Books
- Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth & Modern Maternity Care
- Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives
- Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method: A natural approach to a safe, easier, more comfortable birthing
- The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth
- Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Natural Childbirth
- Creating Your Birth Plan: The Definitive Guide to a Safe and Empowering Birth
- The Baby Book; Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two
- The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child
- The Attachment Parenting Book: A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby
- The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth
- The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning
- The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (La Leche League)
- Birth: The Surprising History of How We are Born
- Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children
Videos
The Business of Being Born *Hands down, BEST documentary/informative video you can watch!
Nutrition & Supplements
Bio Oil - to prevent stretch marks- I'm 35 weeks now and it's worked wonders so far- I don't use it twice a day as the label says, probably 3-4 times a week, awesome stuff!
Garlic (oral) supplements- I use whole foods brand, this daily pill-form supplement has antibacterial properties and discourages growth of bad bacteria, such as Group B Strep
Cranberry Extract Concentrate- also in pill form, promotes healthy urinary tract, as pregnant women are predisposed to more UTI's- yuck! I take this daily.
Emergen-C - normally I take Airborne supplement through the winter to avoid cold/flus- there are herbs in Airborne that aren't proven safe for pregnancy so regular Emergen-C is just a super dose of Vitamin C, it has been a nice stand-in, 2-3x a week during cold/flu season helped me stay healthy!
Rainbow Light Prenatal Vitamins - BEST prenatals ever. I took Target store brand prenatals while trying to conceive, they were ok, the prescription vitamins that the fertility center put me on (Vitafol OB) had me constipated and nauseous in no time... they were awful! When we toured the birth center the midwife recommended Rainbow Light, which are all made from plants, not pharmaceutical lab chemical compounds, what a difference!!
Lifeway Kefir - I learned about Kefir while pregnant, had honestly never considered trying it until I truly understood the potential benefits for your digestive tract and gut. This liquidy yogurt-cousin does a fantastic job of building good bacterial colonies in your gut, which in turn eat the bad bacteria in the gut- hence lowering risk of Group B Strep (and requiring antibiotics via IV in labor). I mix mine in the blender with frozen fruit for awesome smoothies :-)
Vitamin D - this link is to a news article discussing the protective benefits of getting extra vitamin D in pregnancy for the newborn with regard to RSV, a respiratory virus. If mom takes in plenty during pregnancy, baby has a reduced risk of this respiratory infection in her first year of life, I take an extra 500 IU daily.
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea- My midwives sell this by the ounce, you can also buy teabags by Traditional Medicinals at many grocers... it prepares the uterus for birth, it stimulates the uterine muscles but does not cause contractions. Some women drink 4 or more cups daily, good hot or cold, I enjoy it with honey.
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea- My midwives sell this by the ounce, you can also buy teabags by Traditional Medicinals at many grocers... it prepares the uterus for birth, it stimulates the uterine muscles but does not cause contractions. Some women drink 4 or more cups daily, good hot or cold, I enjoy it with honey.
Other Great Ideas!
Join a local La Leche League! Join Early!- I went to my first meeting about 4 months pregnant so I would have time to find the perfect group if the first (or second) didn't work out. I knew that I wanted to get to know some LLL moms and especially a leader. Did you know... any breastfeeding mom can call a LLL Leader anytime for breastfeeding help...for free. Any time! Any question! Talk about support!! I lucked out and the first meeting I attended was fantastic and I've made some awesome friends in LLL already. BG McD will have some great baby friends as soon as she arrives. Fabulous!
Go to a chiropractor! Before and during pregnancy! My hips are slightly misaligned and I am confident that my regular adjustments helped with fertility. As baby and uterus grow, mom's center of gravity changes. Getting regular chiropractic adjustments through pregnancy not only decreases back pain/discomfort but also encourages the uterus to be in a position such that the baby wants to be vertex... If the back is misaligned the uterus can be at a slightly awkward angle and make it difficult for the baby to turn head down. My chiropractor explained that once the uterus gets to a certain size, a properly aligned spine will make vertex position most comfortable for baby, so he/she will naturally gravitate to the head down position. A friend who is a chiropractor swears by it for pregnant women and said his friends who have had babies report shorter, less painful labors. I've had a few times where I've felt a tight belly and discomfort which dissipates after an adjustment, and baby was head down quite early on :)
What are your must-haves? I want to hear from you, blog readers! What's been helpful for you?
I'm going to have to add some of those books to my reading list! I'm excited to hear about garlic supplements and Kefir! I've never even heard of Kefir and had no idea that garlic helped with Strep B. I had it both times I was pregnant so I had to get antibiotics via IV during labor. I will definitely be looking into these next time around ;) Congrats again on Addison Grace! You chose a beautiful name for her and I can't wait to hear (and see!) more about her :)
ReplyDelete