Then we go through labor, and that was rough and a whole different story. Now we are ready to enjoy bonding by breastfeeding are newborn! But its not a walk in the park like we’ve been told. Now, even in the early days of breastfeeding the nurses, friends, and even husbands are seeing you struggle and saying “Lets try a bottle”, “maybe try the breast pump?”, “formula is not that bad”, “Maybe its not enough milk?”. 

Let me encourage you through the pain and confusion. I want to come along side you and help you through the first days and weeks to establish a healthy breastfeeding journey and rhythm by correcting a few misconceptions, and helping you with common breastfeeding issues.  

• Breastfeeding Timeline ~ A Year of Breastfeeding
• “Breastfeeding is Easy” ~ Breastfeeding Gets Easier
• “Breastfeeding Happens Naturally” ~ What ever you do will become natural to you.
• “I Have Low Milk Supply” ~ Your milk supply is regulating
• “My Baby has a bad latch” ~ How to help your baby with a good latch
• Mastitis and Pain Relief

Breastfeeding Timeline ~ A Year of Breastfeeding

This is not at all a perfect schedule or exactly what the first year of breastfeeding will look like. This timeline is just an example of how things can change over time. 

Day 1-3

In the first days of breastfeeding your milk is called colostrum. It is high in protein and antibodies to build up your new baby’s immune system. Your breast will seem a little bigger as you start to nurse and latching can be difficult during this time. It is normal for your baby to loose weight. Stay strong, I’ll cover more of the difficulties and how to get though them later on, so keep reading. 

Days 2-6 

Somewhere between 2-6 days Your ‘milk’ will ‘come in’. Oh My Goodness. This is so strange! Your breast, literally over night have tripled in size. Breast engorgement is when your are so full of milk your breasts are hard and are continually leaking out milk. You feel a since of urgency to get your baby to get a good latch and eat up! If you have had trouble latching, that issue may (may not) at this time get resolved. This time nipple pain is common, even with a good latch. Don’t loose heart! Your milk supply will regulate soon and the pain will go away. 

Days 6–14

Your milk will start regulate and will change to a Transitional Milk. The milks protein levels drop while fat, lactose, and calories rise to fuel growth. If you keep a schedule during the day and nurse on demand at night your milk supply will regulate faster. 

1–3 months 

You milk will produce more lactose for rapid brain growth. Your body will start to regulate your milk production and you will leak less often and feel less full. This is normal, it does not mean you have low milk supply. 

3–6 months 

Your milk will increased in fat for a more active baby. You baby will be awake for longer and also sleep longer, making nursing ever 3-4 hours more doable. The fat will also make them more full for longer. This does not meal you have low milk supply, its regulating. 

6–12 months 

You milk will rise again with more immunity factors as your baby is introduced to new solid foods as well as everything else they put in their mouths. Along with the introduction of solid foods your milk production will continue to regulate as you may be skipping a breastfeeding session here and there because of new eating routines. 

12+ months 

Your milk becomes even richer in antibodies for continued protection as they get older and experience many new things. At this point you might only be nursing once or twice a day (me), where as others (my sister) my still be nursing 4-6 times a day. There’s no right or wrong. 

“Breastfeeding is Easy” ~ Breastfeeding gets Easier. 

At first breastfeeding can be a challenge. The first days and weeks of breastfeeding is full of discomforts, changes and challenges and for new mothers this can be discouraging and a toll on your mental health. You’ve probably been told breastfeeding is easy and then when you have a hard time your are told that is normal. Now, your confused. Will breastfeeding always be hard? 

It is a common misunderstanding to believe that the way you experience breastfeeding in the beginning will be how it always is. This is good news. Instead of worrying the first week of how you are going to be able to do this for a whole year take one day at a time. Each day you will learning different things, gain confidence and see results soon enough. 

“Breastfeeding Happens Naturally” ~ What ever you do will become natural to you.

Breastfeeding is the most natural way to feed your new baby but that doesn’t mean it comes naturally for everyone. Educating yourself, preparing yourself mentally, getting guidance from support groups and lactation experts are all ways you can prepare so that breastfeeding feels more natural. If you expect to just be able to nurse because its natural you may be surprised. Difficulties do arise and when they do you don’t want to feel like a bad mother because you are having trouble but that’s often what happens. We have the sense of loss when things don’t go the way we assumed they would. Don’t assume you will just figure it out. Gain the help you need and strive to figure it out. 

As you learn to breastfeed you will create and adapt to your own rhythm. Your baby will also adapt to whatever you do while you learn how to help your new baby breastfeed. For example, if in the first few weeks you start pumping and feed with a bottle at night and nursing during the day, by week 3 that will feel natural to you. By 3 month you wont be able to think of another way to do things. If you hold your baby in a certain position that is what you will both get used to that position. If you co-sleep and nurse at night, that is what you will both get used to. It doesn’t matter how you do it, find what works for you and make that your natural way of breastfeeding. 

“I Have Low Milk Supply” ~ Your milk supply is regulating

When you milk first comes often we often have a high volume of milk and suffer from engorgement. We wake up in the middle of the night feeling the sensation of milk filling up breast and the baby is of course sleeping. You may be soaking through nursing pads every couple hours due to leaking and your thinking this is how it should be and will be for the next year of breastfeeding. 

Your milk will soon regulate. Your body produces milk based off of demand. If you nurse you baby on a schedule your body will regulate a lot faster. You will feel full and ready at the same times everyday. Whether or not your baby is crying, hungry or even sleeping you nurse them at those sometimes. Often baby’s on a schedule during the day will sleep longer at night. Especially if you schedule the day and nurse on demand at night, you will find they can sleep 8 hours by 8 weeks old. 

If you breastfeed on demand you will notice times when you are full and baby is not hungry and you will notice times when your baby is hungry but you aren’t feeling a full sensation. Even if you don’t feel a full sensation you can still nurse them. You still have milk. Once they start sucking your body get the hint and will start to produce enough breast milk.

As time goes on you will stop feeling ‘full’ of milk. Often when this happens people assume they have low milk supply. This is not low milk supply it is an appropriate milk supply. 

You may also stop experiencing let down, you may stop leaking, your baby may even nurse less frequently or more frequently. Non of these are true signs of low milk supply issues.

If you think you have low milk supply but are not sure read Milkology’s article on “Sign of low milk supply (and 12 fakeouts)” Shes does a great job of helping you understand this common misunderstanding. 

Here are 3 ways you can tell if you truly have a milk supply issue. 

Weight Lose

If your baby is loosing weight. In the beginning it is normal for your baby to loose some weight and gain it back again. After those first 2-3 weeks they should be back to their birth weight and only be gaining weight from here on out. There may be times when they stay the same weight but aren’t actually loosing weight.

My son at 5 month old suddenly lost 5 lbs, from 16lbs to 11lbs! (He was 9 lbs when he was born). This was extremely concerning at that time I found out I was also pregnant with our second! Surprise! I still had plenty of milk and from let down alone I still getting 4 oz in the mornings. The problem for me was the richness of fats in my milk. I still breastfed my oldest till the day my second baby was born but had to supplement with formula and solid foods earlier then I expected to. It took him a while but he gained back his weight and is now a very healthy, smart, active 7 year old. 

Dry Diapers

If you baby is not peeing or pooping regularly. Especially in the early days you may be told to track your baby’s wet and messy diapers. 

Dehydration

If you baby shows signs of dehydration. Those signs include, dry mouth, tear-less crying, dark sunken eyes and/or dark urine. 

“My Baby has a bad latch” ~ How to help your baby with a good latch

In the first days of breastfeeding getting a good latch is important. Some of the first advice I got while breastfeeding was “Never let them nurse on a bad latch”. Letting your new baby breastfeed on a bad latch will train them to latch incorrectly. When your baby has a bad latch it can cause sore nipples, cracked nipples, low milk supply and plugged milk ducts. With a poor latch you baby will not be getting a good milk flow. To insure you new baby is getting plenty of milk you will need a good latch. 

What does a good deep latch vs a bad shallow latch look like?

A shallow latch is when your baby is latched on the nipple with little to no breast tissue in the baby’s mouth. With a deep latch the whole nipple and part or all of the areola will be in the baby’s mouth. Your baby’s chin should be pressed up against you breast. Don’t be afraid if the nose is also pressed up a little, they can still breath. 

A deep latch should be comfortable and painless. Although even with a good latch there may be some other discomforts due to engorgement, soreness, inflammation of the breast or another underlying problem. If you are experiencing pain check to make sure your latch is deep before assuming its a bigger problem. 

Here are a tips and tricks to getting a good latch

• Feeding Position. When breastfeeding, the position you hold your baby matters. The are many different feeding positions but no matter if you are sitting up or in a side-lying position you want to hold you baby’s belly/chest against your belly/chest so that the baby’s head is straight when latched. If the baby’s head has to turn to latch they will be uncomfortable a pull.
• A deep latch. If your baby has a shallow latch it will cause sore nipple pain, bad milk flow and you could get a plugged milk duct. To get a deep latch bring you baby to your breast. Guide their chin/bottom lip to your breast first. To open the baby’s mouth you can place your finger on the baby’s chin and bring it down. Bring you nipple to their upper lip/nose. Have your baby open and reach upwards to latch. This will insure a wide mouth for a deep latch. 

Mastitis and Pain Relief

In the early weeks of breastfeeding there can be many factors to why breastfeeding is painful. Mastitis is by far the worst breastfeeding experience I have ever had. And I had if twice with my fifth baby. Thankfully it never led to an fever and infection and I never had to take antibiotics for it. If you know the sign you can catch mastitis before it turns into something really bad. Here I will help you understand engorgement and mastitis so you can avoid a breast infection. 

Engorgement

This, I would say is the most common reason for pain in the early weeks of breastfeeding. The best way to relieve engorgement is to nurse. As painful as it is, it is the best way. Use a warm compress and hand express a little before you nurse, this can make a big difference. If its too painful to nurse you can use an electric breast pump but I do not recommend pumping for engorgement. Pumping will relieve the pain but it will also encourage more milk production but the problem with engorgement is too much milk. Instead of pumping, hand express just enough milk to relieve the pain. The best way I have found is to take a shower and massage the breast with olive/coconut oil. Gently massaging from the armpit to the nipple with your hand in a C shape. A few centimeters always from the nipple gently squeeze to express milk. By hand expressing you will release pressure without cueing for more milk production. 

Mastitis

Mastitis is an inflammation of the breast. This can often be caused by plugged milk duct after being engorged for too with no relief. Mastitis can also be caused by poor blood and lymphatic circulation. To avoid mastitis be sure to avoid engorgement for long periods of time such as overnight. Ware loose clothing, no tight bras. To keep your blood and lymphatic circulation do arm circles and arm stretches everyday. Mastitis, along with breast pain, can cause flu-like symptoms like aches all throughout your body, chills, hot flashes, sore lymph nodes in arm pit and neck, I personally also expired a lot of pain in my feet.

To relieve pain due to mastitis you want to bring inflammation down. Use a warm compress before you nurse and cold compress after you nurse. The warm will help milk flow and the cold will bring down inflammation and slow down milk production. Use a cold compress on your breast and arm pits and anywhere else that aches. You can switch back and forth with heat and ice if that feels good but always end with ice to bring down the inflammation of the breast. Continue to nurse. Don’t stop breastfeeding if you thing you are sick. Often breastfeeding will make things better and to stop might make things worse. 

Breast infection

Mastitis and a breast infection often go hand in hand. If you have a breast infection you have mastitis but not always do you have an breast infection when you have mastitis. If you have mastitis symptoms check your temperature every couple of hours. A fever is a sign of infection. If you have flu-like symptoms with no fever then its more likely to be swollen lymph nodes or a plugged milk duct then an infection. Yet both of these can lead to infection. Either way its best to contact or Doctor, OBGYN or midwife as antibiotics may be need. For pain relief, you can start with the cold and warm compresses but for more idea and help read “24 all natural remedies to cure Mastitis” by Motherhood Sprouting.

Breastfeeding Encouragement from others

Encouraging others to embracing their breastfeeding journey no matter what hardships come along with it is community is all about. We are so blessed to have online communities this days and I encourage you to ask questions or share your most helpful breastfeeding tip in the comments for others to read. I can’t tell you home many times the comments to a post or video has answered my questions better then the actual post or video.

The post Why is breastfeeding so hard? Common Challenges Made Easy appeared first on Embracing The Home.

We never had to go through the endless sleepless nights of crying children and sleep deprivation. Or feeling exhausted after 6+ month of interrupted sleep. No waking up to crying, waking up to feed, no waking up the husband saying “its your turn” for months on end. Seems too good to be true, right? 

If you think this is unrealistic, I promise you its not. But I will tell you this, its not for everyone. My sister, for example, when I told her my schedule she was stress out by it. This method gave me peace but gave her stress. If a method of sleep training stresses you out, its not worth it. Find something that works for you. All the different methods of sleep training has some aspect of stress but some are harder for some vs others. The idea is to choose the hard that works best for you.

This may not be for you…

First, a disclaimer: This method of sleep training may not work if you baby is under 7 lbs. All my babies have been close to or over 8 lbs. Being over 8 lbs makes a big difference. Once the baby is 8 lbs they can handle an 8 hours night between feeding. Baby’s who are less then 8 lbs typically wake up more often. Most of the internet specialist say a baby must be woken for night feeds every 5 hours if they are under 12 lbs or under 6 months old. I personally, from experience, and advice from my midwifes and seasoned mothers, do not agree with the internet specialists. If the baby sleeps 8 hours on their own, they are ready.

Newborn Schedule, Starting Day 1

Congratulations new parents! You had your baby! Your goal today is to nurse. Newborn babies want to sleep a lot in the first 24 hours and that is good, let the baby get restful sleep. But to train your baby to sleep at night and eat during the day try to nurse every 2 hours. Sometimes it will be a success and sometimes it wont. That okay.

Day 1 is all about starting your rhythm. Every 2 hours try to nurse for a few minutes. If in about15 minutes you can’t get them to wake up enough to latch don’t worry. Let them sleep for another 2 hours and try again. If they wake up hungry but its hasn’t been 2 hours, feed them. Don’t worry about “the schedule” at this point. Find your rhythm.

If they have gone 4-5 hours without nursing then you may want to try a little harder. But don’t get worried. My 5th baby (who was 8 lbs 13 oz at birth) loved to sleep. I nursed about 20 minutes after he was born and he latch well. After that, it was about 8 hours later till he latched again and I was trying every hour for a while. 

If you are worried and are at the point of needing them to eat and are tempted to try a bottle, even thought you really want to nurse, I advise you to try this first. Hand express some colostrum onto a baby spoon or use a dropper and place it in their lips. Let them lick their lips and get a taste. Then keep trying to nurse.

Pro Tip: Nurse right away. Like, before the placenta is out, try to nurse. Baby comes out, cord is still attracted, baby goes to mama’s chest to regulate body temperature and nurse. Nurse as soon as possible

The First 4 Weeks of Sleep Training Your Baby

Successful sleep training begins with how you nurse during the day. Your milk will come in between 2-3 days after birth. The milk that you have been feeding the baby the first 3 days is called colostrum. Colostrum is full of great nutrients that help prepare your baby for life. When you start producing milk you will feel it. Your boobs will get massive. It can be painful for a bit but soon everything will regulate. It will regulate faster if you keep a nursing schedule.

Start your day at the same time everyday. It may be against everything you thought in the beginning but I highly recommend stetting an alarm clock for the morning. I start my baby’s day at 8:00am. We nurse at that same time everyday. Then we follow the clock nursing every two hours. I know, “Don’t wake a sleeping baby”, in my house, this applies only at night. During the day, wake them up, every two hours. 

I also keep a consistent bedtime routine and time, for us is 10:00pm (for the first 4ish week). So throughout the day I’ve nursed 8 times. Now that 10:00pm has hit I don’t wake up my baby. Let the baby sleep as long as they want. When they wake up, feed them. You will notice that they will keep their own sleep schedule during the night waking up at similar times. Your newborn will create their own regular sleep cycles, we are parents to get guide them for best sleep success for all.

Nursing the Baby to Sleep

Contrary to some other sleep training methods I almost never nurse my babies to sleep. If they fall asleep while nursing that’s okay. But I do not nurse my babies to get them to sleep and here is why. Food fuels us. It gives us energy. So most of the time your baby will want to be awake after they have been fed. They may sleep for a few minutes then wake up happy and alert.

If you baby is always sleepy during or after nursing that is also normal. It takes energy to digest and sometimes it can make them sleepy to digest all their food. But what I’m trying to say is, to create good sleep habits don’t fall into a pattern of your baby depending on nursing in order to fall asleep. Or you will be waking up in the middle of the night, when they are not hungry but need to nurse in order to fall asleep again.

Nurse, Play, Sleep, Repeat

During the day, to sleep train your baby, follow patterns to create habits that will benefit you at night. Nurse, Play, Sleep, Repeat.

Even when they are just a few days old you can create this habit with them. Nurse, burp, do a few simple arm and leg stretches, give lots of kisses, change diaper. At first, this maybe takes 5-10 minutes then your baby is ready to sleep again. As the baby gets older their awake time gets longer.

Changing the Schedule

Once your baby is staying awake for about 1 hour or longer you are ready to start nursing every 3 hours. This will allow your baby to still get a good 2 hour long nap between feeding. This always happens for me earlier then I expect. Around 4-6 weeks has been normal for my kids. 

Now my daily schedule has changed but my start of the day and end of the day has not. I still wake up my baby around 8am and end the day around 10pm. My nursing schedule ends up being 8:00, 11:00, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 and then sometime between 9-10pm I nurse again and put down for the night. 

Around 3-4 months old this schedule changes again as your baby starts staying awake for long periods of time. When your baby is staying awake consistently 2 hour in-between naps you will want to give the opportunity for 2 hour naps. That’s when I start nursing every 4 hours. 8am, 12pm, 4, 8 and 9-10 bedtime.

I typically don’t change my schedule after that until I’m introducing solids foods between 6-9 months of age. When they start taking 2 naps regularly the schedule can become flexible according to the baby and your needs that day.

Nursing at Night

During the day for the first month its important to wake you baby up every 2 hours to nurse. This is going to train your baby them when its day versus night and keep them well fed. With this schedule at night they will easily sleep 3-5 hours during the night. 

Nurse your baby and put them to bed around 10:00pm, do not wake them up. Wait until they wake up to feed them. You will find they will create their own nighttime sleep schedule. A typical schedule that my kids have had has been approximately 2am, 5am then 7am. Even if they wake up 7am, I wake them up and feed them again at 8:00am to start our day. 

Sleep Transitions 

Eventually your newborn baby will start to longer periods of sleep during the night. So instead of waking up at 2am they may wake up closer to 3 or 4, then again at 6:00, and then start the day at 8:00am. This takes out one of the night feedings. 

If your baby does this 2 or 3 nights in a row, or multiple times during the week, you know its a good time to change the baby’s sleep schedule. Now they they are down to 2 feeding during the night, 3am and 6am and we start our day at 8am. If your baby wakes before 3am, I give them a pacifier till it is closer to the new normal nursing time. 

During these transition times you might have a few long nights here and there or really early mornings, but believe me when I say it doesn’t last long. Take your cues from your baby. When they want to sleep 5-6 hours straight help them by not nursing them during that time. Give them the pacifier to help them go back to sleep, if they wake up out of habit. 

Follow the baby’s lead, then reinforce the longer stretches of sleep patterns they have proven to you. With this sleep training structure I have had all 5 of my kids sleep 8 hours by 8 weeks old! Ending my day at 10pm and going until 6:00am, then waking them up at 8:00 to start our day. By 12 weeks most of my kids have been sleeping 10 hours. No more nursing at night. We go to bed at between 9-10pm and wake up at 8am.

Should I let my baby cry themself to sleep?

Letting you baby cry themselves to sleep is definitely controversial. In our family we have let our kids cry or fuss themselves to sleep. But I do believe you can sleep train your babies with a gentle sleep training methods that does not include the shedding of many tears. 

There are lots of internet exports on this subject if you want to learn more about why you should or why you shouldn’t let your baby’s cry when sleep training. Here I will briefly go over some of the boundaries I give me and my baby’s when it comes to them ‘crying it out’.

I don’t leave them to scream themselves to sleep. There is a difference between screaming, crying and fussing. You will know the difference.

How I let my baby ‘cry it out’

I would let me newborn baby’s fuss or tired cry themselves to sleep for at least one of their naps during the day so that they would get used to falling asleep without any assistance. Not every nap and I was never strict about it but saw it more of a practice. I want my baby to know how to fall back asleep on their own in when the abnormally wake in the middle of the night. Yes, I would do this as early on as 1 month old. Also, again I practiced this when I was well rested and when it was day. It was okay if they didn’t fall asleep right away. 

In the middle of the night, I don’t want them to cry so much they wake themselves up more. I will attend to them pretty quickly. If its a feeding time I will nurse. If not, I will not nurse them to sleep but I will hold a pacifier in their mouth till they fall asleep. When needed, I will hold and rock them to sleep. As they get older and If they wake up abnormally in the the middle of the night, I check the clock and time how long it takes them to fall back asleep. I typically don’t let it go longer then 5 minutes sometimes 10, before attending them. If their cry changes from tired and turns to a desperate cry or scream I attend them right away.

4+ Month Sleep Regression 

As your baby gets older you may find the start waking up again in the middle of the night. We call this a sleep regression. If your baby is used to sleeping 8+ hours and now they are waking up multiple times in the night it is time to train them again. This might happen because they are going through a growth spurts and hungry or because they are teething or when they start rolling over and finding themselves not being able to get comfortable again. 

If they are not teething try nursing them more during the day, or maybe its time for some solid food, especially in the evening before they go to bed so they will be full longer. If they are teething try Hyland’s Teething Tablets. They have work great for all my kids and are a trust worthy, natural ingredient brand. 

When your baby goes through a sleep regression you have the choice. 1, quickly get them back to sleep by nursing and therefore creating a habit of waking up every couple hours for a few minutes for possibly a year nursing, Or 2, take a few rough night, maybe a week long, if teething plays a part maybe longer by letting them find other ways to get comfortable. 

My 5th baby is 9 month old and still sleeping in our room. My husband get up at 4am every morning for work and so does the baby. He is also teething right now so my routine is to give him 4 teething tablets, make him comfortable if he has rolled/moved around back on him and run my fingers through his hair for 30-60 seconds. I do count. He typically falls asleep with in 30 seconds but sometimes not. When he does fall back a sleep right away I lay back down for 10 minutes while he cries. Sometime he fall back and sometimes he doesn’t. After 10 minutes I do the same process, reminding him its time to sleep. 4 teething tablets, and comfort for up to 1 minute, then another 10 minutes of him working it out on his own again. The first couple nights of trying this process can be rough, and has sometimes taken up to an hour of calming down and crying again til my son has fallen asleep. But his is not every night.

Try before your pick them up

When sleep training your baby here are a few good ideas to try before picking them up for successful sleep training.  

• give a pacifier 
• rub/pat their back/head/stomach
• turn them over (stomach or back, what ever gives you peace)
• white noise 
• teething tablets 
• diaper change
• rock the crib if possible 
• lavender essential oils

Mistakes I see other Moms make When Sleep Training

I have heard from so many other moms how well their baby is sleeping through the night. They say things like “this last week they didn’t wake up to 3 or 4am, but last night they woke up a 1am to nurse”. If they are starting a habit of sleeping long nights and then randomly wake up or regress, don’t nurse them. Help them self sooth, give them a pacifier but do not nurse just to get them to go back to sleep. 

Another mistake I see mom make is creating the bedtime too early. I talk to a mom who’s baby was a month older than mine saying she was still waking up every 2 hours to nurse. When I asked her what time she put her to bed she said 7pm. Then the mom would go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 1, 3 and 5am to nurse. Her baby was sleeping from 7pm to 1am. That is a wonderful 6 hour stretch but the mom was unable to take advantage of it because it was too early in the evening. 

Nursing before every nap is another mistake. If during the day you nurse before every nap you baby will not know how to go back to sleep without nursing. Teach them during the day to fall asleep with out nursing. Rock them in a rocking chair. Give them a pacifier. Wrap them in a wrap and walk around with them but do not nurse to go to sleep. Nurse to give them energy. 

The last mistake I see mom make when sleep training their baby is letting them take long naps during the day. Don’t be afraid to wake them up during the day if they are sleeping longer than 3 or 4 hours. We want those stretches to be at night so you can also sleep 3-4 hours straight.

Sweet dreams!

I hope what worked for me works for you when sleep training your baby. I have been blessed by my children and their healthy sleep habits and I hope this knowledge is helpful to you. 

Like I said in the beginning, this baby sleep training schedule may not be for everyone and that is okay. My goal was to have good sleepers so I structured my days to making that possible. Waking up at night to nurse may not bother you, some moms have even expressed to me that they like waking up at night to nurse. If that is for you than sweet dreams! Enjoy your baby, do what works for you and your family. So ask yourself what is the goal of sleep training for you and have peace with the decisions you make and sleep well at night without anxiety over if you are doing it ‘correct’ or not. 

Sweet dreams!

The post How to Sleep Train – The Newborn Sleep Schedule appeared first on Embracing The Home.

The most common comment I hear when pregnant, when it comes to food, is “You’re eating for two now, you need more calories!” Most of the time implying that you can eat whatever food/sweets you want. With all the pregnancy cravings and mood swings its tempting to use that logic when you want to eat another bowl of ice cream or just snack on a full bag of chocolate chips, or a bag of potato chips or whatever your unhealthy snack foods are. But this way of thinking and eating is so dangerous. High blood pressure, premature labor, gestational diabetes, morning sickness, unneeded weight gain and other high-risk pregnancy issues can mostly be avoided with a healthy diet. I am not saying if you eat healthy there will be no complication or that eating healthy will fix every problem but the healthier you eat the lower chance you have at a high-risk pregnancy. 

Good nutrition is one of the most important building blocks for a healthy lifestyle, pregnant or not. Healthy eating gives your body the nutrition its needs to function properly. When you are pregnant your body’s needs become more than normal, extra calories, more protein intake, more vitamins and minerals, extra water. And you can’t get these needed extra nutritious calories by eating just pickles and ice cream all day. You need to learn how much a mother’s nutritional needs are and feed yourself accordingly. 

To learn more about what is needed for a complete pregnancy diet we can look at the Dr Tom Brewers pregnancy diet.

What is the Brewers Diet?

The Brewers Pregnancy Diet was created by Dr Tom Brewer who was a obstetrician and studied nutrition for over 50 years. He helped his patients achieve low risk, healthy pregnancies, uncomplicated natural labors through a focus on diet.

The diet is not supper strict diet when it comes to what you cannot eat but more about getting the right amount of nutrition into your diet. Most diets fads we see are about cutting out foods. Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Fat Free, Low Carb, Vegetarian, Vegan… those are all about cutting foods out of our diet. The brewers diet for pregnant women is different in that it tell you how much of each food group you should eat to get the right nutrition each day for you and your unborn baby.

This diet provides what you need for the unique needs for a pregnant woman. The brewers diet guides you through 12 different food groups containing the mother’s nutritional needs as well as the needs for your unborn baby. As you eat throughout your day there is a list you can check off if your meal hit any of the foods groups that is recommended. At the end of the day you can see what food groups your where missing and adjust the next day paying special attention to eat more of the foods you are missing. You can adjust your diet slowly as you find new habits of eating that check off everything on your list.

Brewers Food Groups

There are 12 different food groups that the brewers diet pulls from with each one having a specific serving size. The amount of servings are not your limit but your minimum for a healthy pregnancy.

• Water (unlimited)
• Dairy/Milk Products (4 Servings)
• Calcium (2 Servings)
• Eggs (2)
• Protein (6 to 8 Servings)
• Fresh, dark green vegetables (2 Servings)
• Whole grains (5 Servings)
• Vitamin C foods (2 Servings)
• Fats and oils (3 Servings)
• Vitamin A foods (1 Serving)
• Weekly Liver (optional)
• Salt/Sodium (unlimited)

Here is an helpful Free PDF of the some different foods that fit in the Brewers diet food groups. You are not limited to only these foods for each category of nutrition.

Based off of the Brewers diet basic plan its not always easy to determine how much nutrition each size serving really needs. I’ve done my best to try and write out how much of nutrition I believe Dr Brewer was aiming for. The protein food group was the easiest to determine. Each serving size Dr Brewer suggests is about 7 grams of protein. The calcium and vitamins were unclear how many grams are needed but there I was able to find a range I could work with. Vitamin A needs about 450mcg per serving,Vitamin C was 100 mg, Calcium around 50-100 mg each serving. The hard food groups for me have been the wheat and the dairy.

The way wheat and dairy is processed these days is a bit different then it was in the 70’s when this particular study and research was done. I advice caution and discernment with these two categorizes. Be wise as to the quality of your foods. If the suggested amount of wheat or dairy is effecting you negatively with bloating, gas, fatigue or just feeling gross afterwards, try eating less but of the best quality you can get your hands on. Sometimes this means making bread and yogurt at home with organic, high quality ingredients. Avoid processed, pre-made items in these two categories.

How To Make Meals that Fit the Brewers Diet

Now that we have a foundation of what the Brewer diet is and our list of what size serving, we can put together meals that hit all of these requirements for our prenatal care.  

Using our handy-dandy little check list I will give you an example of a days worth of meals and how it checks off all the boxes.

Here’s how it works.

Breakfast

For breakfast I might eat 2 egg, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with butter 1/2 a cup of cottage cheese with 1 cup fruit that is full of vitamin C.

I can now check of my 2 egg, 2 whole grains, 2 serving of dairy, and 2 serving of vitamin C and 1 fats/oils. It’s tempting to mark off 2 protein (the eggs) as well but the brewer principles advise not to do that. If you do check off eggs as protein as well as ‘eggs’ make sure you hit all 8 servings for adequate protein intake.

Lunch

For lunch I will then eat, 2 tacos with rice and beans, (⅓ cup meat ⅔ cup bean ½ cup rice, 2 corn tortillas, 2 oz of cheese). Other topping like salsa, limes, avocados are optional.

This meal checks off 3 proteins, 2 whole grains, and 1 dairy/milk and 2 fats/oils if you add 1/2 an avocado.

Snack

While I’m snacking throughout the day I may eat, 3 apricots and a handful or two of almonds or two high protein granola bars.

This covers 2 more protein and my vitamin A needs.

Dinner

Now for Dinner I will eat, Spaghetti and meat sauce with 1 tablespoon molasses in the sauce, Parmesan cheese, side of kale salad or broccoli.

Dinner checks off 1 Dairy, 2 Calcium, 2 Protein, 2 Greens, 2 Whole Grain.

Be sure to drink water throughout the day, and mark it. Add good, rich in mineral salt like Redmond’s Real salt or Pink Himalayan salt to you whole foods. Learn more about the benefits of good salt here.

Meal Planning Made Easy

Here I have a meal plan guide to help you out. Figuring out what to eat each meal to hit all the right requirements for a mother’s nutritional needs can be a daunting task, especially if you are in the first trimester. 

Here is a guide is broken into 4 groups. If in one day you eat 1 meal/snack from each group you will successfully meet all your requirements for a healthy diet during your pregnancy.

For example, for breakfast you choose a meal from group 1, then for lunch you can choose a meal from 2, 3 or 4. Say you choose group 4. Dinner you pick from group 2 and your snack is from group 3. By the end of the day you will have covered all your nutritional needs. 

Feel free to mix things up, I honestly love breakfast foods and could each just breakfast all day. And sometimes I do. I just make sure I choose an option from each group so I still get all my nutritional needs.

These meals not an exhaustive list. They are suggestions and can be adapted to meet your needs. I hope this is a tool that helps you understand how you can get your daily needs with as little emotional stress as possible. I hope this guide helps you see how you can make your own favorite meals work for you while checking off all that Dr Brewer recommends.

These meals not an exhaustive list. They are suggestions and can be adapted to meet your needs. I hope this is a tool that helps you understand how you can get your daily needs with as little stress as possible. I hope this guide helps you see how you can make your own favorite meals work for you while checking off all that Dr Brewer recommends.

Learn More About How to Have A Healthy Pregnancy and Natural Labor

The post Free Meal Planning Guide for Pregnancy | The Brewers Diet appeared first on Embracing The Home.

The Brewers Pregnancy Diet was created by Dr Tom Brewer who was a obstetrician and studied nutrition for over 50 years. He helped his patients achieve low risk, healthy pregnancies, uncomplicated natural labors through a focus on diet.

The diet is not supper strict diet when it comes to what you cannot eat but more about getting the right amount of nutrition into your diet. Most diets fads we see are about cutting out foods. Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Fat Free, Low Carb, Vegetarian, Vegan… those are all about cutting foods out of our diet. The brewers diet for pregnant women is different in that it tell you how much of each food group you should eat to get the right nutrition each day for you and your unborn baby.

This diet provides what you need for the unique needs for a pregnant woman. The brewers diet guides you through 12 different food groups containing the mother’s nutritional needs as well as the needs for your unborn baby. As you eat throughout your day there is a list you can check off if your meal hit any of the foods groups that is recommended. At the end of the day you can see what food groups your where missing and adjust the next day paying special attention to eat more of the foods you are missing. You can adjust your diet slowly as you find new habits of eating that check off everything on your list.

Brewers Food Groups

There are 12 different food groups that the brewers diet pulls from with each one having a specific serving size. The amount of servings are not your limit but your minimum for a healthy pregnancy.

• Dairy/Milk Products (4 Servings) milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese…
• Calcium (2 Servings) broccoli, kale, molasses…
• Eggs (2)
• Protein (6 to 8 Servings) meats, fish, beans, nuts…
• Fresh, dark green leafy vegetables (2 Servings) broccoli, sprouts, spinach…
• Whole grains (5Servings) brown rice, quinoa, pastas, bread…
• Vitamin C foods (2 Servings) grapefruit, orange juice, bell pepper…
• Fats and oils (3 Servings) butter, avocado, vegetable oils… 
• Vitamin A foods (1 Serving) apricots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin…
• Weekly Liver (optional) 
• Salt/Sodium (unlimited) 
• Water (unlimited) extra water

To see the different food options and serving sizes for each food group you can go to drbrewerpregnancydiet.com or download my FREE PDF Page as well as a weekly check list.

Based off of the Brewers diet basic plan its not always easy to determine how much nutrition each size serving really needs. I’ve done my best to try and write out how much of nutrition I believe Dr Brewer was aiming for. The protein food group was the easiest to determine. Each serving size Dr Brewer suggests is about 7 grams of protein. The calcium and vitamins were unclear how many grams are needed but there I was able to find a range I could work with. Vitamin A needs about 450mcg per serving,Vitamin C was 100 mg, Calcium around 50-100 mg each serving. The hard food groups for me have been the wheat and the dairy.

The way wheat and dairy is processed these days is a bit different then it was in the 70’s when this particular study and research was done. I advice caution and discernment with these two categorizes. Be wise as to the quality of your foods. If the suggested amount of wheat or dairy is effecting you negatively with bloating, gas, fatigue or just feeling gross afterwards, try eating less but of the best quality you can get your hands on. Sometimes this means making bread and yogurt at home with organic, high quality ingredients. Avoid processed, pre-made items in these two categories.

Adapting the Brewers Diet to Fit Your Needs

Dr Brewer knew very well that each women and pregnancy has their own unique needs. The brewers diet plan serves as a basic guide line but is able to be adapted based off of your needs. On the Brewers Diet page there is options for vegan and vegetarian diets. The goal is to get a balanced diet of the right foods for you. 

Pregnant women need extra nutritious calories and in order to get your daily needs you will need to eat a variety of foods. You get to choose the food you eat but if you follow Dr Brewers dietary guidelines you have the building blocks for a healthy and low-risk pregnancy. The brewers pregnancy diet is designed to be adaptable in the type of foods you eat while still getting the key nutrients you need. For example one of the categories is ‘dairy’. A lot of people now days have stomach problems with dairy due to its high processes and modified nature. If you are avoiding dairy you can substitute more calcium and soy options. Look at the vegan and vegetarian version of the brewers pregnancy diet for more ideas.

Nutrition value for each food group in the brewer diet

Understanding what nutrition is needed from each food group helps me adapt the diet to fit my needs. This however is I think where the Brewer diet lacks information. It is not always clear how much nutritional value each food group and serving size should be. I do believe this is because different foods have different combinations of nutrition making the absorption rate of the needed nutrition differ from one food to the next.

For example, sodium (salt) is unlimited according to the brewers diet. Did you know that sodium is not properly absorbed by your body unless you are eating enough potassium and magnesium? So if you are eating lots of greens (potassium) you may not need as much salt. If you lack in greens you may be wanting more salt due to the poor absorption rate. So if you are craving salty foods, eat them, along with some dark greens.

The protein food group was the easiest to determine and adapt. Each serving size Dr Brewer suggests is about 7 grams of protein. The calcium and vitamins were unclear how many grams are needed but there I was able to find a range I could work with. Vitamin A needs about 450mcg per serving,Vitamin C was 100 mg, Calcium around 50-100 mg each serving. The hard food groups for me have been the wheat and the dairy.

The way wheat and dairy is processed these days is a bit different then it was in the 70’s when this research was done. I advice caution and discernment with these two categorizes. Be wise as to the quality of your foods. If the suggested amount of wheat or dairy is effecting you negatively with bloating, gas, fatigue or just feeling gross afterwards, try eating less but of the best quality you can get your hands on. Sometimes this means making bread and yogurt at home with organic, high quality ingredients.

What foods to avoid when pregnant?

“What foods should I avoid when pregnant?” This is a question I think everyone asks when they find out they are pregnant with their first. Its a good questions that has a deeper answer then just a list of foods to avoid.

The common list of foods to avoid when pregnant is this:

• Raw fish
• Fish that is high in mercury (swordfish, shark and more)
• Hot dogs
• Deli meat
• Soft cheese
• Unpasteurized diary
• Unwashed fruits and vegetables
• Drugs
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• and some people even say herbal tea… (please drink your herbal teas)

Why should we not eat these foods when pregnant?

This is the question we should be asking. We want to understand what it is that is actually harmful. The answer is bacteria. We should not be eating food that have a higher chance of harmful bacteria. So when avoiding foods we don’t stick to a list but consider the quality and cleanliness of our food.

How long was this food sitting out? Do I trust the kitchen that this food came from? Is my body healthy enough to eat this much sugar? Knowing sugar breaks down our immunity making it harder for us to battle harmful bacteria. What foods typically have a higher chance of harmful bacteria? These are questions that can help us determine if we should be eating certain foods.

Not all bacteria is bad.

We also consider our body’s ability to handle certain foods. I know of plenty of people who always drink raw milk for its good gut helping bacteria and continue to do so while they are pregnant and have no complications due to the raw milk. It’s probably not a good idea to start drinking raw milk for the first time while pregnant because you don’t know how your body will respond.

There is good bacteria, bad bacteria and worse bacteria. Remember our bodies are amazing and will fight the bad. Eat the right nutrition in order to keep your body fighting the bad bacteria when unexpectedly exposed.

Why is this bacteria more harmful when pregnant?

Food poisoning is never fun but when you are pregnant food poisoning can effect the development the baby greatly. The baby relies on your immune system to protect them. When your immune system is down, so is the baby’s. Your baby is a lot more fragile than you are. You may be able to bounce back after a day or two but your baby may suffer long term.

Don’t live in fear

Its tempting to take all this information in and be afraid that everything you eat might make you sick. This is not how you should live. Two reasons. One, God is healer and can sustain you and your baby. If he chooses not to He has a reason and you can trust that His goodness will be shown through a tough situation. Two, getting food poisoning is a possibility not a guarantee. That food poisoning leading to complications in pregnancy is also a possibility but not a guarantee. Eat wisely and leave chance to the Lord.

Why a healthy diet is so important during pregnancy?

Eating a healthy diet can help you avoid a high-risk pregnancy and complications at birth. Many of the more common complications are due to malnutrition. High blood pressure, gestational diabetes, anemia, underweight, overweight, just to name a few, can be avoided with the right diet.

It has been proven that the healthier you eat while pregnant it lowers the risk of some major complications as well. The risk of pre-eclampsia, placenta abruption, choleostasis, HELLP syndrome, premature labor, and so much more can be lowered by key nutrients throughout your pregnancy.

The healthier you are the better help to your baby you will be. As you nourish yourself you nourish your unborn baby. If a unforeseen complication does arise how much more dangerous if you and baby are also malnourished? Be better prepared for the unseen complications by giving you and baby the best care that you can through a healthy pregnancy diet.

How to avoid complications…

If you want to know more about how to prepare and avoid complications in pregnancy and birth check out my other post on this subject.

Curious about the different stages of labor?

Learn how to relax while in Natural Labor – No drugs needed!

The post The Brewers Diet | How To Eat Healthy When Pregnant appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Table of Contents

• Trust in The Lord
• Talk to Your Husband and Doctor/Midwife
• Variations of Complications
• The Natural Alignment Plateau
• Eat Right and Exercise
• When is a Cesarean Necessary
• How to Avoid A Cesarean

Trust In The Lord

First things first. Know this, that the Lord is good. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21. What ever happens during your pregnancy, your birth or even your child’s life we need to remember the Lord is good and sovereign over all.

We can trust in Him because he cares for us. No matter what trials we go through in this life we are blessed beyond all measure. For he has graced us by paying for our sins on the cross. He died for us that we might gain His inheritance and be called sons of God through Jesus Christ. Our hope of eternal salvation is in Christ, how much more can we trust him through the trials of this life.

Talk To Your Husband and Doctor/Midwife

When preparing for unexpected complications its best to know what could happen and talk through these things with your husband and doctor/midwife. Make a plan, go over the options and write out what you would to try first for each complication.

First, go over the Variations of Complications List with your husband. Talk about what type of birth the both of you want. Your husband may have an opinion and he might not. Either way talk through them as much as is needed so that if the unexpected arises your husband is familiar and understands the direction you want to go. He can then better support and advocate for you and the baby.

When complications arise a cesarean birth is kind of a fix all. There are risk, for sure, with a Cesarean birth but your hospital team is well trained and more confident to manage those. They may not be as well trained or confident in other, more natural techniques when solving unexpected complications. This is why it will be important to talk with them. The more options you can discuss with your doctor the more prepared you both will be and the better chance you have of avoid a unnecessary c-section.

Variations of Complications

There are different variation of complications, some may be more concerning than others but they are all good to think about. I’m not going to tell you what you should do in each situation, I’m not a doctor. This list is to help you understand what could happen and what to talk to your husband and doctor about. I also have a PDF version of this list so that you can print it out and write down the options that you, your husband and doctor discuss.

This list, although long, is not exhaustive. With that said I don’t want you to worry or stress over all the possible complication that could arrise. Most of these are very rare. As you go through and consider what you believe is the best for each situation you will find your line for where you cross over from natural to medical intervention. This is a good thing for both you and doctor to know. There’s no true right or wrong here. Everyones line fall somewhere, be prepared by knowing where.

Problems with Position

• Breech. A breeched birth is when the baby is born bottom first instead of head first.
• Occiput posterior is when the baby is sunnyside-up, meaning the back of the baby’s head is toward the mothers back. This may cause painful back labor or even slow labor down.
• Shoulder dystocia is when the baby’s head has been delivered but the shoulders are stuck.
• Transverse lie is when the baby is sideways, laying across the pelvic inlet. Not breeched not head first.
• Transverse vertex presentation, is when the head is sideways, often turns on its own.

Problems with Labor Progression

• Arrested Labor. Contractions may stop for a time. Even if you are in active labor. Read more about the Natural Alignment Plateau.
• Failure To Progress in labor is when you just aren’t progressing “fast enough” or the way we think we should. Again read more about the Natural Alignment Plateau.
• False Labor is when its hard to tell if you are having braxton-hicks (practice) contraction or if its real labor.
• Overdue, past your due date.
• Premature Labor is when you go into labor before 37 weeks when some of the baby’s vital organs are not completely developed.
• PROM is when you water breaks before labor. If labor does not start soon after your water breaks infection is a possibility.
• Reverse Dilation is when the cervix is closing rather than opening. Typically due to a relaxation after water breaks during labor or the baby changes position taking a little pressure off of the cervix.
• Slow Labor, look into the Natural Alignment Plateau.

Problems with Baby

• Abnormal Heat Rate For Baby. Not always does this mean there is a problem but it can be an indication of distress on the baby.
• Cephalopelvic disproportion is just a fancy way of saying the head is big! This becomes a complication if the head is bigger than the pelvic outlet.
• Fetal Distress is when the baby is in trouble, typically with low oxygen or abnormal heart rate.
• Infections at birth are either transmitted during delivery if the mother herself has an infection or if unsterile delivery instruments are used to help deliver the baby such as, forceps or a vacuum.
• Meconium Staining is when there is some meconium (baby’s poop) in the amniotic fluid. Studies show this is normal but could indicate distress.
• Perinatal asphyxia is when the baby does not get enough oxygen.
• Umbilical Cord Prolapse is when the umbilical cord is delivered before baby or along with the head before the rest of the body. Can cause stress on the cord.

Problems with Mom

• Amniotic fluid embolism is when amniotic fluid enters the mothers blood stream, can cause serious Anemia is when there is not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your body. bleeding or cardiac arrest.
• Cholestasis is caused when bile from the liver is not flowing properly causing a build up. This build up can leak bile into the bloodstream and create complications for baby
• Gestational diabetes is when the mother has a form of diabetes during pregnancy when she did not have diabetes before.
• Hemorrhage. Excessive bleeding.
• Multiples, (Twins, Triplets etc). Although having multiples is not at all a complication but a blessing most doctors/hospitals do not like to deliver multiples vaginally nor do they want you to go full term. My sister found a hospital almost 2 hours away who allowed her to do both.
• Perineal tear is tearing of the vagina or and the surround tissues.
• Pre-eclampsia is when you have high blood pressure causing damage to other organs.
• Placenta previa is when the placenta is in the way of the cervical opening.
• Uterine rupture is when the muscular wall of the uterus is torn.
• Very Painful Labor. Could be that you are not prepared, not relaxed or a true sign that something is wrong. Talk with your nurses, stay calm, it might just be transition. During transition you may not be able to tell but your nurse will know if its transition or something else.

The Natural Alignment Plateau (NAP)

Although this is not a complication of labor it is very important to know and remember. The natural alignment plateau simply put, is that, labor does not always progress consistently.

For example, you may get checked to see how far you are dilated. The Dr/nurse says you are at a 4. After an hour you are now at a 5! So in your mind you may think “I’m dilating 1 cm every hour, I have 5 hours left.” NO, it may take 3 hours to get to a 6, or 30 minutes.

Depending on how soft the cervix is, the physical alignment of the baby in the birthing canal, your hormones, if you muscles need a break (they will take the break they need), production of immunities for baby. All these things can speed up or slow down contraction and labor.

Some people have even taken naps after they have gone through transition. There body needed a rest before they began pushing so contractions got easier and further apart and they were able to take a 10-20 minute nap before they felt the natural urge to push.

So remember that everyone’s body has a different timing for each and every thing that happens in her body during labor. So if things seem to slow down, don’t get discouraged. Remember you body knows when it needs a break in order to be 100% ready for the next part of labor. Labor is not a sprint, its a marathon. Conserve energy when you get the chance.

Eat Right and Exercise

Healthy Eating

The solution to good health is and has always been to eat right and exercise. The meaning of “eating right” differs depending on the latest diet trends. Although the fact that always remains the same is our need for real nutrients. Vitamins, minerals, portions, amino acids, and water.

Eat Real Foods

How do you the appropriate amount of nutrition in your diet? Eat real food. Eat meals made with real ingredients. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain (and little of them), plant proteins (beans, nuts, legumes) more than diary or meat proteins. Plant fats (avocados, coconut, nuts…) more than dairy or meat fats. Plant based fats and protein will contain more vitamins, minerals and amino acids than your meat or dairy giving you a more rounded meal.

I’m not saying you need to go vegan or vegetarian when pregnant to have a safe delivery. For some that could be beneficial and for others that could be harmful. What you should consider is how much plant based foods you eat. The internet specialists say everyone should eat 30 different types of plants per week. Some say your plate should be 50% vegetables eat meal. I say continually reevaluate your diet constantly and consider how you can improve it.

Foods to avoid

Your doctor or society has a list of things you should not eat while pregnant. Foods like, deli meat, hot dogs, sushi, unripe or overripe fruit, high mercury fish, raw dairy. Most of the foods you should avoid when pregnant are listed because of the potential bacteria it could have. You might get sick and your baby could get sicker. So, with all your foods it is good to consider how clean, and well prepared you food is.

But don’t just consider what you should not be eating, focus on what your should eat. Diets and eating trends can be helpful as well as harmful. Lifestyle is key. Reevaluate your diet and, think of ways you can improve it and start working on healthy lifestyle habits.

The Brewers Diet

For more direct information on how to improve your diet I strongly suggest the Brewers Diet for Pregnancy. It is a very simple plan with suggestions and size servings for the minimum of the vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and all that. It is easy to follow and shows you where and how to improve your daily diet for a healthier lifestyle.

Exercise

How much should you exercise? What exercise should you avoid? What exercises are best for pregnancy? These are all good questions but differ from person to person for the answer.

How much should you exercise?

This depends on how much you where exercising before you became pregnant. If you where going to the gym 3-5 times a week there is no need to change that habit. If you where not exercising at all, you should probably change that. Daily exercising is beneficial to your overall health, especially during pregnancy.

What Exercises should You avoid?

It will be safer to avoid heavy lifting and strenuous activity. If you are into weight lifting you can safely continue this as you body is already used to it. But be sure to talk to your doctor, midwife, trainer and listen to your own body for how to limit yourself for the safety of your baby.

When exercising when pregnant you should not over do it. Do not push yourself to hard. Give you body rest in between workouts. Our goal is to stay strong, limber and get our blood flowing. Goals such as lifting a certain amount or running a mile in a certain amount of time are secondary or even non existent when pregnant. You should also avoid high impact exercise or a lot of jumping.

What Exercises are best when pregnant?

Walking, Yoga/Pilates, low impact exercise that get your heart rate up without exhausting yourself. There are many programs and YouTube channels that specialize in prenatal exercises. I really like the workouts from Pregnancy and Postpartum TV on YouTube. I also do a lot of walking on my treadmill as well as around our neighborhood.

Squats, butterflies, pelvic rocking (cat and cow), tailor sitting, and Kegel exercise are beneficial exercises that will help you strengthen the muscles and ligaments that you will need to carry your baby comfortably and deliver a natural birth. Take 5-10 minutes each day to do them daily for best results.

When Is A Cesarean Necessary?

No matter how much you want a natural birth and want to avoid a cesarean birth they are truly sometimes necessary. I do believe the c-section birth are done to many times for unnecessary reasons but that doesn’t mean they are all together bad.

I cannot tell you when a c-section is absolutely needed and when its not, I am not a doctor. But I do know how hard it can be when you have been preparing for a natural birth and now the doctors are telling you its time for a c-section. You may struggle with trusting them, you may be a fighter for your rights in your own medical decisions but this is the life of your baby we are talking about. You want no regrets. What do you do?

Listen

First is to listen to the doctors reasons for the c-section. Ask questions to that help you understand fully why he is recommending it.

Ask

“How much time do I have to decide?” This question will help you understand if he believes its an emergency or the safest route. Ask for 10 minutes alone with your husband to process everything.

“Can you explain what needs to be done for the c-section” Depending on the situation you may be able to take small steps towards a c-section slowly. If you body relaxes its possible that the problem could be remedied. So getting an epidural (which you will need for a c-section) but then laboring for another 30 minutes or so might improve your labor and allow you to finish vaginally.

Ask for a second option, or call a trusted midwife, doula, or medical professional for advise. They too will not be able to tell you what to do but might be able to explain the situation in a way you better understand or give you helpful questions to ask your doctor.

Alternative Options

Discuss alternatives options based off of your Veneration of Complications list that you have gone through. Seeking out options and understanding the doctors reason for why or why these options will not help in your situation will help you feel more confident in your decision.

Express Your Feelings

Tell your husband, doula, nurses, doctor all your concerns and how you feel. Express your desires and help them understand your thoughts so they can better help you. If you feel like you are unheard you will likely have regrets about not speaking up. So speak up and tell them how you are feeling.

Its okay to be afraid, tell them. Its okay to grieve the natural birth experience you wanted and while knowing in order to save your baby’s life you can’t have it. Its okay to feel confused, tell them. Its okay to feel anxious, tell them.

Remember

When plans don’t go the way you wanted, you can still trust in the Lord. He is good. Give thanks to the Lord.

When going through a c-section after going through most of your labor you can be encouraged that your labor and all the contractions you went though prepared your baby for delivery and your own body for postpartum. Messages throughout your body where sent preparing you and baby for birth. Having a c-section without ever going into labor will be harder on you and baby as your body was not prepared. Labor cues your milk supply, immunities, proper postpartum hormones and contractions for after birth. Your labor was not in vain. Give thanks to the Lord.

How To Avoid a Cesarean

You can avoid a cesarean birth and get the natural birth you want.

Prepare yourself mentally for a natural birth. Commit to the hardship of a natural labor remember its benefits. Practice relaxation and breathing techniques for an easier labor.

Prepare yourself with natural options for variations of complications.

Eat healthy throughout your pregnancy giving you and baby low risk of gestational diabetes, cholestasis and other complications derived from lack of nutrition.

Exercise to strengthen your body to be able to carry your baby when your 9 months pregnant and deliver your baby with the endurance you built up through your workouts.

Pray. Trust in the Lord and seek His righteousness over our own thoughts and desires. Pray for a safe and healthy delivery and that if that not be his will that your life would still glorify him no matter what hardships come your way.

Learn more about relaxation in Natural Labor

Learn more about the different stages of Labor

Learn More about Natural Breech births

The post How to Avoid and Prepare for Complications in Natural Birth appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Table of Contents

• Your Husband Helping You Relax in Labor
• Ways of Handling Pain In Labor
• Massage Techniques For Labor
• Breathing Techniques For Labor
• Mental and Emotional Relaxation in Labor
• Have a Birth Plan

Your Husband Helping You Relax In Labor

Your husbands rule in the delivery room is to be your support and advocate. As your support he is to help you relax and remind you of the truths you know. You can do this, he is here to help you and guide you. If he is going to be able to do his job rightly you are going to have to communicate with him. Before your in labor, talk about how you like to relax and what is helpful and not helpful.

Practice, with your husband, your relaxation techniques. Ask him to massage you often and teach him what feel good and what doesn’t. Practice breathing techniques and explain what each type of breath is for. That way, in labor he can remind you to breath correctly.

As your advocate he is going to need to know what you want and what you don’t want. If he doesn’t know the little details of your desired birth experience he will not be able to help you communicate those things to the nurses and doctors.

If you are wanting a natural birth with no epidural you husband needs to know this and why. The two of you need to talk about when pain medication is allowed, if at all. If there is a emergency the two of you need to be on the same page as to what you want to do in those emergency situations.

What determines and emergency to you? Does breech mean an emergency? Are you opposed to someone reaching there hands up inside you to help baby out? Or is a c-section your only option? Conversations like this will help prepare your husband to be your best advocate.

Ways of Handling Pain In Labor

Before you can practice your relaxation techniques its important to know what you own first response is to handling pain. You might already know what some of your bad habits are or you might know exactly what works for you. Either way, go through this list and examine how you have handled pain in the past. Talk about this with your husband so he can help you handle the pain the correct way.

Massage Techniques for Labor

Massages are a great help during labor. The biggest problem is husbands don’t always know how to massage well. This is okay, here I will give a few simple instructions for you husband to follow.

The Stroking Technique

The stroking technique is simple slow stocking with either the palm of your hand or finger/fingernails. This can be very gentle or as much pressure as you like can be applied. Move down ward in sections of the body 3x each section. You can do the whole body like this or stick to just the arms or just the legs, whatever helps you relax.

The goal is to relax your whole body all at once. Pay close attention to your jaw, it tends to be the last thing we relax.

Move downward from

• head to neck 3x
• neck to shoulders 3x
• (right arm than left arm, or both at the same time)
• shoulders to elbow 3x
• elbow to wrist 3x
• wrist to fingers tips 3x
• (right side then left side, or both at the same time)
• shoulder to mid back 3x
• mid back to lower back 3x
• (right leg then left leg, or both at the same time)
• lower back to knee 3x
• knee to ankle 3x
• ankle to toes 3x

Repeat from top or go back up the opposite way still stroking downwards.

Local Massage Technique in Labor

Local massage is a focus on one part of the body at a time. When focusing on a single part of the body, like the foot or hand or hips, we want a bit more than just stroking. To give a local massage we will use our thumbs moving in small circles with lots of pressure.

The lower back and hips are typically the most needed place to massage during labor.

Take both hands to the hips with your thumbs on either side of the spine. Start moving you thumbs in small circles working you way to the sides of the hips.

You can apply this same massage technique on other parts of the body, the hands, feet, shoulders, neck, etc.

Practicing Massage

Once or twice a week, especially towards the end of your pregnancy, practice your relaxing with a massage. You can put on a movie/show/youtube/music/podcast that your husband likes (as long as he’s not too distracted and stops the massage). Both of you need to be comfortable. Get some lotion, coconut oil, or aloe vera for the massage.

Remember that the best way to show someone how to massage you is to massage them.

Start with the stroking technique and go through the whole body. Then focus on stroking the back and hips. Practice as if you are in labor. You can take a stop watch or timer, set it for 1-2 minutes. When it goes off pretend that is when you are feeling a contraction. When the contraction peaks you will most likely want more pressure on your low, lower back. Use the word “Pressure” to cue your husband to squeeze your hips. With the palm of his hands or his thumbs on either side of the spine (not on the spine) push down and out with lots of pressure. When the contraction is over he can go back to stroking your back.

Don’t forget to practicing your breathing with your massages

This is defiantly not the only way to massage but we are not looking to perfect our husbands massage techniques but to give him direction on how to help you relax during labor.

Breathing Techniques In Labor

Deep Abdominal Breathing

To relax during labor we must learn to breath properly. The correct breathing is no big secret. It is slow, deep, abdominal breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth.

What I mean by ‘abdominal’ is that you fill your belly with air rather than your chest. If you chest gets tight you are doing it wrong. Relax your chest and fill your ribs and belly with air. Practice, breath In-2-3-4 out-2-3-4-5-6. Relax.

This type of breathing is the foundation to all your breathing during you labor. When a contraction begins focus on your breathing as you relax. At the peak, when its the most painful breath out. You might find yourself holding your breath at times and that is okay, but don’t hold for long. Do you best to breath out, through your mouth.

How to Breath when pushing

When it comes time to push our breathing will change just a little. You will still breath deeply and slowly but you might feel the need to hold your breath and bear down when you feel the urge to push. You can practice by counting In-2-3-4 Hold-2-3-4- Out-2-3-4-5-6. (don’t actually push when practicing)

You don’t have hold your breath if you don’t feel the need. Remember, don’t hold your breath for longer than you feel comfortable and don’t hold your breath or push if you don’t feel the natural urge.

How to slow down the natural urge to push with breathing

You might have heard many stories about nurses or doctors saying “don’t push” and the mom is like “ha! yeah right, I can’t control this!” That is the natural urge to push, you can’t help it. Or can you?

To slow down the natural urge to push you can breath quick, short breaths, not allowing yourself to bear down and push. You can picture these breaths as blowing out a candle many times, or like a dog panting. Quick, short, out-out-out-out-.

This may not stop the urge to push completely but it does help slow things down. Believe me, without this breathing technique I would have had baby number 3 in the car.

This quick breathing should only be done when you feel the urge to push but its not time yet. Don’t breath like this if you are not contracting or pushing. Deep, slow in and out breaths are best in order to relax in labor.

Reasons why you might be told to stop or slow down when pushing is if you have an anterior cervical lip, pushing against this could cause swelling and cause a painful, slow delivery. Another reason might be that the chord is wrap out the neck and the doctor whats to get it off before you push the rest of the baby out. Or maybe, like me, your babies fly out and you need to breath like this the whole time you push to avoid tearing. There are all sorts of reasons so if you are told to slow down or stop pushing, breath out-out-out-out-.

Mental and Emotional Relaxation in Labor

What we think about effects our psychical body. We think about food and we are suddenly hungry… we think about the most humiliating time in our life and we are sweating and feel sick. When we think about lovely, beautiful, sweet things we often relax and get dreamy.

The thoughts that you have during labor will effect your relaxation. If we are continually thinking “this is too hard” we are going to be emotionally discouraged and physically tired. So, when the thoughts of “I can’t do this”, “this is not what I was expecting”, “I want this to be done already” appear we need to have a plan.

Redirection Your Thoughts

How can you direct your thoughts to give you energy and encouragement? Some people like to listen to praise music or lullabies getting them excited about your baby. Other people like to picture or remember their favorite place or experience they once had. Some people just need to have a blank-like mind.

A blank mind is rarely possible. What you can do is picture colors, numbers, shapes, or things like that. Start by naming a random color in your head and picture it. Then name a new color and let it take over the other color. Choose a new color, number, shape or whatever category you want with each breath you take in to clear your mind.

If you need help with this, ask you husband to name the colors, animals, places for you. Practice at home. Have him pay attention to your breathing and name something new each time you breath in. Your cue phase can be “distract me with colors”, or whatever category you want.

Relaxing Through Changes of Emotions

You may feel a lot of different emotions during labor and that is normal. Especially during Transition, its a very emotional time for some. You will be excited, happy, nervous, fearful, confident, self-doubting, empowered, maybe even angry, very sad or even depressed at times.

Our thoughts again are what is going to help us relax in labor during these intense emotions. Remember this important fact of life, your emotions and feelings don’t control you thoughts and decisions.

When we, for no reason, feel sad we don’t need to then think about sad things. Catch yourself and remind yourself that although you feel sad you are excited about this new baby. Although you feel anger you really love your husband and are thankful for him and the nurses. Although you feel like you can’t do this you really can. You have people here to help you.

You don’t have to try and change the way your feel in that moment but give yourself peace by thinking on things that are true. Do not base your all thought off of how you feel, but instead let your thoughts determine how you feel.

Have a Birth Plan

A birth plan is a great way to have something for you, your husband, nurses, midwife, doula, sister, mom whoever is in the labor and delivery room with you to reference. Having a plan can help you relax in labor because a lot of the decisions are already made and communicated.

Having a plan for emergency situations is also a very good idea. Writing on your birth plan what blood type your are, any allergies to medications, procedures you want to avoid if at all possible. Alternative methods named on your birth plan so they can be discussed with your doctor before hand.

Talking about these things with your husband and doctors ahead of time will help you to relax in labor knowing you are all on the same page.

If you have read thus far you are well on your way to a successful natural birth. By practicing and planing these relaxation methods and techniques you be well prepare. Be confident, be brave, you can do this.

The post How to Relax in Labor Naturally appeared first on Embracing The Home.

• Pre-Labor
• Early First Stage Labor
• Active First Stage Labor
• Transition
• Second Stage Labor
• Post-Labor

Here I want you to understand these different stages of labor by knowing what happens during each stage, the type of contractions and sensations you will feel, as well as some of the emotional and behavioral signs during each stage of labor. I will also explain the Natural Alignment Plateau (NAP), how labor is not always perfectly consistent.

Pre-Labor

What happens in Pre-Labor

Towards the end of your pregnancy you will experience some more changes within your body. Some are noticeable and some are not. Most common is Braxton-Hicks contractions, but there is more.

Your body will start producing hormones such as Relaxin and Hyaluronidase. You will start to produce Colostrum and immunities that you baby will need and receive through nursing. You blood volume will increase by 40-50%. The cervix will also began to soften and you will loose the mucous plug.

Contractions and Sensations during Pre-Labor

Braxton-Hicks

The feeling of Braxton-Hicks is a little different for everyone. Some describe it as feeling like menstrual cramps while others describe it as a tight hard feeling around their stomach and uterus. They are typically not painful but can be very uncomfortable. I find it best to remember to smile each time I feel them. Remembering my body is amazing and giving birth, although painful, is beautiful and something to look forward to.

Note: I’m 30 weeks pregnant and was having some very uncomfortable consistent Braxton-Hicks, I was asked by my sister “are you dehydrated?”. Yes, I was. Water and electrolytes (and a nap) calmed everything down.

With Braxton-Hicks there is no rhythm or consistent timing with them at all. They come and go and can be short or long.

Braxton-Hicks are sometimes called practice contractions or false labor. It true that they are not labor contraction but they are preparing you for labor. These practice contractions are conditioning or warming up and strengthening your muscles for the real workout. Braxton-Hicks also help with effacement, the thinning of the cervix before dilating.

Relaxin and Hyaluronidase

These two hormones will start to increase naturally in your body as you get closer to giving birth. Relaxin will help soften your joints and ligaments towards the end of your pregnancy. You might feel some hip or pelvic pain, due to slipping of joints. It can be uncomfortable but you can smile at this as well knowing while you push out your baby your joints and ligaments will be able to stretch accordingly.

If you have joint or hip pain try some easy stretches and lots of little movement to help keep everything aligned. If needed you can also receive chiropractic care or massage therapy.

Hyaluronidase is a natural enzyme that helps soften the cervix. You will not likely notice this happening but be glad that it is. Dilation and effacement is depended on it.

Colostrum

Colostrum is the first milk you will produce for baby. It is high in protein, antibodies, vitamins and minerals all designed to give your baby the best nutrients to develop a strong immune system right away.

You will start to produce colostrum towards the end of your pregnancy as the rest of your body gets ready for labor you will also be getting ready to feed and provide everything your baby needs through your milk. Amazing! You may notice some tenderness, some colostrum discharge or a fuller shape in your breast as you near the end of your pregnancy.

Emotional Signs and Behavior During Pre-Labor

Those last few weeks of pregnancy can an emotional roller coaster! You are so excited yet so tired. Ready for whats next, yet not able to cause anything to happen. Anxious, excited, eager, while nesting.

Take your time to relax and enjoy the time. Also, give yourself plenty of little things to do and look forward to doing the next day to distract yourself. Go on walks, get your hair cut and nails done. Wash all those little baby clothes and fold each one with a prayer. Take you time to do things and have things to do.

Early First Stage Labor

What happens in Early First Stage Labor

It begins. This is it, although most of the time you still are not sure its truly happening. You will start to experience labor contractions. If you haven’t loosed you mucus plug you will now, possibly have some bloody show, and you may experience diarrhea. You will begin to dilate and you cervix will thin with effacement.

It is possible for you water to brake during any stage of Labor. For my first my water broke 45 minutes before I started experiencing any contractions. It was my first sign of Labor starting. With my second child my water broke with first (out of a total of two) pushes.

Contractions and Sensations during Early First Stage Labor

Contractions during early first stage labor are generally 10 or more minutes apart. They can range between 30-60 seconds long. They can feel a lot like strong Braxton-Hicks but the difference will be that they don’t go away with a change of activity or position. Sometimes it will be hard to tell if its true labor or false labor.

As the contractions get a little stronger you may also feel some cramping or pressure with your contractions. Moving around, walking will typically feels good. The more your move around gently, like walking, the more relaxed your muscles and ligaments will be. Tight muscles and ligaments will cause more pain. Walking also helps open up the pelvis, letting baby move down with ease.

You may get hungry or very thirsty, eating and drinking is important to remember during this stage. Later you may loose your appetite and you need the energy.

False Labor

I had false labor with my 3rd child. For 8 hours I experienced contractions that ranged from 10 eventually to 3 minutes apart. They were never very strong but were consistent. I went to the hospital and within a few minutes of being monitored they stopped. The nurse was very nice. Confirmed to me that I was having contractions, she saw them on the monitor. The day before at an appointment I was checked and was dilated at a 4. When the nurse check me after my 8 hours of contractions I was still at a 4.

These contractions were not true labor but paved the way so that 5 days later my body was so ready, my true labor was less than 2 hours. I almost gave birth in the car. Its a great story for another time.

My experience with false labor is that felt a lot like early stage labor but then stopped. The contractions did get stronger or harder as they got closer together.

Emotional Signs and Behavior During Early First Stage Labor

When in early labor you will be guessing, “is this it?”, “is this true labor or false?”. You may feel anxious, unsure, excited and nervous. You may be unsure if you should start keeping track of contractions.

Active First Stage Labor

What Happens in Active Labor

In first stage active labor you will dilate to about 6 or 7 centimeters. Effacement will also continue to progress. Contractions will be consistent typically around 5 minutes apart and 60 seconds long. They will become more powerful. You might become very thirsty, and loose your appetite. If you are hungry, eat.

You will also loose your sense of modesty. Nothing crazy, you just wont care. You will make yourself comfortable.

You baby will be dropping in ‘station’. ‘Station’ is how they measure how low you baby has dropped according to your pelvic ischial spine.

Contractions and Sensations During Active Labor

Contractions will become very close during active labor. The will be powerful, lasting about 60 seconds and around 5 minutes apart. You may be able to talk and move around during contraction but it will get a lot harder to do so.

You will feel more pressure on your bladder during contractions and might have to pee a little with each contraction. A lot of women may find themselves wanting to sit on the toilet or be in the shower during this stage.

You may also want to feel counter pressure on your lower back, feet, or shoulders or even your cervix. With my second birth my husband spent a lot of time massaging my feet and with each contraction he would squeeze them or push on my heel. It felt like relief. As the contraction got stronger I felt more out of control. The counter pressure was grounding and I gained my control and ability to relax through the pain.

Emotional Signs and Behavior During Active Labor

You will become more focused. Less talkative. You will not want to be disturbed but will be focused on what is happening inside your body rather than what going on in the room around you.

You may want music or some sort of background noise for relaxation. For some that is too much and you will want perfect silence.

You might still want to move or walk around but it will be slow and deliberate movements. A birthing ball is very helpful for that little but needed movement. Or, you may want to lie down very still as if you were sleeping. Resting and conserving your energy. You do not now how long your labor will be so conserve your energy physically and mentally.

The Natural Alignment Plateau (NAP)

Although this is typically not a “Stage” of labor it is very important to know and remember. The natural alignment plateau simply put, is that, labor does not always progress consistently.

For example, you may get checked to see how far you are dilated. The Dr/nurse says you are at a 4. After an hour you are now at a 5! So in your mind you may think “I’m dilating 1 cm every hour, I have 5 hours left.” NO, it may take 3 hours to get to a 6, or 30 minutes.

Depending on how soft the cervix is, the physical alignment of the baby in the birthing canal, your hormones, if you muscles need a break (they will take the break they need), production of immunities for baby. All these things can speed up or slow down contraction and labor.

Some people have even taken naps after they have gone through transition. There body needed a rest before they began pushing so contractions got easier and further apart and they were able to take a 10-20 minute nap before they felt the natural urge to push.

So remember that everyone’s body has a different timing for each and every thing that happens in her body during labor. So if things seem to slow down, don’t get discouraged. Remember you body knows when it needs a break in order to be 100% ready for the next part of labor. Labor is not a sprint, its a marathon. Conserve energy when you get the chance.

Transition

What Happens in Transition

Transition is an intense time between first stage labor and second stage labor. You will typically dilate from about an 8 to 10 very quickly during this stage. Transition is typically the hardest part of labor, pushing is not easy task, but with transition comes self-doubt and confusion. Remember, transition is the beginning of the end. Your baby will be here soon!

Contractions and Sensations Transition

Contractions are close together and long, 60-90 seconds. The can are often back to back giving you no rest in between. You may feel the baby moving down low into the pelvic with a lot of pressure.

Sweating, vomiting, hot and cold, nausea are all very common during this time. If your water has not broken it is likely to at this time.

Emotional Signs and Behavior Transition

This stage is the most emotional. You may experience self doubt, a feeling of giving up and surrender. This is the time most women ask for pain medication. This is also often the time the nurses will tell you an epidural is out of the question, its too late. If that is the case don’t be mad, be encouraged its almost over. You can do it!

Due to all the intense sensations you may experience a lot of emotional response that you don’t understand. You may experience panic, quick changes of mood, anger, laughter, sadness all within moments of each other.

Funny Story: I was walking in a park down the street from the hospital while in labor with my 4th. As we were headed back to the car to go to the hospital we were passing by lots of little kids practicing soccer. I started going through transition crying hysterically, barely able to walk and then the cry turned into laughing like a mad women! I was very loud and probably scared lots of children but I didn’t look back just got into the car and drove away.

The good news is that transition does not last long. It is normally between 10-30 minutes. Remember transition is a normal part of labor. You may be feeling out of control but that does not mean there is anything wrong. You may feel fear but you fear is not based on facts. Let others know how what you are feeling so they can help reassure you that everything is okay. Believe them and surrender. Let your body relax, cry and remember you get to hold your baby soon.

Second Stage Labor

What Happens in Second Stage Labor

Second stage labor means it just about over. This stage can still be as short as 15 minutes to around 4 hours. You will feel a calmness (after the storm of transition) and a determination. This is the stage that you will feel a natural urge to push with your contractions. You may have some bloody discharge. If you water has not broken it will.

In second stage labor you might feel everything slow down. Contractions might calm down a lot for a while in order to rest your muscles. After going through transitions this might seem wrong, like your taking a step back. You might feel the need to move along, lets get this done! Remember NAP. You are not taking a step back, your body is just preparing for the next big thing at the right time.

Contractions and Sensations During Second Stage Labor

Unless you body decides to take a break contractions typically get stronger. With your contractions you will feel a pressure so strong it will make you push naturally. When this starts do not push anymore than your body naturally pushes. Conserve your energy and let you body determine how strong and how long to push. Do not push if you do not feel a contraction. You might not feel the urge to push at every contraction. If you don’t feel it, don’t push. Conserve your energy. Relax.

When you baby is crowning, and you cervix is at its widest (13-14cm) you will feel a burning sensation we call “The Ring of Fire”. This feeling is typically for only a few moments. Once you push the head out it will go away like it was never there. Then the most satisfying feeling of release as the baby comes out. This is my favorite part! The feeling out the baby sliding out with so much release of pressure and pain bring my so much joy!

Emotional Signs and Behavior During Second Stage Labor

At this point in labor, modesty is gone. You will not care or even notice how much of you is exposed or covered. Often you will experience a feeling of determination. After the self-doubt of transition you will feel like new person. You will know you can do this and sometimes get a second wind. You might be more talkative and alert during this stage or you might concentrate inwardly with an intense focus.

But don’t forget or be discouraged if you feel so tired you take a nap in between contractions. This does not mean you are regressing, this is still progress. Remember NAP.

Post Labor – Third Stage of Labor

What Happens Post Labor

Your baby is born! You are done! Well… almost. Post Labor is the last stage of labor. This is different from postpartum, which is a whole other article.

In post labor you will continue to experience contractions. You still need to push out the placenta. This is so much easier than all your other labor.

The nurses or midwife will come and push on your belly, feeling the uterus. This can be very painful and uncomfortable. They want to feel the uterus and make sure it continues to contract to reduce the risk of hemorrhaging. As it contracts it will help slow down your bleeding so you don’t loose too much blood too quickly.

Contractions and Sensations During Post Labor

Typically the contraction are not as bad as they just where. I personally have barely notice them in comparison to what I just went through with pushing and transition. Others say they were horrible and unexpected. Often Dr’s will give Pitocin (oxytocin) after you deliver to make sure you continue to contract and don’t hemorrhage. Pitocin induces contractions and can cause them to be more painful than necessary. It is sometimes needed but often can be avoidable.

Try to nurse your baby right away. I always try to get my babies latched before as soon as I’m holding them. When you start to nurse you will release your own natural oxytocin that will help with contractions and slowing down bleeding.

By nursing right away you will also be giving you newborn the natural antibodies with the colostrum that you just made. This gives your baby the needed nutrients it needs to protect its self from all the new elements it will be coming into contact with as they enter our world.

Emotional Signs and Behavior During Post Labor

Other sensation and behaviors you may feel after birth is sweating, shaking or shivering, lots of adrenaline. You might also feel dizzy or nauseous due to the loss of blood. Let people take care of you and relax. You body needs rest, so rest and relax.

A feeling of relief along with so many other emotions as you get to see and hold your new born baby. The best thing to do is stay warm, drink water and juice or electrolytes. Eat if hungry. Relax and enjoy your new born baby!

The post The Stages of Labor Explained. What you need to know about Natural Birth. appeared first on Embracing The Home.