Prenatal tips

Nutrition

1. Follow a healthy diet, choosing organic whenever possible, especially for diary products.
2. Consume adequate amounts of fiber to avoid constipation (approximately 25-30 grams per day.)
3. Limit sugar and white flour and other empty carbs.
4. Stay active and fit. Ask your midwife or doctor for recommendations about the best ways for you to enjoy exercise. Many mothers enjoy swimming, yoga, and walking.
5. When making casseroles, muffins, chili, etc., late in pregnancy, make an extra batch for the freezer to have on hand after the baby arrives.
6. Drink at least 8-10 glasses of pure water every day.
7. If you have previously had a large baby, consider a consultation with a registered dietician to learn more about optimal nutrition.

Planning for the big day

1. Consider making an affirmation tape. Write out positive statements about your birth and tape record yourself saying them. Listen every day. Examples: “I trust my body.” “My body is perfectly made.” “I give birth to my baby easily.”
2. Make special plans with your spouse for your due date. In case the baby has not yet come, you will still have something fun to look forward to and enjoy together. It will be your last date for a while!
3. Compile a list of helpful tasks that family and friends can do when they offer help. Examples: Laundry, meal preparation, errand running, etc.
4. Attend a local La Leche League meeting. (www.lalecheleague.org)
5. Plan a catch phrase or mantra that you can use during labor. Examples: “Breathe in energy, breathe out fear,” or “Open, stretch, expand.”

Preparations for post partum

1. Read books on birth and breastfeeding. Some of our favorites:

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
The Baby Book by Dr. Sears

2. Set up a nursing station. Pick an area with a supportive chair and a small table. Supplies to have near by: magazines, books, a water bottle, a cooler to stock with healthy snacks, pillows, music source, boppy, and a portable phone.
3. Purchase some refrigerated Acidophilus. Many mothers who receive antibiotics in labor can have a tendency toward yeast infections. Live acidophilus can help reestablish the good bacteria in your system.
4. Get a good lullaby CD. My favorite is Sleep, Baby Sleep by Nicolette Larson.
5. Lavender and Tea Tree oil can be very soothing to the perineum.
Have some on hand for soaking in a shallow tub. A few drops
per bath are all you need. Swirl the water around your bottom.
6. Purchase a sling or baby carrier. (www.cobaltacarriers.com)

Birth

1. Accept the process, whatever it brings. Embrace the experience rather than fighting it.
2. Try mantras like “Open” and “Release.”
3. Keep facial muscles loose and relaxed.
4. Gravity and movement are your friends.
5. Forget the clock. Embrace each contraction, surrendering fully to it so that your body can do what it needs to do.
6. Surround yourself with those who love you and will support your choices.
7. Visualize the changes you wish to see in your body. Good ones to help: A rose blooming wide open, and ever increasing concentric ripples formed in a pond when a stone is cast.
8. Keep a positive outlook- What you think about you bring about! Ask your support people to remind you of this often.
9. Drink lots of water! It is very easy to get dehydrated during labor.
10. Rest as much as possible. Giving birth is like running a marathon. Conserve your energy.
11. Believe you can and you will!
12. Focus on the contraction instead of the pain. Focus on the productive work that it does to your body so that your baby can be born.
13. Consider limiting the number of family and friends in the waiting room. I have seen many a "watched pot" refuse to boil.

Post Partum

1. Breastfeed! Contact your local lactation consultant or La Leche League Leader for help. If you hit a rough patch, ask for help right away. Nursing is a learned skill for you and your baby.
2. Be gentle with yourself. Adjusting to motherhood takes time.
3. When friends offer help, graciously accept offers for meal delivery
and play dates for older siblings.
4. Surround your self with those who support you. However, remember that you are not a hostess. You and your husband/partner also need private time with your new child.
5. Seek out other new mothers. Good places to find them are La Leche League meetings, local baby wearer groups, mommy and me yoga classes, and local attachment parenting groups.
6. Drink at least 8-10 glasses of pure water every day.
7. Have a friend or family member bake you a turkey and make cranberry sauce. The turkey is good protein and has nutrients that promote sleep. Cranberries are good for the urinary track.
8. Rebuild your body by taking a good vitamin, eating healthy, unprocessed foods, and drinking water.
9. Enjoy your “baby moon.” Snuggle up with your new baby and let
the world whiz around while the two of you fall in love and really
get to know each other. These days go fast!

"Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers-- strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength."
-- Barbara Katz-Rothman