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Fresh Fit N Healthy

Helping women from TTC through early motherhood years optimize their hormones & overall health

What I’m Doing to Prepare for Labor in the 3rd Trimester

Here is what I’m doing to prepare for labor during my third trimester as a first time mom who is planning on doing a natural home birth! But this can apply to any mama preparing for birth!

natural birth prep

As a first time mom, I’m NOT going to act like an expert on this all WHATSOEVER 🙂  But I will say that as a type-A perfectionist, 1 on the enneagram, whenever I go to do something, I try to educate myself as much as I possibly can, so that I can do it my best. Now, labor is a littttle different because you can “do all the right things”, and yet still things go differently as planned out of your control.

So with that being said, YES I’m planning on doing a homebirth for my first (see this episode for why I’m choosing that), call me crazy I know. But of course, things could change too! The ultimate goal is healthy mama and healthy baby, and whatever that means needs to happen, will 🙂 And what I’m doing/sharing here can help ANY mama preparing for labor, no matter where you plan for it or what kind of interventions you plan on using.

 

PSA! UPDATE: Mama Society is NOW OPEN! Join us inside for a like-minded community + everything you need to know for a more natural pregnancy journey and beyond!

PS:

Miss 1st trimester recap?! Click here!
See my 2nd Trimester Favorites and Recap Here
See My Birth Plan and Birth Prep List HERE
See My Less Toxic Registry HERE
See my Less Toxic Baby Boy Nursery HERE
UPDATE: See my Birth Story HERE.

 

Listen to the Podcast above, or listen on itunes HERE, or on Spotify HERE!

& if you’ve been loving my podcasts or specifically love this one — I’d so greatly appreciate if you popped on over here for just 1 minute and left a review on my podcast!

 

Postpartum Mama PREP

First things first… I see SO many mamas plan out every little detail for their pregnancy and birth and showers, etc… but totally forget about that 4th trimester — when we need the MOST support. So one of the biggest things I want to emphasize is the short list I’ll be doing in those weeks postpartum:

  • REST whenever possible and not leave my bedroom for the first few days, home for first 2 weeks, and then only slowly go from there. DO NOT TRY TO BOUNCE BACK. Our only goal in those first 12 weeks should be rest and nourishment for our bodies to replete & heal, and create nourishing breast milk to nourish our baby + simply love on baby – our only jobs
  • GET HELP and be ok with letting balls drop. It’s ok if laundry piles up. Ask and accept help. Rest mama.
  • Our bodies experience the quickest, deepest hormone drop in our entire lives post birth… that’s why we feel so crazy at first emotionally and physically! I’ll be using my very own SIMPLE SYSTEM back to hormone balance (yes, even while breastfeeding), Hormone Healing Academy, for the nutrition and lifestyle steps back to balance. Come join me!! This will be amazing even before you can get back into any movement. And for months and months to come after!

 

Links mentioned in this episode (listen above for all the details and all I’m doing in the 3rd Trimester to prepare for labor!):

What I’m doing ALL of 3rd trimester to Prepare for Labor:

 

Exercises / Movement / Body

  • Nutrition/Body Care
    • Collagen
    • Daily ningxia shot, with added sulfurzyme! (ningxia is high in antioxidants and sulfurzyme is great for skin, hair and joints — hello tummy marks and pp hairloss!) — See all my young living favorites for pregnancy and babies right here!
    • Thorne’s vD drops on top of a prenatal
      • Needed Prenatal powder is what I use since it’s easy to mix into smoothies! They also have capsules. code SGM on their site for discount!
      • I also like Thorne if needing a lot of iron (I personally don’t take iron in pregnancy though since my levels are good)
      • Seeking Health and Full Well Fertility are other good options
    • Oil tummy roller of frankincense, gentle baby and lavender (get the oils needed for it here) +earth mama butter 
      • I also love the Earthley belly butter (discount code SGM10 on their site – they have a ton of good natural pregnancy products!)
    • Hydration!
      • I love coconut water to help me hydrate more in pregnancy when water doesn’t seem appetizing.
    • Red Raspberry Leaf Tea (listen to today’s episode for why RRLT is great!)
      • starting at 28 weeks: 1 cup a day
      • 2-3 cups a day at 35 weeks and beyond until making a very strong cup on due date/ days before
      • The loose leaf tea if you prefer making it that way in batches and keeping in fridge like I am doing!
    • These specific Jarrow Formulas probiotics from 28 weeks and on to help lower chances of testing (+) for GBS!
  • Continued daily, moderate movement
    • 2-4 mile walk
    • or doing 20 min prenatal cycle on pelton + 10min peloton prenatal yoga/strength/core classes 2-3x/week
    • I’ve also been trying out the ExpectingandEmpowered and GEtMomStrong workout apps and love them too for more guided strength!
  • Working on better hydration
  • Good nutrition daily (lean proteins, healthy fats/omega 3’s, smart carbs, veggies!)
  • Seeing a chiropractor
    • every 3-4 weeks during 2nd trimester
    • every other week starting at 28 weeks
    • by 32 weeks, will be going every week
  • MASSAGE GUN
    • this has been SO helpful for me using every night to manage my tight muscles and pubic symphysis dysfunction pain (if you don’t know what that is, be glad!)
  • Exercises and stretches every day from spinning babies website
    • Spinning Babies Daily Exercises:
      • walking: 30min/day
      • squats: 5-20/day (just randomly as I’m cooking/brushing teeth)
      • Stretches
        • forward lunges
        • Arm circles
        • Windmills to open shoulders/back
        • Calf stretch
        • Neck rolls
      • Forward leaning inversion (starting to be better about doing this more often!)
      • Psoas release: 1-3min each leg
        • Pigeon or lunging with knee on ground
      • Kegels: 5-25 times for 10-20 seconds
      • Seated ball squeezes: 5 reps, 2x/day (lying on back, have small ball between knees. Breathe deep in, then when breathing out squeeze ball between knees
      • Hip opener exercises (pick 1-2):
        • Pigeon
        • Figure 4 (hands through hole)
        • Lunging forward with back knee on ground
        • Garland pose/low squat
        • Butterfly
      • Pelvic tilts (20-40 reps — aka, cat/cow stretch)
    • Sitting on exercise ball vs lounging back (better for baby positioning and for your muscles!)
  • Education
    • BIRTH EMPOWERMENT COURSE
    • Taking cara babies course/PDFs
    • Christian Hypnobirthing Soundtracks/App
    • Private Labor/Newborn Prep Class in person (after painfreebirth’s course it wasn’t anything new to me but helpeful for hubby!)
    • Midwife appts (they are anywhere from 1-2 hours long and packed with education for my husband and I, not just checking up on me)
      • fun fact: I’ve never actually been to a doctors office or hospital this entire pregnancy — my widwife does it all!
    • Books (been reading some of these throughout all of pregnancy!):

 

Starting at 35 weeks, how I’ll prepare for labor:

  • gentle birth tincture (if using this, I’ll go with the one without blue cohosh after talking to my midwife)
  • primrose oil capsules — there is SO much mixed information about this, so I’m going to talk to my midwife more first. Some swear by it, but some studies say it can actually increase labor time and blood thinning (which wouldn’t be good for postpartum).
    • I have heard to take capsules by mouth at 35 weeks + then starting week of due date, insert vaginally
    • UPDATE: my midwife is all for them starting at 37 weeks, so that is when I’ll start!
  • 5-6 Dates per day — I don’t love these but will be putting in smoothies and energy bites to hide them, or smothering them with peanut/almond butter haha
    • Has an oxytocin-like effect on the body, leading to increased sensitivity of the uterus.
    • Stimulates uterine contractions.
    • Reduces postpartum hemorrhage the way oxytocin does.
  • 2-3 cups Red Raspberry Leaf Tea OR gentle birth tincture (since this tincture has RRL in it! Also if using this, I’ll go with the one without blue cohosh after talking to my midwife)
  • spinning babies/miles circuit exercises if needed to flip breech/bad position
  • spray claraderm “down there” 2x/day after going to the bathroom
    • light mist contains a gentle blend of Lavender, Frankincense, Myrrh and Roman Chamomile essential oil, Tea Tree, Helichrysum
    • This is a MUST from all the other oily mamas I’ve talked to! It’s a pricey spray but I loaded up and got 2 so I would have plenty for pre-labor, during labor and postpartum!
  • see prenatal chiropractor every week
  • Weeks leading up to due date: will try to stop my tendency for “always needing to be productive” and get some self care like prenatal massage/get myself any mama self care treatment (nails, hair, massage, etc), rest some… so I’ve got some self care to last through the months I probably won’t get much 😉

For a link to ALL my favorite oils and nontoxic products from young living, I made this page right here that shows them all so you can easily scroll through just the pregnancy favorites of mine! The only note is I have clary sage there, only because I plan to use during labor. Don’t use that one during pregnancy — it’s the only one that is a hard NO during pregnancy until labor starts 🙂 For a blog post GUIDE on how I used all my oils in pregnancy and labor, click here.

How I’ll prepare for labor closer to due date/due date and beyond

  • Bounce on Exercise Ball/ do figure 8’s on it
  • A lot of Squats
  • Walking a lot, especially sideways down and up stairs
  • Possible acupuncture if we’re going a lot later than due date
  • Continue with chiropractor and other things mentioned above

 

Some other posts you may find helpful!

natural birth prep

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