Something I absolutely love to talk about and am obsessed with, is un-medicated natural birthing and the whole process behind it!
Majority of you may know with my background of being a chiropractor, I was very adamant and having the least interventions (if any) when it came to birthing both of my kids. Never really put much thought into it, until I became pregnant. 5 things that helped me prepare:
- Affirmations
- The Bradley Method
- 30 Minutes of Movement
- Being your own Advocate
- Consistency
After getting pregnant, I did all the research and used everything I learned in school, talked to a bunch of my patients and colleges who prepared for it and took each of their advices and made it my own.
I was in practice at the time, treating patients Monday – Thursday and was working pretty late nights so taking any birthing class such as The Bradley Method was out of the question due to scheduling. With me being as regimented as I am, decided to purchase the Bradley method book on Amazon and read it cover to cover twice. I stopped at each paragraph and module when it was talking about practical applications such as stretching and partner assistance and would stop and practice those items.
In addition to doing the Bradley Method, I was introduced to affirmations. Affirmations to ease your mind, everyone knows the saying, mind over matter and that is the most true statement when it comes to letting go and giving birth un-medicated.
I had 4 affirmations that I kept repeating to myself that helped me get through it all.
“My body was made to do this”
“ I am strong enough”
“ I breathe deeply, and I am calm”
“I trust my body”
In addition to that, I was making sure to move my body for at least 30 minutes a day- for my work day I used to see patients in the morning for a shift and then again in the afternoon. Between that break time I used to go home take our dog Harrison out, do a yoga you tube video by Denise Austin, eat lunch and head back to work. There were many days where I was super exhausted, but I knew I had to do these things to prepare for the marathon of giving birth ahead. It helps so much that my job in practice was being on my feet and moving around constantly. Movement is key!
Once the day arrived I couldn’t believe this is where I prepared for. Read more about Kiaan’s birth story here.
For Aria my contractions started at 9pm and came on quick and strong. We got to the hospital at 10:30pm and I was 7CM dilated they took me up to Labor and delivery, they asked if I wanted an epidural and I kindly said no and requested to opt out of getting an IV put in as well (my veins are pretty shot from Chemo and I didn’t want anything else to irritate them) they complied and were very supportive of my advocacy.
I was then dilated to 9cm, my water broke and then Aria made her appearance at 11:37pm. It was surreal and I clearly remember saying to my husband “I can’t believe me and my body did that again “
Giving birth un-medicated and naturally is something you have to prepare, not only your body- but your mind alike, both experiences were just as I wanted and I encourage you to do your research and prepare if that is something you want to do as well!
Click here to check out my podcast (Spinal Tap )episode about Natural birthing featuring my sister Sadhna!
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