1. Research breastfeeding
I will never forget running in to an acquaintance at a fundraiser dinner when I was about 4 months pregnant. I asked for any advice to be shared as he was a new parent himself. "Research breastfeeding," was the immediate response. I thought it was pretty odd, and thought, "there's nothing to research, you just do it, obviously." I arrogantly left, and never researched breastfeeding. Fast-forward 5 months, just a few hours after meeting my handsome baby boy. The pediatrician came in for his routine check-in, and proceeded to give me some of the worst advice I have received yet. He adamantly explained that I must only feed Hudson for 15 minutes on each side every two hours. For any of you that know anything about breastfeeding, this is absolutely not what you're supposed to do, especially in the first week. I foolishly listened, my baby was hungry, my milk never fully came in, and a month later my little peanut was hospitalized with "failure to thrive" simply because he wasn't getting enough milk. Moral of the story, RESEARCH breastfeeding.Pinterest is a great place to find articles.
2. Know why you want and don't want certain things immediately after birth
We didn't want most shots after Hudson was born, we did some things recommended, but were very choosey. They probably would have been fine, but for us, it wasn't how we wanted to go. If you're having your baby in a hospital, be prepared to face opposition about anything you choose to not do. You've just grown a baby for 9 months and pushed, or had them pulled, out of your body - you're not 100% on your A-game when the Dr. comes in explaining his view of what you should and shouldn't do, so I highly recommend thinking through why you want what you want and being prepared with an answer if you meet opposition.
3. Be prepared mentally for "un-natural"
For anyone wanting to do everything naturally I'm all about the determination. I knew that going into it telling myself I would do it a certain way would significantly increase my odds of doing it naturally what I was in the heat of birthing a human being. BUT the reality is that birth is one of the craziest things our bodies can ever go through, and there are going to be some unknowns that come up. Ultimately we are not in control of how our bodies and our babies bodies respond to the process. For me researching how things would typically go if there was some unforeseen complication really helped keep me calm as I approached birth.
4. Pick and choose what's most important
When it comes to organic I try to pick and choose where I have room. The reality is we can't afford to have everything 100% organic. I would have loved to get the organic crib mattress, I stared at it on the Amazon screen for far longer than I'd like to admit. But a $350 price tag vs. a $50 comparable mattress didn't fit our budget. But the organic mattress pad and organic sheets were more reasonable .... So we went with those. With Hudson's food, I'll buy the organic pears but feel comfortable buying non-organic avocados since they're low on the pesticide affected list while pears are high. (charts like this one are really helpful). I just try to evaluate where we can afford things and the things that are more logical to go without.
5. Research natural pain relief techniques
Whether you opt to take classes or do personal research, if you're not hiring a doula or midwife, make sure you and your partner know your stuff. I knew I wanted natural and researched everything in my birth-plan, but didn't spend time researching natural pain relief techniques. God is clearly a God of miracles, for a billion reasons, but as it would turn out, one of my nurses at the hospital was also a natural birth coach on the side. Miracle, right?! She was able to tell me little things like, flexing my pinky finger while I was going through a contraction helped to relieve the tension I was keeping in my shoulders that would have lead to a lot of pain post-birth. It seriously worked and I definitely couldn't have come up with that one on my own.
Hope these help. Let me know if you have any other tips for natural childbirth!
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