How I Am Preparing My Body For NATURAL LABOR *and home birth prep too!*

hello chat shows welcome here oh i'm so excited so by the time you're watching this video i'm like 35 i'm over 35 weeks pregnant and if you didn't know i've had two of my kids just after the 37 week mark one of them naturally and one of them i did have to get induced because my water was leaking but i wasn't going into labor anyway all i know is that we are getting very close to baby time and i'm really really excited and i was thinking about some videos that i want to pump out pregnancy and labor related just getting them done before baby is here and this is like the main one i really want to focus in on and it is how i'm preparing my body for labor and delivery and even mentally i have some things that i want to touch on and then on top of that i am doing another home birth that's what i'm shooting for so i'll be sharing with you guys how i'm preparing for my home birth as well i'm hoping that kind of no matter what you are going for in your labor and delivery maybe you're having a c-section or a v-back or you want to go full-on natural vaginal birth whatever i hope that you can take a little bit of something from this video i don't think any birth is exactly the same and we all have to go about it a little bit differently because we're all different so um i hope that you like today's video let's just go ahead and get started so a little bit of a background this is baby number four for me i've had natural labors meaning like no epidurals or gas or any sort of like pain relieving drug or anything i guess you could say for any of my labors again my first one i did have to get induced because i wasn't going into labor and my water was leaking for too long my water didn't break it was just leaking in very small increments for too long and i had to get induced but even getting induced i was still able to give birth vaginally and i didn't have to have any sort of a epidural or anything like that my first two were in a hospital my last one was in a bathtub at home and i would like to do the same thing this time around home birth in a bathtub if you're curious about why i like the idea of doing a more natural labor i kind of talked about it in a previous q a and i can link that down below but let me just go ahead how i'm preparing my body for labor this time one of the main ways and i know it's really simple and you may watch this video and realize these are really basic things and they are but man do they ever help and it is deep set squatting it's not just squatting where you're going up and down up and down it is positioning your feet planting them on the ground and then sitting down almost like you want your butt to touch the ground this is something that is so good on so many levels number one it helps your baby stay engaged so if your baby is breached you probably don't want to do this but if your baby is head down and i know baby is head down because i have hiccups way down low and i have kicks way up high you can do belly mapping and usually figure out where your baby is at but please trust your midwife or doctor more than you would trust yourself with belly mapping but i know that my baby is head down so by doing squatting and deep set squatting i'm ensuring that baby is keeping his or her head down and engaged in that area and it also is just a great stretch through your kind of inner thigh crotch vaginal area a deep set squat is just going to open everything beautifully i have pubic symphysis dysfunction and i'm still able to do this i don't find it painful or uncomfortable some ladies can and if you do don't be doing this but for me i can do a deep set squat and i can just feel baby getting into a comfortable position it's more comfortable for me obviously as well because i am carrying baby and that kind of leaning forward is gonna also help your baby keep their spine and stay more out front in your belly versus like staying back you want their spine to be more out front this is going to reduce if not completely eliminate back labor because you don't have spine to spine which is very painful i can't say that i do this for 10 minutes a day or 15 minutes a day but it's kind of like whenever i have the ability to if i'm playing with my kids on the ground or i'm reading a book or whatever i will try to get into a deep set squat sometimes i hold it for 10 seconds sometimes i hold it four or five minutes sometimes even more just really depends and i do start this day one of my pregnancy because i'm just kind of a normal squatter in my everyday life anyways but if you're getting like close to your due date just start squatting all the time next is stretching and i know it's so basic and sometimes when people think of stretching or squatting they think it's so basic they don't do it but these are the things that you can really really do that will help you in the end of your pregnancy early labor and in delivery so stretching is just going to keep you really loose and mobile i love having a natural labor so having my body capable of doing different positions and such uh to help baby get down farther quicker engage baby this is during and before labor not feeling so tight and stuffy in labor but just really feeling like your body is open it's awesome it's a great feeling if i went into labor feeling super tense that would be insane because in labor your body really does tense up because of contractions so going into labor already feeling pretty loose is fantastic this is a great way that i prepare myself for labor and it also it's just very comfortable it relieves back pain it relieves my really bad sciatica my go-to stretches is just open leg side to side giving me and baby a lot of room it also reduces lower back pain and the butterfly stretch happy baby anything like that is awesome a lot of these stretches actually show in a video talking about pelvic pain and i can link that video down below if you just want some good stretches to follow that'll get you ready for labor next is bathing bathing is so important especially for me so i pretty much take a bath every single night if it's too hot i usually skip it but i like taking a bath for a few reasons firstly it's pain relieving i find that me in my fourth pregnancy i've just been really uncomfortable and i've been dealing with a lot more pain than i have in my other pregnancy so it's pain relieving it's muscle relaxing but then on top of that i find that with my belly growing and stretching having a moisturizing bath is great you can do like a goat's milk lotion bath or you can do a coconut oil type of bath i have like a powdered coconut oil bath milk that i'll throw in my bath and it feels really great on my like itchy growing belly and then on top of that having a bath every single night is going to keep your lady parts really moist which is perfect for labor if you are giving birth and your lady parts are really dry or tense you're more likely to rip and tear and it's not comfortable so i love having a really moisturizing bath pretty much every single night for the sake of my lady parts especially going on into labor and that's another reason why i do want to labor in the bathtub because most ladies who labor in the bathtub don't tear does does that happen for everyone no but you're less likely to tear because you have put yourself in a very moisturizing situation where your skin is a lot more gracious and can easily open and pull without tearing on top of that while you're in the bath do a little bit of a perennial massage you can go ahead and google it but it's pretty much you're taking your fingers i've literally chopped off all my nails so i can do this properly and without hurting myself but taking your fingers and just massaging that area opening it stretching it out i also have very tight inner vaginal muscles and it can make my pelvis feel really really sore so while i'm doing that i also go inside and i release some of those muscles as well this is just a great thing to do that's going to help prevent if not just completely eliminate any type of tearing my sister-in-law used to take like a carrier oil and lavender and she would rub it on her lady parts kind of like a couple weeks before her due date if not sooner than that and that helped to really create a nice elasticity through that area and she don't tear so my main thing with preparing for labor as you can probably tell is making sure my body is really loose really capable and really taking care of my lady parts because postpartum if you tear or anything it makes it so much more difficult to do anything and you feel horrible so those are kind of my key things i really focus on next uh physically is just leaning forward so i know just so much of time we want to just lean back but we're encouraging baby to fall back breathing for ourselves that doesn't feel very good so leaning forward like i said previously it encourages your baby to stay more forward in your womb it reduces back labor your baby is better engaged there you may also just find it a little bit more comfortable especially breathing wise on your lungs and also just remember if baby's in a better position for labor you yourself will be in a better position for labor and the pain will usually be decreased because back labor is no fun tummy labor way better i had back labor with my first i never leaned forward i'd never heard of anything like that so i laid back a lot of the time and i got horrible back labor with her with my other kids i really worked on leaning more forwards keeping my center of gravity a little bit more like this and i never experienced back labor just belly labor and let me tell you belly and tummy labor specifically for me it may not be for everyone but for me is way way easier it's more doable i have more control when it's just belly labor back labor it's intense it's really intense so keep that baby forward it's also going to help baby just kind of slide out a lot easier and quicker also i am huge into cervix softening it's like it is a full-on joy for me to soften my cervix at this time in my pregnancy check with your doctor or midwife firstly on all these things but especially here because some people they get a little excited they soften a little bit too much and they can go into a very early labor where that shouldn't have happened but this is what i do for cervix softening so your cervix is pretty much what baby comes through so you have the womb the cervix your baby is kind of putting pressure down on the cervix and then once you start dilating that's your cervix opening up and baby coming through if your cervix is really really tight like think of like a tight rubber band it's hard for anything to really go through and it's going to be painful it's going to take more time but if you have a more loose soft cervix it's gonna be like a loose rubber band and it'll easily open and let things through that is why i am kind of borderline religious about cervix softening so i do three things here the first thing a lot of people know about it is raspberry leaf tea it's it is the same thing as red raspberry leaf tea there are so many people that are like sarah red raspberry and raspberry leaf tea totally different no red raspberry leaf tea and raspberry leaf tea same thing my midwife told me don't worry about it i just take whatever i can find at the store so this time around it was raspberry leaf tea i usually start this more like 33 weeks this time around i didn't start it until honestly like a few days ago and the reason for that is just i want to hold on to this baby until august i've had early labors for all my kids 37 37 39 weeks and i would like to make it to about 39 weeks again so i don't want to overly push my body to go into labor sooner than than it has to be because i want an august baby i'm due august 9th and i really want an august baby we'll see if that happens i don't know but i really want an august baby and not a july baby but we'll see i start off with one cup a day very strong like brew sometimes i'll even prepare it like overnight let the tea bag steep and then in the morning have it over ice and stuff after about a week of that i'm gonna have a couple cups of that after about a week of that i'm gonna have like a pot of that a day i just slowly increase it as time goes on studies show that it softens your cervix so when you go into labor your cervix isn't super hard and holding your baby back but it's really loose and baby can just come through same thing with dates i'm going to start eating dates today two dates a day it softens that cervix you better believe i'm going to be stuffing those with peanut butter so i'm gonna stuff those with peanut butter have two dates a day uh i may get up to three it just kind of depends they're pretty high in sugar but there's a lot of fiber there so if you have gestational diabetes you may not want to do the dates but i don't have that and i'm totally good actually wait i've never had that with my other pregnancies but i wasn't able to get tested this time around but still i'm being very careful i just realized that that's funny anyway dates softens the cervix and then about a week from now i'm going to be doing evening primrose oil gel capsules so it's just it's a gel capsule and i did this with my previous two you poke a little hole into it i usually just put one or two up my vag put on a pad and panties go to sleep i wake up in the morning and all that kind of like oil comes out but this is great to reduce tearing uh because again you're just really moisturizing that area again i'm religious about moisturizing that area before giving birth and then it also softens the cervix so those are my go-to's if you're able to have sex easily i know sometimes later on in in pregnancy it can be really hard but sex can also soften the cervix if your partner you know goes all the way that can soften your cervix as well so i i guess there's four things but i have three full-on go-to's like daily go-to's so those are kind of like my physical things um next is labor videos watching ladies in labor and specifically looking for labor videos that are going to suit your labor plan is a great idea i like to watch all them i watch the c-sections the v-backs the epidurals the naturals i watch them all but i really focus in on home births water births natural births because that's what i'm shooting for again and i take a lot of good stuff from those videos so i feel like mentally watching those videos are just really empowering super cool when you're in labor sometimes you're like i just can't do it i can't do it and then i can think back on a video that i watched of this woman and she did it and it's like you know what i can freaking do that too so i love watching later videos here on youtube i think i honestly i think i just have one labor video up right now and it's my last one it's my home birth with elizabeth in the bathtub i think my my one with calvin got taken down but it was natural in the hospital why'd it get taken down maybe it's still up anyway and then on top of that watching labor tip videos i've been obsessed with i think her name is bridget and she's a birth doula and she's all about just doing it natural and taking care of yourself and just like these glorious labors i can link her video down below where she talks about pain to pleasure and it's beautiful i wish i watched that video with my other pregnancies but it's the idea of tricking your brain from taking the pain and turning it into some sort of a pleasure or taking the pain and introducing pleasure whether it's in scent or in memory or person or whatever and it can actually mentally work to like counteract the pain that you're feeling so i'm going to be doing all of those tips literally in this labor i'm really excited i already have my labor scent which is liquid sunshine by sage it's just the most beautiful citrus insane scent i love it and then more idea of pleasure is just scripture i have my labor scripture written out i go through it i look at it a lot of it is centered around the lord giving his children strength and upholding them with his right hand and i just when i'm in labor i am i'm just preaching scripture to myself about how the lord takes care of his children and how he brings them through tough times for them to get to like glory and i just think it's really beautiful so that's another kind of pain to pleasure technique i'm doing kieran is gonna be there my mom will be there she'll mostly be watching the kids but i do really want to have my kids i guess kind of close by when i'm in labor i'm not a screeching kind of labor person i moan a lot i'm very and i don't think that would scare the kids they've watched my labor videos and they think it's actually totally cool so having my kids there that's another pleasure my sister will be there that's another pleasure obviously kieran being in the bathtub another pleasure so there's just certain things that i have lined up that will get me through and i'm very excited about that so that's pretty much how i'm preparing for my like labor and delivery now talking about more of a home birth i know a lot of people can have nervousness about having a home birth for me having three successful labors that we didn't have to do epidurals or gas or c-sections where like i've had normal pregnancies and normal labors going into my fourth labor knowing what i've done previously i'm feeling really good i'm not nervous at all we're way closer to the hospital this time and i think a lot of people think a home birth is like the midwife showing up and just you giving birth but my midwife is great she drops off bins of stuff that has medical supplies and things that she will or might need depending on what happens my midwife comes prepared and comes with medical supplies so the only thing that my midwife really can't do here is a c-section and that's when we'd book it to the hospital which is like five minutes away if that so happens that's there and i'm thankful for that but my midwife will come here in about a week or so she'll look at my birthing location where i want to give birth she'll look at everything else where she's gonna set everything up she makes a game plan and drops off all the bins and equipment that she will need when i'm in labor and postpartum as well so preparing for my home birth is that as well as finding out my birthing location so i am planning on giving birth in the bathtub again i found the water to be hugely pain relieving very comforting very comfortable so i have my birthing location there and then the setup for my birthing location i will be filming it so we'll have a camera there we're gonna put a lot of babies towels for when baby is born it's just a lot of like whatever we don't care about these towels because they'll be kind of like blood and gross stuff that the baby will put on the towel so we'll have towels ready i do want to give birth in a little bit more of like a treated bathtub no essential oils but some salts are safe for me to put in the bathtub i might do some sort of a moisturizing thing but it needs to be very natural because baby will come through the water and up so whatever baby is going through needs to be safe for baby so my birthing location is mapped out it might change a little bit and my midwife will bring like blue pads which are those pads that just soak up a lot of stuff so if i want to give birth on my bed or on the floor she can lay those down and we can go to town and then things that i want to have on hand for my home birth and if you're having a hospital birth you can take these things along with you maybe minus the popsicles but popsicles i like having something really cold that i can suck on something sweet it's kind of a pleasure thing i really like popsicles and it's summertime so it's gonna be nice to have those my focus scent uh focus scripture i may even just have people write things out and just stick it on the bathroom wall i can read it and focus on it and just love on that scripture and say it to myself and have kieran and other people say it over me i'll have lots of water but the main thing is a comb so i learned about this during this pregnancy but if you have a comb you can hold it push the spokes into your palm and it works as a sense of pain relief kind of almost like acupuncture i've actually used this during some very very painful braxton hicks that i've been having and i was shocked at how much of a pain relief it was so for my home birth kind of having my location things that are going to help me get through my comb my popsicles my people that's what i need for my home birth my home birth is so great and having a home birth is so great because everything is minimal i already have all my stuff here i have my baby clothes here i have my adult diapers i have you know i have everything i need here i don't have to pack it all up and bring it it's all actually here so it's just there's certain tools and things that i need while i'm in labor and having my birthing location mapped out it's very very simple and minimal and i love that and it works really well for me so praying that baby doesn't come before 37 weeks and that i am full term when i go into labor so i can actually have my home birth and that there's no complications or anything that is my prayer and i'm really really excited so that that's it that's how i'm preparing my body my mind and that's my home birth kind of prep it's simple it's basic but i think as someone who's given birth three times before and feeling really good about this time around keep it simple and keep it basic don't overthink it don't overdo it just what do you need what's gonna help you the best and focus on that also be open to trying new things and seeing if there's certain things that you can do that would help you or your spouse to help you it's very exciting and it's very cool and i am so looking forward to labor it's very empowering for me and it's such an exciting time so thank you for watching this video i hope that it was helpful and i hope that you learned something from it look forward to my labor video it's coming you guys it's coming i will see you guys in my next video bye

Channel: Sarah Therese

Views: 241,036

Keywords: preparing for labor, labor prep, labor, birth, birthing, labouring, sarah therese, sarahtherese, laboring, home birth, tips, tricks, comb, method, pain management

Id: rW6T8MGsx5k

Length: 23min 39sec (1419 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 05 2021