5 Tips To Prepare For Childbirth

As my due date nears, I have been thinking about how I can prepare my mind and body for the birth ahead. Now don’t get me wrong, I have been preparing my whole pregnancy for labor and making sure my body is balanced and functioning at its most optimal level. But with there only being a few weeks left, its crunch time (and I don’t mean doing crunches ;))

There are so many unknown things that lead up to the arrival of a baby but being prepared and OPEN minded is all you can be. With my first born, I was so set in my ways, closed minded and naive…I thought that labor would be easy because I strength trained the whole way through. I thought she would arrive on time and that I would need ZERO interventions. Isn’t that what all first time moms think?? Well this was just not realistic. If you are a first time mom or a second or third etc…don’t make the mistakes I made and prepare BOTH your mind and your body for what essentially is a marathon ahead.

5 Tips to help prepare your body and mind for childbirth (in no particular order)

1.     Eliminating fear & positive affirmations

I have been reading the book HypnoBirthing, The Mongan Method since I was around 28 weeks pregnant. It is a great book that covers many topics of pregnancy and childbirth. However, my main take home point is to eliminate the fear that is associated with having a baby and labor itself. There are many fears that can rear their ugly heads when it comes to brining a child into the world. Not only your own fears, but fears or experiences that other mothers have had and feel the need to tell you. 

The key is to acknowledge them and then make a plan to eliminate or solve the issue. For myself, it is the fear that my labor will be too quick second time round and I won’t make it to the hospital, that I will need an induction again and that I will tear/worsen my prolapse which I have worked so hard on correcting. These things are out of my control but there are elements that have put my mind at rest. For example, I have a midwife who can come to me and be with me during labor and I can prepare some things to have at home as a 'just in case' scenario. 

How I am dealing with it is multi-faceted, but I am mainly using positive affirmations like my baby will come when she is ready, my house is a perfectly safe environment to give birth, my body is capable to handle childbirth.

2.     Yoga/stretching

I have since stopped using strength training exercises as my main focus, instead I am focused on lengthening and loosening my muscles. I have been paying particular attention (in and outside of the yoga studio) to hip opening exercises and hip mobility. Here is what I have been doing:-

-      Deep squats with hands against the wall

-      Deep squats against a stability ball

-      Hip circles on the stability ball

-      All 4s hip circles

-      Wide child’s pose

-      Side laying over a stability ball

-      Adductor stretches like butterfly or seated straddle

-      Figure 4 stretch (seated and reclined but not flat on the floor)

-      Standing hamstring stretch (hands pressing against a wall and hinging at 90 degrees from the hips, tail bone pushing up and back)

Hip opening stretches

I Have been aiming to do a little stretch every day for about 10-15 mins, it doesn’t have to be a lot but whatever time you have. Along with this, I focus on my breath. The core breath from Bellies Inc is great however at this point in time there should be a strong focus on the relaxation of the pelvic floor and not contracting it. Almost like you are making you pelvic floor blossom (NOT pressing/bearing down, just letting it relax and soften.) You can also use some trigger point balls (like yoga tune up balls) to help release any tension in your pelvic floor.

3.     Perineal massage

Yes that’s right, massaging and stretching the tissue between your vaginal opening and rectum. It isn’t too difficult but it can hurt, it is a great way to help the tissues prepare for the birth ahead. I had never heard of this with my first labor but this time round my midwife gave me a little handout with some instructions and pros for doing the massage. I had also heard about it throughout training I had done for postpartum personal training and podcasts I had listened to. There are a couple of options you can do…but I opted for the FREE version…self massage!! There is also a tool called the Epi-No, however it is rather expensive and out of my budget…the link is HERE to find out more.

The benefit of doing perineal massage is to allow the tissues to stretch slowly over time to prevent tearing or surgical cuts as the baby is birthed. You can start doing massage from about 34-36 weeks pregnant and spent a few mins per day on the massage.

4.     Chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture

Throughout my pregnancy I have been seeing a chiropractor at Two River Health here in Guelph Ontario. I truly believe it has saved my body from getting too uncomfortable. I would begin to show mild signs of pubic symphysis dysfunction/diastasis (SPD) and sacroiliac joint discomfort but the pain never got out of control (until now, when baby’s head is nestled right into my pelvis). It is so important to keep your pelvis and spine happy during pregnancy as a happy pelvis leads to a happy delivery! 

Not only have I been getting adjustments, but I have just started acupuncture to help with the fear of birth, energy levels, balance and eventually to help bring baby into the world. There are particular points a trained therapist can use to complement other treatments but only if you feel comfortable. You wouldn’t want it to add to the fears you already feel.

5.     Massage

Saved the best till last right?? Who doesn’t like a massage?? Now the baby is getting big and putting extra strain on your body, what better reason could there be? Just make sure you find a therapist trained in prenatal massage. Although massage this late in the game cannot really dig deep into the sore points you have, it can still add some relief (especially lower back discomfort or even swollen feet and ankles). 

So there you have it, my list of what I am doing to help my body and mind prepare for child birth! If you have any tips be sure to let me know!

HAPPY HEALTHY DELIVERIES MAMAS!!

Is it really about weight loss?

I was sitting listening to a webinar on body image and it made me reflect on my past and how I use to treat my body. I have come a long way since my insecure years in high school/university. But what changed?

I have struggled with weight my whole life, I have always been small and on the low end of healthy….entering into unhealthy. I have been blessed with a fast metabolism but this does not mean I was happy. Every woman struggles with their body…prodding, poking and criticizing every second they get. Why can't I look like that supermodel, this is what I really want to look like. But is it really? Why do you want to look that way? Will it give you happiness? Will it make people love you more?

So what right do I have to tell you it isn't all about weight loss if I have never been over weight!

What I’m really trying to tell you is that mindset is the key to happiness. As soon as I shifted my mindset to loving my body for what it is I began to feel happy, content and even satisfied with who I am. I think I put too much energy into how I looked so I could have friends, love and achieve more. But my body wasn't the issue (even though I though it was for many years). It was all in my head, it was all about how I saw at myself.

Change your mindset, change your life.

So you just had a baby and you're thinking RIGHT, now its time to get my post baby body back. Well don’t waste the first weeks focusing on how to get your body back, you may never have the same body but that is OK! Life shouldn't revolve around losing weight if it’s just about getting smaller, that was a tough lesson I had to learn. No matter how small I got…nothing changed. I was still insecure, I still hated my body, I still struggled with liking myself. So why do you REALLY want to get smaller??

Lets shift the focus to why you should eat healthy and workout. Have a real conversation with yourself about what your motivation is, but try to stay away from visual body goals.

• You want more energy
• You want to be able to run after your toddler without feeling out of breath
• You want to glow from the inside out
• You want to prevent diseases that run in the family.
• You want to show a good example for your children.
• You want to FEEL GREAT!!

You created a life from NOTHING….thats amazing! Your body is capable of doing amazing things, you have to start loving it for what it can do. If you start to listen to your body and feed it what it really needs (both exercise and food) the weight loss will be a side effect. Mindfulness, moderation (although that word sucks lol) intuition, treat your body right. But eat that cookie too, its ok. Eat food because it nourishes the body, exercise because it gives you strength. 

Have an even keel approach not a quick one time fix, slow and steady really does win the race.

Learning to look at yourself differently can be hard, but take small steps to make positive changes both physically and mentally. If it means unfollowing all the #fitmoms with their midriffs showing DO IT! Whatever makes you feel good about yourself. You are perfect, you grew a human from scratch!!

Happy workouts mamas!

some days you feel like screaming

Friday felt like I had the WHOLE world on my shoulders. I'm not usually the type of person to get stressed but I can very easily feel overwhelmed. I had a very challenging week where my husband was away on business, Eden what having a VERY (understatement) challenging week and my puppy was going through an 'I'm going to test everything' phase. Each element alone is fine, even two parts combined is OK, but three all in one week......and I'm a mess!!

I was trying to dry my hair in the bathroom and Eden is doing her usual empty the bathroom cabinet whilst my husband is down stairs...and that was it....I picked her up....stormed downstairs....and threw her at my husband (ok not literally, that would be child/husband abuse)....went back upstairs and sobbed my little heart out. My hair never got dried that day!

It happens even to the best of us. We ALLLLL have them, some once a week and some once a year. I never really thought about how to change these episodes until now. But it really is useful for your mental health and well-being to put systems in place to help you out when you feel like 'LIFE' is getting too much. Even if it isn't depression the Canadian Mental Health Association (www.cmha.ca) has some really useful information about looking after your mental health.

Here is what I learned;

1. Have a good support system. This could be friends, extended family, neighbors and of course your husband (when he is there)
2. Have food available in the freezer for easy access. When times are tough and you REALLY don't feel like cooking, have a couple back up meals in the freezer waiting.
3. Schedule activities in the week. For this week I had very few plans which meant I sat around the house feeling sorry for myself.
4. Sleep. Whether it be a nap during the day or going to bed extra early, just make sure you get what you need to recharge for the next day.
5. Indulge yourself. This could be something as small as having a coffee in a coffee shop, going for a pedicure or having a nice long bath while everyone is sleeping.

Next week is another challenging week for me so I have hired some help (my mother-in-law), planned some alone time and prepared some quick and easy meals I can make when time is a challenge.

I hope this help all you mamas feel 'normal' and give you some tools to fight through the tough times. If you're a new mom and it seems like more than just feeling low/overwhelmed talk to someone. There is help out there.

“Its natural for new parents to experience mood swings, feeling joyful one minute and depressed the next. These feelings are sometimes known as the ‘baby blues,’ and often go away soon after birth. However, some parents may experience a deep and ongoing depression that last much longer. This is called postpartum depression.”

— http://www.cmha.ca/mental_health/postpartum-depression

Yours in health, Lucy.