Natural Pregnancy:
My philosophy on pregnancy is to educate yourself as much as possible about how to be healthy throughout the pregnancy and also about the act of birthing. Eating a healthy diet- drinking lots of herbal infusions, making sure you are getting enough fats is all very important. I found that healthy fats were even more important than proteins. I needed to eat fats every 4 hours- sometimes eating a whole avocado or drinking a can of coconut milk in order to get the fats my body craved.
When I found out I was pregnant I knew right away that I wanted to have a home birth. Most people in my life thought I was crazy and thought there was no way I would be able to do that. Fortunately, I did have support from my husband. I chose not to listen to the fear inducing negative talk of others- and instead I decided to educate myself on homebirth and midwifery. I took my power back by reading every book I could on natural pregnancy and homebirth. I buffered myself from any beliefs from others that woman need a hospital, that it is too dangerous and that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I chose to read as many first-hand accounts of woman that gave natural births as well as text books used in midwifery and doula trainings.
I have been fortunate to be able to home birth all 3 of my children without the assistance of any doctors or any hospital visits. For my first child I hired a midwife, my second child my friend who was a midwife in training helped, and my third child was birthed at home with just his mother, father and siblings present. I will discuss home birthing another time in more depth.
During the pregnancy I stayed active and moved my body daily. Physical fitness is one of the most important ways to prepare for a healthy home birth. You have to be careful to not overdo it- otherwise it can stress the baby and you may need bedrest. But as long as you monitor your body and are eating well- you can continue to be active all day every day and have it be beneficial. With my third child, I continued to deliver milk- carrying 5 gallon jugs up until a week before he was due. Make sure to take naps when needed- especially the first trimester- when you are creating a living being within you from something the size of the smallest needle tip.
During the pregnancies, I continued to practice yoga and with my first child I was doing head stands right up until the day before my water broke. I also did specific yoga poses and gentle massages to turn the baby around so that she would be facing the right way.
Yoni massages are a wonderful way to prepare your body for birth. It gives you the opportunity to explore all of the parts of your anatomy- places you may have never been consciously aware of before. I encourage woman to work with all their vagina and anus muscles and explore how they are connected, how they interact and how you can contract and release them. In the last trimester, I highly recommend spending time with your legs up the wall, use a bit of olive oil and start feeling around in your vagina area. Practice contracting and releasing all the different muscles and various parts of your body that you can. By learning how to isolate these muscles, how to relax them, and lubricate them with oils- you will be able to work with them more easily when the time comes.
Pregnancy is a sacred initiation for a woman- you are transitioning from maiden to mother. In this 9-month period, there is great power in reflecting about your childhood. I encourage all pregnant woman to look at any pain they may still carry from childhood or past traumas- in order to release it before the birth. If you have experienced sexual abuse this is especially important to clear the womb space so that you will be able to be relaxed and surrender in the birthing process. What was your relationship to your mother and your father as a child? Use the potent time of pregnancy to heal any ancestral wounds so that you will not be bringing that into your new family. The Hoffman Process is what I recommend most for healing wounding around mother/father issues.
A wonderful way to mark this rite of passage for the pregnant mother is for giving her a baby shower/blessing way. There are many ways to do this but the essence is to be in circle with other woman and sharing about birth, about motherhood and about pregnancy which can be very powerful.
Also- I highly recommend learning how to cook if you don’t know already. Cooking for a family is a lot more challenging than for just one person- so spend some time while pregnant nourishing your body with home cooked meals and that will make cooking with a baby on your hip that much easier!
These are some of the ways that I walked the path of pregnancy. If you are interested to learn more about it- feel free to reach out. I am not a doctor or a midwife so please seek professional guidance if you need it. This is simply my story and what has worked for me. I offer this to you as one way of walking the path. There are many wonderful ways to journey this life. Thank you for reading and feel free to share insights from your story with me. As we tell our story and share our knowledge- we can uplift each other.
Blessings on your journey!