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Natural Iron Supplements for Pregnancy – Prevention and Treatment for Anemia

Anemia during pregnancy is very common, because of the increased needs for iron.  Some of the most common symptoms are extreme fatigue and dizziness. After having your hemoglobin or hematocrit levels checked, your caregiver will give you some suggestions to increase your iron levels if that is what is needed.

If you are going to take an iron supplement during pregnancy, consider using a water-soluble one, which will not cause additional constipation problems which so many pregnant women already suffer from.

Herbs/Supplements:
Floradix Iron Formula
Chlorophyll
EmergenC (1-2x per day)
Yellow Dock Root
Alfalfa

Dietary Suggestions:
Use cast iron cookware
At least 1 tbsp. blackstrap molasses daily
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Dark leafy green veggies
Brewer’s yeast
Eliminate sugar, coffee, tea, soda, beer, and dairy products

Note: The above are simply suggestions to give you a starting point for your research. In no way is this article attempting to diagnose, treat, or cure. You are responsible for your own health care, I am simply giving ideas so that you can more easily make an informed decision on your treatment.

Author: Brenda Minica, CD (CBI) All rights reserved.

Dear little Baby
Whose life I now hold
More precious by far
Than all the earth’s gold

Eagerly awaited by
A chosen two
Who will help you and guide you
In all that you do

Be patient sweet Babe
Your time draws near
Our arms are wide open
To welcome you here.

Author unknown

This is an area of great personal interest to me right now, since I am 8 weeks pregnant and have been eating a raw diet for 5 months now. I still have so much to learn, and don’t know if this pregnancy will be all raw or not, but I do know that I am much healthier and feel much better for the changes I have made. Here are a few resources for anyone interested in reading more about this option. Feel free to e-mail or call me if you have any questions – we can learn about this topic together!

http://www.thegardendiet.com/ This woman has had more than one raw pregnancy and sells an e-book about her experiences.

When you’re pregnant, it’s important to set time aside to make sure you’re staying healthy and fit. It’s not easy. Your body is going through a constant workout each day from carrying your child. By the time evening comes around, getting motivated to move your limbs and flex your muscles may seem like a lesson in defeat.

That said, there are many reasons to exercise during your pregnancy. To motivate you to get started and inspire you to action, here are four great reasons to work out.

#1 – You’ll Feel Energized

Being pregnant can take an enormous toll on your energy level. By exercising in the morning, you can gain the energy boost you need to carry you throughout the day. Not only will the exercise release endorphins which give you an immediate energized feeling, but you’ll also be working out your cardio system. That increases your stamina allowing you to get through each day more easily.

#2 – You’ll Sleep Better

Believe it or not, while your body may feel exhausted at the end of the day, there’s actually plenty of pent-up energy inside. The problem is that it can prevent you from getting a good night’s rest. During your pregnancy, you’ll lie in bed, tired from the afternoon, but unable to get to sleep.

Exercising expends that energy. By the time you’re in bed, your mind and your body will drift easily to slumber.

#3 – You’ll Prepare Your Body For Giving Birth

Childbirth will be a strain on your body. Not only can labor last for several hours, but the entire experience will require the use of many muscles. When you exercise, you put those muscles to use. Whether you’re working out your pelvic muscles, abdominals, or thighs and hips, doing so can make childbirth easier. Many women have reported that labor lasted for a shorter time and progressed more smoothly after having exercised during their pregnancy.

#4 – You’ll Reclaim Your Figure More Quickly

Have you ever observed new mothers who have recently given birth and wondered how they managed to get their pre-pregnancy bodies back so quickly? Chances are, they were exercising while they were pregnant. When you exercise daily, your muscles grow accustomed to the activity. After you give birth, those muscles can bounce back quickly because they’re already efficient. Before long, other pregnant women will be looking at your figure wondering how you managed to do it.

There are plenty of reasons to work out during your pregnancy. Besides staying fit, you’ll enjoy more energy, better sleep, an easier childbirth experience, and a fast return to your previous figure. Speak with your obstetrician to make sure your exercise routine is safe. Then, get to work and start enjoying the benefits.

When dealing with morning sickness, the most important thing to remember is that the same thing will not work for everyone, and don’t give up until you find something that works for you. Also, you may not be able to alleviate ALL of your nausea, but even if you can lessen it somewhat, it will make your life much more bearable during these first few weeks. You may find some new ideas of your own that work for you much better than the ideas presented here. If so, I would love to hear about them!

1.    Eat more frequently, just a bite or two every 30 minutes or so to keep your blood sugar up.
2.    Juice ½ of a lemon into a cup of hot water and drink first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Eat breakfast about 30-40 minutes later.
3.    Eat small amounts of foods with ginger in them – ginger ale, gingersnaps, candied ginger root, etc. Also can try ginger capsules.
4.    Wear a motion sickness band on your wrist.
5.    Chew peppermint gum.
6.    Take extra B-Complex. Start at 100-200 mg per day and increase by 50 mg per day until you are no longer sick. Make sure you are taking a B Complex rather that individual B vitamins, because it is water soluble and will pass through your urine so that you cannot take too much. Also make sure you get the yeast free kind to avoid problems with yeast infections. Take 50 mg amounts throughout the day.  When morning sickness starts to lessen, slowly decrease the amount of B Complex you are taking until you eliminate it all together. According to a home birth midwife, this will relieve morning sickness in 80% of all pregnancies.
7.    Take milk thistle capsules (recommended by Shonda Parker, author of “Naturally Healthy Pregnancy”). This should ideally be done for at least a month or two prior to conception. Milk thistle is a liver cleanser and the idea is that morning sickness is made worse by a stressed liver.
8.    High protein snacks at night, such as a few peanuts, or a drink of milk. Also try this first thing in the morning before getting out of bed.
9.    Peppermint essential oil (I recommend only Young Living therapeutic grade oils) dropped into a glass of water or 1 drop under the tongue followed by a glass of cold water. Or put peppermint oil on a tissue and deeply inhale for a few minutes right under your nose.
10.    Some people recommend eating a lot of protein to manage morning sickness, and others say that you should stay away from too much protein and especially dairy products. Try both and see which one works for you.
11.    Herbs that may help – catnip, dandelion, peppermint, and red raspberry leaf.
12.    Make sure you are drinking plenty of water.
13.    Try taking cod liver oil twice a day – the flavored kind is fine if that is easier for you to take.

Author: Brenda Minica, CD (CBI) – All rights reserved.

HALTING EARLY LABOR

Used with permission – names have been changed.

Sandy and her husband realized they were coming to a crossroad in life. Although Mark earned a comfortable income, he was rarely home. When Sandy learned she was pregnant with their third child, they realized that they simply didn’t have enough “family time.” They began praying for a home-based business that would take care of them financially and allow them to devote more of themselves to raising heir children.

Seven-and-a-half months into Sandy’s pregnancy, she went into labor after an airplane flight. “Because we had used herbs for several years, they were the first place I turned for help,” says Sandy, “but none of them worked. I called my midwife, and when I described to her what I was going through, she said I needed to get to a hospital right away. My midwife got into her car and started speeding toward my house, but we lived so far from a medical facility that she also wanted to call a helicopter service to come pick me up. I told her to wait for one minute before calling the helicopter. During that minute I prayed, asking the Lord to guide me to something in my home that would be powerful enough to stop my labor. The answer that came to me was ‘essential oil of Lavender,’ so my husband grabbed the YLEO bottle of Lavender and rubbed it all over my stomach, legs, and feet. Sixty seconds later, as my midwife was driving into our driveway, my labor stopped. Completely. My midwife was so shocked her mouth fell open.

“For the next five weeks I stayed in bed with 24-hour care. Every time I got up, my heavy labor started again. We kept using lavender until my baby’s due date. On that day, I put the oil away and delivered a big, beautiful, healthy baby boy after a 30-minute labor.”

At that point, Sandy knew that there had to be some serious science behind the oils. She began researching then and discovered that there is a tremendous difference between most of the oils on the market and the therapeutic-grade oils offered by YLEO. “Typical oils would not have been powerful enough to help me during my pregnancy,” she says.

Sandy started sharing the oils with friends and family members. She says she just could not keep quiet about the “wonderful treasures that had been provided to use for healing.” One day she went to the post office and discovered a “huge check. The was when I realized that if I could become a leader and treat my business as a business, I had a chance to help other mothers like myself who wanted to stay at home with their children but needed extra income.”

*For more information about essential oils, visit http://www.buyessentialoils.org. I am also happy to share my own personal experiences with essential oil use during pregnancy and birthing.

Halting Early Labor in Mid-Flight

By Cherie Ross

Tuesday, May 28th – Northwest Flight #676

10:22 am Leave Minneapolis to Baltimore; settle in to take a nap for some much needed rest.

10:55 am Flight attendant comes on P.A. system, “Do we have a medical professional on board? We have a woman in labor!”

10:56 am I go inside prayerfully & ask “Is this mine to do”? I heard back, “…and you needed to ask?!”

10:57 am – I push the call button, tell the flight attendant: “I am not a medical professional; however, I am trained in the proper use of Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils, and they’ve been proven to stop early labor.”

She stated that there was a Nurse Practitioner with the woman and they’d come and get me if I was needed.

11:00 am I got reawakened with an abrupt tapping on my shoulder. It was the Head Flight Attendant: “We need you now!”

I gathered my oils & headed to the back of the plane, where I found a wonderful Nurse Practitioner doing her best. Not only was this woman in labor, she was vomiting & in extreme anxiety attack. The more the NP tried to talk to her & ask medical questions, the more escalated her anxiety became. I was in the seat behind them. The flight attendant whispered in my ear, “Can you do something?” I responded, “I believe I can.” Then the most peculiar thing happened. The flight attendant told the NP: “You’re out, she’s in” (meaning me, to take over). I quickly moved up to her seat, tried to talk to the pregnant woman, but no response. She was completely overwhelmed with anxiety, pain & terror. I grabbed Lavender, put a puddle in my hand, and rubbed it all over her low tummy. She was 7 months pregnant and often air pressure changes can induce labor. I held my hand on her low tummy and silently prayed. In less than 5 minutes, the woman opened her eyes very wide, looked at me and said, “It stopped.” I said: “What stopped?” She said “The pains and cramping. They stopped!” Then she asked, “Who are you and where did you come from?” I said, “I’m Cherie. I’m here to help you.”

Next was to get the nausea & vomiting to stop. I grabbed DiGize — another puddle in my hand, this time on the upper tummy. In less than 5 minutes again, the nausea and vomiting completely stopped. Now, on the anxiety attack: I brought out Peace & Calming, started at the solar plexus and moved upward. The closer I got to her nose, the more she resisted. So I just held the bottle between her rib area and allowed her to smell from there. In less than 7 minutes, she calmed down to the point of falling asleep. It was a very turbulent flight, which did not help at all. So I applied Lavender one more time in the remaining 90 minutes. I sat with her, softly talked to her words of comfort and reassurance.

When we landed in Baltimore, the EMTs boarded the plane and I moved so they could take over. They requested I stay close to her if she needed more oils. They safely removed her from the plane. I was the last passenger off the plane, (all my things had been moved to the rear). Upon leaving, the captain came out, took hold of my hand and said, “Thank you.” I said, “You’re welcome,” and started to leave. He would not let go of my hand, and said thank you again. My response “I was just doing my job, sir; Anyone would have done the same thing.”

Again, I tried to leave, but he still would not let go of my hand. I looked at him questioningly. His response, “You don’t have any idea what was going on before and during your intervention, do you?” “No,” I replied. He then proceeded to tell me, he was on the phone with a medical team on land. They determined to do an emergency landing with the plane and were in the process of looking for an airport that could take us. When I intervened, the flight attendant asked me in detail what I was doing/using. I thought she was just curious. I had no idea she was on the rear phone reporting to the captain, who in turn was reporting to the ground medical team. When we got results in less than 5 minutes with the oils, the medical team told the captain to wait,…continue on course, and see what happens. Because in less than 20 minutes the crisis situation completely turned around, the ground medical team instructed the captain to continue on to Baltimore. The captain said, “Do you have any idea how many lives were positively affected today by what you did?” If we would have had to emergency land this plane, people would have missed connecting flights, business meetings, appointments.” “And not only that,” the flight attendant spoke up, “the other passengers were getting visibly quite disturbed and upset. When you pulled out your oils and got to work, a sense of calmness was reestablished among all the passengers.”

I signed the necessary reports, got off the plane, and went to pick up my luggage. At the baggage claim area, many passengers came up and thanked me for handling the situation. Every day, without exception, I thank God for these Young Living Oils.

*For more information about essential oils, go to http://www.buyessentialoils.org or talk to me about my own personal experiences in using them during pregnancy and birthing.

1.    First of all, make sure you are drinking PLENTY of fluids to maximize the amount of amniotic fluid in the uterus. This helps the baby have more room to turn.
2.    Visualize your baby turning into the correct position. Talk to your baby. Prayer, communication with your baby and positive thinking can do wonders!
3.    Postural inversion, lie on a slanted board or with pillows under your hips for about 20 minutes, three times a day. You want your hips to be elevated 12-18 inches higher than your head.
4.    If you have access to a warm pool, do a headstand in the pool with someone there to help you. Do this several times and on several occasions if possible.
5.    Shine a bright flashlight onto your belly directly above the pubic bone. Put the flashlight directly on your skin!
6.    Put a frozen bag of peas (or another ice pack) at the top of your uterus, directly on the baby’s head if possible. You can do this at the same time as when you’re using the flashlight. Babies tend to move away from cold things and toward light.
7.    Another idea is to have Daddy talk to the baby with his mouth down in the same place where the flashlight is. Or put a small radio with music right in that spot. Any combination of these things can be done at the same time to maximize the effect.
8.    If the above tricks don’t work with Mom lying comfortably, try doing them with Mom on her hands and knees. Do the “pelvic rock” while in this position as well. This brings the baby up and out of the pelvis, giving it more room to turn.
9.    Find a chiropractor experienced in “The Webster Technique” for turning breech babies. I can recommend a good chiropractor if you’re interested.
10.    Ask your doctor about doing an external version if the baby is still breech at 36 weeks. Ask what his/her success rate is with this procedure.
11.    If you are successful in turning your baby to the correct position, keep it that way by sitting tailor style on the floor as much as possible from then on. Avoid sitting in lazyboy type chairs – you always want to keep your knees below your hips. This sitting position is a good idea to encourage baby to turn also.

*This is my midwife’s advice: Chiropractor first, then if that doesn’t work, use the slant board, swimming, and pulsatilla (homeopathic remedy.)

*This information is for informational purposes only. Contact your medical caregiver for diagnosis and treatment.

Author: Brenda Minica, CD (CBI)  – All rights reserved.

Here is the program that Dr.Gary Young, founder of Young Living Essential Oils created for his wife Mary Young  (told by Gary Young himself during a talk in July, 2000 at The Farm, Mona, Utah):

YL Essential Oils:
Valor 2 times a day – tummy, back, hips – AM and PM.
Gentle Baby AM & PM for 30 days; then 1-2 times a week
By using Valor on the tummy, at 7 months she has no stretch marks or blemishes.  The doctors are amazed.
Brain Power on tummy, ears, neck once a day.  Baby knows Morse Code.
Her mind is much more clear.
Gary massages her legs at night with Valor and Cypress, sometimes Aroma Siez.
Frankincense each day protects baby.
He tests her weekly.
 
Supplements:
Multigreen – 8-12 a day.
Be Fit – 4 a day
Power Meal – 2 scoops in AM
Super Cal – 4 a day
Master Formula Hers – 6 a day
Body Balance – 1 scoop a day
Comfortone – 2 a day
Sulfurzyme – 2 tbs. a day
ICP – 2-3 times a week
Boswella Crème – 1 time a day on top of oils

*Note from Brenda – I personally use and recommend Young Living Essential Oils. The above recommendations are not intended for use with other types of oils, because essential oils are made very differently. Click here to visit my essential oils website and learn much more, or contact me if you have specific questions about my own experiences with essential oils, pregnancy, and birth.