September 24, 2026 · 39 minutes · Episode 520
About this episode
Wellness practitioner Kea-Sophie Stack discusses her search for healing and profound personal growth along with preparations for her first baby at age 41.
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Key quotes
“And I started to develop an eating disorder. And that was kind of like my sign, my wake up sign, that there was something going completely in the wrong direction.”
“So I did consult a couple of doctors and they both didn't even take me serious. They were like, oh, you look great. You have a great figure. You look great. Like one of the doctors literally said, I don't believe you.”
“I literally thought I'm going to eat myself to death in that time because I had no distraction. You know, I was just kind of completely confronted with myself, but miraculously the exact opposite happened.”
“But essential oils are really highly concentrated aromatic plant extract that are usually sourced through either steam distillation or cold pressing.”
“So yeah, no basil, no clary sage and no jasmine. Those are the main oils that are really a no-go.”
Related episodes
- Ep. 514 Before Baby #4 with Kara Sutton
- Ep. 502: Three Different Births with Emilia Davis
- Ep. 493 In Conversation with Esther Friedman Schwartz
- Ep. 523 Chiropractic Care for Mothers & Babies with Dr. Estefania Magallanes
Transcript
AI-generated transcript with speaker labels — may contain errors, especially names and medical terms. Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC appears in blue; Kea-Sophie Stack in orange.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [0:00] My guest today is a wellness practitioner focused on aromatherapy, longevity, resilience, and personal transformation. Before entering the world of holistic health, she spent a decade practicing copyright and trademark law, building a successful career that looked great on paper, but left her feeling deeply unfulfilled. Her search for healing led her through yoga, recovery work, meditation, essential oils, and profound personal growth. Along the way, she left the legal profession behind, built a new career helping others heal, moved halfway around the world for love, and is now preparing to welcome her first baby at age 41. Life doesn't always unfold according to plan. Sometimes, the detours end up becoming the journey.
[0:46] Today we'll talk about reinvention, healing, pregnancy after 40, and the wellness practices that help transform her life. She'll also share practical tips on using essential oils during pregnancy and beyond, including which oils she found most helpful, which ones to avoid, and how to use them safely. I'm pregnancy-focused chiropractor Dr. Elliot Berlin, and you are listening to the Informed Pregnancy Podcast. Kia Sophie Stack, welcome to the podcast.
Kea-Sophie Stack [1:29] Hello, thank you so much for having me today.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:32] Both of you. It's an honor, and also I think there's a lot of curiosities around essential oil. More and more people are into them and using them, but not always enough instruction on how to use them, which are the best oils. There's, you know, the popular three that everyone uses, and then there's a ton more oils that we could be using for lots of different things if we knew, and also when not to use them. We'll get to that soon. Let's start at the beginning. You grew up in Germany. What was your childhood like, and what led you to a career in law?
Kea-Sophie Stack [2:06] I did grow up in Germany. I spent most of my adult life in Germany. I actually just came to the U.S. three and a half years ago. So my growing up and childhood was pretty smoothly. I would say I have great parents that I still have a really nice relationship to. I had this dream starting at some point in high school that I wanted to go into hotel managing. And in Germany, we have career advice in about 11th or 12th grade. And this lady said, well, you either study economics or you study law. So I really didn't want to study economics at the time. And I knew zero attorneys or lawyers around me. So I was totally naive and thought, oh, yes, that sounds great.
[3:01] I've seen that on movies. I can do that. And so that's what led me to studying law and going to law school in Germany, in Mannheim, Germany.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:11] OK. And so you started to practice after that in Germany?
Kea-Sophie Stack [3:15] I did. Yes, I started out very traditionally. Well, first I became a trademark and copyright law. So these were my specialties. And I started at a law firm very traditionally during my law school. I kind of left this wish of becoming a hotel manager or working at a hotel. So, yes, that was kind of the first job I got myself into. Although I must admit studying law, I contemplated many times if I should drop it, then also being done and finally graduating. I contemplated again, do I maybe want to do something else? But also, as here in the US and in Germany, it's even a little longer. It's a very long, very hard education. So when I was finally done with it and did it, I didn't see myself just dropping it.
[4:12] Like, I thought, OK, I've spent so much time and effort and nerves in this. I have to make it a career. So I have to say I forced myself into it a little bit. Yes.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [4:25] Once you forced yourself in, were you enjoying it or did you still not really love it?
Kea-Sophie Stack [4:30] I did not love it. No, I never really loved it. There were parts of it that I enjoyed, but most of it I never really loved.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [4:40] And then your health started to suffer. What happened?
Kea-Sophie Stack [4:44] So I worked at a law firm for about three and a half years. And then I did my first cut where I thought, OK, I definitely don't want to be just an attorney anymore. Can I find something that's a little more open, still related to law? And so I started working for a political foundation, which gave me a little more freedom in my practice, but still didn't fulfill me all the way. And so for one, I started to feel very exhausted, mentally exhausted, emotionally exhausted during that time. And I started to develop an eating disorder. And that was kind of like my sign, my wake up sign, that there was something going completely in the wrong direction.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:36] How did the eating disorder manifest?
Kea-Sophie Stack [5:38] So I was told it was a kind of bulimia, but I did not vomit. I just had the binge eating and then fasted it out. And that was my continuous cycle.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:53] Oh, it's a terrible cycle. Were you able to get help for it?
Kea-Sophie Stack [5:57] I did start a therapy, which was definitely very helpful in the beginning. Otherwise, I found it pretty difficult to get help for it, to be honest. I made a few very unfortunate experiences where there were two sides of it. On the one side, I completely denied it in front of myself and everybody else that I'm sick and that there is something not right. On the other side, like something in me knew and I was seeking for help to get better. So I did consult a couple of doctors and they both didn't even take me serious. They were like, oh, you look great. You have a great figure. You look great. Like one of the doctors literally said, I don't believe you.
[6:44] So that was really disturbing and kind of like threw me back. And I didn't know what to do for a while until I then got myself into therapy. And that started breaking it up a little bit. And then really my first yoga teacher training that I did while I was working. She put me on the spot and she maybe not in the nicest way at the time, but it was definitely working and very helpful. So I finally realized and came to admit that I have this disease and that I'm actually going and seeking for help and actual recovery.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:30] Put you on the spot means she called out your eating disorder.
Kea-Sophie Stack [7:33] Yes, she did. In front of the whole group.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:36] Oh my gosh. Okay. I probably wouldn't fly here in America. But were you still working as a lawyer?
Kea-Sophie Stack [7:44] I was. Yes, I was during that whole time.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:47] And still not loving it?
Kea-Sophie Stack [7:48] Still not loving it, no.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:51] So after she called you out and you acknowledged more completely that you had this eating disorder, where did your health journey take you?
Kea-Sophie Stack [8:02] I would say there were several components then starting to kind of interact with each other. For one, as I mentioned, I had started doing a yoga teacher training and the daily practice, the daily yoga practice and the daily meditation practice helped a lot. Starting to feel myself again because I had completely dissociated from my body, from my feelings, from everything. I was like more in this complete functioning mode. And so I would say the yoga practice definitely was a part that helped a lot with embodying it. The therapy has helped a lot with understanding things, but it didn't really. It's very much on a mind level and on a rational level going to therapy and just talking about things.
[8:57] So it didn't really drop in my body, but it was still helpful to understanding where it comes from and why I'm so unhappy. And then parallel to the yoga teacher training, essential oils entered my life.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [9:11] And I want to know a lot about the essential oils. Let's take a little break. When we come back, we'll talk about the unexpected injury and personal awakening that completely changed the course of Kia Sophie's life. We'll be right back.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [9:38] Welcome back to the Informed Pregnancy Podcast. We're talking to Kia Sophie Stack about the journey that led her from the legal world into the wellness and healing world. So you were practicing law, you kept exploring healing through yoga, coaching and essential oils. How did you get into essential oils and what role did they play for you in your healing?
Kea-Sophie Stack [9:59] So during my first yoga teacher training in 2017, I encountered a lady who worked with essential oils and I had just talked about having a eating disorder. So a tummy ache was kind of my daily companion, I would say, because I would never feel completely great in my tummy. And so she asked me if I have anything that's bothering me. And I said, well, you know, I have a little bit of a stomach ache. And so she gave me an oil and said, just put that on and see if it does something for you. And she gave me a brochure and I put it on my stomach and I walked off. And like 10 minutes later, my tummy ache was gone. And I was like, this is so crazy. How did that just happen?
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [10:53] What oil was it?
Kea-Sophie Stack [10:54] It was a mixture. It's a blend that's called Digesen. It contains peppermint and ginger and fennel and all the very digestive friendly herbs and spices. So I was flashed just by this short little experience. And so I called her a week later, maybe, and said, I want to know more about this. And that's how my journey started. From then on, I purchased my first essential oil kit that contained 10 different essential oils. And I started experimenting them. I started using them daily. And it really didn't take long that I could not almost exist without them anymore. I mean, obviously, we can exist without a lot of things, but I didn't want to exist without them.
[11:44] Let's put it that way. And so that's how my whole curiosity started. That's how I started to educate myself with them. Then later on, taking trainings and at some point really deciding that I want to start working with them, which I first I was at that point still an attorney, still working. And it took from that point, it took almost another three years until I actually quit that career and pivoted in a completely different direction.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [12:19] Sounds incredible. And, you know, I've used digestion actually when I'm not feeling well. And it's amazing to rub on, but also just the smell of it seems to be very helpful.
Kea-Sophie Stack [12:31] Yes, it's also a very helpful tool during pregnancy. Oh, right. There's a lot of digestive things that come up during pregnancy.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [12:37] Exactly, exactly. We'll talk about that soon. You had an accident that fractured a vertebra.
Kea-Sophie Stack [12:46] It did, yes. So as we heard, I was still on my healing journey, still working as an attorney and on my healing journey to heal my eating disorder. And I had an accident or yeah, it was just very unfortunate. I was on a train. It was really nobody's fault, but myself. I was not holding on. And the train was a little rough and I tripped and I fell with my back against the wall and I broke a vertebra. And that was a moment. It hurt a lot. I didn't think anything of it. I went on a weekend trip. I came back from the weekend trip and a couple days later I taught yoga and I showed them a backbend. And the moment I did that backbend, I thought this was not a good idea.
[13:42] I had totally already forgotten about the little accident I had, but I could feel in my back that something just completely went out of order. And so I laid in bed all night with the craziest pain ever. Went early in the morning to the doctor and she sent me to get an MRI right away because on the x-ray she couldn't see anything. So she sent me to the MRI and the MRI showed that it was a broken vertebra. I think it was L1 or L2. And when I came back to the doctor's office, she said, you're going to have to stop working and stay calm for the next six weeks. So pretty much no sitting, either walking, standing up or laying down flat. And I was like, okay.
[14:38] I just kind of like saw myself. I literally thought I'm going to eat myself to death in that time because I had no distraction. You know, I was just kind of completely confronted with myself, but miraculously the exact opposite happened. Actually a couple of days before I had the last binge eating attack ever. So I went home. I did what she told me to and I started recovering from day to day. And it was really the thing that saved me. I would say.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [15:16] So interesting because for most people it would be devastating, but for you it was a turnaround. But how, how did you do it? I mean, it seems like for many of us that would be depressing. You know, not having the distractions or being able to work or just have a social life would make us eat.
Kea-Sophie Stack [15:32] I know. And I think for me in that moment, I started reading a lot. I read a lot of self-help and a very spiritual book during that time. I wrote a lot. I journaled a lot and I went for walks, hour long walks, because that was literally the only thing I was allowed to do besides laying down. And I think the combination of that relieved something in my body that had been stuck and clocked for such a long time and I didn't have the freedom. I mean, I would usually experience when I was on vacation, it would get a little better, but then there was always in the back of my head, okay, like in a week or two, I have to go back. And so I felt like knowing that it would be six weeks just kind of
[16:26] gave me this time out that my body and my mind and my psyche obviously needed.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [16:32] The way you described it, you were sort of trapped in a career that you didn't like. And with all the effort and time and the journey that led you to that career, you seemed trapped in a way that you couldn't just pick up another career and leave that career. And just one wonders, maybe six weeks of not having to do that career, like getting out of the trap, maybe it was therapeutic for you?
Kea-Sophie Stack [16:55] It was very therapeutic. And I think I just realized a lot. I realized that I could pivot. So part of that job at the political foundation was that I moderated a lot of legal discussions and that was a part of my job that I highly enjoyed and that I loved a lot. And so during that time I thought, well, maybe I can just do a moderation training and call into my life being a moderator for life events and teaching yoga, working with essential oils and kind of like pivot and going a different way. And I think the space that opened for me during those six weeks actually made me feel like I can do it and that's possible. And so at that point I made the decision.
[17:48] I didn't quit my job right away. It would still take half a year until I stopped it. But I made the decision during that time. And I think that's what kept me on the healing journey and made me not relapse.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [18:02] Especially even if you didn't love the career choice you had made, you know, you were successful at it and it's really hard to break out of that mold sometimes. So that's really inspiring that you're able to do that and especially to go from law to a wellness career. Although I think there's overlap. I think in both cases you sort of try to counsel people and help people sometimes feel better through something difficult that they're going through. I think there is overlap, but on the surface they seem very different. So what did the new career look like?
Kea-Sophie Stack [18:35] Well, so just to give you a little idea of the time we were in, I quit to the end of 2019. So I wanted to start my new career beginning of 2020 where we all know the world kind of changed. So the first thing I actually did, well, there were two things and two great wishes. I wanted to fulfill myself before actually getting into this new career. The first thing was I really wanted a doc. So I adopted a little street puppy from Romania. The other thing was I wanted to go to India and I did both of these things and I went to India for four weeks to a yoga and meditation retreat in Rishikesh that was in February 2020. And after that I thought great, you know, I'm going
[19:31] to hop into my new career. I start building this and on that journey I met my now husband. So there were kind of, you know, little other tracks set already during that vacation time, but I did go back to Germany. He went back to LA and the pandemic literally started two days after we both each got back home. So there was also no way to travel to see each other at first. So I thought, well, I mean at first nobody knew what's happening, right? But then I had already been teaching at a couple yoga studios. I had already been starting consulting people about aromatherapy. So that was already going a little bit and the only thing that I really wanted to build
[20:22] more was the moderation business for event moderation, which of course starting with pandemic, there were no events, there was nothing to do. So that really kicked me into the whole wellness because everybody during that time to keep their own sanity wanted wellness. They wanted yoga. They wanted essential oils and it was all really easy to be done online. All the studios I taught to, they pretty quickly switched to online classes. So I started just teaching from at home to my students wherever they were at home and the same with the essential oil consultants. So yeah, the first year of that new career was definitely very different than I had imagined it.
[21:11] But as you said, so very truly in your introduction life often doesn't go as we plan it. It's really the journey of life that we have to embrace.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [21:22] Sometimes big arrows come up and say go this way, go this way and then like in a video game. Right. All right. Let's take another break. When we come back, we'll talk about love as you found it moving across the world pregnancy after 40 and how essential oils fit into all of this. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the informed pregnancy podcast. We're talking to Kia Sophie stack about love pregnancy birth prep and the wellness tools she uses every day. Okay. So you told us you met your husband while you're traveling in India, then you get grounded. So it's a long distance relationship for a
Kea-Sophie Stack [22:10] little bit. Yes. And then we, I mean, it's a long story with a lot of leaps, but we started traveling. He came to Germany for a while and eventually he asked me if I could see myself moving to LA with him.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:24] And you did.
Kea-Sophie Stack [22:25] And I did end of 2022.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:29] Okay. Post pandemic. How do you like California?
Kea-Sophie Stack [22:33] I like it. It's definitely a very nice place to be. I cannot deny that I miss home in a way too, and all the different facets. But yes, it's definitely a nice place on earth being in California.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:49] It's so funny because right now the world cup is happening and I see so many Europeans traveling across America being like, wait a second, this kind of nice over here, right? Not how it's reported in the media to us. Yeah. So I'm glad you like it. Welcome aboard. Your English is amazing.
Kea-Sophie Stack [23:05] Thank you.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [23:06] Everyone learn English in Germany?
Kea-Sophie Stack [23:08] Well, I have a little secret. I did a high school exchange year when I was 16. I spent a year in Arkansas. Don't laugh. It was great. It was great.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [23:18] You said don't laugh too much.
Kea-Sophie Stack [23:19] Definitely one of the best years of my life and I still love Arkansas. So yes, I think that helped.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [23:28] Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So you came here in 22 and you at some point talk about having a baby because it looks like you waited a few years.
Kea-Sophie Stack [23:38] Yeah. Well, we talked about it back and forth and we were both certain that we would want to become parents. We were just not so certain about the timing. And so when I first landed here, we didn't want to just jump right in it and kind of adjust for a minute. And so we waited off a little bit until we started trying. But then when we did start trying, it also still almost took one and a half years until it actually happened. So yeah, that's been how it just all took a little longer.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [24:12] How have yoga and aromatherapy supported you during pregnancy?
Kea-Sophie Stack [24:18] A lot. Really a lot. I want to just kick back for one second to make sure our audience knows what essential oils really are and why they're so potent for us because a lot of people hear oils and they think we're talking about some fatty oils like olive oil or sesame oil or something. But essential oils are really highly concentrated aromatic plant extract that are usually sourced through either steam distillation or cold pressing. And they come from different parts of the plants. It can be the leaves, the petals, the roots, the bark, whatever. You know, if we're talking about a flower or a tree or other kind of grasses or citrus fruits is usually
[25:06] the peel that is cold pressed. And the essential oils in a plant is the communication system of the plant. And so they're so potent and just working so great for the plants that some very smart humans many thousands of years ago, we actually already find them in some Egyptian graveyards, which is crazy, have found that we can really also use them very potently for ourselves as humans. And therefore we can either inhale them so they go right to our limbic system and that's why they work so greatly with our emotions and our nervous system because that's right here in our limbic system in the brain or we can apply them on our skin and that will pull them
[25:58] into our blood system and they're literally spreading within 10 minutes to half an hour throughout the whole body. So that's just how they work and why they are so potent for us as humans.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [26:14] And sometimes ingest them.
Kea-Sophie Stack [26:16] And sometimes ingest them. Yes. I mean the quality of an essential oil is essential. You can say that because it's so so important because they're like really being sucked right in by our bodies. It's so important that we don't have any synthetic fillers, that we don't have any alcohol in there. Like a lot of essential oils that you can get on the market are just not pure. But they're so cheap.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [26:45] Yeah, that's great. But they're cheap, right?
Kea-Sophie Stack [26:48] And there's not great regulation. I mean, I don't want to say cheap is always bad. That's definitely not true. But in terms of essential oils, not all expensive essential oils are great, but the great ones are usually expensive. Let's put it that way.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [27:04] Like you said, it's going on your body into your body.
Kea-Sophie Stack [27:07] Exactly.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [27:07] You want this is one of the places where you want better quality.
Kea-Sophie Stack [27:11] Yeah.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [27:11] Okay. So with now that we have an understanding of what they are and how they work, what have you been using during pregnancy?
Kea-Sophie Stack [27:18] So one of the oils I literally got obsessed with, it's not a typical pregnancy oil, but it was just one of my journeys is rose. I mean, I love rose essential oil anyway. It's one of the most expensive, one of the just yeah, most valuable essential oils and something already in my early pregnancy just kept drawing me back to my rose oil bottle. So I went through several through this whole pregnancy, but that's really, I would say more an emotional component and not something I would say rose helps you with this and that it's really something I am personally drawn to maybe somebody else. It's drawn to wild orange or citrus or, you know, something else.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [28:04] It's interesting. Rose is one of the five that we offer during body work at our practice in Los Angeles and it's the least chosen I think of the five. But when someone says, I don't know, surprise me, I'll usually go to Rose for them and like, well, that's really nice, like pleasant, calming and they like it. So we've generated a bunch of Rose fans over the years.
Kea-Sophie Stack [28:29] Yeah, that's great. I mean, I got to appreciate it when you treated me and I did chose it to choose the Rose and it was so great to get your, yeah, to get your treatment with the Rose oil. So the other oil that especially at the beginning of my pregnancy where I don't want to deny that I was a little nervous and anxious at times just because it had, I mean, probably everybody is in their own way. For me, the background was just, it had taken so long and I was very afraid to lose it again. So Vitever is a really great oil. It's so grounding. It's deeply grounding, especially if you put it on the bottom of your spine and it's an oil that has the
[29:15] ability to give you a lot of trust. And so that was really one of the oils I used. I still use it every once in a while, but in the first month of my pregnancy, it was definitely in my daily oils because I needed the support to find my inner trust. Obviously, that's what it's all about to, you know, find the strength and trust within us. But these little helpers can just support that really, really well. And so Vitever is definitely one oil I would recommend to everyone. The other one I used, obviously, I mean, it's an all-rounder. It's Lavender. Lavender is really, it has the calming factor. It can help you sleep. I'm a super sleeper. So I call myself
[30:04] a super sleeper. And in first trimester, I literally couldn't sleep anymore. I would lay awake for hours every night and was bright awake. I was reading, listening to music, listening, trying to listen to meditations. And Lavender or Serenity, which is a blend with Roman chamomile in it. And those are really the oils that help me sleep and help me get back into like calm down my nervous system and get back into the sleep. So that's definitely something I would totally suggest to have too.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [30:44] I think two things, probably most people listening don't know of Vitever as they haven't heard of it, but it's a grass. It's kind of like earthy.
Kea-Sophie Stack [30:51] Yes, it's a grass. And the essential oil is made out of the roots of that grass.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [30:57] Okay.
Kea-Sophie Stack [30:57] And they have very long and thick roots.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [31:01] I myself, after surgery, I had a hard time sleeping. It was one of the harder things to overcome. And I used the Serenity oil and it's really helpful. And I sort of have metrics on it because I wear a sleep tracker and I definitely sleep better with it than without it. I just put a few drops on my pillow and it's kind of
Kea-Sophie Stack [31:22] amazing. Yeah, many people report that. It's also very great if you put it on the bottom of your feet because we have a lot of nerve endings at the bottom of our feet. It's, you know, better than I am, of course. But the body is able to even faster pull in the components of the essential oils through these nerve endings. And so they spread and go into the whole body and yeah, Serenity is a great because it has the Roman chamomile as an addition to the lavender and that's something that's definitely potent on top when it comes to sleep and calming down the nervous system.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [32:03] It's a really beautiful blend together. And then we talked a little bit about it. People do have digestive things come up during pregnancy during the first trimester. Oftentimes there's nausea or nausea and vomiting or worse hyperemesis. Are any of the oils helpful there?
Kea-Sophie Stack [32:22] Ginger and peppermint or that blend that I was referring to earlier, Digesen. I personally use ginger the most. I was very surprised. I thought peppermint would be my oil in pregnancy because peppermint is a great oil whenever I feel tired or unwell in my tummy. It's just something that's very, very helpful and usually helps me very quick. But for some reason the smell of peppermint was not my favorite. It's not that I couldn't smell it at all. Like I know that many people are very sense sensitive during pregnancy that fortunately that was a little bit of my fear. I was like what if I can't smell my oil anymore? That would be terrible. It didn't happen
[33:10] to me, fortunately. But peppermint just, I didn't love the smell of it anymore. So ginger was my first choice when it came to any digestive issues. You can put them on the pulse points on your wrist or you can rub it always diluted on your tummy. And that's something that's very, very calming and yeah, just helpful for the whole digestive system. Just smelling it or drinking it also great.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:40] Are there oils that we should avoid during pregnancy?
Kea-Sophie Stack [33:44] We should avoid oils that can have impact on our hormones. So there are no hormones in essential oils. So that's not the issue, but there are some essential oils for example, jasmine and clary sage that can affect our hormones and obviously we don't want to mess with our hormones during pregnancy. And so these two oils are definitely oils that we should avoid. Another oil that we should avoid is basil because basil can actually get you into contractions and obviously we don't want that until it's time. So yeah, no basil, no clary sage and no jasmine. Those are the main oils that are really a no-go. I mean, if you're not familiar with using essential oils,
[34:41] I think you should always be precautious or have somebody like me or you know, there are many others out there. Who can consult you in what's safe and what's not safe. But a lot of people also don't use any oils that can release toxins from the body. Because if you use them in higher amounts, it can also just, you know, the toxins that are released in the body, they can go into the amniotic fluid and then go into the baby so that can like get you in a whole cycle. So those kind of oils like oregano or clove or cinnamon are also oils that should be avoided. They can be used under guidance.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [35:27] All right. That's super helpful. How many weeks are you now?
Kea-Sophie Stack [35:30] I'm 36 tomorrow.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [35:33] Okay. Getting close to the end, the final stretch. Do you have a vision for your birth? How you'd like to see it unfold?
Kea-Sophie Stack [35:40] I would love for it to be completely natural. I mean, I'll have a hospital birth. So as natural as it can be in a hospital. But yes, I would love to start labor spontaneously. I would love to be unmedicated. I already made a lot of oil mixtures for myself and blends that I can use during labor. So yeah, that is my wish and my hope for my birth and our little girl entering this world.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [36:10] Aside from the oils, are you doing things to prepare your mind, body, and spirit?
Kea-Sophie Stack [36:15] I do hypnobirthing. So I'm listening to some audios of that every day. I feel very fortunate and blessed that I've had a very good pregnancy. I have hardly had any symptoms. I had an iliosacral thing going on in early pregnancy. That's how we met and that's what I saw you for. But other than that, I've been feeling I move a lot. I think that's my secret. I move a lot. I eat very healthy. You know, I'm not like completely stressing out about it, but I try to nurture myself very balanced and healthy. I go swimming. I'm still doing a little bit of weightlifting. I walk a lot and I visualize a lot and I meditate a lot. That's really something that helps
[37:11] me to like chanting mantras to the baby and meditating is something that yeah, is also for the practice within. I always say there's a practice on the outside. There's a practice on the inside and oftentimes the practice within is a little more important than the practice on the outside.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [37:31] Well, you are doing a lot and you have done a lot over your lifetime to enrich your health on all three planes, my body and spirit and generally it tends to reward you during childbirth and I'm wishing you a wonderful experience. Kia, Sophie, thank you so much for sharing your personal journey and great information about essential oils that I don't think we've done before on the podcast. If somebody wanted to learn more, where could they find you online?
Kea-Sophie Stack [38:04] They can find me on Instagram. They can find me on my website. Everything is associated with my name. I don't know if you can put it in the captions because for many people here it's a little difficult because it has a hyphen, the kia is spelled with an E, so it's K-E-A- hyphen S-O-P-H-I-E Kia, Sophie, and then my last name is Stack. But if you Google that, you should find me on all different channels.
Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [38:31] Yes, and we'll put it in the show notes as well. Looking forward to great news. Thank you again for joining me and for sharing your wisdom. And at home, thanks for listening to the Informed Pregnancy podcast. For more pregnancy and parenting information just like this, visit us online at informedpregnancy.com
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