Scriptures and Birth, Part 5 - Serve the Lord!

Ronan's painted belly cast.

Leading up to the birth of my fourth child I'm going to take a look at various scriptures and how they guide us during birth and how God's plan for women is to birth in peace, love and total devotion to Him.

"Serve the Lord with gladness."  Ps 100:2

Yesterday the kids and I created a cast of my belly. At 39 weeks + it was about time I got around to it! In all the fun we drug out their old belly casts which I had not painted, and I had them paint their very own casts of when they lived in mommy! It was a really fun family activity.

It got me thinking again about birth and the scriptures. There is no better way to see Psalm 100:2 in action than watching children paint! They do it with such gladness of heart! Each and every single thing we do should be done with such gladness as we serve the Lord!

Birth is especially a time of serving the Lord. Bringing forth one of His sons or daughters to live here on mother earth and become part of our forever family is the most blessed task He gives us and we are honored to serve Him in gladness.

 

 

 

"Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth." Gen 1:28

The first commandment given to us was to be fruitful and to multiply. In birth we are doing the foundational work of building a strong kingdom for our Heavenly Parents.

 

Avi's finished belly cast. Seems like only yesterday he was still in my belly. 

 

Nykki's finished belly cast. I can't believe he'll be 9 next month!

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

What higher purpose is there than birth? 

We should love God through our births and He will do right by us. :)

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?"  Romans 8:35

...or labor? Don't let the intensity of birth separate you from the love of Christ. It's easy to let go of His hand and to grow depressed or overwhelmed, but hold fast to Him and He will carry you through!

I'll leave you with the parting words from one of the midwives mentioned in the Bible; fear not.

"And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not..."  Gen 35:17

Happy Birthing sisters! :)

Nutritional Prepartation for Birth

I'm taking a pause from my Scriptures in Birth series today to talk about another way I am preparing for the birth of my fourth sweet babe - with nutrition! :) Here are some of my favorite ways to naturally boost the body for birth.

Alfalfa

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After giving birth your placenta naturally detaches from the inside of your uterus and like losing any part of your body it causes blood loss. After the energy you spend giving birth, the last thing you want is to lose too much blood or even lose enough to make you feel icky or more tired then you would. 

A great solution is to boost your vitamin K before giving birth. Vitamin K is what helps your blood clot which will aide in not losing so much blood after birth. I get my alfalfa in pill form from my local health food store. I take a few pills throughout the day for about 5 weeks before my due date. I keep up with them for a few weeks postpartum as well.

Smoothies

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Who doesn't love a smoothie just for fun? The great thing about smoothies is they are a neat way to hide whole foods that are more difficult or unappetizing to take on their own.

My typical daily smoothie includes:

-1 cup of milk (nut, seed, coconut or dairy) and a few cubes of ice

As a base

 

-1 tablespoon of full fat yogurt

For pro-biotics

 

-A handful of frozen, organic, berries

For anti-oxidants, potassium, and B-17 in the seeds

 

-1 tablespoon of coconut oil

A high quality saturated fat used by your body to keep muscles strong, hormone levels steady and functioning. It also helps keep skin healthy and regulates your metabolism.

 

-Sometimes a banana if I have one

For extra sweetness, vitamins and minerals

 

-A liquid calcium-magnesium-zinc supplement (strawberry flavored)

To build strong bones and prepare my body for breastfeeding

 

-Liquid Source multi-vitamin from sea vegetable, cherry flavored

To get an extra boost of vitamins 

-One or two raw egg yolks from our chickens, yellows only

These are high in vitamins A, D, E and K. They also contain B vitamins, calcium and zinc and a good dose of cholesterol which is essential for your body to make Vitamin D from the sun. They also have essential fatty acids in the correct ratio.

Tea

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Tea is such a calming and lovely way to nourish our bodies. My birth prep tea includes;

Red Raspberry Leaf

Nettle

Chamomile

Rose Hips 

Horsetail

Ginger root

Dandelion leaves

Spearmint (lots! Yum!)

Oatstraw

Red Clover Blossoms

Cramp Bark

I blend these all together in equal parts, except of the red raspberry leaf and the spearmint, I do about 5 times as much of those as the other ingredients. I steep about 1/8 cup of the mix in about 2-3 cups of hot water for at least 10 minutes, strain and then drink. I drink on this tea throughout the day. 

These herbs boost nutrients, help tone the uterus and surrounding tissues, improve circulation, help prevent varicosities,  and promotes kidney and bladder health. It even helps if there is a hemorrhage at the time of birth.

 

Sun Bathing

 

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Vitamin D is essential to good health. Period. There is no getting around it and there is virtually no other way to get it than the sun. Supplements rarely work or can be toxic and most foods that use to be high in vitamin D are so low due to soil erosion that even organic vegetables have low vitamin D counts these days.

People use to live in the outdoors and get huge doses of sunshine and hence vitamin D. These days we  travel from building to car to another building. It's important to take some time to soak up the sun!

The top benefits of soaking up the sun for vitamin D include:

1. It helps the intestines absorb nutrients. Super charge what your getting from your tea and smoothies by making sure you have enough vitamin D :)

2. It's helps your body balance calcium and build strong bones.

3. Vitamin D regulates blood pressure, reduces stress and tension, relieves body aches and pains by reducing muscle spasms, reduces respiratory infections, helps in differentiation of the cells, aids in insulin secretion, helps fight depression, improves overall skin health by reducing wrinkles, makes skin soft, strong, and smooth, and improves cardiovascular strength by providing a protective lining for the blood vessels. Source

How long you need to sit out depends on your skin's coloring. Less time for lighter skin and longer for dark skin. I'm VERY fair skinned and I spend about 15-25 minutes per day in the sunshine. I usually wear a swim suit or have that amount of skin covered/uncovered. If you have very dark skin you may need to spend up to two hours in the sun.

Black Strap Molasses and Lemon Juice

 

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 Blackstrap molasses is a wonder food. I cannot praise it enough! I was anemic for most of my life. Nothing I tried could boost my iron levels and I tried everything! Success for me only came when I began taking Blackstrap Molasses with lemon juice.

Blackstrap molasses is high in absorable iron and B vitamins. It's a great way to regulate your period and make it more comfortable and before giving birth it helps your body build up it's blood and gives you mood uplifting B vitamins to help with the hormonal drops after birth that can cause postpartum depression.

Taking it with lemon juice, or another source of vitamin C, helps your body maximize this miracle food!

 

Meditation

 

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 I use meditation throughout my pregnancy but toward the end I especially need it! Getting our bodies in shape is great BUT we must also remember to tune our mind. Reading your scriptures will help with that and so will meditating. From about 8 months on I meditate everyday on the PERFECT birth.

My perfect birth usually goes a little something like this ...

I start having contractions while still in bed one morning. I sleep through the gentle ones for about an hour and then I feel the urge to get up. I hop in the shower and clean up and then head down stairs. I get breakfast on the table and set to cleaning my house. I totally engross myself in cleaning as long as I can possibly stand. Soon the contractions are coming strong so I go into my den, lay out some towels and get my birth skirt on. I dance, I pace, I sing - whatever keeps me happy and distracted. Finally I'm swept away and the urge to push begins. I get over my blankets and begin working with my body to ease the baby out. I keep my face relaxed and I do not scream, grunt or shout. I take long slow breaths and recite scriptures in my head. After a few minutes of pushing the head crowns. Out the heads pops. I take a slow deep breath and out slips the body peacefully. I cuddle my little girl close.

 Your thoughts become reality! Make them the best you can :)

Blessings on your way to vibrant, beautiful, full body health!

The Scriptures and Birth Part 4 - You Shall Be Saved In Childbearing!

 

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"Not withstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."

1 Timothy 2:15

Faith (noun)

 

1. 

confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2.

belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3.

belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4.

belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5.

a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

 

1200–50; Middle English feith  < Anglo-French fed, Old French feid, feit  < Latin fidem,  accusative of fidēs  trust, akin to fīdere  to trust. 

 

Do we trust in Heavenly Father's ability to bring us through childbearing? Do we believe that in the absence of proof? There is no proof that anyone can hand you while you are pregnant that will insure a good delivery. Not even the best doctor or top medical specialist can give you proof. By it's very nature we must walk into childbearing in the absence of proof UNLESS we believe in God's promises to us. Then proof is not needed.

 

 

Charitable (adjective)

 

1.

generous in donations or gifts to relieve the needs of indigent, ill, or helpless persons, or of animals: a charitable man giving much money to feed the poor.

2.

kindly or lenient in judging people, acts, etc.: charitable in his opinions of others.

3.

pertaining to or concerned with charity: a charitable institution.

 

Who is the helpless person to whom we need be charitable? Why our baby of course! They need us to make a huge sacrifice for them so that they can have life. Can we give them the gift of a peaceful birth? Can we be kind and lenient when their emerging from our body feels uncomfortable? Can we rephrase the moment to NOT be about us and what WE are doing but what our child needs?

 

 

Holy (adjective)

 

1.

specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated: holy ground.

2.

dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, or religion: a holy man.

3.

saintly; godly; pious; devout: a holy life.

4.

having a spiritually pure quality: a holy love.

5.

entitled to worship or veneration as or as if sacred: a holy relic.

  

Our births are spiritually pure! :) They are holy and in that holiness we are devoted to the service of God. As I spoke of in a former post, this is God's baby. He gave us this life, this holy love, we worship God and thank Him by being pious, saintly and devoutly dedicated to a wonderful birth. 

 

And when we go forth in this deed with sobriety (seriousness, gravity, and moderation) giving it the honor it is due then the scriptures promise we will be SAVED in childbearing.

 

No need to fear the labor, the changes, the outcome - we will be saved!

 

 

The Scriptures and Birth Part 3 - Your Baby Was Formed by God

 

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"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee: and before thou comest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee..."

- Jeremiah 1:5

We all existed with our Heavenly Father before we came to earth and this includes the babes in our bellies! He KNOWS us, He KNOWS our children. He formed them perfectly before He even placed them in our wombs and before we come from our mother's womb He sanctifies us. 

The baby growing within you was formed and sanctified perfectly within you by God, and hence he or she will emerge perfectly just as God has planned. We need only be a vessel for His glorious work of bringing forth another human being!

So relax and allow God's perfect and sanctified formation to flow from you :)

The Scriptures and Birth Part 2 - He Will Not Close Our Wombs

Leading up to the birth of my fourth child I'm going to take a look at various scriptures and how they guide us during birth and how God's plan for women is to birth in peace, love and total devotion to Him.

 "Shall I bring to birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? saith God"

Isaiah 66:9

"Mommy, how are babies made?" so goes the classic question. Most of the time we respond with age appropriate science about love, special parts of a man and woman and so forth. However when this question comes up few of us remember that it isn't all sperm meets egg - there's God. 

God created the whole processes of procreation, the man, the woman, the egg, the sperm but He also created each individual life. You and your spouse can have all the s*x you like but a baby will not quicken in the womb without God. 

And it doesn't make sense that God would put a baby in the womb and not leave a way for that baby to get out. On that same note, why on earth would it have to be a complicated or painful process? Why would God have created procreation thousands, if not millions of years ago and only create modern obstetrics this last century? 

God means for that child to be born and He will bring them forth. He will not suddenly close our wombs and the scriptures promise this to us :)

The Scriptures and Birth Part 1

Leading up to the birth of my fourth child I'm going to take a look at various scriptures and how they guide us during birth and how God's plan for women is to birth in peace, love and total devotion to Him.

 

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"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." 

Galatians 4:19

The Merrium-Webster dictionary defines "travail" as "work especially of a painful or laborious nature." Until Christ be formed in us anything we give birth to, whether that be a difficult project at work, building a home, harvesting a garden - will be painful labor. When applied to birth this scripture seems to be saying that our labor will be painful until Christ is formed in us.

So how do we form Christ within us? Good question! In Preach My Gospel we find an essay on  6 Christ-like Attributes which is an excellent place to try and glean how to get closer to forming Christ in ourselves.

Faith

Faith is the hope in something unseen. How literal is that in birth! We cannot see our baby in our belly, we cannot see the progress we make with each contraction, without a mirror we cannot even see the baby come out (at least not well). We must have faith that he or she is there, descending through the birth canal and emerging. It is only when we hold them for the first time and gaze upon our whole baby that our faith manifests into the actual mother-baby bonding moment. 

Christ had faith in his mission. He knew what he had to do and that it would save us. How many of us could have the faith it took to walk to the cross, to put our lives on the line, to die slowly and painfully all based on faith? What a tremendous level of faith it takes to know what God has planned for you, know how hard it will be and still walk that path without hesitation. Can we come to labor as Christ came to the cross?

Hope

Hope is trust that God will fulfill His promises to us. Conception is the promise that we will be delivered by God nine-months later. Should we abandon hope in our Lord at the last minute because things get a little difficult? Should we abandon hope in ourselves knowing that God trusted us to do what He has called us to do? Of course not! Placing our hope in God to see us through only makes sense since He already placed His hope in us to bring forth His son or daughter into this mortal existence!

Charity and Love

Parenting in general can be summed up by the words charity and love. We must tirelessly give of ourselves even when we feel we have nothing left to give and we must do so in love and not with a heavy heart. That charity and love begins in birth. Our child needs us to give birth to him or her, there's simply no way around it and even when we feel we have nothing left to give we must dig down deep and find yet a little more and do so with love to bring them forth. 

Virtue

Our virtue reflects our inner most thoughts and desires. Why do we desire this child? Are we thinking about a living doll we get to dress up, something fun to do with our otherwise boring lives or is our heart in the right place? Do we desire this child in a virtuous way? Do we wish to allow one of our spirit brothers and sisters a shot at a mortal existence just as we have had? A chance to be born and learn to walk the path back to our Heavenly Father.  If our desires and intent are in the right place how much more easily we can bring forth this new life!

Knowledge 

The Lord said, "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance." (D&C 131:6) Just as we ponder the scriptures and we study our faith we too should study birth. We should understand the process on a scientific level just as we understand it on a spiritual one. When we know where and how it is best for our bodies to give birth and make plans to be in such an environment we will feel confident and safe.  

Patience 

Patience is the ability to endure delay, opposition or suffering without becoming angry frustrated or anxious. This is KEY to having a good birth experience. I cringe when I see TV shows where a woman is lying in a hospital bed, cursing at her husband for her pain and throwing doctors out of the room. Everyone chuckles at the woman in labor who's "lost it." Our society seems to think that labor is hard enough work that it somehow gives the woman the right to be the biggest witch(with a B) that she has ever been.

On the other side of that is the common perception that a woman should naturally become afraid or anxious in birth. That calling out in fear is normal and part of the process. It certainly is not.  Yes, it's hard not to "lose it" when confronted with the enormous task of birth but "losing it" only demeans ourselves, our birth and our God whom we are obviously NOT trusting at that moment that we call out in anger or fear. 

Humility

Humility is the willingness to submit to the the will of the Lord.  He placed life within you and it is His plan and His will how that life will come out. I have really learned this lesson during this pregnancy. You see, my husband and I were trying, very hard, to not have another baby at this time. God had other plans and it was a CHALLENGE to humbly submit to them. Even still when I think of the impending labor one of my first thoughts is - this was not my choice. Thoughts like these seriously GET IN THE WAY of a pleasant birth experience. 

In life God will call us to do hard things, much harder than labor. We will see parents die, siblings ill, and some of us will even lose a child or two to early death. We might be in car accidents, house fires or any number of calamity. We may come down with a painful disease or need to under go a risky surgery in order to save our lives. What is birth compared to that? If we cannot walk the path of birth in peace, love, devotion and humility to God's plan - how will we face the other challenges He will set before us?

Diligence

This is an attribute so few of us have in modern life. We are not use to setting goals and working carefully and hardly toward accomplishing them. We want every thing now and we want it easy. We don't want to save for a house, we want a 0-down loan, we don't want to earn that new TV we want to put it on credit, we don't want to struggle to teach our children we want someone else to do that. 

The thing about labor is there is no way out. You will HAVE to do it. You can't quit the way you might a hard job you hate. So why not go through labor diligently intending to do your best? If you cry out in fear and pain gather your courage and strength and commit to continuing your labor diligently. 

You may have to "get back on that horse" after every contraction but don't lose sight of your intentions even if you aren't perfect enough to follow them through every exhausting step.  Set your mind to work diligently as the Lord did.

Obedience 

 Obedience is the first law of heaven. We all know that to have the best outcome in life we are to obey our Heavenly Father and His commandments and many of us have a testimony of a time when we did not and we experienced something negative. 

As I will be outlining in these posts God wants and expects us to rise to the challenge of birth and do so well, our first step in that journey is to obey Him in this. 

Preach My Gospel recommends taking one of these attributes, one at a time, writing a definition of it, recording questions you may have regarding it, seeking out supporting scriptures (use your topical guide in your scriptures :)), recording any feelings and impressions, setting goals for bringing this attribute into your life, praying for help and checking in with yourself periodically and honestly evaluating how you are doing.

This is a great project to complete in your journal over the period of a week, leading up to an evaluation on Sunday.  

Catching Up With Life

As I listen to General Conference this weekend my big question I need answers to is:

Why has life been so hard lately and what can I do about it?

It's been one of those months, one thing after another - we all have them from time to time but this one has beat me down into the ground in a way I am privileged to not have experienced in my life until now.

All the major themes that cause us life stress have been there. Death (far too much of it), moving, legal contentions and challenges, loss of heat, power and modern conveniences, as well as difficult illness.

But throughout God has been there...

I was tired and He gave me strength

I was sad and He gave me joy

I was confused and He set me straight

I felt alone and He surrounded me

Walking through our trails and waiting to see the blessings that come from them is THE hardest challenge God gives to His children but He does it out of love. He knows we need to grow strength, that we must face obstacles in order to develope and grow.

All these things give us experience.

We should never fear the things of man for God is always with us.

As I put one foot in front of another, and slowly but surely get back on an advancing and cheerful path in life I must ...

...take time to count my blessings. I wrote them down during this hard time and I'm on 150+!

...take time to Thank God for my food, shelter and warmth, no matter how tired I may be.

...take time to read His word and replenish myself at His well.

...endure to the end.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make straight your paths.