what preparation can I do to help my body be ready for home birth?

[Bournefree]

Pregnancy bellydancing!!!!!??! that sounds awesome!
XxX

 

[lynnikins]

a birthing ball in place of your normal chair will help baby position right, rasberry leaf tea is good you can also get it in capsules instead if you dont like the taste of the tea, Clary sage oil ( with a carrier oil ) rubbed on your bump when you start into early labor can help regulate and streghten contractions and Evening primrose oil can help soften the cervix. Lots of walking and no leaning back on stuff lol,

i found it helpful to spend time kneeling leaning forwards on stuff i would kneel on a folded towel leaning on my birthing ball in the evenings while watching tv with OH to build up my ability to stay in that posistion in case i wanted to birth in that posistion in the birthing pool

 

[sam#3]

i used a big gym ball to help with the position of the baby, took raspberry leaf capsules and had butter baths with clary sage oil in which were divine!!

 

[Nikki_d72]

Pregnancy bellydancing!!!!!??! that sounds awesome!
XxX

Yip, evidently bellydancing was originally a labour dance, not the sexy thing that's it's seen as now. I can't remember the lady's name that popped up, but it was all slow cricling of the pelvis with bent knees, "drawing a circle with your belly", I can see how it would help! It seemed a kind of meditative thing too, with nice repetitve music. She was 40-something and about 8 months pregnant in the clip, with all the traditional garb on and she looked fabulous.

 

[Bournefree]

Wow! That makes total sense to me.
I was comforted in labour my a wonderful midwife, who whilst I was in the bathroom holding on to the towel rail trying to semi squat and arching my back out, gave me great advice. She simply placed her hands on my hips and helped me do a salsa-type move with my hips in a figure of 8.
I'm def be trying this again in early labour.
What a great video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGSTqvputf8

 

[Mervs Mum]

Probably not many classes in peru but while we are on the subject.....

https://www.dancingforbirth.com/

 

[Bournefree]

On the subject of dances; I do think that labour is very much a dance for both mother and baby in labour, if left uninhibited. Babies will get into the right positions the majority of times, and mother instictively move about to ease baby down at the right moments, without even having to think about it - we are amazing women!
XxX

 

[Mervs Mum]

1000000% agree. Its why when we are fully aware and in the moment ie not spaced out on opiates or with crucial parts of your birthing body numb, you can dance that dance together and really communicate with each other intuitively.

 

[madasa]

I took red raspberry leaf all through my third tri!

SQUAT!

Have lots of great sex. It's the best prep evahhh!

 

[Jodie.82]

Pregnancy bellydancing!!!!!??! that sounds awesome!
XxX

Yip, evidently bellydancing was originally a labour dance, not the sexy thing that's it's seen as now. I can't remember the lady's name that popped up, but it was all slow cricling of the pelvis with bent knees, "drawing a circle with your belly", I can see how it would help! It seemed a kind of meditative thing too, with nice repetitve music. She was 40-something and about 8 months pregnant in the clip, with all the traditional garb on and she looked fabulous.

sounds like spiralling which ive been reading about on https://mynaturalchildbirth.org/

makes sense really!

thanks for all the tips ladies

 

[Jodie.82]

I took red raspberry leaf all through my third tri!

SQUAT!

Have lots of great sex. It's the best prep evahhh!

I wished! OH is not a fan of DTD now the bump is big

 

[chuck]

^^^ I was in the same boat, hubby did not find big bump sexy (as much as I loved it I felt feminine, sexy and proud of my body for the only 2 times in my life) but he actually pointed and laughed at me once 'bwahahaha you're huge' cheers hubby.

We DTD a handful of times this last pregnancy the last time in 3rd tri we gave up half way through, he wasnt really getting much out of it and all I got was heartburn and a mouthful of sick LOL Needless to say I didn't DTD to bring on labour.

I had a screaming row with my Mum instead - just as hear work and just as hormonal LOL!

 

[Jodie.82]

chuck me too I feel better about my body now! maybe because its doing such an amazing job growing this little miracle
my OH said he cant believe the mutation of my body!! (to be fair English is his second language and can sometimes offend with his word choices!!)
haha sounds lovely!

 

[chuck]

mutation?! bwahaha bless.

I love my body big and pg, it has curves in the right places for once.

 

[Nikki_d72]

I can't wait to get to that stage, I just look really fat and broad just now! I'm a good bit overweight to begin with - I stupidly thought I might be able to eat healthily and lose body fat whilst pregnant, PAH! I'm waking up in the middle of the night hungry and if I don't cave in and eat something I get sick, all I want is plain carbs as well - I'm doomed to be huge and I'm only a wee shorty, I'm gonna end up like a weeble!!

On a positive note, I did my first pregnancy yoga class today with my friend and neighbour and it was lovely and relaxing as well as good physical preparation. I found the squats really hard so need to work on the strength of my thighs, especially to have an active birth but was quite pleasantly surprised with my flexibility. The visualisation and affirmations were great too, as was focusing on breathing, and the training to "witness any pain or discomfort" and just observe it passing, that seems like a really good one for labour. Here's hoping it all helps me in the end.

 

[Jodie.82]

I know bless him!!

Nikki, I could really only eat carbs until I stopped feeling nauseous about 15 weeks! all I ever wanted was bread or sponge cake, and I normally dont even like anything sweet at all!
your Yoga class sounds heavenly! Im jealous I wish I had done something all the way through the pregnancy but have been between countries. I just found someone who does prenatal classes here! but although what they cost is miniscule when you convert to pounds im not working and seems like an excess expense so I might have to stick to the youtube idea!

 

[Nikki_d72]

Jodie, I just saw my Midwife again today, she's a really experienced homebirth midwife, and I asked her what the best things to do to prepare were - I told her I'm reading heaps to educate myself, and trying to excersise a wee bit, and she said, that's about it for now, try to go for wee walks, to prepare my body and do things to prepare my mind, so you maybe don't need to do anything too structured or expensive, just walk, and read and prepare yourself mentally. XX

 

[Jodie.82]

thanks Nikki, in that case im already doing it x