Pregnancy Resources

Revel in the joy

Music and Song, Mother and Love by John Diamond, M.D.

 

Consider the possibility of a Free Birth
  • The Free Birth Society courses and podcast – AMAZING podcast.  Listen to hundreds of free birth stories from women all over the world.  This is the most empowering podcast ever!!!!!

 

Consider a lotus birth – learn how to go about it

 

Learn about Elimination Communication so when the baby comes, you can go diaper-free!

 

Protect your fetus from EMF radiation.  This is CRITICAL to ensure the health and fertility potential of your fetus.

 

Increase the Chances of Your Fetus Growing to Maturity by Avoiding Vaccines

Study shows 7-fold increase in miscarriage, should you get your second flu shot while pregnant in the first trimester.

Learn what remedies can be used to safely support your child through illness and infection.  www.sophiami-chaelremedies.com – A website created by Dr. Kelly Sutton, M.D., offering a wide range of resources for holistic support and care of a child.

Protect Your Fetus from Toxins You Ingest during pregnancy by eating Modified Citrus Pectin

You can buy a product of modified citrus pectin powder here, or you could eat a half or whole lemon each day with the peel in a smoothie!

 

Plan Your Birth Team & Support System – Who’s In and Who’s Out?

Women birth easier when they feel completely ‘safe’ during the birth process.  If you have that enthusiastic friend of mother-in-law that you’d feel more comfortable not being around during the birth, make sure that they will not be present.  Pregnancy is a time to prepare and get a bit ‘selfish’.   Plan out your birth support team and make sure you feel comfortable with every person on that team.  There’s always time AFTER the birth to see all of the people you love and who love you.

Someone on the birth support team should behave almost as a ‘bouncer’, so you know that you don’t have to worry about who will be present and who won’t.

Make it clear to your support team what you want to happen during the birth.  Do you want to be offered pain relief or drugs?  Or do you want your support team to wait until YOU ask for it?  This can make a big difference.

Does your support team know how to utilize various types of pain relief, such as massage and heat packs?

Part of the job of the support team is doing these types of things, as well as getting water, etc.  The husband should get to work to and be there in the ways you want.

Use this link to get your creative juices flowing: https://www.birthplanner.me/?fbclid=IwAR08lT1AzsWYwxdgmNQidlQEuBvCnymuwGbPd1SYbtYusnYAmH4GbuxhaK4

 

Practice Your Birth Positions

Women birth easier when they are in a position that works WITH our anatomy and physiology.  These positions for a lot of women include down on all fours, squatting, etc.

This video explains why these positions work with the physiology.

Women who practice these positions during pregnancy find it much easier to assume these positions when the birth actually comes.

 

Find some brastfeeding mothers, and spend time with them.

Watching mothers breastfeeding their babies can help you intuitively learn how to breastfeed your own baby when the time comes!  Holding other babies can be really helpful to, as some of us grow up without every holding a baby!

 

Consider a Birth Class…

with a teacher who understands all of the concepts discussed here and more, such as a class from Birth Beat.

 

Protect the ability for your baby to procreate someday by Avoiding Over the Counter Drugs & Dangerous Devices
  • Studies show that using over the counter drugs for just 5-7 days will reduce your fetus’s ability to procreate when they grow up, by 50% for females, ad 66% for males.  Read the science here.  Hurtado-Gonzalez, et all, April 2018
  • Drugwatch – A resource for parents and children who are on medications or medical devices. Drugwatch keeps an eye on pharmaceutical companies to ensure your prescriptions are free of harm. Comprehensive guides on children’s health and defective medical drugs and devices are listed for those seeking answers.
  • Fluoroquinolones – Cipro, Levaquin & Avelox are the most used type of antibiotics in the United States. Over 26 million people received prescriptions each year. But recent studies link these drugs to aortic dissection and aneurysm. Both conditions weaken the walls of the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body, and may lead to a rupture or leak which can be life-threatening. Click here for more information.

 

Protect your fetus and child by avoiding over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs

 

Replace your toxic body-contact textiles, with safe alternatives
Sheets & Clothing

Sheets and clothing made of synthetic fabric, including ‘eco’ fabrics made from biomass pulp (bamboo, cellulose, etc) are not safe.

Science has been done in regards to flame retardant chemicals, and the science shows that it takes women longer to get pregnant when these flame retardant chemicals are in their bodies (Eskanazi et al, 2010, 2011, 2012).  The same studies show effects in the babies born: lower birth weight, impaired attention, poorer coordination, and lowered IQ.

Select baby clothes in accordance with this information.

Mattress

Synthetic foam is not safe.  Nor is synthetic fabric, nor fabric made from biomass pulp (bamboo, cellulose, etc).

 

Protect your yourself and your fetus from absorbing toxic chemicals left on clothing and bedding from toxic laundry detergent. 

 

 

Plan Your Support team for after the birth, once you’re home!

Sleep is a critical thing for the new mom.  Pregnancy is a good time to plan who will support you after the birth so you can get the sleep you need. Obviously your sleep will be interrupted a lot, but having support can allow you to get the rest you need.

 

Follow your gut!  Trust your body!

Pregnant women exude hormones which heighten their sensitivity to everything – to their environment.  We need to trust and celebrate this.  But these ‘natural warning signals’ can be weakened, as they become overruled by the will of doctors, hospital regulations, and by ‘scientific’ spouses blinded by today’s biased science, or family members with conventional mainstream views who have not had time to read alternative information or truths.  The fear that any negative outcome will be blamed on the mother if she doesn’t follow the mainstream consensus, since she won’t be able to prove that it wasn’t due to her choices is a valid fear.

Ironically, if the mother does make choices that are aligned with mainstream consensus, any negative outcomes will be attributed to ‘bad luck’ – no one will blame the mother for making a bad decision.  Having a child is the ultimate act of selflessness. And only ONE thing should matter, and that is what’s best for the child.  The Precautionary Principle is always best!

People used to think that physical reactions were a product of thought, but we now know that is untrue.  Our body senses things and sends vast amount of information to our brain.  It really works both ways, right?  Trust your body, and your ‘hormones’, and your mind!

Provide yourself and your baby with the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients you need.

Weston A. Price diet, to start at least 6 months prior to conception – get the details here.  If you have allergies to some of the foods, spend at least 2.5 – 3 years healing your gut with the GAPs diet, and then see if you can then eat more of these foods.  If you still can’t tolerate raw dairy for example, bone broths are good, or you can try goat milk, or cow milk that is A2A2 (Human milk, goat milk, and sheep milk are all A2A2 milk).  You could also make a “calcium tea” by soaking egg shells in vinegar.  Another possible support is the bone product from Dr. Ron’s Ultrapure.  The main aspects of the Weston A. Price diet:

First, the beauty of the Wise Traditions or Weston A. Price diet is that it does not dictate specific percentages of fats, carbohydrates or protein, as the USDA Dietary Guidelines do.  

Everyone needs to adjust the amounts of these macronutrients to conform with the characteristics of his or her metabolism, while still following the basic principles of the diet.

  1. Healthy fats – lots.  Butter, animal fats, coconut oil, and olive oil.  Canola oil, grapeseed oil, and other seeds oils are not healthy.
    • Cod liver oil.  They have specific detail about this recommendation on their website, and it is important not to consume it without reading their instructions in full.  If one chooses the fermented cod liver oil, the recommended dose is 2 tsp of liquid, or 20 capsules.  That’s a lot of capsules, so liquid is the preferred method.  It can be hard to get it down because we’re not used to the taste, but mixing it in a little raw milk will help.  The cod liver oil taste almost completely disappears even in a small amount of raw milk.
  2. Protein, but not in the form of lean meat.  They agree with all of those advocating for health — that Americans eat EXCESS of meat, and the meat most people eat is fairly lean meat…burgers, steaks, etc.  In fact, many think that lean meat is healthier!  Healthy cultures, such as the Native Americans of the plains, focused on the fat, organs, intestines, and bone marrow of animals, rather than the lean meat, as shown in this article.  Instead, Weston A Price recommends
    • Organ meats & offal – liver, pate, liverwurst, scrapple, etc. blood, kidneys, glands, etc.
    • Red meat – always with the fat, never without.  The fat is more important that the meat.
    • Poultry – always with the skin
    • Pork – properly prepared by curing or marinating
    • Milk products – preferably unpasteurized (raw) and always full fat
    • Eggs, always with the yolks.  Raw can be a great way to consume them, in eggnog, smoothies, mayonnaise, tare tare sauce, etc.
    • Seafood, including shellfish and fish eggs
  3. The right carbs (extruded breakfast cereal is NOT on the list!  nor are white flours, GMOs, etc)
    • Starchy vegetables, well cooked, and/or fermented
    • Whole grains, legumes and nuts – properly prepared
    • Fruit – both raw and cooked
  4. Fermented foods!
  5. Broth!  Made from bones with some meat, marrow, and vegetables!

 

Seek out and develop a relationship with an osteopath so that when birth time comes, you are ready!

We all experience birth trauma in some way, shape or form.  Find an osteopath that does his work in the tradition of Dr. Sutherland, and is aware of ALF holistic dentistry.  Getting osteopath treatment for your baby right away can eliminate the need for a variety of treatments of your child down the road – including braces.

 

Herbs or Substances That You May Want to Avoid, as they are Emmenagogues.  Avoid especially during the first and last trimesters
  • Vitamin C – Ascorbic acid – some say 6g per day for six days could cause an abortion.  I have no idea if this is true.  Seems odd!
  • Angelica root
  • Fresh Lemon Balm leaves
  • Bethroot
  • Black Cohosh root
  • European Vervain plant
  • Feverfew plants in flower
  • Ginger root
  • Hyssop leaves
  • Liferoot plant in flower
  • Lovage root
  • Mugwort plant
  • Osha root
  • Pennyroyal plant
  • Rosemary plant in flower
  • Rue leaves
  • Saffron stigmas
  • Sumac berries
  • Sweet Flag root
  • Tansy plant in flower
  • Fresh Wood Sorrel plant
  • ° ° Birthwort root or whole plant in flower
  • ° ° Blue Cohosh root
  • ° ° Cotton root bark
  • ° ° Ergot fungus
  • ° ° Marijuana female flowers
  • ° ° Mistletoe leaves
  • ° ° Peruvian bark

 

° Common cooking herbs which may encourage miscarriage:

  • Basil
  • Caraway seeds
  • Celery sees
  • Ginger
  • fresh Horseradish
  • Savory
  • Marjoram
  • Nutmeg
  • Rosemary
  • Saffron
  • Sage
  • Parsley
  • Tarragon
  • Thyme
  • Watercress (avoid during the first trimester; use sparingly thereafter)

 

Avoid Teratogens

Substances that cause birth defects are known as teratogens. You and the fetus are particularly sensitive to teratogens during the first five months of the childbearing year (the two months prior to conception and the first three months of pregnancy).  Exposure to teratogens interferes with the rhythmic reproductive dance of your genes, chromosomes, and cells. The effects of this disruption include infertility, miscarriage, low birth weight, and a wide range of mental and physical deformities in your baby. This list of teratogens is based on Terata: A mother’s Prenatal Health compiled by Jo Carrasco and Sue Keller.  Before and during pregnancy, completely avoid:

° Steroids and herbs containing steroid-like factors, including

  • Agave
  • Ginseng
  • Licorice
  • Hops
  • Sage (which also decreases lactation)
  • Excesses of synthetic vitamins A, C, or D

° Smoking

° Alcohol (including beer and wine)

° Raw or undercooked meat

° Radiation (x-rays, video display terminals)

° Caffeine (coffee, black tea, cola, chocolate, maté)

° DES (diethylstilbestrol)

° Aspirin

° Antihistamines, including Ma-huang, Ephedra, Osha root

° Most laxatives, including Flax seed, Senna, Aloes, Castor Oil, Turkey Rhubarb, Buckthorn, Cascara Sagrada

° Antacids

° Diuretics, including Buchu, Horsetail, Juniper berries

° pHisohex (or hexachlorophene)

° Hair dyes

° Hemorrhoid medications

° Chemical stimulants and depressants (LSD, psychotropics, phenobarbital, barbituates, tranquilizers)

° Motion sickness or anti-nausea drugs (Bendectin)

° Epinephrine (Adrenalin) shots

° Sulfonamides (sulfa drugs) antibiotics

° Vaccines, anesthetics, mercury vapors in dentist’s office

° Hormones (birth control pills, most commercial meats)

° Acutane (acne medicine)

° Heavy metals: lead, nickel, cadmium, manganese

° Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides (particularly those containing Carbaryl)

° Fumes from paints, thinners, solvents, wood preservatives, varnishes, glues, spray adhesives, benzene, dry-cleaning fluids, certain plastics, vinyl chloride, rubber tuolene

° Lithium, arsenic

° Contact with cat feces

° PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl)

 

And beware of the risks of:

° Ultrasound in any form

° Prolonged exposure to extremely high temperatures

° Emmenagogues, especially during the first and last trimesters

° Common cooking herbs which may encourage miscarriage:

  • Basil
  • Caraway seeds
  • Celery sees
  • Ginger
  • fresh Horseradish
  • Savory
  • Marjoram
  • Nutmeg
  • Rosemary
  • Saffron
  • Sage
  • Parsley
  • Tarragon
  • Thyme
  • Watercress (avoid during the first trimester; use sparingly thereafter)

° Golden Seal root (stresses liver and kidneys, raises white blood cell count, and can cause uterine contractions)

° Incompatible Rh factors (possibly mitigated by one gram vitamin C with bioflavanoids taken daily during the last thirty weeks of pregnancy)

° Amniocentesis

° Electronic Fetal Monitoring, either indirect (ultrasound or direct electrode)