Now that the year has drawn to a close with Christmas just a week away, take this time to totally relax and have some time off.  It’s a good time of year to recharge your batteries, join in the Christmas cheer (just don’t over do it!) and catch up on much needed rest.

Take time out this week to sit under a tree, by the pool or at the beach…anywhere that helps you to feel totally relaxed. Take a good book to read, or simply close your eyes and enjoy!!

This is for ANYONE…no matter how old or young.  Take the kids and make it a family experience!

If you can’t afford to go out and pay someone else to give you a facial, create time and space at home to nurture yourself a little. Start by setting the mood…take the phone off the hook, put on some nice music, get into some comfy clothes and get ready to relax.

Start by cleansing your skin. Then try some exfoliation and a deep cleansing mask.  Lie down and rest your eyes while the mask does its work.  Once the mask is washed off, try some toner and a lovely nurturing moisturizer.  I’m sure you have your own favorite brands that you use.  Otherwise the body shop stocks lots of inexpensive goodies.  I really love the range of ‘Ayana Organics’ that I sampled on the weekend.  See below for Sams lovely range of products.  What I particularly like about them is that they are all organic, are not tested on animals and they are all created under the fair trade scheme.

If you want to keep your birth as natural as possible then practice regular relaxation, listen to your intuition and trust your body! Listen to what your body is telling you, not what other people are telling you. No-one knows your body like you do. If you feel comfortable with this and trust what your body is telling you, you will know if everything is okay, or if you need to make changes.

Avoid interventions wherever possible, otherwise you may start the ‘cascade of intervention’, whereby one intervention leads to another, then another and another. Work with your body’s natural endorphins and oxytocin.  They are there for a reason and make labour so much more comfortable, as long as you don’t block them out with artificial substitutes. Find out more ideas on what you can do in my eBook on ‘Childbirth Preparation’.  Available at:  www.childbirthpreparationebook.com

Feeling stressed and run down?  Whenever I feel this way it’s time to get back to nature! Go bushwalking, camping, paddling, bike riding or surfing!  Anywhere in the natural environment has the ability to totally relax you and recharge those batteries. So start planning now for your next date with nature.  :)

Did you know that animals in the wild usually birth easily and naturally without any problems?  Their biggest concern is predators! If an animal is attacked during labour, the surge of adrenaline will allow them to expel their baby quickly and flee to safety.  Otherwise, if they are still early on in labour, contractions will cease while they get to safety.  Labour will not recommence until they have reached safety and created the right environment again.  This is no different in humans, except we’re not generally being hunted!!  We do however, release adrenaline in response to other stressful situations.  So think about your current environment…whether you feel relaxed or stressed.  This will determine how well you birth your baby.

To see some beautiful births of animals in the wild…when left undisturbed to just ‘get on with it’, visit ‘You tube’.  There are lots of amazing videos on there to check out. It even shows how animals clean up the afterbirth…yum, yum!!  We can learn a lot by observing nature!!

The birth environment needs to be such that it allows the most natural birth to take place. It should allow you to relax, feel comfortable and safe so that you can release endorphins naturally in this environment, allowing for a good flow of energy and a natural, positive, empowering birth experience.

So how do we re-create an environment similar to one you had when you first got the baby in there? Try to think about how you would like a room to be or to feel during conception. Do you like a room to be nice and quiet, dark and intimate, with candles burning, nice music playing, comfortable cushions or bed linen, or anything else you would like to have in the room to help you feel comfortable and relaxed? This is what you need to have in your room during birth in order to help you become relaxed. We want to prevent the fear/tension/pain syndrome and the “adrenaline” reaction. We want to increase endorphin release, so it is really important to have a relaxing birth environment in order to do this.

You are able to move furniture around and create the environment you want. If you are birthing in a hospital, you may not be aware of this. You can actually move the room around to suit yourself and bring in things from home to make you feel comfortable. You are perfectly within your rights to create whatever you like that is going to make you comfortable. This may change however, if you have a high risk pregnancy where you need to be monitored more closely, and will probably need all the equipment around. Otherwise, you should be able to push the bed to the side and place the mattress on the floor if you so desire. This is a good way of preventing you from feeling that you have to lie on the bed. Just push the bed to the side and put your bags on top of it. Then it is really difficult for anyone to come in and ask you to get on the bed for an internal examination or for any other reason. These can be done (if needed) with you in any position.

Most labour rooms these days have dimmer switches so you can dim the lights. You cannot actually use candles in the labour ward because of the oxygen on the wall, but you can usually ask for a vaporizer, which is kept in a storeroom. So you can bring in your own oil blends from home if you like and use the hospital vaporizer, or if they don’t have that you can always put essential oils on a handkerchief so that you have got some nice aromas from home as well. You can also bring in photos and flowers, your own pillow, your own doona if you want. You can also bring in your own CD’s from home. Most labour wards have a CD player now, so all you need to do is bring your own music from home so that you can put it on and listen to that during labour or bring your own MP3 player, whatever suits you. You can play the music of your choice because music makes a huge difference to how well relaxed you will feel.

Just remember that, however the environment is, you can change it around and create whatever space you need because BIRTH IS A SACRED EVENT so you really want a nice SACRED SPACE for the baby to be born into. Create whatever suits you!

It helps to write a list ahead of time too, of all the things to take to the birth so that when you go into labour, it is just a matter of gathering them together and taking them with you. It is your birth, so create the birth experience that you want to have by starting with the environment. Create the environment that you want on this special day.

Lie on a rug outside and cloud watch, or watch the breeze blowing the leaves of the trees. It can become quite hypnotic and put you into a deeply relaxed state. This was one of my favorites as a kid.

Light a candle and take five big deep gratitude breaths.  Think of at least one thing that you are grateful for.

Whenever you’re feeling stressed or under pressure, stop what you are doing and count to ten while taking slow, deep breathes.  This will help you to calm down, centre yourself and think clearly, before deciding to act.  Hopefully whatever you do next, will be in a calm, relaxed state.