Guest guest Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Hi ya Doc! I am having my first homebirth here in South Korea. I would like to know your suggestions on what herbs that I should have on hand. I 'm taking CoQ10, red raspberry leaf, molasses, garlic and Vit C right now. I eat mostly raw. Do you suggest have blue or black kohosh? crampbark? anything to help bring on labor (steadily?) My midwife speaks just a bit of English so I would like to be prepared myself.... Thanks!!! Steph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 I found both blue and black cohosh to be extremely helpful during my homebirth.Anella-"Stephanie" <roastology"Herbal Remedies" <herbal remedies >Monday, July 20, 2009 8:42:59 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern{Herbal Remedies} Homebirthing advise for a newbie! Hi ya Doc! I am having my first homebirth here in South Korea. I would like to know your suggestions on what herbs that I should have on hand. I 'm taking CoQ10, red raspberry leaf, molasses, garlic and Vit C right now. I eat mostly raw. Do you suggest have blue or black kohosh? crampbark? anything to help bring on labor (steadily?)My midwife speaks just a bit of English so I would like to be prepared myself....Thanks!!!Steph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Congratulations Steph on your precious little bundle currently forming. Are you taking a calcium formula? This doesn't address birth but your body needs to replenish itself and make plenty available for your forming baby. Taking a good calcium formula during the entire pregnancy and also during lactation is of utmost importance. A good herbal formula that Dr. John R. Christopher used consists of six parts horsetail grass, four parts comfrey root, three parts oat straw and one part lobelia. This is strictly an assimilable vegetable (herbal type) combination since you state you eat mostly raw. Continue to drink the raspberry leaf tea making sure to drink three or more cups a day during your entire pregnancy. Use a heaping teaspoon of dried red raspberry leaves to each cup of hot steam-distilled water. Never let the tea boil but pour the boiling water over the herbs, cover then steep fifteen or twenty minutes in a warm place, strain and drink. Dr. Christopher also recommended the mother to take a pre-natal formula to aid in giving elasticity to the pelvic and vaginal area and strengthening the reproductive organs for easier delivery. The formula should only be used in the last six weeks before time of birth. His formula contains: squaw vine, holy thistle, black cohosh, pennyroyal, false unicorn, raspberry leaves, and lobelia. You could do a recipe search for his Pre-Natal formula for parts. OR check out Doc's site or call Doc. I am sure he has a good formula as well as I do believe he studied under/with? Dr. Christopher. Please correct me if I am wrong Doc. Good luck Steph. Hope this helps and doesn't confuse. God Bless. Joy ---- Stephanie 07/20/09 13:23:37 herbal remedies {Herbal Remedies} Homebirthing advise for a newbie! Hi ya Doc! I am having my first homebirth here in South Korea. I would like to know your suggestions on what herbs that I should have on hand. I 'm taking CoQ10, red raspberry leaf, molasses, garlic and Vit C right now. I eat mostly raw. Do you suggest have blue or black kohosh? crampbark? anything to help bring on labor (steadily?)My midwife speaks just a bit of English so I would like to be prepared myself....Thanks!!!Steph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Hi Steph, I had 6 "unassisted" home births (no prenatal or midwife) as we just had a friend who had homebirthed two kids (with a midwife) for the first birth, and an aunt who wanted to help out with the last five. Between my husband and I and these two women we were able to have very wonderful and safe births.I could not find the mixture for the herbs with the first child, so I took them all separately (squaw vine, black cohosh, pennyroyal, raspberry, and lobelia; I did not know about the false unicorn or holy thistle). I wasn't sure how much to take and so I labored almost 15 hours before birth. With the second child we could not afford the herbs as my husband was laid off and my labor was around 14.5 hours. With the third child I took much larger amounts (gradually as I started out with say one capsule each 3x's a day), and worked up each week until birth. I had this baby in 5 hours and 3 minutes. Couldn't afford herbs with next child and labored for around 15 hours. With the next child I found a combination capsule with the above herbs listed (5) and I took them as suggested on bottle which was to start with one capsule a day the first week and work up to six capsules a day for the last week. It took me nineteen hours to have this baby as the suggested amount did not work for me! With the last homebirth, I took this same combination capsule but started out with six capsules the first week nd was taking twelve capsules a day by last week. I had this baby in 6 hours 37 minutes. I don't labor normally. Most women start out with contractions that are about 20-30 minutes apart and then they slowly work down until they are 1-3 minutes apart. Mine jump around all over the place. I might start out with contractions 5 minutes apart, and then they will jump to 20 minutes apart, downt o 10 minutes apart, back up to 20 minutes apart, down to 5 minutes apart, then 10 minutes apart, and so on and so on. Very atypical. Taking this herbal combination did not change this at all. However, with the babies whom I was able to take the larger amount of herbs (baby #3 and #6) I could feel my body working and I could feel things moving along. It was an entirely different scenario with the labors without these herbs or without enough in my system to work for me. My labors took much longer and I did not feel like my body was progressing. I had a LOT of pain with all the babies. None of them were "easy" pain-wise, but I have a high pain-tolerance level and so was able to work through the contractions. In retrospect, I wish I had tried to budget for the herbs and took them in larger amounts because a 5-6.5 hour labor is much nicer than 15-19 hours laboring! But it took me all those pregnancies to really find what worked for me since I had takne individual herbs with the 3rd baby and in a combo with the last two. I don't even know if you can find pennyroyal in a capsule form. Lobelia can be difficult to find (perhaps not in SK), but it is out there. I never took the blessed thistle or the false unicorn and it worked for me when I took enough for my body. That will be the trick for you is finding the right balance for you to make it effective. Everyone is different. I also had to teach myself (I had the book "Herbally Yours" by Penny C. Royal for reference) anything and everything about herbs, which in the 80's wa snot so easy as it was just what was available at the library. Ditto for the homebirths. I did a lot of reading!!! The internet was not even available. I have 8 kids (first two in hospital with no herbs), and the only short labors/deliveries were the two mentioned above (my 2nd child was only 4.5 hours labor due to a pitocin drip and it was more hellish than my 19 hour labor!) I LOVED my homebirths and I always tell people that my only regret was not having all eight of my kids at home! So much nicer than hospital births! I had a miscarriage between bbay #3 and #4 (not home births but overall) and was actually scheduled for a D & C due to 5 weeks bleeding (I had had blood drawn that proved pregnancy); I did not want the D & C and so began to research and saw that loblia and false unicorn were both used for miscarriage. I only had the lobelia, took 5 capsules 3x's a day for 3 days and passed something the size of a dime with a little curly Q (most likely umbilical cord) and the next day my bleeding was in half. I cancelled the D & C (for the following day) and within 2 more days I totally quit bleeding, and 5 months later was pregnant for my 4th child. It is helpful to take the red raspberry all through pregnancy, also calcium and magnesium. My "babies" are all between the ages of 34 down to 17! I now enjoy the grandkids and my pregnancy days are behind me. Hope you have a healthy and lovely baby with an easy and carefree birth! Lori "I feel ashamed that so many of us cannot imagine a better way to do things than locking children up all day in cells instead of letting them grow up knowing their families, mingling with the world, assuming real obligations, striving to be independent and self-reliant and free." - John Taylor Gatto herbal remedies From: roastologyDate: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:42:59 +0000{Herbal Remedies} Homebirthing advise for a newbie! Hi ya Doc! I am having my first homebirth here in South Korea. I would like to know your suggestions on what herbs that I should have on hand. I 'm taking CoQ10, red raspberry leaf, molasses, garlic and Vit C right now. I eat mostly raw. Do you suggest have blue or black kohosh? crampbark? anything to help bring on labor (steadily?)My midwife speaks just a bit of English so I would like to be prepared myself....Thanks!!!Steph Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Search, add, and share the web’s latest sports videos. Check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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