how to make natural labor easier
TRANSCRIPT
When it comes to giving birth, my six experiences have run the gamut. I’ve
had a fully medicated hospital birth, an Emergency C-section, a breech VBAc
home birth, and nearly everything else in between.
My last birth, however, was perhaps the most significantly different. IT was much faster and simpler to deliver my youngest child. Looking back, these are
some factors that made my natural labor much, much easier.
Magnesium
• I’ve written before about how much I love magnesium and how we use it at our house, but I really noticed the difference during my last pregnancy!
• I used several methods of magnesium supplementation, but most often, magnesium body butter (here’s the recipe) and magnesium oil (how to make magnesium oil). These are applied topically so the body only absorbs what it needs.
• Magnesium was really the only dietary/supplement change I made during my last pregnancy and I noticed these things during pregnancy:- No leg cramps (really bad cramps in the past)- I slept great and never had the insomnia I’d had before- No morning sickness- I had minor queasiness a few
times but none of the vomiting or nausea I’d had in past pregnancies
• I also think that magnesium was part of the reason that my labor was so much easier this time. Magnesium is needed for proper hormone function and muscle health and I really think that for me, optimizing these factors with Magnesium made a big difference.
Exercise/Squats
• This pregnancy, I stopped doing kegels and started focusing on pelvic alignment and squatting. If you haven’t already, check out the post, “You Don’t Know Squat” (and Part II).
• I especially found this useful when I had to push in a hands and knees/modified squat position.
• I think another factor is that I used a Squatty Potty (I reviewed it here) which made elimination easier while pregnant and which also was the reason for dilating 4 centimeters in one contraction.
Chiropractic Care
• I’d had some Chiropractic adjustment during all of my pregnancies but it was sporadic and I often didn’t make it a priority at the end when the crazy nesting kicked in.
• This time, I was at the Chiropractor twice a week without fail for the last 8 weeks of pregnancy. My chiropractor focused on pelvic alignment and the webster technique, which has a good track record of getting breech babies to flip (my last one was breech).
• I’m convinced that my little one just wanted to hit the ground running (which she did and hasn’t stopped since) but she was delivered breech. Even though the chiropractic didn’t get her to flip, I think it did help make labor easier.
Healthy Fats
• Fats are needed for proper hormone production and the body needs certain kinds of fats to make hormones correctly.
• Specifically, the body needs more saturated fats and absolutely no artificial fats like vegetable oils and margarine.
• This pregnancy, I made it an absolute priority to consume a lot of saturated fats from sources like coconut oil, butter, tallow, animal products, etc and avoid completely all sources of vegetable oils.
• I also consumed plenty of Omega-3s from wild caught fish, fermented cod liver oil and chia seeds.
Being at Home
• I know this won’t be a popular opinion with everyone, but I really do think that being at home during my labor made a big difference for me.
• Obviously it isn’t always the best option and even for me, a c-section save my son’s life (and mine).
• For my specific birth in my specific case, it was the right decision and I also think it shortened my labor a lot since I was in a completely comfortable and safe environment and was able to really relax.
• Even if you plan to birth in a hospital or birthing center, it can be very helpful to labor at home as long as possible (under the direction of your doctor or midwife).
If you want more tips for natural pregnancy and labor, Click here.
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