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When I had my first child I had my heart set on having a natural home water birth, but baby girl had other plans! My daughter was born in a hospital with an epidural after 2 weeks of predromal labor and 21 hours of labor. I should have known from then that she was an independent chick!
Well as fate would have it, I found out that I was pregnant just a mere 4 months postpartum, #surprised. Once the initial shock wore off, I told my husband “I’m having my home birth.” I had read all the blog posts about how peaceful a home birth can be and what a transformative experience it is. I wanted that! I wanted the uninterrupted time with my baby to bond. I didn’t want to be attached to an IV again unable to move and flow with each contraction. I also wanted to create an intimate moment for my husband and I.
As soon as the pregnancy test came back positive, I was on a mission. I had worked out 3 days a week until I was 38 weeks pregnant with my first pregnancy, so I just knew that the second time around I was going to be #pregofit again. WRONG. My body was different, it had already stretched and made room for one child and let’s be honest, it’s not like I gave it enough time to recover from the first baby before I hit my uterus with a second child! With my son, I was able to work out until I was about 28 weeks pregnant and then I was put on a mild bedrest due to preterm contractions.
I had my son at 36 weeks at home after 3 hours of labor and 10 minutes of pushing. Crazy right! I know a major difference from my first pregnancy. Read on to see what I did to have a quick home birth after a hospital birth
Walking
Yes girl, walking. I stopped going to the crossfit gym and I just walked. The combination of the low impact activity along with how relaxed state my mind was in, I believe helped prep my body for a quick labor.
Stay Hydrated
Your body goes through a lot during pregnancy, labor and postpartum. It’s important to make sure that you’re not only drinking water, but consuming at least 16oz DAILY! I bought this bottle to make life easy! Yes, you’re going to pee a lot, but you’re already going to the bathroom like crazy anyway! Why not make it worth your while.
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea
If you can’t do anything else I highly recommend adding Red Raspberry Leaf tea to your daily diet. I started taking Red Raspberry Leaf tablets as a way to help increase my fertility when my husband and I were trying for our first child. With my daughter, I only drank the tea during my third trimester and it was towards to very end. The second time around, I consumed the tea throughout my entire pregnancy, gradually increasing the dosage as I got further along, using the following schedule, I used this brand of tea. I did this with the consent of my midwife. Make sure to consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet.
- First Trimester – 1 cup of tea 2x a week
- Second Trimester – 1 cup of tea 3x a week
- Third Trimester – 1 cup of tea daily
Visualization & Affirmations
I know it sounds cliché, but it works! At least once a week I would go somewhere quiet, pop in my earbuds and just visualize myself having a quick birth. The power of the mind is incredible! I also created an affirmations vision board and put it as the background on my phone. That way every time I picked up my cell phone I saw “Your Amazing” “You can Do this” and “Breathe.”
All of these things led to my having an amazing home birth experience! Even if you can’t incorporate everything, at least try to add at least one to your daily routine. If you had a home birth what did you do to prepare? Leave a comment below!
Remember your amazing,
Lex
Lex Livin' 