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Thank you for requesting this free kit!

It's packed full of tips, ideas and solutions to help you have a pleasant pregnancy, smooth delivery, fast recovery AND a healthy & happy baby!

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With Gratitude,

Nichi

• Twelve Tips on How to Maximize Your Health During Pregnancy
• Complete Hospital Packing List for a Comfortable Stay
• Complete Home Birth Check List for a Comfortable Delivery
• Ten Tips to Having a Healthy & Happy New Born
• Creative Ideas for Helping Siblings Adjust
• Healthy & Easy Food Tips that Will Keep You Energized (and producing milk)
• A List of My Favorite Gadgets & Natural Baby Care Items

Practice squatting on a solid surface 2-3 times per day to stretch and elasticize your groin muscles and to strengthen your pelvic floor.

Apply oil to your perineum to help elasticize your tissues for strength in pushing.

Wear skirts and no underwear around the house to keep your tissue from drying out, and keeping them more elastic.

Do gentle belly and groin massage at night as you’re turning in before bed. It will calm you and keep those hips from catching!

Get on your hands and knees for 5 minutes each in the morning and evening for pelvic tilts to help in proper fetal positioning and strengthening of low back muscles.

Eat every three hours, and have a little protein with each meal/snack.

Include good fats in your diet at least 5 times per day: avocado, mayonnaise, olive oil, olives, salmon, nuts and seeds.

Keep simple snacks in your bedside table drawer: ginger chews, raw almonds, dried apricots. Have a nibble or two before you sit up in bed at night or in the morning to avoid a blood sugar crash when you get up and move about.

Keep well hydrated with water and herbal teas. Use natural fruit juice in moderation. Avoid caffeine, coffee and soda. Two quick ideas: use Dandyblend as a great coffee substitute and for a homemade refreshing spritzer, pour a little seltzer water into a half glass of natural fruit juice!

Hire a doula. You'll Get:

• Greater continuum of support means less intervention.
• Increases chance of natural birth
• Informational resource support
• A doula can run interference for you with long lasting visitors and family, allowing your new family time to bond and rest.

Wear a robe. Your visitors will notice you’re in your “pajamas” and are likely to not stay as long.

Private (meaning not offered through a hospital) natural childbirth classes are a must. As an experienced doula, there is a huge difference in knowledge, confidence, and educated decision making from couples who have experienced a childbirth class together.

Create a small 3 ring binder for baby and as you gather resources you trust or want to keep on hand, include their information in a list along with any marketing materials, offers, coupons or promos that pertain to you. You might also include: chiropractic info, pediatric info, emergency contact info, insurance info, directions to hospital or closest clinic. Include a spot to make notes from prenatal appointments as well.

In Your Purse:

• photo ID
• complete birth plan (1 copy for your room and 1 copy for hospital records)
• hospital paperwork
• insurance card

Toiletries:

• toothbrush/paste
• hairbrush/comb
• eyeglasses/contact lens care
• barrette/ponytail holders
• nipple cream
• Earth Mama Angel Baby Mama Bottom Balm (one word: hemorrhoids)

Clothing:

• nightgown/robe
• slippers/socks
• big, comfortable and cotton underwear, yoga pants, nursing tank and hoodie for going home

For relaxation:

• ipod/mp3 player
• massage tools and oil
• tennis balls
• pillow and cozy blanket

For an older sibling:

• a nice way to begin this relationship is with a *treasure* brought to the older sibling by the new baby brother/sister

For your partner:

• toothbrush
• gum
• water bottle
• few favorite granola bars
• clean t-shirt and pajama pants for comfort

For baby:

• diaper bag with first days essentials:
• cloth diapers and covers
• olive oil
• hat
• kimono onesies
• receiving blankets (3)

For fuel:

• favorite water bottle
• honey sticks
• Emergen-C drink packets
• dried Miso soup mix

***Often hospital staff won’t allow a mother to eat or drink during labor, which is interesting, right, considering you’re about to run a marathon….the above ideas will help to keep you fueled for the main event.

For the car:

• old large towel in case of water breaking en route

***I would highly encourage you to remain at home with your labor support as long as possible or as long as comfortable for you. I have seen this typically result in a shorter hospital stay, easier hospital transition and less medical intervention.

Keep in mind that you’ll likely be walking halls, sitting on a birth ball and in/out of a bathtub or shower, so you’ll want to dress for ultimate comfort in these transitions. You may find that you don’t want to pack all these items, but after attending many a hospital birth, most moms find it comforting to have along her personal belongings.

What I found to be the most efficient, cost effective and worthwhile way of going about this was to purchase a basic home birthing kit from an online supplier (sometimes your midwife will recommend one to you), then amend the kit with these items:

• vinyl shower curtain for use under your fitted sheet during labor and delivery
• bulb syringe
• thermometer for mom and baby
• 6 old soft towels washed in hot water, dried in hot cycle and sealed in plastic garbage bag for use during delivery
• Arnica Montana 30c (and any other dried herbs, homeopathic remedies or tinctures your practitioners or midwives may recommend)
• squirt bottle for rinsing perineum post delivery
• 1 bottle of Witch Hazel
• 1 bag of large overnight maxi pads
• 1 bottle of cherry juice (consumed in VERY little amounts it will help to keep stool soft for those first few bowel movements. Your bum will thank you.)
• 2 old (but soft and breathable) sets of sheets…one for labor/delivery and one for post delivery
• tennis balls
• rice sacks for heating and placing on body
• flexible straws for slurping down whatever fluids you can get in during labor
• Omega 3 fish oil capsulesfor consumption post delivery to help keep emotions on even keel
• olive oil for use on perineum during delivery
• 1 box 4” gauze pads for creating packs to soothe perineum post delivery (ask a friend to make these for you as a blessing way or shower gift)

Nurse your baby for as long as possible. The World Health Organization recommends at least 12-24 months of breastfeeding.

Seek out a chiropractic adjustment for both mama and babe within the first week of life for optimal central nervous system functioning and successful breastfeeding and restful sleep for all.

Seek out craniosacral therapy for those babies having digestion, sleep or nursing issues within the first week.

Sleeping babies on their stomach is helpful for their digestion, and they often sleep more restfully. Be certain they are sleeping on a firm surface with their faces turned to one side for proper breathing and that they are not left unsupervised.

What’s vernix?  Vernix is the sticky white stuff on a baby’s body when born that is often rubbed off by nurses after birth. With your fingers, softly rub the vernix back into baby’s skin as a natural moisturizer.

Keep babe skin to skin (with your partner as well) as much as possible after birth to promote the best bonding possible. If in the hospital, the staff wants to give baby a bath while checking you over after birth, rub that vernix gently in yourself and get the baby skin to skin/chest to chest with your partner. The video of our babies bonding with their daddy in the immediate minutes and hours still make my heart go pitter-patter!

Umbilical cord care: I don’t recommend doing anything. I’ve seen time and again, cords fall off earlier when nothing has been applied topically. It starts to get a little gunky and may smell a bit as it dries up. If you’d like, use a Q-tip and warm water to clean it up, but mostly leave it be and it’ll dry up nicely. If it begins to look infected or raw, I would apply a little dab of goldenseal powder to help it dry up.

Babies should always be dressed in two layers and wrapped or swaddled in a blanket. Keep in mind natural fibers are more comfortable than synthetics.

Feel free to sponge bath baby until cord comes off, OR float he/she in a warm bath with you where the baby can nurse freely and feel the comfort of warm water on her backside.

Babies need hats 24/7 to help keep their bodies nice and snug. In fact, I am a big proponent of hats on all children, in warm or cold weather, for the first seven years.

Make a Big Brother/Big Sister Care Kit for when you are in labor. Items you might include:

• DIY craft kits: (beading, felting, drawing, crayoning, building)
• Books on birth ( Happy Birth Day, etc)
• Birthday cake and frosting mix to be baked with a loved one while waiting for the baby to arrive. Don’t forget the candles!
• Include a blanket or project made by the sibling earlier in the pregnancy to give the baby as a gift after its born. An easy idea is to take some soft flannel, cut two large squares, then cut slits three inches in around all edges f both squares. Lay them wrong sides together, line up edges and tie slits all the way around for a soft, natural fiber blanket.
• A disposable or inexpensive or hand me down digital camera for the sibling to chronicle his/her experience of mama’s pregnancy and the wonders of being a new big sibling. Perhaps including a small photo album for their photos would be a fun token.
• Include in this care kit a “gift certificate” for someone who loves and cares about the child (ren) to be the primary care provider for the time mom and partner are away or busy laboring.
• Perhaps set up special play dates to help ease anxiety, play out energy, express worry with. Preferable if these play dates are outdoors with a close family friend who will know when to say when for your child.

Have filtered water at the ready and 1 liter sized water bottles available for use in labor and in early postpartum.

Set up nursing stations for your early postpartum phase.

These include bottles of water, granola bars, trail mix, nuts and dried fruit so mama can replenish while nursing baby. Set up 2-3 stations throughout the most used areas of the home, with one in a quiet space such as mama’s room or the baby nursery.

Plan ahead to have extra stock of healthy and nutritious food choices on hand.

• Make & freeze favorite meals and snacks in individual portions for ease.
• Set up food delivery rotation via friends or family

Some great resources for food:

Pure Market Express: www.puremarketexpress.com
Wilderness Family Naturals www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com
Your local co-op and/or Whole Foods, natural foods stores

Smoothies are your best friend. They are fresh, protein packed, quick, easy and keep you feeling satiated and sustain you in this time when you feel empty all the time!

Eat your produce (organic preferred)=no constipation for mama= a really happy mama.

• Carseat Brand-Britax
• Disposable-Nature Baby Care Eco-Friendly & Chlorine Free
• Cloth-Swaddlebee’s Pre fold diapers
• Bottle-Dr. Brown’s Glass Bottles
• Sippy Cup-Born Free
• Pacifier-Soothie Pacifier, latex free
• Infant Carrier-Maya Wrap
• Baby Carrier: Ergo Baby Carrier
• Natural Healthcare Product: Highlands Homeopathic teething tablets
• Natural Healthcare Modality: Craniosacral Therapy

Imagine being a Healthy, Supported, & Nurtured Mom

... You are able to provide the best care possible to your child because YOU are receiving the best care possible.

I support moms during pregnancy, birth, postpartum and beyond.

My approach is to first look at the whole picture to determine you and your families needs. This includes:

• Optimizing your physical, mental and emotional wellness through nutrition, massage and craniosacral therapy, and support
• Organizing your home in such a way that makes daily routines and childcare as simple and calming as possible
• Creating a nurturing environment for child-birth; offering pain coping techniques, optimal fetal positioning, massage, craniosacral therapy, acupressure, deep relaxation and visualization techniques, and of course, being your advocate.
• Helping with meals, errands, light house-work, and sibling support after your baby arrives home.
• Assisting with breastfeeding, baby-care assistance, discovering your babies cues, and nurturing YOU with physical and emotional comforts.

Ready to get started?

If you live in the Twin Cities metro area:

I offer complimentary consultations. To set-up your no-obligation 1-hour in-home consultation, please email me at: nhirsch@myhealthybeginning.com

If you live somewhere else on planet earth:

I offer support over-the-phone and via Skype. Click here for more information on my Lifestyle Coaching.

Nichole Hirsch Kuechle | My Healthy Beginning |  www.MyHealthyBeginning.com |  612-418-3801 | P.O. Box 195 Long Lake, MN 55356