For those who have been following Raise Them Well know that we are expecting our second child in just a few weeks. While #2 is very exciting it is also a little nerve wracking. Adler, our 3 year old boy, is the ultimate gift and I love him more than anything in this world, but he is a lot of work. I can only imagine how our lives are about to change.
I am extremely grateful for the responsibility God has given Emily and me to raise a family and bring them up in the ways of the Lord. Watching Emily go through pregnancy with such grace has only deepened my love for her. She is an amazing lady and I am lucky to have her.
As a husband it’s really difficult to watch your wife go through something difficult and realizing there really is nothing you can do about it. Pregnancy feels sort of like that. I watched her endure 13 weeks of morning sickness, suffer a miscarriage, recover for one month and then start the morning sickness again ( a blessing for sure, but also very difficult). All I could do was help more around the house and make the very bizarre food pick-up run whenever needed (I highly doubt I’ll be going through the drive through of KFC ever again).
Having said that, I try to apply my medical knowledge as much as I can to help her. We tried lots of different natural treatments for morning sickness including ginger, wrist bands, and essential oils but unfortunately none of them worked (I’m still a good doctor…right?). Anyway, we made it through the first trimester and then our attention turned more toward preparing our family. Of course during this time Emily was really starting to show and her baby bump became more pronounced and her tummy itched like crazy. One of the biggest concerns of any pregnant woman is “how is my body going to respond to this pregnancy and how am I going to bounce back?”. Probably, at the top of the list of body’s changes is: “Am I going to have stretch marks?” Now, this is something, I can help with.
When working with Emily to develop our Raise Them Well Baby Belly Balm, there was ONE particular ingredient that I thought was necessary and interestingly not found in any other belly balm and that is Magnesium Oil.
Magnesium Oil is so important for pregnancy balm because it is the most important mineral to support normal, healthy tissue stretching. Think of magnesium as the relaxation mineral. It helps relax the nervous system, the digestive system, and the musculoskeletal system. Imagine your abdominal wall and skin as a sheet of plastic (without magnesium), it will bend a little but once you start to stretch it, it will begin to crack and break. This is what happens when stretch marks develop. Once you add in magnesium, the hard plastic instead turns more into a rubber sheet, like a balloon. That way it is able to bend and stretch and most importantly expand. Many women have trouble with the terrible itching that comes along with stretching skin and again- when we make the skin more pliable, the itching is also relieved.
If one uses a Magnesium based belly balm through pregnancy the chance of stretch marks developing is greatly diminished. That is why it is the first ingredient in our baby belly balm. Emily has been using it through her pregnancy and her skin looks great. Evidence below 
If you choose a cheap stretch mark cream or cocoa butter, basically all you are getting is a good moisturizer. While moisture is important (and we use nourishing ingredients as the base of our balm, including jojoba oil, aloe vera, and coconut oil), you need more than that. Do not just rub some coconut oil on your belly and expect stretch marks to not happen. You need something that changes the skin, soft tissues, and muscles and allows them to stretch. This stuff works. Give it a shot and let us know your thoughts! Oh and I should also mention, if you’re recovering from pregnancy and do have stretch marks or any issues from stretched skin the magnesium is also great for healing dry, cracked, and discolored skin!