Giving Birth Naturally

Giving birth to a new life is challenging and brings joy to women. Delivery can happen by three methods one is Natural birth, Intervention or water birth. In this article let us understand what is what? Advantages and risks involved in this birth? How to stay positive during this birth?

What is Natural Birth?

This birth can be defined as a delivery done without any intervention for example drugs or Caesarean which is an unnatural procedure. Some women do not mind undergoing a Caesarean section while some opt for natural birth. Women sometimes opt for Caesarean because of the fear of pain involved in natural birth. This birth is also termed as vaginal birth.

Advantages of Natural Birth

The main advantage of natural birth is that the mom can actively participate and father can also participate and encourage the mother while giving birth which can be motivating for the mother. Mother is free to move and change her position to ease down the pain. Anaesthesia is not required during this birth but sometimes used to help reduce pain. The recovery is fast in case of natural birth.

Risks of Natural Birth

There can be complication at times during the natural birth wherein due to lack of oxygen the baby can suffer and to overcome these complications surgical intervention becomes essential. Some women also face postnatal depression after vaginal birth. If there are any severe medical conditions then the birth can be dangerous in such cases. There is risk of infection and the vaginal muscles don’t remain strong as in case of Caesarean. Caesarean section deliveries are much faster than natural birth wherein the pain can be unbearable.

How to stay positive during natural birth?

Giving birth naturally is beautiful experience as it gives you tremendous pleasure after the pain one experiences during the delivery. Holding your baby in your hands immediately after the baby is born is a wonderful feeling. The women should fill their head with beautiful thoughts which can motivate you in going through the pain. Keep your spirits high and just think we are women and powerful enough to go through the this birth. Be positive to face the entire process and just think of your baby whom you want to see as soon as he/she is born. You will forget the pain with the arrival of new one in your family. Think about the natural birth wherein you don’t need to take any drugs or go through any surgical procedure and everything will come to you naturally.

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Impossible expectations are often to blame for disappointment. It should be realized from the outset that you are not probable to lose much weight in the first few weeks after the baby is born. You should give your womb at least four weeks to adjust to its original size. It may never be the same size as before, but there are many ways to ways to lose body fat that was gained during pregnancy.

The duration after the birth of a baby may be rather unfavorable time for trying losing weight after having a baby. It is also very hectic. Avoid placing additional physical or mental pressure on yourself by trying to lose weight too fast. It will be more sensible to give your body at least six weeks to adjust. It has been through colossal stress and needs some recovery time. Set practical targets and do not try to lose more than two pounds per week.

If you are breastfeeding, remember that your body will need more nutrition in order to produce healthy milk for the baby. Let your appetite guide you and eat if you are hungry. Breastfeeding usually burns approximately five hundred calories per day. Do not eat too much fast food, as baby needs good nutrition. Rather stick to wholesome snacks such as smoothies, yogurt, dried fruits or potato wedges.

Postnatal depression could cause you to lose your appetite, so be sure to see your doctor if this is the case. Never skip meals and drink plenty water. Sometimes you may feel hungry, when you are really just thirsty. Sip on water throughout the day.

After your postnatal checkup, you should be ready to join an exercise session. Hypoxi training is usually allowed after six weeks or two months after a c-section. Your physician will give you the go-ahead when the time is right. Several fitness centers have baby-sitting facilities. This is ideal for mothers who want to exercise, but do not want to leave a young baby with a maid at home. This way, you will be right there if your baby wants you.

Be sure to exercise after you have fed baby. Many babies refuse to feed after exercise. Another great idea for baby weight loss is to take your baby for a walk in his or her pram or in a kangaroo strap. Some stroller companies even offer jogging strollers that are a great option for mothers who want to go jogging with baby.

Be sure to stick to a nutritious diet containing all the food groups. Eat more wholegrain, fruits and vegetables. High fiber foods will keep you fuller for longer. Whole grains are complex carbohydrates that provide long-term energy. Vegetables usually have a high water content and high fiber. They are usually fat free and low in calories. Fruits are a great source of essential minerals and vitamins. Basing your diet on these food groups will help to balance your diet, resulting in your metabolism performing properly. Before you know, you will be losing weight after pregnancy.

Plus my mom had trouble conceiving. She was in the midst of adoption and was doing fertility drugs before my older sister came along.

And don’t think I’m mental, but my grandma saw a psychic who said I’d have trouble conceiving.

So I’m wondering, what do I need to do beforehand. Should I start taking pre-natal vitamins? I didn’t mention that I suffer from depression and take 300 mg of Effexor (it went up in the last 2 months, I previously tried to quit b/c I didn’t want to be on it when pregnant, but I have no choice in order to not want to die) and about 10-20 mg of trazidone at night for sleep. I really don’t think I can go off these medications for my own sake.

but is prenatal vitamins okay to take w/ these? Am I messing up my child? I’ve talked extensively w/ my psychiatrist and though I haven’t seen an ob-gyn about this, I’ll definitely use a high-risk one when the time comes. In the mean time, since I’m in no hurry, do I just continue as usual? (my usual includes exercising heavily, looking for a new job, and applying for grad school to start in a year. yes, probably when preggers, but I just got done w/ another degree and need time off). Thanks for the advice.

A planned pregnancy would bring about reduced anxiety and complete awareness. Expectant mothers should increase their knowledge about the various aspects of pregnancy and birth glossary. Unawareness can lead to mistakes or mishaps during pregnancy. Women must educate themselves and even encourage their spouse to read about child bearing and its challenges. Only when you know what lies ahead, will you be able to deal with the situation. Pregnancy can cause several physical and emotional changes and many women find it difficult to adjust with these changes. However, complete awareness about pregnancy and birth glossary can help. So, what exactly is birth glossary? Read on to learn more.

Birth Glossary

As the word suggests, ‘birth glossary’ is the explanation of various terms used during child bearing. In simple words, it is like a dictionary that explains the meaning of various terminologies. Though there are several terms, we shall discuss here the most commonly used terms for pregnancy and birth glossary.

• Baby blues – You might have heard about this term very frequently. Baby blue is a mild form of depression. Women feel sad, anxious and weepy. Some of them also experience mood swings. This condition occurs due to hormonal changes after child birth.

• Contractions – This condition causes the tightening of uterus and occurs during labor. Contractions help in pushing the baby down the birth canal.

• Crowning – This term is used when the baby’s head is visible from the vaginal opening.

• Forceps – This is a delivery method, wherein large tongs are used to assist the delivery of the baby.

• Lochia – This is the vaginal discharge that occurs after childbirth. It lasts up to six weeks and can make you feel weak and exhausted.

• Neo-natal – The period immediately after the birth of your child is called neo-natal. This period lasts for 4 weeks after childbirth.

• Peri-natal – This period is the phase just before childbirth and lasts during and after childbirth.

• Umbilical cord – This cord connects your baby to you. It connects the fetus and the placenta and supplies nutrients to the baby since it has two arteries and a vein.

• Placenta – This is a very vital connection between the mother and the baby. It provides oxygen and nourishment and also helps in disposing waste, which is later excreted through the mother’s body.

• Postnatal depression – This kind of depression is serious and needs immediate attention. It is good to seek counseling during this phase.

Hope this information on pregnancy and birth glossary will be useful to you as an expectant mother.

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Prenatal Yoga for Conception, Pregnancy and Birth

Birth is such an extraordinary event for families and for the whole com-munity. We have come a long way, and it is now rare for women to die in childbirth. There are still, how-ever, many unanswered questions. Why is birth still perceived as dan-gerous, when it is such a natural event and there has never been a safer time in history to give birth? Were we truly cursed by God in Genesis? These are questions that can become important for a woman, particularly after emergency inter-vention in the birth of her child. Birth is a rite of passage into wom-anhood and if unplanned major as-sistance is provided it is not un-common for a woman to feel that she has perhaps failed. Unresolved relationship issues may also surface which can be detrimental to the birthing process while also be ing distressing. “What happened?” a woman may ask, or even “Am I fit to be a good mother?”

My own beliefs regarding child birth have developed from a life long in-terest that began for me in rural Eng-land, as a small child, watching farm animals as well as my own pets give birth. I was likewise drawn to the local women who regularly shared stories, not meant for my young ears. This of course only whet my appetite further!

Telling ones story has, in psychol-ogy, always been the beginning of understanding and of healing. In my practice, in my research and now on my website I encourage women to share their birth stories. By sharing our words we open new possibilities for the entire community.

A growing body of research – to-gether with my years of experience, including working with post birth trauma, has led me to predict a swing back towards natural birth, and indeed a new psychological model for birth is now emerging.

The emphasis for those wanting a natural birth has been to be physi-cally and mentally prepared.

Care-givers often lack a psychological viewpoint and because of this I am often invited and consistently wel-comed training and supervising medical staff in understanding the deeper emotional needs of mother and child at this significant transi-tion.

Being psychologically prepared for the birth of a child is as important as the physical preparation! Your well-being in both areas requires planning and preparation. This will benefit both you and your child.

Hypno birthing, calm birth and an experienced Doula are all beneficial tools to consider for yourself. I will share with you my five golden rules of natural child birth;

1. Birth is a inward experience, such as meditation or prayer. Don’t have anyone present while you are birth-ing that you don’t feel totally com-fortable ignoring or who is going to distract you. Your partner may be better helping with preparing food for the next few days, answering and making phone calls cleaning house or keeping company with other friends and relatives. Can you medi-tate comfortably for an hour or more with your partner present without being distracted by their presence or them being hurt by you ignoring them? Even if you don’t meditate, try doing something like this with your partner to see if it feels com-fortable. This can be a useful guide. Hypnobirthing is becoming very popular now and is very good for preparing both partners for the kind of state that a woman will deliver the most positive outcome for all in-volved . This can and should be part of your childbirth education or childbirth classes.

2. Adrenaline slows and disrupts (and can even put a brake on) the sequence of natural body chemicals necessary for a smooth delivery and bonding between mother and child. Any issues of fear around the birth (experienced by either partner) need to be addressed well before time. The doctor, midwife or support per-son that you choose should be trained to help keep you calm and focused “inward” if you should be-come agitated or afraid.

3. Practice positions for first and second stage labour that you feel comfortable meditating or relaxing in. In the bath, in Open Lotus posi-tion, sitting up in a chair etc. Follow your bodies signals about what is comfortable. Feeling totally relaxed and no pressure on you to perform or give attention to others is powerful pain relief. Accept totally that your body knows what is happening and knows what to do. Birth is a neuro-chemical process, trust your body and let the process unfold.

4. Have a good relationship with your doctor or midwife who will be present at the birth. Make sure that they are aware of your intended ap-proach. Not all caregivers have had training in the positive psychology of birth, these ideas may be new to them and you may need to take some time choosing the right support. This is vital to you feeling safe and se-cure.

5. Resolve emotional issues with yourself and your partner before the birth. Do you long for more attention from your partner? The birth process is not a good time to look for this. Do you feel resentment or fear about your partner controlling or possibly abandoning you? These issues can arise during birth bringing unwanted adrenaline into the equation. If unre-solved they can get worse after the baby is born rather than better. There is wonderful help available for these and other unresolved emotional is-sues and needs. Start preparing psy-chologically for the best birth ex-perience for yourself as soon as you plan to become or become pregnant.

For those who have suffered an in-vasive or traumatic birth in the past, understanding what happened and how it might have been different can be very healing. For Child birth edu-cation and childbirth classes visit www.newbirthways.com for more information. For those with unre-solved emotional issues from a past traumatic birth experience help is available and will make you a stronger and more confident woman and mother.

Happy new beginnings.

Susan.

Postnatal depression is relatively common, when a new mother finds herself miserable and unhappy following the birth of her baby, often due to raging hormones. Usually the depression lifts within a few days, weeks or months, although in some cases professional help is needed.

Occasionally, however, expectant mothers start to feel depressed before the baby is born, a feeling made much worse as pregnancy is a time in a woman’s life when the whole world expects her to feel happy, cheerful and excited. While it may sound bizarre, depression during pregnancy is much more common than you might think, affecting an estimated 10 – 20 percent of all future moms.

Why We Get Prenatal Depression

Many women experience the usual mood swings during pregnancy, often brought on by hormones. Problems with partners, which often are combined with worries about money, can exacerbate the situation. However, there are some factors which may make you more prone to prenatal depression than other people. They include:
Problems with the pregnancy. In an ideal world, we get pregnant easily, soar through a fantastic pregnancy and deliver the perfect child in two pushes. Sadly, that’s often not the case. If you suffer from nasty morning sickness or something more serious, such as potential problems with your unborn baby, you can easily begin to feel unwell, unhappy and frightened.
General stress. Many of us have stressful lives, which normally we cope with fairly well. But when we have the added burden of pregnancy – and the thought that soon we’ll have responsibility for someone else’s life as well, then things can build up fast.
Problems with your partner. Any type of difficulty with your partner, be it husband, boyfriend or girlfriend, can make you experience anxiety over becoming a parent, whether it’s the first time or the fifth.
Past history of abuse. Women with a history of abuse, sexually or otherwise, may have mixed feelings about their pregnancy. They may, subconsciously or consciously, not want to bring a baby into such as cruel world. Also, the feelings that your body is “out of control” may being back feelings you had in the past of feeling utterly helpless.
History of problems getting pregnant. If you had IVF or just had difficulties conceiving, you may feel undue pressure on you to feel completely overjoyed now that you’re finally pregnant. Sometimes that pressure becomes too much and backfires, making you feel miserable.
Feelings of lack of control. Women who regulate their lives with military-like precision sometimes feel that pregnancy is something they cannot control, and therefore something to be feared.
History of depression. If you or a close family member suffers from depression or has in the past, you have a greater chance of being depressed during your pregnancy.

Symptoms of Prenatal Depression

Many of the symptoms women who have the baby blues – before their child is born – experience are similar to those who experience depression in general. Keep in mind, however, that everyone feels depressed from time to time, and having some depressed times during your pregnancy does not mean you are suffering from prenatal depression. Saying that, some  symptoms include:
Crying
Undue anxiety
Sleep problems which are not due to frequent urination
Unending or deep feelings of fatigue
Appetite disturbance
Loss of enjoyment of regular activities which you previously enjoyed
Poor fetal attachment

What to Do About It

If you feel that you or someone you know may be suffering from prenatal depression, the best thing to do is to talk about it. Sharing your feelings and realizing that you are not the only person in the universe not to feel 100 percent elated about being pregnant is the first step. You may be surprised about how common your feelings are, and sometimes sharing your fears is all you need.

Other ways to combat depression involve taking good care of yourself. That will mean eating right, sleeping right, doing gentle exercise regularly and allowing yourself time to get pampered and focus solely on you. Some women also like to try acupuncture or other alternative therapies that are safe for pregnant women.

In some cases, you may need to get help from a trained medical professional. Cognitive behavioral therapy often works well, as does group therapy. Some women benefit from sessions where they learn to meditate and relax. For others, medication is required.

Case Study

“Jenny Knight” (not her real name) tried to get pregnant for years due to severe endometriosis, and when she did, she felt elated. But that elation quickly gave way to depression. “Everything would upset me. I didn’t feel so much depressed as much as very moody. It didn’t make sense as I was enjoying my work again and life was moving on, so I didn’t know why I was feeling so low,” she says.

Very quickly, Jenny’s feelings of moodiness began to get replaced by intense feelings of fear. She began to worry that she would miscarry and lose the baby, and became obsessed with a nagging feeling of potential loss. That feeling was exacerbated when her army husband, George, went on a tour of duty abroad for six months.

“I started having the feeling that now that I had been given the baby inside me, that something bad would happen to him instead,” she says. “It just didn’t make sense. Here I was with the thing that I wanted most in the world after all these infertility treatments, and I was feeling anxious, very scared, and I could see that a lot of how I felt was irrational, it certainly wasn’t normal.”

Jenny wanted to tell her husband how she felt, but that fact he was far away made it difficult. She also felt he would find her attitude “disloyal”. So she finally broke down and told her doctor the truth. “I couldn’t cope with the lies anymore, I didn’t like lying to both sets of families, my husband and friends. I just felt it was all a farce, and that really broke me rather than the final thought of the baby.”

When her son Gerry was born, he didn’t initially cry and Jenny was positive he had died. But once she realized he was okay things slowly began to get better. She saw a counselor for ten weeks and slowly began to bond with her baby. “Eventually I found a book bout prenatal depression written with case histories. It made me realize I wasn’t the only one in the world, and that I wasn’t on my own,” she says.

“The more we discuss it the more it encourages others to seek help. Depression is still taboo, not really accepted, but there isn’t a need for the guilt, the isolation. Just tell someone.”

The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care an appropriate health care provider.