First lets start off with a book list!
I would highly recommend the two books HypnoBirthing and Essential Oils for Pregnancy, Birth & Babies. There are hypnobirthing classes you can take as well. I did one at the hospital, so check your local area for labor classes.
Let me give you a quick run down: HypnoBirthing is basically meditation and letting your body do its thing. It teaches you and your fear to get out of the way and trust the process. The book goes over a fascinating history of HypnoBirthing, and gives you CDs to listen to and practice. The book talks about where the “pain” comes from in labor, and how you can do a natural birth without it.
The second book, Essential Oils for Pregnancy, Birth & Babies is by a midwife that I met with my second child. She is amazing and very knowledgeable. Her book goes through oils that will help in pregnancy and good ones to have on hand for labor as well as after birth. She has a lot of tips and ideas of what you can do. Both books are good to have beforehand so you can practice the meditations and relaxation tips.
Check out my post “Oils for Babies & Holistic Protocols” for all the things you might run into with your baby and infants.
Here are some other tips and ideas for morning sickness:
Ugh. Yes this one is a big one. Unfortunately there is not a one-all cure-all because there are many reasons a woman’s body has morning sickness during pregnancy in the first place. Here are some causes of morning sickness:
- Most often it is a hormonal change. Red raspberry tea can help this one, and you can combine it with ginger and alfalfa mint.
- Another cause is a congested liver. Yellow bile that is vomited in the morning during the first weeks of pregnancy is often a sign of liver congestion. Dandelion and yellow dock can help with this one, and doing a liver cleanse AFTER birth and AFTER nursing but before next pregnancy would be very helpful.
- Morning sickness may be low blood sugar. Making tea with honey and getting something in your system right when you wake up and having something by the bed would help.
Other tips to help with morning sickness:
- Vitamin B6 in 200mg for 10 days, and then only 5–9 mg each day after, has been shown to control morning sickness. Make sure to get a Vitamin B complex and Vitamin C.
- Clove tea might help—steep 1 tsp in 1 cup boiling water.
Tips for labor and after birth
Jaundice: It is so simple to avoid! Pack a Vitamin E soft gel capsule in your bag and all you are going to do is in your first feeding pop the capsule and squeeze in baby’s mouth. Then you feed them and they get simple Vitamin E, which does huge wonders to get their liver and bile going. This way you avoid lights and having to go back to the hospital after just getting home to recover.
Back labor: I would look into a TENS unit. Cheap for avoiding pain, although for some women it work wonders and for others, not so much. Every women is different and then every labor is different. You never know until you are in it and then you just have to try different things. Black pepper essential oil is also good for back labor and another option you can try.
Milk production: My advice is just invest and get a good pump right off the bat. You will have a lot of milk in the beginning, and its best just to keep that up for when you fall into stressful times. So pump, pump, pump and freeze the milk for a rainy day. Putting cabbage on your breasts right when you are getting all your milk in helps with pain. Keeping the milk pumped out will help avoid stretch marks (yes on your breasts), as well as help avoid pain and infection.
To increase milk, there are lots of things to try: Mother’s milk tea works great. Green salads, green smoothies, chlorophyll, and lots of water for hydration is key. Taking taking brewer’s yeast/nutritional yeast at 3-4 tablets or 1 tsp and then slowly increasing, because it might cause gas in the beginning is a huge help. Even nonalcoholic beer can help if you are desperate (I would get a good organic brand). Pink Stork is a good brand for supplements, and there are also lactation brownies that are really good that you can make.
If nothing is working for you, you might not have any ducts. You can get an ultrasound to check, but you might just not have ever had them. Do not stress over nursing if it simply does not work for you. You can make your own formula, one that is close to mothers milk. Check out my recipe in this post, “Infant Formula.”
To decrease milk or for someone wanting to dry up, parsley herb helps, so make some Italian food! Also try using peppermint oil.
Tearing & Scar tissue: If you tore, you can avoid scar tissue and painful sex by taking an enzyme three times a day on an empty stomach. This means no food. For example: take an enzyme right when you wake up, right when you go to bed, and once in the middle of the day. Do this for two months and you can avoid reconstructive plastic surgeries. Helichrysum essential oil is also amazing to heal nerves and tissue—use a couple drops in 1/2 tsp of coconut or olive oil.
Mastitis: I would not wish this on my worst enemy. I would say it’s way worse than labor. I was down in bed for over a week. To avoid mastitis you need to make sure the milk does not stay and “sit” in the ducts. Make sure everything keeps moving. But also make sure you are getting enough sleep. If you do get mastitis, treat it like a cold and take immune herbs/supplements every hour. Use lavender essential oil topically.
Peri Spray: One thing that will help you heal up quickly is peri spray. Peri sprays are amazing. You can make your own with this recipe: In 2 oz spray bottle, fill half with witch hazel and add 3 Tbsp fractionated coconut oil, 10 drops helichrysum, 5 drops Frankincense, 5 drops Copaibia, 3 drops Lavender, 5 drops Yarrow. Fill the rest with water and shake before each use.
Water retention or edema: Do not reduce your water intake. Cut out salt and take minerals, especially potassium. Eat more bananas, parsley, and vitamin C. You can also use grapefruit, lemongrass, or cypress oils topically on legs.
Postpartum depression after labor: This is legit. No one would wish to have this and only those who have felt it know that it is real and serious. Know that it is not the real you. It is an imbalance. Taking these supplements right in the beginning will help you with rebalancing and avoiding postpartum depression (hopefully). Take these right away and have them on hand before the labor—B vitamins, omegas, and magnesium are essential.
Bergamot, lemon, lavender (stimulates serotonin), lime, and frankincense are great oils to diffuse and even drop into hands and breathe deeply several times a day. Frankincense is the “brain” oil: put a drop under your tongue in the morning and the night.
Avoid During Pregnancy, Single Oils:
Basil, birch, calamus, cassia, cinnamon bark, hyssop, Idaho tansy, laurel, lavandin, mountain savory, mugwort, rosemary, sage, tarragon, wintergreen.
Use Cautiously During Pregnancy, Single Oils:
Angelica, cedarwood, chamomile (German/blue), cistus, citronella, Clary sage, clove bud, cumin (Black), cypress, davana, fennel, laurel, marjoram, Mountain savory, myrrh, nutmeg, peppermint, rose, spearmint, vetiver, yarrow.
