Why I am Choosing a Natural Childbirth

HOLA! I am officially in my 19th week of pregnancy and right around the corner from the half way mark.  I am feeling good!  The baby is measuring in the 50th percentile and my doctor is very happy with how my pregnancy is progressing so far.

WEIGHT GAINED: I have gained 6 pounds so far.  Considering in 6 days I will be half way through the pregnancy, I feel pretty good about this number.  Especially after coming off of a holiday week of lots of extra carbs and sugar and bigger portion sizes.  It’s cute how people think I don’t eat enough.  I have clients who remind me to eat more this holiday season.  LOL if you guys only knew!! I do choose clean foods (IE organic, no gmo, non processed, non toxic) as much as possible, but I listen to my body.  When I am hungry, I EAT! I never deprive myself pregnant or not.  I probably put down around 2500 calories a day.  On someone who is (now) 118 lbs.  Thats a good bit of food!

WORKOUTS: Still basically working out with the same size weights, same treadmill sprint/jog speeds since the beginning of my pregnancy.  So far there are only a few things I have slightly modified. My one true love AKA BARRY’S BOOTCAMP is where I do most of my workouts and where I have done them for the past 2+ years. Seriously, Barry’s is THE BEST way to tone up and blast fat as well as train for labor.  Pre-pregnacy I would have to sprint in class (30-60 seconds) at 12.0 MPH plus inclines of 6-10% to get to an “all out effort”.  That has pretty much dropped down to 12.0 MPH 0-3% incline at this point.  So def an adjustment for me, but I still feel really good about those numbers.  Also, I have cut back on long intervals a bit, like I have mentioned before (no more than 3 minutes working above my lactate threshold before I take recovery).  I have done this not b/c its necessarily bad for baby, but because I feel like I am pushing myself too far for too long and don’t want to pull something I.E. one of my tight hip flexors (story of my life).  Being out of the gym for an injury during pregnancy is NOT how I intend to spend any part of the next 20 weeks.

For those of you familiar with the lingo of Barry’s, I am still holding on to a 7.0 MPH jog pace, but this is probably going to come to an end in the next few weeks.  I’ll probably be in the 6.0 or 6.5 club pretty soon. Little man has been pushing (more like punching it feels like) my bladder when I have been running/sprinting/jogging.  Its uncomfortable! Like I am gonna pee my pants during a sprint uncomfortable- lol.  I have just started noticing this really bothering me, so I have started to implement more spin into my routine as I know that eventually I will not be able to train as hard/effectively on the treadmill at some point b/c of the discomfort.  I assumed this was going to happen b/c I am carrying him low (doc says) and my friend, Megan (Hi Megs!) who also is carrying low (due in 2 weeks!) starting having the same issue around this point in her pregnancy. Soooo problem solving… in order to still get in my “sprints” or “labor training” I need to get a back up plan together for this. Lucky for me SOUL CYCLE just opened in Newport Beach… could not be more perfect timing!  You see, I’m not usually a spin fan.  I want to be, but it’s just boring to me!! SOUL CYCLE is the only spin studio that I have ever been to that I really liked. It’s dark, it’s loud, it’s full of energy.  They use weights, they ride to the beat, they connect you to your soul…. and you know I just love that spiritual ish 🙂

CHOOSING TO HAVE A NATURAL BIRTH: 

I’ve started to write and revise my birth plan, as my husband and I are attempting to have an all natural, un-medicated birth, without any unnesessary medical or chemical interventions.   For those of you that just rolled your eyes, go right ahead! Just like your own births, you can choose to do them any way your little heart desires, and so can I.

BENEFITS OF HAVING A NATURAL CHILDBIRTH:

1. Less Risk: Natural births are non invasive, so there is little chance of harm or side effects to you or baby.

2. Less Interventions: You’ll be less likely to need interventions like pitocin, bladder catheterication, forceps, vaccum, ect. Epidurals often increase the use of all of the above due to the fact that it usually slows down the body’s natural way of birthing.

3. Shorter Labor-  Epidurals usually end up extending your labor and slow down contractions and have also shown in some cases to lower the baby’s heart rate (showing that what goes in your body also goes into and effects the baby’s body).

5. Better Breastfeeding- Studies have shown that women who have natural childbirths, their baby’s have more interest and are often more successful at breastfeeding.  Natural birth babies are also more alert once born (probably b/c natural birth baby’s have no meds in their system).

6. Bonding with baby- Research also shows that there is a big difference in the bond that Mother and baby are able to develop from a natural birth to non natural.  When neither Mom or baby is medicated, natural instincts are able to take over the the natural bond is able to build between Mama and baby.

7. Faster Recovery Time- You can walk around, shower, stand up, move directly after labor, no numming sensations.

8. Endorphins- These feel good hormones are pain-relieving and the body naturally produces them when dealing with pain (and when working out!). It’s been shown that a woman’s body will not release nearly as many endorphins if a pain medication is utilized.

90% of women in the U.S. opt for pain meds during labor.  Not because they “need” it (because women have been having natural birth since the beginning!) but more because in the United States, its become protcol, it’s become the norm, it’s become expected. Some women are totally fine with this and maybe these benefits aren’t important to them, and that’s totally fine!

For me, this is something that I learned a lot about during my pre-natal specialist certification and after completing the program I was completely converted from being open to pain meds during labor to wanting to without a doubt attempt an all natural child birth.  Of course, things happen, emergnancy’s happen, things don’t always go as planned, and I’m aware and ok with that but I will be training myself (in the gym, hypobabies, and sessions with my doula) to prepare for a successful all natural birth.

Xo