Preparations

   
    I don't know if I've ever shared here what I do. 
    You see since my first labor and delivery was so long and difficult I decided to learn a few things.  With my first I walked, a lot!  That was all I did.  Perhaps if I had known that I was getting ready for a 26 hr marathon I would have done more.
   With my next baby I dug into research.  I realized one of the reasons I had such a hard time with the first was baby's posterior position.   I was ready to do all I could to make sure that baby #2 was not going to be posterior!  I found out that being on all fours would use gravity to turn baby.  I spent a lot of time crawling around on in our little trailer.  Which my 2yr old loved.   I also did side lunges with my foot on a chair or stool.
   Baby #2 was a brief 4hrs.  That was good.  But I still had stitches, not as bad as the first, but I really believed there was more that I could have done.  Or done different. 
  With #3 I discovered that it wasn't more I needed to do but less.  Less pushing.  Or actually no pushing, more of a "blowing air into a balloon" technique.   This baby was out in 2 1/2 hrs, and I didn't push, and I didn't need any stitches.  I had also added red raspberry leaf tea to my prep list.   This was by far the easiest labor, not painful, intense and quick, but not painful.  Unfortunately this one I post partum hemorrhaged.
   There are lots of details that I'm leaving out.  I mostly want to focus on the preparing for labor.  
  #4  I was in the hospital 45min.  I think all total that labor was 1 1/2.  Again, the exercises, the tea, the no pushing. 
  #5 well it had been 6 yrs since #4, I wasn't doing much for exercise and because of the medication I was on for her heart I was pretty inactive.  I was afraid to take the tea in case it interacted with the drugs.  But I still applied my "no pushing" and I didn't get a single stitch.  Plus her head was in transverse position and I delivered her that way (not a stitch!).  That labor took about 7hrs.
  Here we are with baby #6.  I have found new exercises to add to my list.  I have been doing the all fours with pelvic tilts.  I just added one forward-leaning inversion a day.  I make sure I sit straight, not reclined.  I have at least 1 if not 2 cups of red raspberry leaf tea a day.
   If you are pregnant, no matter what number you are on, I highly recommend Spinning Babies.com.
  There is a wealth of information there.  Not just to prepare your body for labor, but even what to do in labor. 
   I've been a little hesitant to write on here what I do in labor.  Only because I don't think everyone wants to know.  If you want me to write about the labor and delivery part let me know.