There are few words powerful enough to describe the founder of Moon Juice, Amanda Chantal Bacon’s energy. Bright and magnetic being in her presence is like entering a higher dimension, another vortex if you will. Radiating good vibes, now pregnant with her second (eight years after her first) and married to the love of her life, Gregory Rovan of ROGOV, she shares the intimate details of conceiving and their hysterical plan for a home-birth (rental tub et al.)! Plus, communicating with the baby, fertility, and sex (lots & lots of it). @moonjuice @amandachantalbacon

Yes, my concerns began when I tried to change a baby’s diaper last summer and couldn’t do it! The diaper was on backward, plus I had no flow with the baby as she was squirming and crying. I realized how out of practice I was and up until that moment I’d prided myself on being a working single mom with a baby that could change a diaper while driving and writing emails! Plus, being so far out of the weeds with a nearly eight-year-old I felt like my body was my own again. I’d become very attached to my selfish girly rituals, tight abs, eight hours of sleep, and my new mid-thirties skincare routine. All of which has slid away with pregnancy. But mainly, I was very scared about infertility as I deal with it every day at work in helping people find their way through herbs and adaptogens. Being over 35, I was naturally concerned but I like to think that if you’re healthy and vital, age is biological, not chronological. Based on my blood panels, I am younger, more vital and fertile than I was a few years ago. But, you never know until you start. Therefore I was very grateful when we got pregnant naturally after only a few months of trying. It felt like a small miracle.

Typically there’s a strong emphasis on the woman and her egg quality but sperm health has just as much to do with getting pregnant as egg health. Therefore I don’t understand why women generally go off and do this alone. Before “trying” to get pregnant, I took prenatal vitamins, plus both my husband and I got all of our blood panels done, went on antioxidants & supplements, started acupuncture, went to a healer to clear our energetic bodies, and drank Chinese herbal teas for a year leading up to conceiving. Plus, every morning we took my temperature to chart my levels, and of course, had tons of sex. It was super fun! While most people are prepping their “wedding bods,” leading up to their wedding day, I was prepping my “pregnancy bod!” We started actually “trying” to get pregnant on our wedding night and about 4-5 months later we got pregnant. For us, we were very connected in the prep and thus have been throughout the pregnancy as well.

This time around I am more equipped to be a wonderful mother. To begin, I’m in a safe and supported place with my husband which I didn’t have with my first pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Rohan, everything was different. I was different. I was in an unhealthy relationship, alone and disconnected from his father. In many ways, becoming a single mom forced me into womanhood. I look back on that, and even though I was in my twenties I was emotionally young and in some ways, it felt like a teen pregnancy compared to the way I feel now. It’s a joke but also not a joke.

During my first trimester I was so nauseous it was crippling, which was weird because I didn’t tell anybody that I was pregnant. I was so sick and unfriendly at work that it started to read as rude when I stopped making eye-contact with everyone. But, as far as what I was eating, I needed animal fats every day, ALLLLL day. I couldn’t get enough yogurt, plus I was eating about 3/4 of a stick of raw butter on the daily, with about five pieces of toast — basically, the bread was a vehicle to get the butter down!

Second trimester, was incredible. I felt great with tons of energy as though I was in a perma-eyes-wide-open meditation. Even when I meditated, I would lightly close my eyes and be way out there! That was super fun. Plus, my eating returned to normal, better than normal in fact. I wanted salads, green juice, and protein-rich foods, plus I had an aversion to sweets — which is so unlike me. I became the person that I always wanted to be; all the goals were happening, the boobs, the meditation, no sweet tooth, and patience. I was the dream version of myself.

And now, the third trimester, well, you know, it’s starting to get a little weird! After that second trimester, I thought it would be smooth sailing into my orgasmic birth…but no, shit is getting weird. I can’t stop eating, and the sweet tooth is back. I knew as much when my husband and I drove out to Ojai to go to a particular health food store that makes vegan, gluten-free buttermilk chocolate donuts with rainbow sprinkles! We could have saved the 4-hour drive and gotten a regular donut in LA, but no. I tried to tell myself that we were going to Ojai for the nature and hot springs, but really, it was that donut. I think my husband knew we were there for the donut when I got three and told him we could skip the hike. Perhaps this is the part where the cravings come in. Cute.