About

Getting pregnant is a topic that often spawns many questions, but this is especially so when you have MS and must balance health and lifestyle considerations against the desire to have a healthy pregnancy and starting a family. Pregnancy and MS is an area that Overcoming MS covers extensively, but to really delve into this important discussion we at Living Well with MS thought there’s nothing better than getting a firsthand account. That’s where Ingrid Adelsberger comes in. Ingrid has followed the OMS program for several years. She is the editor of the OMS cookbook, the former ambassador of the OMS Circle in Los Angeles, and the current co-ambassador of the global OMS Circle. Ingrid is also a proud mom to a two-year-old daughter named Romy.   Questions:   Welcome to Living Well with MS, Ingrid. We’re here to discuss your experiences with pregnancy, but first off, can you tell our audience a little bit about yourself? When were you first diagnosed with MS and how long was it till you came across the OMS program? How has the experience of following the OMS program been for you? Can you share some of your ups and downs, and any lessons you’ve learned? On to the topic of pregnancy. I understand you welcomed Romy, your lovely daughter, into your life over 2 years ago. But when you first started thinking about getting pregnant and starting a family, what were your initial concerns as it pertains to having a healthy pregnancy while having MS? How much of a consideration was your MS in your decision to try to get pregnant? Did you take any specific precautions or measures to ensure your pregnancy would be smooth without flaring up any MS symptoms? Was it hard to maintain the OMS program while being pregnant or immediately thereafter? Are there any tips you can share with our audience about doing so? What was the experience of being pregnant like, in the sense of how it impacted, if it did at all, your MS? Did you consult any specialists before or during pregnancy to enlist their aid? And if so, did it help? Did you have any expectations about how the pregnancy would go, and was the reality what you expected or different? Is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight? Did the pregnancy or the time immediately thereafter see any kind of impact on your MS symptoms or general state of physical or mental health? Having a newborn makes a dramatic impact on your life under any circumstances. How did you stay centered and keep your stress levels as low as possible while facing the challenges of being a new mom? Thanks so much for being on our program, Ingrid, and enlightening many mothers to be with your experiences with pregnancy and MS. As a final thought, if you could offer some key suggestions or advice for women with MS who are considering getting pregnant, based on your own personal experiences and what worked really well for you, what would these be?   Bio:   Ingrid was born in Vienna, Austria and moved to New York in 2005 where she lived until 2016. She then moved with her husband Dat to Los Angeles where her daughter Romy was born in 2018. Her first career in New York was event planning, but her experiences with MS and especially OMS, focused on the power of lifestyle change, made her want to change careers. She started a course in health coaching in 2016 which led her wanting to learn more, so she completed a master’s degree in health coaching in 2019. Ingrid wanted to apply her newly acquired skills as a health coach, which she did by working independently as well as for a health services company. She currently resides in Vienna with her husband and daughter. Ingrid is also the editor of the OMS cookbook and served as the ambassador of the OMS Circle in Los Angeles before moving back to Austria. She is currently the joint ambassador (with Sean Kressinger) of the global OMS Circle.   Links:   Ingrid used The Bump as a tracking tool throughout her pregnancy, and still uses it today. Ingrid gained much insight about pregnancy from a classic resource, What to Expect When Expecting. Now there’s a website, too! Ingrid practiced hypnobirthing, which you can learn more about from this book.   Coming up on our next episode:   Buckle up and jet (the virtual kind, with zero carbon footprint) to New Zealand to meet OMSer and mountain climber extraordinaire Katy Glenie on Coffee Break #24, premiering on October 4. You’ll want to hear all about her OMS journey, as well as her latest adventures scaling a 3,000m peak in New Zealand. Also, the final installment of Ask Jack for 2021 premieres on November 10, and it’s our special holiday cooking edition. Remember, you can submit your questions early for the next and all future Ask Jack episodes by emailing them to podcast@overcomingms.org.   Don’t miss out:   Subscribe to this podcast and never miss an episode. You can catch any episode of Living Well with MS here or on your favorite podcast listening app. Don’t be shy – if you like the program, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you tune into the show. And feel free to share your comments and suggestions by emailing podcast@overcomingms.org.