Today I’m sharing what goes into preparing for a home birth. First and foremost in order to have a home birth you must be a low risk mother (meaning no hypertension, gestational diabetes or other complications), your baby must be head down (in most states), and your baby must be born between 37 and 42 weeks gestation. If you’d like to know more about home birth in general and why it is as safe (attended by a well experienced Midwife or OB of course) for a low risk pregnancy than the hospital, I highly recommend watching the documentary Why Not Home. If you feel home is the best place for your baby to be born, finding a Midwife or OB that you completely trust is definitely the next step.
I’ll be 35 weeks pregnant in a couple days and I am definitely at the point where almost everything is uncomfortable, moving, sleeping, picking up my kids. I’ve been having muscle separation pain near my pubic bone and it’s painful to turn over in bed. If I sit on the floor for extended periods of time, it ruins my tailbone and it’s painful to walk, thanks to the hormone relaxin. I am continuing to go to the chiropractor bi-weekly to keep everything aligned. Baby is definitely maxing out on space and I have a feeling this baby is very long like his brother because his feet are all up in my ribs. I’m also at the point where even if I have a half ounce of pee in my bladder I feel like I have a full bladder. Braxton Hicks are coming a lot more frequently the past couple weeks as my uterus preps for labor and birth.
There is a lot of confusion surrounding exercising while pregnant and postpartum, and understandably so, because there is so much conflicting information out there. I did not have all the information I needed when I was pregnant with my first. I continued to do the same exercises I was doing prior to pregnancy which at the time I thought was fine. I found out later that some of the exercises I was doing put too much strain on my core / abdominals and probably caused more muscle separation pain than was normal and hindered my recovery postpartum. I also had no idea how connected breath is to deep core and pelvic floor muscles! These were things I didn’t find on google or even learn from my prenatal care providers.
One of my readers recently asked me if I have taken a folic acid supplement throughout all my pregnancies and the answer will probably surprise you. I have talked about this topic before in my post on supplements, but I figured I would go a little more into depth for those of you interested. Folate is found in plants. Folic acid is the synthetic form, and is chemically different than folate, is found in supplements and fortified foods and is twice as absorbable by the human body compared to natural folate. Folate is essential in the folding of the neural tube which is a precursor to the brain and central nervous system in a growing embryo. This happens in the first 3-4 weeks of pregnancy, probably before you even know you are pregnant, which is why it is so important to have adequate intake prior to pregnancy. As most of you probably know, insufficient folate can have devastating effects on a pregnancy, leading to birth defects. However, synthetic folic acid, found in most prenatal and multi-vitamin supplements is linked to increased risk of breast and colon cancers. A 2011 meta-analysis of six folic acid supplementation trials found that the incidence of cancers was 21 percent higher in the folic acid supplementation groups than control groups.
Finishing out the last week of my second trimester and it’s always such a surprise when I reach that third trimester mark! Things start to get real! I have been feeling really good (besides for injuring something near my tail bone last weekend, which is better now)! I’ve been working out consistently and strengthening my body which feels so good! Actually making myself do it is tough but I am always so glad I did afterwards. I am loving Ali’s pregnancy workout which is broken down into trimesters and weeks. I think I’ll try to do a separate post on that too. I still have the sciatic pain the day after sex, which is annoying but could be so much worse. Exercising has really helped with a varicose vein I developed as well. Yeah you read that correctly, women with normal BMI get them too, who knew! I also think drinking celery juice has helped improve the vein too, although it could just be the extra hydration in general that’s helping. Still have the stubborn hormonal eczema on my face but it is soooo much better since I’ve been using Yay For Earth face lotion!
As promised, an update on my postpartum journey to heal my pelvic floor and diastasis recti. For those of you following along for awhile, you saw my first post on the 10 week program I had started back in January. If you haven’t read that post yet, head over there for a point of reference and for an interview with women’s health personal trainer Ali Frendin. Ok, I know it’s been a lot more than 10 weeks since January but life happened and I actually had to re-start the program after missing two weeks and losing progress. Today I am recapping what my physical status was before the program and the all progress I saw throughout the program!
why chiropractic care is important for pre-conception, pregnancy, postpartum and beyond
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Today I have the privilege of interviewing my chiropractor Dr. Kim Barber. She went to school at Life University and received her Doctor of Chiropractic Degree (D.C.) in 1996 and has been practicing chiropractic for 21 years. She practices in Bridgewater, NJ with her husband Dr. Joe Barber. I’ve been her patient for about 4 years and I can say that she truly has a passion to help others live their healthiest and feel their best! I have been bringing both my babies as well since they were just a few days old! I love her approach to chiropractic because she looks at the whole person and understands that emotional stress can affect our bodies just as much as physical stress. Chiropractic care is important for everyone regardless of their age but today we are talking specifically why it is important for women who want to become pregnant, are already pregnant and beyond!
guest post: personal trainer ali frendin on pelvic floor & abdominal health
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I can barely contain my excitement about today’s post! Why? Because this is a topic women are not talking about enough and which affects our everyday life including our sex life, social life, exercise routines, day to day mothering and just about everything! Today, I have the honor of interviewing Ali Frendin, mum of two littles (yeah she’s an Aussie) and a women’s health personal trainer with over ten years experience. She practices a holistic and full body approach to health and exercise during pregnancy, postpartum and beyond and is backed up by up to date research by leading women’s health physiotherapists. She offers coaching programs in her hometown in Australia as well as online programs for pregnancy, post-natal and pilates.
I came across Ali and Real Fitness for Mums on Instagram just after the birth of my second baby and am so glad I did! I am about half way through her Ultimate Core Restore program and have already had SO MUCH progress (keep reading for details)!
I feel very lucky to have learned how closely related the way we treat our bodies is to our health before I was ready to have children. If I had still been eating bagels and quad venti caramel macchiatos from Starbucks, I know this season of my life would have looked very different. I had been eating a nutrient rich diet for years before my husband and I even started talking about children. I was able to balance my hormones and heal myself of debilitating dysmenorrhea just by cutting out sugar and processed food from my diet. I had done biannual whole food cleanses for a few years to rid my body of any toxins that had accumulated. In the year leading up to “trying” I was very intent on limiting alcohol to very special occasions, exercising regularly and eating as much nutrient rich plant foods as possible. Even when we started trying for a baby, it took us almost a year to get pregnant.
If you are able to plan ahead of time for pregnancy, you are really giving yourself and your baby the best environment to thrive. Most expecting mommas spend hours researching the best carseat, mattress, stroller, etc. but put very little energy into preparing their bodies for the miracle of carrying and forming a baby for 40 weeks! I’m not saying that researching those things are wrong, I’m just saying that if a tiny human is growing from what is stored in our bodies, wouldn’t we want to have the best nutrient store to grow the strongest and healthiest baby possible? I like to think of our bodies as gardens. The more you tend to your garden and feed it with the right compost, clean water and sunshine, the better the vegetables will taste and grow. The same goes for our bodies and growing a baby.
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