During pregnancy, not only can preparing your body for birth help your labor and birthing process come more with ease, but it allows you to slow down, take time to connect to yourself, and be grounded within your body as you go into your home birth experience.
While yes, you have everything already within you to birth your baby naturally and physiologically in your home. Becoming involved in the process, and preparing yourself can bring you more in tune with the overall birthing experience.
This can look like
- Nurturing yourself with nutritional foods and staying hydrated.
- Practicing yoga and hip openers to prepare your body. Which can help with overall alignment, aches and pains, and gain skills to take with you in labor.
- Staying active by taking walks
- Practicing labor positions and techniques to utilize as tools to take into your labor
- Spending time in nature Staying calm, grounded, and connected to all nature has to offer us.
In my last post (post) I went over 6 ways to mentally prepare mentally for a home birth and how important our mindset plays a role in the process of birth. If our mind is not at ease, our body can not fully be at ease… but I’m not going to go into that now.
I have a post right here if you are interested in reading more on preparing yourself mentally for birth.
In this post, I will be sharing with you 6 ways that you can prepare your body physically for birth. Highlighting the benefits they can have on your pregnancy and birth experience.
Nurturing yourself with nutritional foods and herbs
Becoming more mindful of the foods you are choosing to consume during your pregnancy and understanding the effects it has on your body, your health and growing baby can help pick more nutritious options when it comes to your food.
As our babies grow, they will be depending on your body and nourishment to feed them the nutrients they need. Sometimes this may leave you feeling depleted, and drained….and that’s where having a diet full of vegetables, fruits, and whole foods can help out!
During pregnancy, we have the opportunity to connect with our baby with the proactive decision to nourish ourselves with whole, organic foods. Nurturing ourselves with vitamins, minerals, nutrients, energy and also can improve our overall health.
As a busy mom of 3, and over the years becoming more conscious with the foods I am eating and what my family eats.
I have found ways to get fresh fruits and vegetables in, quick and easy!
Here are some food ideas that are quick and easy to make. They are easy to prepare and give you the flexibility to throw in all the nutrients and minerals you want in one meal!
Keep Dark Leafy Greens and vegetables on hand
Dark green vegetables such as swiss chards, collards, kale, broccoli, spinach, etc are packed with all kinds of nutrients like fibers, vitamin A, C, K, and E, Calcium, Iron, folates, antioxidants. Which helps with blood formation of healthy tissues, bone growth, and blood supply, helps your body absorb other minerals it needs, and overall greens in your diet have many benefits before, during and after pregnancy.
Greens can be added to a lot of different meals such as
- Breakfast scrambles
- Smoothies
- Soups
- Stir-fries
- Preparing a big pot of mixed greens like collard greens, turnips, and kale.
- Having a nice big salad regularly
And also by just substituting it wherever you can like on sandwiches and burgers.
Smoothies or fruit bowls
Fruit bowls and smoothies are great for the morning or mid-day snack if you get time in the day.
The thing I love about smoothies is they give you the option to throw all kinds of fruit and vegetables in them. This allows you to get many different nutrients on a daily or consistent basis and in raw form!
And it can be fun coming up with different blends and testing them out!
Fruits such as berries, mangos, bananas, oranges, apples, watermelon, grapes, and honestly fruits, in general, are filled with antioxidants, fibers, potassium, folates, and many different vitamins that aid you and your growing body and also support babies development.
For my smoothies, I like to get the frozen mixed berries, add in a handful of greens, chia seeds or flaxseeds, some naturally sweetened juice or coconut water, blend it all up and I’m good to go!
Fruit bowls are pretty simple and refreshing as well. You can pick out your favorite fruits, organic if you can, and some yogurt. Top it off with some granola, chia seeds, or flaxseeds, and a choice of nuts!
Flaxseeds and Chia seeds are great options to have in your kitchen. They can be added to way more things than just a smoothie and breakfast bowl and are packed with all kinds of nutrients such as protein, omega 3, fiber and so much more!
Nuts are also good to eat, great sources of protein, fats, folates, omega 3, and iron. So many ways they can be used in the foods you eat such as making sauces if you want to take it to that level, or as simple as trail mixes, over salads, smoothie bowls, in muffins, or even alone.
Soups
Not only are soups super convenient because they are one-pot meals and can easily be thrown in the crockpot!
But also, like the other foods I mentioned above, it’s a very flexible meal that allows you to get creative and throw all kinds of vegetables, legumes, grains, etc. AND soups can be frozen which makes them amazing for postpartum meal prepping!
Legumes such as lentils, chickpeas, black beans, black eye peas, are all great for adding fiber for better digestion, helping with iron levels and protein.
Here’s a soup I LOVE to make for my family.
Water
Staying hydrated helps support your body as your fluids increase, helps deliver nutrients to your baby, prevents constipation, UTIs, swelling in hands and feet.
Our bodies need and thrive off of water.
It can be helpful to keep a water bottle around you throughout the day, and before bed has it next to your bed, and where ever you go it goes. I do this now with my bubba, literally it’s routine to take it with me every time I step out the door and it helps me stay hydrated throughout the day.
Yoga
Practicing yoga during pregnancy has many benefits and skills you can use during birth. The deep breathing techniques, body movement that engaged you and your baby, the practice of sitting with yourself as you listen to all aspects of yourself mimic the complete energy needed for birth.
There will be moments in labor where the only thing that will get you through that next contraction is your inner voice, your breath, and the comfort of body movement.
Not only that but there are many benefits to doing yoga during pregnancy.
Yoga can prepare you for your home birth by…
- Helping you practice coping skills that you will need for labor by holding poses and tuning into your breath
- Encourages you to listen to your body
- Helps position baby, and help baby move in alignment for birth
- Can help with aches and pains such as back pain, shoulder pain, and hip pain
- Improves fluid circulation within the body
- Builds strength and stamina
- Builds a sense of confidence in your body
- Certain yoga poses can be used for active birth (When you are in labor)
- Gives you a time to connect with your baby on a deeper level in the womb which deepens that bond during birth
- Can boost energy, improve sleep and increase flexibility, and stretches ligaments
- Breath awareness, learning breathing techniques, focused breathing with movement
- Can be calming reducing stress and anxiety
Some yoga poses that can help relieve back pain, pelvis pain and help with getting your body ready for labor are :
Take walks
Taking walks can be a good way to keep yourself active during pregnancy and add more flexibility to your pelvis for your baby.
Finding a park near your house, a track, a trail, or even just walking around your neighborhood daily or a couple of days out the week can help open your pelvis, and can also be relaxing.
Walks seem to always clear my mind, and refresh me. This could be a good routine to get used to even for when your baby gets here. Walks on those days when you need a break can be everything and if you have to, your kids can come right along!
When I was pregnant with my daughter 3 years ago. I remember consistently walking trails and hiking with my family all the time. Not only was this a good way to keep me active. But it was so relaxing to be in nature which I will be going into soon here!
Walking can help your body prepare for birth by
- Improving endurance and stamina
- Keeps baby active, when you are active so is your baby
- Can help baby move down and align within the pelvis for birth
- Keeps your body healthy and reduces the risk of preeclampsia, diabetes, and back pain
Practicing labor positions and breathing techniques
There are so many different labor positions and movements to use during labor that can really help with moving the baby down, help the baby turn in a better position, can be comforting to you, speed up labor. And also serve as a way to focus your mind on a routine or ritual during contractions.
Not only that but home births gives you the flexibility to move around during labor however your body guides you to do so. It’s one of the most empowering parts about birthing freely in your home.
These positions can be movements like :
- Leaning over your support person, as you are facing them with your hands wrapped around their neck and relieving backpressure.
- On your hands and knees rocking from side to side
- Using a chair to sit backward on with your legs spread, or putting your foot up on a chair in a squatting position.
- Lunges, squatting, kneeling, Childs pose position etc.
- Using tools like a rebozo, birthing ball, tens unit, hot and cold packs
And many other poses and techniques that you can explore as you prepare for your home birth.
Practicing these poses before birth can help you become familiar with the poses and movements. So when you’re in labor you may want to refer to a position you remember practicing.
It also can be helpful to practice with your partner or whoever is going to be supporting you at your birth. Then they may can suggest different movements along with labor.
If you have a doula, birth and labor positions may be something that you can go over, practice, and learn more about with her as well.
I have a post that goes into 16 comfort measures for your home birth. To learn more about different ways to cope with labor, this goes into all of that for you!
Breathing Techniques
Practicing breathing techniques to take with you in your labor can help you have access to a tool that already flows within you. Your breath.
Becoming mindful of ways to breath through contractions can help with :
- Promotes a calm, relaxation within yourself
- Can reduce tension in the body
- Reduces stress
- Lowers heart rate and blood pressure
- Can help with balancing our hormones needed for the laboring process such as oxytocin. The more relaxed you are during birth, the more oxytocin will flow through your body causes uterine contractions and the other circuit of hormones that flow with labor.
Some breathing techniques that you can use are Deep breathing, light breathing and vocal breathing and you can learn more about these breaths in my post.
16 comfort measures for your home birth.
One breathing technique that I want to mention here is a breathing technique used in yoga called Sama Vritti. This breathing techniques is about breathing in and out equally to help with relaxation of the mind. To serve as a distraction, giving your mind something to focus and becoming one with your body.
For the Sama Vritti breath, you will be taking a deep breath in for 4 seconds, and exhaling out for 4 seconds.
I like this breathing technique because if really gives you some structure around your breathing and something to focus on with the counting that’s involved.
This breathing technique and many other breathing techniques can be used during pregnancy as you do your yoga, before bed, and in the morning. Setting a time to practice your breathing, become in tune with your breath can become a familiar tool not only for labor but through motherhood in general!
I know I have my moments were taking a few deep breaths is all I have in that moment while with my kids and it helps me reevaluate.
As you practice your breathing techniques, be patient and gentle with yourself. Find your pace of breath, your rhythm and you will begin to flow into your breathing.
Spending time in Nature
When I was pregnant and planning for my free birth. One of my favorite things to do was to go into nature. It provided this sense of calm, and a sense of peace.
As I was planning a free birth, I ran into many people’s doubts, and fears being pushed onto me. I learned quickly ways to keep myself at peace and guard my energy. One of those ways was going into nature very often.
I remember spending hours in nature with my family. On trails, at the beach, in the backyard on my yoga mat, and it really helped me feel grounded in my pregnancy, my decision, and my body.
Being in nature helped me to embody the energy I wanted for not only my pregnancy but for my birth and even now as I raise my kids.
Nature is so simple, it’s beautiful, and so tranquil. Listening to the birds, the water, the breeze from the trees. Fully getting to unplug and connect to earth can take you into a different space, a meditative space if you truly let go and just be.
And that space, that feeling, that grounded feeling is the same energy you want heading into your birth.
Take some time to sit outside. In the grass, under a tree, by a lake, go to the beach, place your feet in the earth. It feels amazing and so grounding!
Choosing to have a home birth can be so exciting but at the same time can bring up all kinds of emotions within us. Which is understandable. In our society, in todays age even as home birth becomes more normal… its still not normal. It takes us time ourselves sometimes to fully align with home birth. to Going into your birth you want to feel grounded, trusting your body and at peace with your decision.
You have so many options when it comes to nurturing your body, preparing your body, and becoming proactive in your birthing experience. Exploring this during pregnancy can really be empowering and set the tone for your home birth.
It is true, our bodies are meant to birth naturally but that doesn’t mean we cannot play an active role in supporting our bodies heading into our birth. Find what works for you, prepare your body and embrace your experience as you create and bring your child into the world.
Resources
https://avivaromm.com/herbs-easier-labor/
Until next time momma,
Stay tuned, in tune, and Forever evolving
Stephanie
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