Recipe for “Laborade”
Today marks the start of my 34th week of pregnancy! Can you believe it? It’s been a simultaneously long year (with the miscarriage and then another pregnancy three months later) and a simultaneously incredibly fast pregnancy.
It’s time to make sure we’re prepared for our impending home birth (fingers crossed!). We transferred to the hospital for Pitocin after laboring at home for 40 hours with Henry. We’ll see what happens this time.
I’ve been going through the handbook provided by the midwives. I have quite a few supplies to purchase at Goodwill.
I also need to gather the ingredients for “Laborade,” which is a homemade electrolyte drink for labor. Here’s the recipe:
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon
- 6 T liquid calcium/magnesium (Tropical Island or Bluebonnet brand)
- 2/3 cup agave nectar
- 1/2 t salt
Mix all ingredients to make a concentrate and store in the refrigerator. Add 1/4 c concentrate to 1 cup water–adjust to taste.
8 Comments
Marinda Wood
it's so great that you are making your own laborade! gatoarde and the like are really horrible so it's good to avoid them. However I would recommend switching honey in for the agave nectar. Agave is actually a really processed sugar in line with high fructose corn syrup. "They" must have a very good marketing dept because I (and lots of others!) also thought agave was natural and healthy. anyway here's some more info if you're interested-
http://realfoodforager.com/why-i-never-use-agave/
Rach
Did you find a doula yet? (I think you are using one, but I am not sure.)
I took a labor class from Shelley Scotka and she was awesome. I had my mom and husband as labor support but I thought seriously about hiring her. You can google her name and find her website with birth stories, etc.
saracotner
Thanks for the suggestion, Marinda! I've never used agave nectar. I'll ask my midwife if I can use honey instead.
Thanks, Rach! We are going to try and hire a doula if we can afford it.
katharina
I was recommended coconut water for labour, also due to electrolytes. It was amazingly refreshing. Good luck with everything.
Jenny
You can also turn that mix into popsicles! So refreshing especially since you will be laboring in summer.
beneg
Agree that agave should be avoided. Honey is also high in fructose (although at least is has some health benefits that agave doesn't). I would use organic brown rice syrup (which is fructose free and much easier on your liver). I buy mine in iHerb. Just warm it up a little before you mix it with the liquid (since its quite thick). Also, Bluebonnet contains lots of fructose (3 g per 30 mls). I love Naturally calm (by Natural Vitality) which is sweetened with stevia.
Robyn
That sounds like a good idea– something easy to digest that replenishes electrolytes without all the junk in store bought drinks.
It seems odd (and potentially problematic) that it has magnesium, since that can slow labor. They give it to people in pre-term labor to stop contractions. I only know this because I had pre-eclampsion and they often give magnesium to lower blood pressure, but it can slow labor.
fuzzy
Yes, but you need magnesium. They give you *extra* mag sulfate in labor but this is a baseline dose.