Prenatal Preparation

How Do You Prepare For Prenatal Life?

How DO you prepare for pregnancy?

Id’ say there are a lot of aspects of preparation that you can cover.

There are the things you can do to get your body ready, like stopping drinking alcohol, if you drink, and begin taking your vitamins, especially folic acid.

Eating well, staying hydrated, and exercising seem to be good suggestions, also.

But how can you prepare your mind and emotions? Is there even such a thing?

If you’re trying to conceive, know that if you get pregnant, it’s the beginning of huge life change, and you can’t go back.

Pregnancy is a monumentous adventure; trekking without a map might be difficult. Of course, your own journey will be, without a doubt, into uncharted territory.

Talk to your mom and woman-elders in your family.

Ask your friends questions you may have. But know that in the end, every women’s journey to motherhood differs nearly as much as every mother does.

And, don’t unconsciously absorb others’ negativity! Whether that’s just culturally transmitted misogyny, intergenerational trauma, or some other daftness, don’t pick up the bad vibes.

Join forums online. Dedicated websites are a great destination. There are also forums on Facebook, Reddit, and other platforms, all places you can go for camaraderie.

Find a birth doula at DONA.

A doula is your advocate once you are birthing the baby. It’s a good idea to look into this, even if you feel it’s culturally something you’re unfamiliar with.

Find someone you vibe with; you should actually do this for all the perinatal professionals you become involved with! It’s always important, but it’s crucially important at this time in your life, for this specific circumstance.

I would also suggest seeking out a skilled Perinatal LMT; as I practice both Postnatal and Prenatal Massage in New Jersey, so I can say that clients tell me that some therapists that provide prenatal massage really don’t know what they’re doing. Reviews are often fake; ours are not.

That’s why we only have twenty-something reviews; real people really don’t choose to leave them very often, though we always ask. :|

Please remember that the differnce in treatment is remarkable; don’t discount the benefit of pregnancy massage just because you found one or two therapists that were really not familiar with working with a pregnant person.

Find good Lactation help! This one is very important!

I also work as a Certified Lactation Practitioner, and I can tell you of my experience.

OK; many families come to me after seeing two to four other lactation professionals, on average. All I can say is, I am interested in helping solve the dyad’s puzzle and work tirelessly for answers.

Why? Because it’s a real family out there…living, breathing people…and ideally, everyone benefits most if the baby is exclusively breastfed. I care.

I’m not suggesting that other professionals don’t care, but sending a family away without help, sometimes with pronouncements of doom far past the practitioner’s scope of practice, when there was in fact help to be offered, provably so because I offered such help and aided the mother and infant in working through the issue(s), demonstrates that even if that a professional cares, if they aren’t also capable of providing an adequate LEVEL of care to their client, caring won’t suffice.

Other Lactation Professionals may not be quite so diligent, and some apparently have arrived at pseudoscientific/non-scientific theories as to why breastfeeding isn’t going okay, conclusions that basically suggest there’s no solution.

My background and training relies on a science-based approach, exclusively. I’ve helped moms find breastfeeding solutions that work for them, simply because the previous LCs did not properly identify the issues(s) at hand.

In the end, try finding people that will function as a good support system. Caring, competent people.

Once someone that you pay isn’t helping or listening; or, if they’re disrespectful or callous; or, perhaps they’re making errors and causing more issues than solving…

…try to get everything back on track, and if you can’t, then perhaps it’s time to move on to another professional.

Learn from everyone. Keep your still center going, and stay active. Prepare by borrowing library books! It’s your journey; live it how you want!

This was a spontaneous piece; one day I will deveote some real time to the topic and make this into a formal list and post the link.