Pregnancy

TONING THE UTERUS

For centuries, pregnant women in Europe were also told to take herbs. Those who drank raspberry tea throughout their pregnancy reported an easier labor. Scientists, however, have not shown much interest in investigating raspberry. In 1941, a study using animals found that raspberry leaves contain a "uterine relaxant principle," but this theory was never tested on people. Today, European doctors prescribe a number of raspberry preparations to ease morning sickness and to prevent miscarriage.

In the old European herbals, lemon balm, a gentle, relaxing herb that aids digestion and alleviates nausea, was also recommended for pregnant women. Native Americans in the eastern United States used partridge berry; like raspberry, this small plant works as a uterine tonic to make pregnancy easier. Modern women who have tried these same herbs when they were pregnant agree with their sisters from past generations—these plants make labor easier and keep you healthier during pregnancy.

Oat straw and nettles provide trace nutrients—especially calcium—that are important for a pregnant woman and enhance the assimilation of these nutrients from other sources. Dandelion and nettle teas are even said to prevent the development of high blood pressure and water retention, which add up to a potentially dangerous condition during pregnancy known as eclampsia. (Since this condition is dangerous to both you and your baby, you must be treated by an obstetrician if you do develop it.)

MORNING SICKNESS

One of the most common complaints during pregnancy is morning sickness, a combination of nausea, headache and dizziness that is experienced by about half of pregnant women during their first few months of pregnancy. To relieve this problem, take ginger first thing in the morning and repeat at the first hint of nausea during the day. You can drink a ginger tea or take a couple of capsules. Even a few ginger-snap cookies or a large glass of ginger ale can help! You can also make a tasty morning-sickness reliever by combining ginger with lemon juice.

The causes of morning sickness are not clear, but there is thought to be a connection with liver functions. This is a logical conclusion when you consider that the liver is responsible for breaking down the excess hormones produced during pregnancy. Other herbs that work to reduce morning sickness are wild yam, false unicorn root and, of course, liver herbs such as burdock. For more on enhancing the liver's functioning, see chapter 45.

PAIN DURING PREGNANCY

As a fetus grows, it puts pressure on places in your body not used to carrying so much weight. Wild yam, skullcap and chamomile are safe herbs to help you relax and to reduce any pain due to muscle problems. American spikenard, an herb related to ginseng, helps to reduce lower back pain, a common complaint of pregnant women. If sore breasts and water retention trouble you, a tea of wild yam and dandelion might relieve both.

MISCARRIAGE

If miscarriage threatens (clues include uterine cramping and spotting) or if you have had miscarriages before, there are herbs that can stop cramping and spotting. Prepare a tea or get a tincture of vitex, wild yam, false unicorn root and cramp bark. Vitex is important because it promotes progesterone production, and the other herbs are good because they stop uterine cramps. Then lie in bed, in a place where you can relax completely, with your legs and hips elevated. Drink half a cup of tea or take half a dropperful of tincture about every 20 minutes for several hours or until the cramping or spotting stops. You should also contact your obstetrician or midwife.

A few times, I have found myself trying to calm nervous friends who thought they were losing their babies. All of these women took the above mentioned herbs and later delivered healthy, full-term babies. Even though I have often seen such good results, these herbs are not guaranteed to prevent a miscarriage. I know other women who have not had such good luck with them. There are times when the reasons that the body has for discontinuing a pregnancy are too strong to overcome. But try not to despair—herbs can also help you strengthen your body and make it less likely that you will miscarry the next time.

Miscarriage Prevention Tea

1 teaspoon each false unicorn root and cramp bark

½ teaspoon each red raspberry leaves and wild yam root

3 cups water

Bring herbs and water to a boil in an uncovered pot. Turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat, cover and steep for another 20 minutes. Strain out herbs. Drink 2 cups every hour. These same herbs can also be taken as a tincture, which is more convenient when you are trying to stay off your feet. To make a tincture, purchase all 4 herbs as tinctures and combine them, using the same proportions as above. Similar formulas using these herbs can be purchased already prepared. Take half a dropperful every 20 minutes.

TENSION AND STRETCH MARKS PREVENTION

For years, I have made Pregnant Belly Oil, and I must have sold a thousand bottles by now, with not one report yet of stretch marks. I have been selling it at one craft show for so long that the grown-up children of women who used my oil years ago are now coming to buy bottles for themselves!

To prevent stretch marks, use a massage oil specially designed for the expanding skin of your growing belly. I like to add lavender and cocoa butter, since both have reputations for preventing stretch marks. Almost all pregnant women, who tend to be fussy about smells, like the fragrance of lavender. One year, I experimented by replacing lavender with jasmine, but the pregnant women complained, saying, "But I liked it so much better when I used it for my first baby!" Now I stick with lavender.

Lavender is most fitting in an oil for pregnancy. A muscle relaxant, lavender flowers were traditionally heated and pounded into a poultice, then placed on the woman's lower back to ease tension and loosen tight muscles during childbirth. As one of the first things the baby smelled, lavender also became a bonding fragrance. European mothers made lavender pillows for their children to sleep with as a reminder that they would always be loved.

It would be nice to see lavender return to the birthing room. Poultices are messy to make and use, however, especially during birth, when a pregnant woman is likely to be changing positions. Since a woman often appreciates massage during labor, the perfect solution is to use the lavender-scented belly oil as a massage oil.

Pregnant Belly Oil

4 400-International Unit vitamin E capsules

4 ounces almond (or any light vegetable) oil

½ ounce cocoa butter (available in drugstores)

15 drops lavender essential oil

Pop open the vitamin E capsules and squirt contents into almond oil. Heat mixture in a saucepan over low heat. Add cocoa butter. After cocoa butter melts, remove mixture from heat and let cool. Add essential oil and stir to blend. Massage the oil on your belly— or get someone to do it for you—at least once a day, or as often as you like.

DELIVERY: BEFORE AND AFTER

Birth requires a tremendous amount of energy—I have even heard it compared to a 30-mile run. Some women will swear that it is more like twice that! If you choose to bring herbs to your birth, have someone there in charge of them; a woman in labor has better things to do than educate her labor crew on the use of herbs.

Many midwives and herbalists suggest taking very small amounts of black cohosh and blue cohosh during the last two weeks of pregnancy, because they believe that these herbs prepare the uterus for the final run by encouraging the light, early contractions women begin to feel weeks before labor begins. The two types of cohosh are also used to encourage a slow labor once serious contractions begin. Although it is suggested in some herb books that these herbs should be taken throughout pregnancy, this is definitely not a good idea. In other books, women are warned against using them at all because both herbs can affect blood pressure adversely. Many midwives and nurse practitioners are familiar with the herbs that are discussed here; ask them to help you develop an herbal regimen that is right for you.

After delivery, drink lightly sweetened, warm tea. An excellent choice is a ginger tea, which you can buy at a natural food store or make by grating a teaspoonful of ginger and steeping it in a cup of boiling water. A tincture of shepherd's purse, cayenne or yarrow will slow postpartum bleeding. I know several nurse-midwives who carry shepherd's purse in their birthing kits and report that it provides great results. When a friend gave birth, I saw how effective cayenne can be as her bleeding stopped after she swallowed two capsules. A few days after the birth, start taking daily sitz baths in calendula, comfrey, chamomile and rosemary to ease any lingering discomfort and promote healing.

Massage the abdomen with the Pregnant Belly Oil (see above), which contains skin-toning herbs such as lavender. The uplifting fragrances of these herbs provides emotional balance for postpartum blues, which are thought to result from the sudden hormonal changes, especially the drop in progesterone (which increases to about 15 times its normal level during pregnancy!), following childbirth. A tea, a tincture or capsules of wild yam, vitex and motherwort can also help you through the slump.

Pregnancy Tea

½ teaspoon wild yam rhizome

¼ teaspoon ginger rhizome

5 cups water

2 teaspoons red raspberry leaves

1 teaspoon lemon balm leaves

½ teaspoon fresh oats

¼ teaspoon dandelion root

½ teaspoon peppermint leaves (optional)

2 ounces lemon juice (optional)

Gently simmer wild yam and ginger in water in an uncovered pot for about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in other herbs. Cover and steep for 20 minutes. Strain out herbs. Drink 1 to 4 cups a day, either warm or iced. For variety, add peppermint leaves to recipe or lemon juice to finished tea.

BREASTFEEDING

Breastfeeding provides your baby with natural defenses against disease, but is not always as natural for the mother as she might wish. If your milk comes slowly, try milk thistle, blessed thistle, nettles, vervain, vitex or the seeds of anise, dill, fenugreek, fennel and vitex. Then, when you are ready to wean your baby, drink a tea of sage or eat lentils flavored with sage to slow your milk flow.

Nursing Tea

1 quart boiling water

1 teaspoon each vitex berries and blessed thistle leaves

½ teaspoon each nettle leaves and vervain leaf (optional—it may be hard to find)

¼ teaspoon each fenugreek seed and anise seed

Pour boiling water over herbs and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain out herbs. Drink 1 to 3 cups daily.