The following is a brief summary of some of the things I learned in our first natural child birth class this Friday. I know not all of you that read my blog are interested in pregnancy, but I'm posting for my benefit at least. I do want to point out that some of this information is just from my memory and I may not remember it entirely correctly.
Nutrition
As described on this website: Blue Ribbon Baby, a lot of common pregnancy problems like toxemia, pre-eclampsia, premature labor, and low birth weight can be solved by following a healthy diet during pregnancy. Dr. Brewer has a very high success rate of like 99% of previous high-risk women not having any of their previous high-risk problems by following his diet. The diet can also help with excess weight gain, swelling, and energy.
This is a simplified summary of the diet:
70g protein - a lot of women think they are getting more protein than they really are. 70g of protein is roughly 1 pound of meat a day. Of course, it's healthier to get it from a wide variety of other sources like milk, eggs, legumes, nuts and bread. My teacher recommends you keep track of how much you actually eat for a week and make sure you are getting enough because this is very important.
Real Salt to taste - As I've talked about in another post, regular salt isn't good for you but Real Salt or another natural salt will really help, especially with energy levels, swelling, and hypertension. Your body needs it to cope with the huge increase in blood in your body.
Lots of water - drink to thirst and drink lots and lots.
Our teacher also says NO:
Splenda, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup
Stages
1st - In the first stage of labor contractions are irregular and not as intense. They last like 30 seconds and can have 20 minutes or so inbetween them. The important part in this stage is to remember that the contractions are relatively short and in the time inbetween contractions you feel pretty much normal and it's a good time to rest, sleep, eat, etc. so you have energy for later.
2nd - You should follow the 4-1-1 rule for first time moms and the 5-1-1 rule for subsequent pregnancies. That's contractions 4 minutes apart lasting at least a minute each for at least an hour. The reason for this is that if you go to the hospital before this point, there's a good chance that the fight or flight adrenaline response will kick in when you get to the hospital and everything will shut down as a natural reaction and you will end up getting sent home and it may take days before you end up going back.
Transition - This is when most women request an epidural. The contractions get a lot more intense with a lot less time inbetween. This stage doesn't usually last more than two hours and usually no more than 20 contractions. Then it is typical for contractions for stop for a while. This is because your uterus switches from side-ways pushing to up and down pushing. After this stage you are ready for pushing.
Pushing - One of the good things about having the baby naturally is that you feel the urge to push. The pushing works best when you follow your natural urge to bear down and relax when the urge subsides.
Recovery - With a natural birth recovery is much faster and you may feel like going home within a few hours. If you have an epidural, it takes up to two weeks before you get over it.
Position
There are things you can do to help get your baby in the ideal position for labor. This can help prevent a lot of problems, like breech (bottom first) and posterior babies (the back of their head against your spine during labor and can be very painful and take a lot longer). For more information, go to: Spinning Babies
Relaxtion
We started learning some relaxation techniques that can really help before and during labor. It is possible to get in such a state of relaxation during labor that you don't really feel the pain and make the labor go a lot faster and smoother.
I'll try to post each week any new information I get. I am also reading a great book called "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" and it is very interesting so I'll try to get a summary of that on here too.
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1 comments:
I've read a few pieces of Ina May's book, and I think she's right on. I agree, natural is the way to go for a normal pregnancy. Studies show that the less unnecessary interventions you have, the less need you'll have for subsequent interventions. Having done it both ways, it was like night and day comparing the recovery for each. You'll be glad you're doing it this way. :) Best of luck with the last couple of months!
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