The personal story about my own pregnancies and what I have learned along the way

My passion for women in childbirth began when I was pregnant with my first daughter, Dana, back in 1971 (she is now 43, and has two healthy, precious children of her own, who are 5 and 3).

After attending childbirth classes with my first pregnancy, I decided that I didn’t want any unnecessary interventions.  I read everything I could find on childbirth and educated myself about various methods for dealing with the pain of childbirth.  Dana, and all 4 of my children, were born without the use of any medications.  At the hospital, they were so impressed with my birth experience and her “10” Apgar scores (in Denver the high altitude normally prevents 10 Apgar scores, especially at 1 minute) that they asked me to come teach their nurses how to assist women in having un-medicated births.

That was the beginning of my journey.

For the past 40+ years I have worked with women and their families in various capacities.   For many years, I taught childbirth education classes, and counseled women on breastfeeding.  I became a licensed midwife in New Mexico in 1980, and operated my own birth center there for 10 years.  I went to medical school in 1990 and became a board certified Physician Assistant.  During my 23 year career as a PA, I have worked in Adult/Internal medicine, Emergency medicine, and Women’s Health.  I worked in an OB/GYN practice for several years… For 9 years I was the woman’s health practitioner at a major university, and for the past 4 years I have been working in an internal medicine practice where I worked with patients helping them with my other major interest: diabetes and other endocrine imbalances.

In late 2005, I was introduced to the concept that toxins from our environment may be contributing to the increase in many chronic health problems.  And since that time, I have come to believe that Detoxification must be your first step on your journey to optimal health.  As I learned more about toxins and reproductive health, I have also come to believe that if we do not detoxify our young women and future mothers before, and during pregnancy, I have a significant concern for the future fertility of human beings on this planet.  This is my passion, and my purpose to take this message to anyone who will listen.   The dangers of environmental toxicity are REAL, and the benefits of effective safe detoxification are possible and profound.  Detox is important for everyone, but it is monumentally important for women, and men, of childbearing age.

WE are now polluting the next generation, before they are even conceived.

What you absolutely will inherit from your mother…are her toxins…unless you do something to change that. And this is what you CAN do…and do it safely, easily, and effectively.

When you are pregnant, most women worry about everything, and so while some of this news may be distressing…it is also very empowering.  I want to alert you to the problems, but I also want to help you with a new vision for how you can have a ToxinClear pregnancy, and give birth to a child who is born clear from the inheritance of your toxic body burden.

A disclaimer…This is not about creating perfect human beings…

All of us frequently miss the mark, all of us fall short of fully living our purpose.  If you think that if you do absolutely everything right…you will have a perfect child, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and failure.

But while perfection is an unrealistic task master that none of us want ourselves or our children to serve…we do want to enable our children to live their lives in optimal health and be and become fully who they uniquely are.

And that is the hopeful vision I want to create…not one of compulsive perfection for your pregnancy, and your children, but of a realistic, loving, purposeful life that will be more easily accomplished by being free of a toxic body burden

The problem of environmental toxins:

Most people live under the Illusion that industry or the government is working to keep us safe…and there are many people in medicine, industry and government who do care deeply about these issues.

BUT…If you are pregnant, you can’t wait years for the government to regulate, or corporations to change…you need a toxinclear lifestyle NOW. 

Toxins go where the water flows and the wind blows, and you cannot simply say no to toxins, they are everywhere in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the products we put on our skin.  We have to actively do something to get these toxins out of our body, so that we will not pass them to the next generation.

Epigenetics:

This is a fascinating, emerging science that explains the biological complexity of life.

We only have approximately 25,000 genes,  but each gene is capable of thousands of epigenetic expressions.  What distinguishes a cell is not their genes, but how these gens are switched on or off, by epigenes. Epigenetics is the study of how each gene encodes its specific proteins, which control all the activities of life at the cellular level.  This is why the health of the cell is the most critical factor in our day to day journey towards optimal health.  The activity of the genetic expression of these critical proteins can be disrupted by many things: the most common are: heavy metals, industrial toxins, viruses, funguses, insecticides, some medications, and malnutrition

Many things we formerly thought were genetic, related to chronic disease states are actually mostly epigenetic: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, many behavioral issues, etc.

Only a Tiny number of things affecting a very small % of children are actually genetic disease states. There are hormonal quality checks early in pregnancy, and there are quality control checks done by the placenta when it takes over the management of the pregnancy around 12 weeks of gestation.  This is why this is the most common time of miscarriage…if the baby doesn’t pass this inspection, the majority of the time, the pregnancy will not be maintained.

This is why detoxification and good nutrition…taking out the bad stuff and putting in the good stuff…is so critical during this time.  You have only 9 months to give your child the healthiest body you can.  The decisions and actions about those decisions that you make now will have lifetime consequences for your children, and for you as you parent them.  Please grow the healthiest child you possibly can!

And again, you will not grow a perfect child…but  I believe, you can grow a child with a better chance of reaching their full potential of optimal heath,  to become uniquely who they were created to be.

When to detoxify:

Before pregnancy:  Detoxify using passive or active methods, or both, and maximize your nutritional status.

During pregnancy:  Detoxify using passive methods (not active methods) and maximize your nutritional status,  with whole, organic, minimally processed, non-GMO, unadulterated food.  Foods that hopefully will still have some life in them by having been alive at least somewhat recently (not put into a BPA lined can, 3 years ago). Buy local, foods in season.   The raw food movement is helping bring awareness about the benefits of eating living foods.  Take whole food supplements, not supplements made out of chemicals, but from concentrated food sources.

After pregnancy: it is such a miracle to me that we not only grow our children inside us, but after they are born, we continue to grow them, by feeding them with our bodies through lactation. Unfortunately our breast milk is subject to toxins as well. There was a study done a few years ago, where they tested the breast milk of women before and after flying in an airplane…afterwards the milk tested with flame retardants and jet fuel present in their milk. Therefore, detoxification is critical so that you don’t pass on toxins in this way.

I am totally convinced that breast milk is still absolutely the most optimal way to feed a newborn.  If our milk has toxins, imagine the toxins present in cows, especially in milk from cows that are not raised organically, that are stimulated with growth hormones, and injected with antibiotics.  Milk has usually been pasteurized destroying the critical enzymes, the catalyst necessary to enable the body to properly use the nutrients that are there. The cow’s milk protein was designed for feeding baby cows, not baby humans.  The breast milk for each creature is unique for that mammal…so I in no way want to discourage you from nursing your baby…but you do need to daily detoxify your breast milk, and you safely can.

How to detoxify:

Please Read the article: What is the best way to detoxify the body in pregnancy?  It is linked to on the RESOURCE Page, under Toxins and Pregnancy.

How to choose an effective clinoptilolite product:

Clinoptilolite has GRAS status…Generally recognized as safe, which is the best ranking a product can get from the FDA regarding it’s safety.  This is not “approved” by the FDA, because it is not a drug.  It is the job of the FDA to approve drugs, not products made from natural substances like food or minerals.  But it has been evaluated for safety, and found to be safe for all ages, including pregnant women and breast feeding mothers.

You want a product that has been 1. Purified, so there are plenty of open, clean, toxin trapping molecules present to capture and remove your toxins.  2. Micro-sized to 0.3 microns or less, so that it can pass not just through the digestive track (although there are many benefits for this too) but that the mineral will be transported into the blood and lymph fluids, and even intracellulary to clear the toxins from your body at the cellular level. 3. You want 3^rd party independent validation on every batch of product showing that the claims made about 1 and 2 are true.

I only know of one company that meets these standards, which is why I encourage you to go to the Products Page and research the Pure Body products by Touchstone Essentials.

My take home message:

You and your children do not have to be a victim of this toxin crisis…you can detoxify your body and you can do it NOW, before, during and after your pregnancy.  It will provide you and your new little one with remarkable lifetime benefits that will not only benefit you and them but at least the next 4 generations to come.  We can no longer be self focused and say “oh I will just do whatever I want to do, it’s my body”…because now you have the knowledge to know that you smoking now, and during your pregnancy, may be putting your children’s, children’s children at an increased risk of cancer. Your poor eating habits in pregnancy are affecting the nutritional status and the epigenetic effects that are essential for your children, for their optimal health.  And you don’t have to continue to be affected by the toxins you got from your mother, either.

Dana, detoxified before, during, and after pregnancy with her two children, using Clinoptilolite.  So have the mothers of 4 of my other grandchildren.  I witness the health benefits they are experiencing now, and I anticipate future health benefits for their children. Because, the genetic and epigenetic profile of my great grandchildren has already been created in my grandchildren… that happened in them, in their first few gestational weeks of life.

And finally…daily detoxification is so easy to do; you can fit this easily into your lifestyle. And it is relatively inexpensive, once you realize the incredible value this will be to your cellular health and the health of your children now, and for generations to come.

Vicki Latham PA-C
Mother, grandmother, and optimistic believer in a healthier future for all of us.