So unless you live under a rock, essential oils are all the rage right now. I can barely open Instagram without seeing at least ten pics of them :) I love them-- I've already shared that. It's been so fun to "makeover" our medicine cabinet using them for health issues and also with cooking and in my daily beauty routine. They have been SO universal. I had no idea how many ways they could go until I started using them... there is truly an oil for everything!
I knew when I was pregnant with Everly that I would be using essential oils during my labor and delivery. I am still kicking myself that it took me as long as it did to hop on the oil train because I really do believe it would have helped me so much with my morning sickness. It wasn't until March, into my second trimester, that I bought my starter kit and started using them in my pregnancy. They served several universal purposes that I'll be sharing about below. I'll also be writing about my uses for them during labor and delivery as I got quite a few questions about how I incorporated them into that special day, already a month ago! Crazy. Time is flying soooo incredibly fast the second time around!
Let me say that Young Living is the ONLY brand I trusted in my pregnancy to use topically AND orally. I did a lot of research on brands and it was incredibly clear to me that they were my only option based on their SeedToSeal guarantee (read about that HERE). If I was going to put something on or in my body that was going to affect my unborn child it had to be top notch.
While pregnant, my biggest issue was nausea. My morning sickness was 24/7 until about week 14 and reoccured around week 32. I tried to not complain about it a lot, but it still affected my day-to-day. Once I got my starter kit, I whipped out the peppermint and would apply it behind my ears and on my belly button for some relief. Usually just SMELLING it would help. I got so, so sick of sucking on peppermints. It was great to have the smell and relief that came from the candy without having to actually digest it. My morning sickness was so bad that I got put on Zofran but the side affects are HORRIBLE. If you've taken it before, you know what I'm talking about.
I also experienced a lot of heartburn during the third trimester. I love lemon essential oil because it smells deliciously fresh and it was an instant cure for me with heartburn. I would put a few drops in a glass of ice water and get relief almost immediately. It was also another oil that I could simply inhale when nauseous for some relief.
My major second trimester issue was sciatica pain and that also continued into the third trimester. There were a few times I felt like I could barely walk. I whipped together a "pain cream recipe" using 1 cup of coconut oil, 10 drops of Valor, 10 drops of Peppermint, 10 drops of Panaway and 10 drops of Lemongrass. I blended this in my Ninja blender, poured into a glass jar (essential oils will warp through plastic), placed in my refrigerator and had an awesome, natural pain cream when I need it. It smelled like a peppermint patty and was cooling to my skin. Relief!
I loved using Lavender in my bath tub at night when I was relaxing. The smell was incredibly soothing and would help my body unwind and destress after a physically long day. Joshua and I are obsessed with Cedarwood essential oil and used it nightly for a good night's sleep by diffusing it in our bedroom and putting a drop behind ears, one in-between eyebrows, and a drop on the back of each big toe. I also used Lavender in my mascara-- a drop helps with eyelash growth and protecting your mascara wand against bacteria (yuck). I lost almost ALL of my eyelashes while pregnant #weirdpregnancyproblems
My skin also started freaking out a bit at different times in my pregnancy and I used a few drops of Frankincense in my nightly moisturizer to help soften my skin and help with breakouts. It's the oil that the three wise men brought to baby Jesus-- hello!
A different times in my pregnancy, let's be honest, there were stressful moments chasing around a toddler, feeling frazzled about getting everything done and more. I swore by Stress Away- I had it in a roller bottle in my purse and would just roll it on my wrists on more than one occasion. The smells of Lime, Lavender, Cedarwood, Vanilla and more just soothed me. It's a crazy oil to me because I feel it working right away. It's one of my daily go-tos and is known for helping with normal, everyday stress and promoting relaxation and lowering hypertension.
Nasty to talk about but hello your body does weird things while pregnant! For constipation issues, Citrus Fresh, Lemon, Orange and Peppermint essential oils in a glass jar of water - 3 drops each and bam! ;)
For overall energy, I used EnRGree on the bottom of my big toe and got jamming. I kind of laughed at this oil at first-- yeah right I could get energy from an essential oil? But um, yeah. The blend of Rosemary, Juniper, Lemongrass, Nutmeg, and more put my body into productivity mode. Totally necessary at the end of pregnancy when you have a zillion things to do and not enough motivation to do it.
For headaches, I used Panaway, Peppermint and Frankincense essential oils applied to my temples, forehead, neck and big toe.
Can't stress Lemongrass enough as a great way to help with back pain, sciatica pain, water retention/puffiness, etc. It helps big time with circulation and helped me in the end when I was starting to get killer puffy feet ;)
LABOR AND DELIVERY
During labor, we started my diffuser right away with Lavender. It set the tone for a calm, peaceful environment. I encouraged Joshua to wear Peace&Calming and he rubbed that on the back of his neck. Another highly suggested oil for the daddies is Valor during labor but since I was running low we kept to the Peace&Calming ;)
I didn't have back labor this time, so we didn't have a need for the pain cream, although I did have everything for it.
I didn't eat anything the whole day, but I did have two popsicles which started some heartburn for me right as I was entering transition. We zapped it with some lemon in a small sip of water and I was good to go.
We were too overwhelmed with seeing our new beauty, but I did have plans of putting Frankincense on her sweet little head and anointing her with it, but that didn't happen ;)
Now ClarySage is known to increase contractions and I can't say enough about this oil. First of all, it smells AMAZING! I was going to diffuse it but didn't have enough time. When I was around 5 CM dilated and relaxing, Joshua put a few drops of ClarySage on my ankles and I rubbed a few drops on my belly button area. Within 70 minutes, I went from a 5 CM to a 10! Bam!
I also used LavaDerm Cooling Mist for post-delivery-- it contained aloe vera and lavender to help soothe the perineal area from tearing/episitomy, etc. I was SUPER glad I bought this product after being a little on the fence about it. I can still use it moving forward for sunburns and more! Woot!
POSTPARTUM
For postpartum hormonal dips and balance, I've been diffusing Joy in my house a lot and also placing a few drops over my heart. It's an uplifting oil that has helped boost my mood and frame of mind. Also a lot of Peace&Calming going on in the house with two under two now :)
I still have a few oils to try that help this specific issue and will be purchasing them this month so I'll have to let you all know how those go!
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Thanks for letting me share my uses of oils during this whole process-- they truly helped me and made me fall in even more love with them. I'm not a doctor, obviously, and am only writing this to share my story. Any questions about essential oils, please feel free to email me at heather.findingbeauty@gmail.com
(I really suggest starting with an essential oil starter kit-- it will start you off with 11 of some of the most popular and universal oils and will totally "makeover" your medicine cabinet. To order click HERE)
xo
