Dr Cathy Taig has a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Michigan and a D.C. from Life University. She is certified in Webster and Morphogenic Field Techniques and has specialized in the care of pregnant moms and babies for the past 18 years. She has been on television and radio promoting the benefits of natural health. She, and her husband, Dr. Tim Taig, have a chiropractic practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they reside with their two children.
Her new book, Birth Right, Discovering God's Best for Your Birth Experience is available for preorder now. Partly-memoir and partly-informative, Dr. Cathy's book offers women considering becoming mothers an alternative to the typical medicine chest paradigm.
Dr Cathy Taig has a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Michigan and a D.C. from Life University. She is certified in Webster and Morphogenic Field Techniques and has specialized in the care of pregnant moms and babies for the past 18 years. She has been on television and radio promoting the benefits of natural health. She, and her husband, Dr. Tim Taig, have a chiropractic practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they reside with their two children.
Her new book, Birth Right, Discovering God's Best for Your Birth Experience is available for preorder now. Partly-memoir and partly-informative, Dr. Cathy's book offers women considering becoming mothers an alternative to the typical medicine chest paradigm.
Tue, 10/12 3:04PM • 27:04
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
moms, birth, people, life, ladies, chiropractic, epidural, medical paradigm, barb, husband, living, book, stress, c section, process,
SPEAKERS
Dr Cathy Taig, Deb Timmerman, Barb Fletcher
Deb Timmerman 00:01
You're listening to less stress in life. With host, Deb Timmerman and Barb Fletcher, we believe life with less stress and more energy is possible with the right tools, strategies and knowledge. So we bring your real conversations around the stress of relationships, money, and the daily hassles of life. With guests that will inspire, challenge, entertain, and motivate you to take action. This is Deb Timmerman with my co host, Barb Fletcher, and our guest is Dr. Cathy Taig. And we're so happy to have her. She has a BA in international studies from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Chiropractic from life University. She's certified in Webster and morphogenic field techniques, and has specialized in the care of pregnant moms and babies for the past 18 years. She's got television and radio promoting the benefits of natural health husband, Dr. Tim Taig, have a chiropractic practice in Grand Rapids, where they live with your two adorable kids.
Dr Cathy Taig 01:13
Thank you,
Deb Timmerman 01:14
I feel privileged to have Dr. Cathy here today, because she's a member of my healthcare team. So it's always nice to collaborate and share those who help keep you healthy.
Dr Cathy Taig 01:30
I love, love taking care of you Deb, and I learned a lot from you too, because you take care of a lot of ladies too.
Deb Timmerman 01:38
So why chiropractic Dr Cathy? What led you down that path?
Dr Cathy Taig 01:43
Because I basically had a detour. When I was getting my bachelor's degree, I thought I'm done with my degree. And I'm going to try to have some type of Corporation hire me right out of college. And that's just not how it worked out. I had one class that I needed to take. And the only full time job I could have and complete my course was at the chiropractor's office. So I had that detour there. And I really liked what I found there. And the I worked there for a little over a year. And I said, I think I could do this. And I learned the business side of it. And my husband was out of the Air Force. And we realized that his skills, even though he was this awesome jet engine mechanic that going to like the airports, right to help the planes, like, you know, for regular flights, and commercially didn't pay very good. And so we were like, Okay, well, that's not going to work. So I said, Well, what do you think about this? Why don't we go together? And at first he was like, Huh, but then he got exposed to what was going on in the office to saw all the wonderful healings and the positive environment and, and yeah, we sold everything that we had. And we moved down to Atlanta, Georgia, and started chiropractic school. So and what's funny is, we made that decision. And before I even started chiropractic school, I ended up having a crash course in home birth, which directed my steps on how I was going to specialize in my chiropractic career because I was focused on taking care of pregnant moms and babies.
Barb Fletcher 03:36
So interesting! I was listening to an author today who talked about how we don't always take that inspired action, when things are presented in front of us. And we we sometimes wait and wait and wait, and it just doesn't happen. But I I applaud the courage that you and your husband both took to actually just uproot yourself and move without your belongings.
Dr Cathy Taig 04:07
It was uncomfortable. And we grew up in the medicine cabinet paradigm. And so our families did not understand what we were doing and why we were doing it. We were living in an extended stay America for six weeks. When we first got there. We knew no one and Tim had traveled a little bit with the Air Force. And that was my first time away from home and I'm like, What did we do? But it worked out great.
Deb Timmerman 04:36
Cathy, how has that worked out for your family, shifting from that medicine cabinet paradigm to where you are? Have they bridged that gap and walk with you into that more natural health modality?
Dr Cathy Taig 04:50
I would say they still have their foundations in the medical paradigm pretty strongly. And sometimes they'll come over to our side But it's it's amazing at how strong that foundation is. And that foundation affects a lot of our thinking and the choices that we make. And so I think it's really important for women to know their choices, because the traditional medicine cabinet is not going to help us deal with traumas, or even stay healthy, because they are chasing the symptom. They're chasing, oh, I've got this headache or this pain, and I need to take that for this. And then it's the end of it. There's no other thought process to actually walk. Well, why is that headache happening? Or why is that pain happening or a lot of people, if they're ready to have an alternative, or to really like, go fix the cause of the problem, they're open, they're open to whatever it takes for their quality of life to be better. But until you get to that place, it's not the same for everybody. You know, some people are fine with just popping the pills.
Deb Timmerman 06:06
I think I was pretty much like that, because it was what I knew, and it was what my training trained towards. But then when I had my own crisis, when I fell down the stairs and tried to put myself back together again, and it affects so my fall happened on summer vacation in Tennessee, and I was in ICU for a couple of days, I hit my head, and I really trashed my body. And when I came back, I was to follow up with my family doctor, because my hemoglobin droped. So when you have an injury, everything goes to that spot to try to heal that. And so my hemoglobin levels dropped, and I was to follow up. And I remember him saying, You just have to be patient, and all I could do was rest and take Vicodin and lay on the couch. And that was like, I don't know, it happened in 2009. And we've come full circle to the other side. Because those are exactly the incidents that bring us to perhaps people getting addicted to Vicoden and seeking other drugs. And it wasn't that I wasn't going to be able to cognitively do my job that had me start to reach out. For other methods. I didn't know what to do. And I didn't know where to even start.
Dr Cathy Taig 07:24
That's no way to live. Right? That's right. You're existing, but you're not living.
Deb Timmerman 07:28
Yeah. So did that experience with the home delivery propel you towards that mom, baby aspect of your work?
Dr Cathy Taig 07:40
so I you know, I always remember as a little girl, just wanting to be a mommy right even before this, but I didn't know too much of anything. All I didn't know before we decided to go to chiropractic school was that I saw people getting better without drugs or surgery. And I had my own experiences, where I had broken my ankle, and I got it on the cast. And I couldn't put pressure on my foot that I broke, I did the PT I did everything that mess inside to do. And I couldn't do any of it. And I again, one adjustment and it never happened again. And then I had another incidents where you know I was, every year that I grew up, I would get strep throat. Well, this particular year that I'm working at the chiropractor's office, I'm becoming antibiotic resistant. I had like it three times in four months. And the chiropractor said, You know what, you need a different approach. And if you let your body create a memory to what's attacking it, and if I adjust you, you're gonna come out stronger and he was exactly right. And so that that day, I've never had strep throat sense. So it took some aha moments with that. And then when I was presented with oh my goodness, I'm gonna go help someone have their baby. I was all about it, but I knew nothing except for what the movies and the TV shows showed with oh my goodness, she's having a baby and you know, all the crisis, the panic, what it seemed to be like this chaotic event, and it turned out to be quite otherwise. I always say that I didn't choose home birth home birth chose me by that experience. And once I saw that, so I had, you know, getting little pieces of the puzzle of being like, Okay, you know what? Our body. If you give it the right circumstances, then our body's pretty resilient. Our body can do what it's supposed to do if we give the body the right circumstances.
Barb Fletcher 09:42
Sure is and and I think one of the things that happens to us is that many of us actually get pushed to the wall before we figure that out, and what a blessing that you have in the room. That you're playing right now is you're starting with people at the very beginning right at at birth, and so their lives will be shaped differently for the rest of their days. Sure.
Dr Cathy Taig 10:13
Well, and one of the reasons why I wrote my book was that the United States before the COVID thing happened, we were the only developed nation where infant and our maternal mortality rates were increasing. And so then you had the COVID scenario where they're putting masks on labouring moms, and they're separating babies for moms. If the moms testing positive for COVID, and then returning the baby when they feel like it's the right time. And that just really lit a fire on me and said, it does not have to be that way. Number one, you, you can go to the hospital. But first time moms, they don't know what's going to happen. They just kind of go and get what they get. And they don't know necessarily how to take authority over their room and say, No, I'm refused to wear the mask or no, you're not gonna take my baby. And so having the home birth experience, I was like, Well, how can I let ladies know that you have options, you can't fathom being away from the hospital birth, that's fine. But here's some things in your birth plans protect you and your baby so that you don't become a statistic. And then here's the home birth process. And this is why you shouldn't be afraid of it. And it just gives moms and new families a tool belt to begin their strong beginning.
Deb Timmerman 11:40
So share with us some of the tips and things other than learning to have your own voice in your birth plan. What are some of the other things you share in your book?
Dr Cathy Taig 11:53
some of the things that I share are just there's mindset things, right? I point out the fact that before the 1920s, most of women's reproductive history was at home. So just building confidence in the process, and getting more comfortable with the process. But also like self care things. Prior to it's not just going to your ob appointments, and you know, giving, taking the vitamins that they give you. There's other more specific things that you can do. And obviously, one of the things that I've specialized in for a long time is chiropractic care for pregnant moms and babies, right? To actually know, your structure affects your function. And if you evaluate the structure of your body while you're pregnant, then you can make sure that the nerve supply going to your uterus is 100%. And it's not compromised. So that the nerve supply is able to help that uterus push that baby out and the uterus and the uterus doesn't get fatigued, and just get tired. And also just the, the mobility of her pelvis. And the mobility of your pelvis affects the amount of space, the baby has to travel out of the birth canal. And if there's a fixation in your pelvis, it can cut the area that the baby has to go through that canal by 20%. And that makes a difference. So chiropractic care massage, when we're pregnant, we, we gain weight, and we are less mobile, so we have more chances of becoming stagnant. And it's important that just have the lymph tissue work through. And it's also great, the healing touch is great for that time where we're carrying our babies, also nutrition. I said, it's not just about the prenatals that they give you which are mostly synthetic vitamins that may or may not match your physiology. And so there's lots of different practitioners that can assess your specific physiological needs, and match your nutrition to you and your baby, so that you have a strong pregnancy. So those are just a few things.
Deb Timmerman 14:08
I'm sitting here thinking about my first birth experience, and it was awful. I remember saying to my husband, at the time, I'm not doing this again, we're adapting what's the experience was like, Oh my gosh, way a long time. 36 hours. And yeah, having an emergency c section. He was a huge kid, almost four pounds, just not good stuff. And I when I look back on it, I was so stressed out before I had this baby. And none of these options were talked about. And if I had to do it again, I would do it very differently with the skills and the knowledge that I have today. Sure. Oh,
14:49
absolutely. Yeah. But they you don't get that you don't get those options or that skill set with the medical paradigm. Maybe they have some things right but they don't have basically your birthing class at the hospital says, This is what an epidural is. This is what a C section is. This is what the pitocin does. And we'll see later. And there's just so much more to know about, there's so much things that we can equip our ladies with, so that they can just have the best experience that they can will it always be wonderful? No, but it could be better, could be a lot better.
Deb Timmerman 15:30
We've had another Chiro on from Canada, who talked about that piece where things don't go well in the birth, and the babies come out, and they're not they don't get adjusted, and so they have issues, maybe with their nervous system regulation, or perhaps, you know, they're not alignment, they have sleep issues, all kinds of other types of things, What are offices, some of the sequelae from mom's not being in alignment and having that open space?
Dr Cathy Taig 16:06
Right. So you know, everyone thinks that well, not everyone, but generally people that go see a section that's kind of easy, you just kind of make an incision, get the baby out, stitch the mama up, right. But there's a process of traveling through the canal and the molding that happens for the sutures in the head. It's known that babies that are born c section will have more trouble with getting viruses, and also asthma. Because there's respiratory centers in the brain that haven't been activated when it when they go through the canal like that. So just overall immune system difficulties can happen when we don't let the process take hold. And there's also, you know, emotional detachment from the baby can happen as well, if you don't not connected with what's going on down there. You may or may not feel as connected to your baby, when the baby comes out. And when we are able to go through the process. And it's not easy. But when we're able to go through it and work through it, we have this huge release of oxytocin at the end of the birth, and it just makes you addicted to your child. And we're robbed of that were robbed of that bonding connection that could be so much stronger between mother and child. Yeah, so those are some of the things there. But look, this is not to condemn anybody that has, you know, had it not go right. It's not, right. In fact, a lot of my moms, if I have moms that I haven't met yet, and they're in their second or third birth, having more children, they will know or they'll say, I really didn't like how that all went down. And I'm looking for something better, or something different. Because I, you know, either they talked to other people, or they thought it would go different in their mind, right? And then it didn't. And so then you have to work through that too. And, you know, who know, right? We don't get a choice of how we store trauma. But it does get stored, and then it needs to be released. So yeah, there's a whole bunch of circumstances that happen or consequences for our choices.
Deb Timmerman 18:33
Yeah, I can remember working with some women who were in their middle life. There are children are going off to college, and they're doing other things. And they didn't process that piece way back here. And it's coming up again. and many times and then other things get connected to that and then printed and like Barb and I always say something, you got to dig for that little thread to figure out what it's all attached to something else. It's unbelievable. The things that you don't know are attached that imprint. That is a huge impact on how we see stress, perceived stress, our body deals with that for years down the road.
Dr Cathy Taig 19:23
Mm hmm. Absolutely.
Barb Fletcher 19:25
People are often surprised at how they're reacting, you know, to a particular situation. And so when we help them peel that back a bit, they're they're often shocked that that was really at the root that was was the change for them for much of their life. So, you know, the work that you do, really has the potential to change the journey for many, many, many moments.
Dr Cathy Taig 19:57
Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's no reason if we You know, the best facilities and the best technologies and everything like that in the country, we live in that, that our infant and maternal mortality rates should be so high, right? That shouldn't even be the case. But we just have to know about the standardized system that you're going into. And if we know how that is going to be, we're going to change it, we have to become familiar with it, and then we have to stand up for what needs to change about it. And the only way that's going to happen is saying, No, you know, I'm, I don't want the epidural. or right, you know, educating the ladies on what the consequences of having an epidural are, right? It's not just oh, you know, I know that no one likes pain, right? I don't think anyone have a sign up for it. But if you understand the, the effects that the bad effects that can happen from having the epidural, and having the pitocin, and you know, the C section, the healing from that, you can understand why that is a detriment to your health, and your future health. And your baby cells and your baby's future health. At least you can try, right? You can try it like, Oh, I'm going to try to avoid that if I can. Right? And you just work from there. But um, yeah, there's, it's really good. You know, part of my book, I take a journey into the history of childbirth thing, like for the past 500 years, and how wrong believing God just did bad things for the women. And on both ends of the spectrum. So, you know, I think it was like in 1569, or something. Lady in Scotland was burned at the stake, because she asked for pain relief when she was delivering twins. Right? Well, that's unacceptable. And that was wrong believing because people were believing that childbirth was a curse, instead of the serpent in the ground, or there was there's a belief system with that. And the fact that she wouldn't just deal with it. Right? Yeah, still her life from her and from her kids. But then you go further down into, you know, 1920s in the feminist movement, and there's some good things that came out of that, for sure, right? We're not treated less than a man. But at the same time, some of the ladies took that to extremes to that said, Well, great, I don't, I'm not less than, in fact, I'm above and I'm going to demand no pain. And so then the ladies would demand the medications during pregnancy, and hurt themselves and their children, and they didn't even remember the whole experience. So you have two extremes. And we're living in a day and age where you can have the best of both worlds, right? You can have no intervention or you can have intervention if you need it. Right. You can have it based on what is your situation. And so yeah, just trying to like get through some of the wrong believing and get, try to gain some more confidence in what's gonna happen.
Deb Timmerman 23:21
Well, this is definitely the you put the capstone on why we do this podcast because people can't change, if they don't know they have an option to change
Dr Cathy Taig 23:31
Right!
Deb Timmerman 23:32
Unless you present different viewpoints, different people, stories, all of that, they sometimes get stuck, and they don't expand from where they are. So your book will be out in November, right? It's available for pre-order?
Dr Cathy Taig 23:49
So, it's actually available you can actually order it now off my website, but it's not available on Amazon until November 11. The ebook will be ready on November 18. If you wanted to get like a physical paper book, copy, you can order it then. So but if you go to CathyTaig.com right now you can either you can order either one.
Deb Timmerman 24:13
So if our folks who are listening to the podcast, want to get in touch with you, do they go to your website, CathyTaig.com or is there another way to get in touch with you?
Dr Cathy Taig 24:25
All roads lead, CathyTaig.com. They'll be able to find me. That way for sure. Yes. So you can email me You can Yeah, you can find out all the information that you need to and my husband and I just started a podcast. And it's called Faith and Family Frontier. And so we're trying to just equip families to have strong beginnings and to be able to know how to operate like a family, especially in the times where living in so you can go anywhere you listen. It's going to be our first episode was released yesterday morning. And each episode is going to be a weekly, right? Weekly release Wednesdays at 5am. So not asking you to get up at 5am. But
Deb Timmerman 25:19
Wow, that's exciting. I didn't know about that. Oh, I thought I told you sorry. Yeah, so we're really happy you could join us today. We try to keep these to about 30 minutes. And it's like it's gone by like crazy. There are so many other things I'd love to have you share. Like, I'd love you to chat maybe a little bit more about the testing that you do and how cool that is. So well, we'll try to have you back again.
Dr Cathy Taig 25:46
Okay, great.
Deb Timmerman 25:48
So, um, if any of you can relate to what Dr. Cathy talked about today, what Barb or Ishared in want somebody to walk that journey with you or help you get started, we would love to accompany you. You do not have to be stressed, we can help you get to your best. So reach out and contact us, and all of the contact information will be at our show notes. So thanks for joining us today.
Dr Cathy Taig 26:16
Thank you, everyone. Thank you, ladies for having me.
Barb Fletcher 26:18
Thank you.
Deb Timmerman 26:24
Less stress in life is possible. If you're new to this kind of thinking and would like to explore what's possible for you. We'd love to connect. You can reach us through our website at lessstressinlife.com. That's lessstressinlife.com