were you a snowboarder? Did you fall out of a boat and hurt your butt? Any of those things can limit the mobility of your pelvis. And so when a baby is trying to descend through the pelvis, it stuck.

(32:43): Right?

(32:44): And so with more mobility of this pelvis, there's a greater chance that this baby can rotate their head and find their way and navigate through this birth canal. So getting to know your own body mechanics within the pelvis area would be wonderful. So getting a few sessions before now, this is not like, oh, guaranteed you're going to have the best birth, you're going to have the birth of your dreams. It's just we are decreasing stuckness in the pelvis,

Dr. Nicole (33:12): Definitely

Meaghan (33:13): To increase mobility.

Dr. Nicole (33:15): Okay. Alright. All right. So we're, where can people find you and learn more about your work and the things that you offer?

Meaghan (33:21): Absolutely. So I am on Instagram the majority of the time. Instagram and Facebook, both. You can find me under beams. CST, that's my school. So Beams, B-E-A-M-E-S-C-S-T. That's where I talk a lot about what it's like to be a cranio psychotherapist and becoming a cranio psychotherapist for babies. And then my other is mostly for parents to get to know what it is that we can do and help with for babies. And that is my baby CST, both on Facebook and

Dr. Nicole (33:52): Instagram. Okay. Well, thank you so much for going to come onto the podcast. This is very fascinating. I just love learning about new things, and I think the listeners will appreciate it too.

Meaghan (34:02): Oh, I really appreciate you having me, and I hope that people can even go to my website and perhaps find a provider in their area. We have a directory on my website, so hopefully people can find a cranio psychotherapist near them. Okay.

Dr. Nicole (34:17): Alright.

(34:25): Wasn't that an interesting conversation? I learned a lot. I hope you did too. And after every episode where I have a guest on, I do something called Dr. Nicole's notes where I talk about my top takeaways from the conversation. Here are my Dr. Nicole's notes from my conversation with Meaghan. Number one, when you are working with alternative or complimentary therapies, be sure you understand what training the person has gone through in order to do that work. Although licensure and certification aren't guarantees for anything, they certainly help give you some assurance that the person is trained and someone is making sure that they can do what they say they're going to do. Right? These things aren't always required in some of these alternative therapies and treatments. They may not be any certifications required or anything like that. So particularly when you're working with someone in the setting of pregnancy or you're going to have someone work with your baby, then for sure make sure you understand exactly what training, exactly what qualifications that person has in order to do the work that they do.

(35:36): Okay, next up is I want us all to be open to trying and learning about new things outside of traditional western medicine. I think we're getting better about that, but let's just continue that. There's nothing wrong with, of course, traditional medical therapy and it's very useful, very important in the US though we often tend to lean towards, especially on the professional side, as physicians, we tend to lean towards medications, quick fixes, covering up things without really understanding the root of why things are happening. So be open to trying and learning new things. Now, here's the thing that I've discovered about that and opening your mind to different things is that it's going to take time to address issues. There are going to be quick fixes. It's going to take some input and investment of energy and time in order to figure things out or find something that works for you.

(36:35): But we are all totally worth that investment in ourselves and helping ourselves to be our best without necessarily having to rely on medications. Again, there's not anything wrong with medications. They totally have their place, but there's certainly room for us to expand what we do to be our best selves and have our best health without relying on those quick fix sort of things. And these are things that'll help you in the long term as well. So speaking of which, I want to put in a random plug for meditation. Meditation is a really good tool to use in your toolbox to help relieve stress, to help relieve anxiety, to help just kind of calm things down amidst the chaos of life. It doesn't have to be complex, it doesn't have to be a lot. Just find something that works for you. I have a guide on my website that takes you through a couple of steps to help you get started with meditation.

(37:32): You can grab that guide@drnicolerankins.com / meditation. But there's so many apps and things out there that can help you. There's calm, there's Headspace. Peloton has tons of meditations. And there as well, you can even just go to YouTube and type in 10 minute meditation or 10 minute guided meditation and something that's going to come up for you. So make that sort of investment in your mental health, something that's a regular part of your routine that's not just going to help you during your pregnancy. It's going to help you during your labor. It's going to help you during your birth, it's going to help you during your life. And those changes aren't always necessarily immediately evident. It takes some time for you to see it, and you're kind of realize, huh, maybe I didn't get so anxious. Maybe I didn't get so stressed. Maybe I am able to kind of bring it back a little bit.

(38:27): Because here's the thing, life is going to be about continual stresses and challenges. It's about how you manage those challenges that makes the difference. We can't make the challenges go away. I wish we could, but we can change how we approach the challenges, and that's what something like meditation will do for you. So definitely check that out. Okay. So there you have it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening to me right now, and I would love it if you leave an honest review in iTunes. Those reviews are so important to me to help to grow the show. I really appreciate any time and effort you can put into leaving those couple sentence reviews in Apple Podcast. Really, really appreciate it. Also, be sure to hop on my email list, dr nicole rankins.com/email. That's going to be the best way we stay in touch. So that's it for this episode. Do come on back next week and remember that you deserve a beautiful pregnancy and birth.