Prepare for birth in lots of different ways!

A Unique way to prepare for birth!
(this mom said it was OK to use her very cute picture!)

I'm off to a conference in Seattle this week, so I've asked one of our other teachers to fill in for me this week. Amber is one of our labor and delivery nurses. She is an awesome labor nurse and she recently had her third baby. When you come to the hospital in labor you'll find your nurses will be wonderfully supportive and helpful. To have someone you know, like Amber, you're stress will go down even more.

In this class you'll be learning about prenatal care topics such as; nutrition, hazards to avoid and warning signs of problems. You've probably already been paying attention to improving your diet, but it's one of the topics you need to really pay attention too, even in the last few months of pregnancy. We have so many food choices available to us and it takes a lot of control to choose the more healthy foods. If you want to have more energy, have an easier delivery (the recommended wt. gain during pregnancy is 25-35 lbs. It's really easy to let yourself go and eat, eat, eat! Keeping wt. gain down will help you have an easier birth)

Keep it simple, eat lots of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, protein and drink plenty of water each day. You can take a look at the food pyramid for pregnant women at www.mypyramid.gov.

Hopefully you've already heard many of the hazards to avoid. I always ask classes what they've read about hazards . I usually hear: staying away from paint fumes, cigarette smoke, uncooked meat, fish. Other warnings include; not handling cat droppings, drinking alcohol, street drugs and certain medications such as; ibuprofen, and aspirin. March of Dimes has an awesome site with lots of information on taking care of yourself and hazards to avoid and warning signs of problems during pregnancy. The March of Dimes foundation has identified preterm birth as there current focus. The foundation gives grants for research into the causes of preterm birth and has developed an educational campaign on preterm birth for pregnant women. Signs of preterm birth can be very subtle.

Every pregnant family should be aware of the signs (before 37 weeks):

1. Change or increase in vaginal discharge
2. Pelvic or lower abdominal pressure
3. Constant, low, backache
4. Mild abdominal cramping (with or without diarrhea)
5. Regular or frequent contractions... more then 4 times in one hour ( the tightening in your uterus that may be painful or painless.. you just notice frequent tightening)
6. Your water breaks in a trickle or a gush

The rest of your class will focus on labor. You'll learn the signs of labor, how to help your partner during early labor and finishing with massage.

Take a peek at this video on signs of labor, preterm labor:





And finally here's a good video on massage during labor at this site: