Whether you’re planning to give birth in a hospital or at home, if you’re hoping for an intervention-free relaxing childbirth experience, this one’s for you!
While it’s tempting to take a ‘go with the flow’ approach to take the pressure off, having a clear understanding of your birth preferences will help you at maintain a better sense of control.
Why?
Well, especially if you’re thinking of giving birth in a hospital, although the labour ward staff have the health and safety of mother and child as a top priority, they also have issues such as liability to take into consideration.
What does this mean? Well, it could mean that you are offered an intervention such as an induction or caesarian and have to sign a legal document if you decline. YES, these interventions and procedures are 100% necessary and life saving during SOME birth situations, but at other times they aren’t.
If you’re having a risk free, uncomplicated birth and are keen on avoiding unnecessary interventions, these tips will help maximize your chances of having a relaxing, unhindered childbirth experience.
So what’s the first tip for having a relaxing childbirth experience?
1. relaxing environment, relaxing childbirth
First of all, you may be considering giving birth in the comfort of your own home or at a birth centre which are both great options for relaxing environments. But if you’re planning on a hospital birth, the first tip would be to labour at home as much as possible before heading down to the labour ward.
Oxytocin: that delicious hormone that helps move labour along, is the same hormone that gets released during sex. Studies show that the prime conditions for giving birth are not dissimilar to an ideal environment for sexual intimacy. This includes dim lighting, quiet surroundings and a feeling of privacy and safety.
What you can do:
When you think of a hospital, bright lights and beeping alerts probably come to mind. If you have the chance, why not dim the lights in the birth room or bring a few fairy lights along with you to soften your surroundings. You might even be interested in bringing along some of your favourite aromatherapy oils or scents.
You want to amp up your levels of oxytocin as much as possible to help your dilation and labour progress as smoothly as possible. This means creating a safe, private, comfortable and relaxing a space as you can under your given circumstances. If that means bringing your favourite pillow, cover, slippers or family photo from home, go for it!
2. Breathing your baby out and Hypnobirthing
You’ve probably seen laboring women on tv portrayed as breathing short, sharp breaths through their mouths or even holding their breath and pushing during labour. Yes, breathing is an important factor in having a positive birth experience but this method is unrealistic.
First of all, holding your breath deprives you and your baby’s blood system of vital, life giving oxygen. Secondly, it can put unneeded strain on your facial and abdominal muscles.
What you can do:
As recommended by Siobhan, instead of exhaling in short, sharp bursts, inhale long deep breaths through your nose for around 4 seconds and exhale and empty your lungs for around 8 seconds. This will not only help increase your oxygen levels but it will help you to pull through the pain of the contraction and make you feel like you are quite literally breathing your baby down the birth canal!
Try practicing at home whenever you go to the toilet. This technique also greatly helped me with post partum hemorrhoids (*TMI* sorry) as well so it’s a keeper of a technique.
If you want to maximize the chance of having a positive and relaxing childbirth experience, hypnobirthing might be right up your alley.
I’m pretty sure it’s recommended to start your course anywhere from 30 weeks into pregnancy so checkout any online courses or hypnobirthing teachers near you.
A good introduction to Hypnobirthing is Siobhan Miller’s ‘Hypnobirthing: Practical ways to make your birth better‘.
And the beautifully illustrated ‘Holistic Hypnobirthing’ by Anthonissa Moger.
3. Access to warm water or a birth pool
Many women feel the pain relieving benefit of immersion in warm water either during labour or the pushing stage of childbirth. While I personally didn’t enjoy the idea of getting into the shower or pool during labour, a lot of women reported the benefits so I just couldn’t leave it off the list.
So what are some of those benefits?
- lower rates of vaginal tearing
- higher likelihood of a natural, drug-free birth
- increased chance of feeling relaxed and empowered during childbirth
If you think a water birth or having access to a shower is for you, make sure to take that into consideration when narrowing down your options for labour locations.
4. Get Moving and trust yourself for a relaxing childbirth experience
If all we had as a reference for childbirth was tv shows, it’s likely we’d all be giving birth on our backs with our legs stretched out wide in stirrups.
While laying down may be convenient for medical professionals to see exactly how things are progressing with the baby, it’s not be the best option for you physiologically. to encourage baby to come out.
According to the British Journal of Midwifery:
Supine (laying down) positions restrict instinctive movements such as rocking and slanting of the pelvis which can help facilitate descent of the baby’s head and speed up the birthing process”.
What you can do:
Our bodies are amazing! They were literally made for giving birth. And guess what, the baby’s cranial bones can morph into the shape of the opening in your pelvis in order to fit through.
So if you want to increase the chances of a relaxing birth with little to no intervention TRUST YOURSELF. Your body knows what it’s doing and what positions it wants to get into.
Some birthing positions which are more physiologically helpful than laying down: down on all fours on the floor, leaning on the side of a bed, rocking on an exercise ball and sitting in a birth pool.
Check out the ‘The Naked Doula’ on Instagram for some down to earth, practical and fun tips for childbirth. She explains how the KICO (Knees in calves out) approach is much better at maximizing space in our pelvises than the legs wide open approach.
Read up on how your pelvis and uterus works, take a few educational classes, go into this feeling empowered.
5. Surround yourself with people you feel safe with
Fear is well known contributing factor to inhibiting the progression of cervical dilation. It sends a message to our brains telling us it’s not yet safe to give birth. That’s why feeling safe is it’s so important that you feel safe when giving birth. Safe in your environment and safe with the people sharing that environment.
While cervical checks and sweeps seem to be unavoidable, know that, if you are having a normal uncomplicated labour, you have every right to decline if you intuitively feel it may hinder your progress. Feel free to let your care providers know your birth preferences before entering the birth room.
Your birth partner or doula is also the perfect person to advocate for your birth preferences and to provide much needed back massages.
6. get informed
Try to avoid watching or listening to horror stories of childbirth. Instead focus on researching positive birth experiences which took place at home or in the hospital with little drama and intervention.
Inform yourself about what incidents might occur during labour and how best to handle them. You might like to ask your care provider questions like:
What are the risks / benefits of the procedure?
What are the alternatives?
and What happens if I wait 12 more hours?
Getting in the know about your body and the way it works is empowering and helps you stay calm and confident.
If you’re interested in ‘training your brain’ towards having a positive birth experience I would take a look at Tracy Donegan’s ‘Gentle Birth: Your positive Birth Begins Here’.
Tracy is a Registered Midwife, Birth Doula and Positive Birth trainer. Not only does she have a comprehensive knowledge of labour and birth practices, she also has a revolutionary outlook on maternity care.