Hi there, my name is Lindie. I am a trained pre- and post-natal dietician.

I have 7 years experience, am a wife, mom of two healthy girls, a, now, stronger woman with my own story of infertility, a miscarriage, an incredibly difficult pregnancy, and a challenging breastfeeding journey.

My own infertility story started 2 years after I got married.

I was diagnosed with multiple fertility issues, I had no response on oral ovulation induction medication and eventually had to move over to FSH injections.

During my 3rd stimulation cycle I fell pregnant, but sadly had a miscarriage shortly thereafter.

This was extremely hard as no family members / friends knew that we were on this journey to desperately fall pregnant.

Now, in hindsight, I guess the reason for not sharing our journey then was probably to protect ourselves against a constant reminder / conversation on this topic as it already was all consuming in our mind but also our time (we were in and out of the specialist rooms at least twice a week).

I just wanted to be treated normally when socialising with the people I knew.  I think perhaps also I was shy and disappointment, it felt like my body failed me to do something that was supposed to happen so naturally.

Perhaps some of you may identify with this feeling, I would say that it probably would have been better to share it with a selected few friends and family members.  The right support during such a difficult and stressful time can be so helpful for your mental well-being (which is exceptionally important for your physical well-being).

Anyway, during this time, I felt helpless and out of control so I started to do research to find something I can do to positively help change my situation.  The only thing I had enough knowledge on was nutrition and I was astonished by the amount of research in nutrition before, during and after pregnancy.

In the cycle I finally fell pregnant with my twin girls, I overstimulated (OHSS) this was incredibly painful, and I was very sick.  On week 5 of my pregnancy, I started experiencing severe nausea and vomiting (hyperemesis gravidarum).  On 27 weeks I was diagnosed with a short cervix and was put on strict bed rest.  On 29 Weeks I experience severe itchiness and was then told that I had a rare condition called obstetric cholestasis.  This threatened the life of my soon to be born babies, so I was hospitalised until they were born on 33 weeks and 4 days via a natural vaginal birth with no pain management (this was an amazing experience)

After I gave birth, I could immediately stand up and take a proper shower for the first time in weeks.  I was tired but so relieved, energised, and happy.

Our babies were in ICU for 28 days just to get a bit bigger and stronger.  I had the most amazing guidance and support in the NICU to help me establish breastfeeding my twins.  I tandem breastfed them until they were 5 months old and then I started to exclusively pump.  They received breast milk until they were one years old.

We know that the first 1000 days (starting with conception until the age of 2 years) is so important in the life of every child (in terms of growth and development, genetic programming, and risk reductions of diet related disease conditions).  As a mom, I know that you want the very best for our babies, so i am wondering why only sick pregnant women are referred to a pre- and postnatal dietician and not every healthy mom too when there is really so much, we can do to give your baby the best start in life!

Whether you are 16 and just found out you have PCOS / Endometriosis / related IBS / preparing for an egg harvest/ transfer/ ovulation induction / trying to conceive on a vegan / vegetarian diet struggling to regain your period after undernourishment, in your last week of pregnancy, breastfeeding/ introducing solids it is never too late to seek advice.

Your life, health and that of your future children is important to me.  If you allow me to journey with you, I would absolutely love seeing you and your offspring reach full potential!

Hope to meet you soon,

Bye for now!