Basic Labor Strategies

 

Hey sister! Welcome back! I’m really excited about this topic because I absolutely love to prepare and practice for labor throughout my entire pregnancy! Getting into that “space” and that “zone” is really one of my favorite parts of preparing for birth. But, if I’m honest, so many of these tips that I will share with you today can be used in everyday life! 

I really feel that the more you prepare and “practice” throughout your pregnancy, the more peaceful and balanced your pregnancy will be and the easier it is to tap into your “zone” when you have reached Labor Day! 

Grab yourself a nourishing snack, a cup of your favorite tea or coffee, or any nourishing beverage and settle in with me! This is a very big topic but I really feel it’s a very important topic and one that gets overlooked all too often. 

The Inner Work

Craft Your Why

Crafting your WHY for the birth that you want is one of the most important pieces of inner work that you can do and is probably one of the most overlooked. Not knowing your why is like not knowing what direction to take to get from point A to point B. You’re just kind of driving along hoping that you make it to your desired location, eventually. Not knowing your why for the birth that you want can have you journeying with birth team members that aren’t a good fit for the type of birth that you desire. When you and your birth team are not rightly aligned, things tend to veer off your desired path. Not being rightly aligned with a birth team that is committed to helping you achieve your desired birth is often what leads to birth trauma. Care providers can be very persuasive when a woman is in her altered state of consciousness during the birth process. So I highly encourage you to do some journaling and answer these questions. 

• What type of birth do you REALLY want?

• Why do you want to have your baby that way?

• Why does it matter to you to have your baby that way?

• What do you know and believe about birth?

• How does this type of birth benefit YOU?

• How does this type of birth benefit your baby?

  
  

Fears Release Exercises

When there is less fear, there is less pain. 

--Fear Release Journaling--

This particular exercise is from Nurturing The Unborn Child by Thomas Verny

• 1. Sit in a comfortable spot with your journal during a quiet part of your day

• 2. Close your eyes and ask yourself:

• What is it about the experience of childbirth that worries me the most?

• Let the answers pass through your mind for five minutes 

• 3. Open your eyes and write. Describe your fears with absolute honesty, writing whatever comes to mind

• 4. After you have finished, go back and read what you have written aloud. Read slowly, and allow the full impact of each fear to register in your mind. Then read the fear aloud again.

• 5. Each time you pronounce a specific fear, try to turn the anxiety into a positive affirmation. For instance, if you fear that your baby will not be able to pass through your birth canal, say: "My baby will pass through my birth canal smoothly and easily." If you fear losing control during labor, say: "I will be concise and competent from the beginning of my birth experience to the end." Use the affirmations that work best for you, and create an affirmation in response to each and every fear. 

• 6. After you have said your affirmations aloud, write each one in your journal ten times in a row.

• 7. When you have finished, softly caress your pregnant belly and, in your mind’s eye, gaze right through it so that you can see your baby floating in the amniotic sea. Then take leave of your baby and slowly get up and continue with your day.

--Other Ideas to Release Fears--

• Worship God. Let the music refocus you and remind you who God is, how faithful He is and how trustworthy He is. In this atmosphere, pray over each fear that you’ve been holding.

• Talking through your fears with a trusted person who is birth positive. Putting your fears out in the open will diminish them. You may also want this person to speak into the fears you’ve voiced.

• Research the thing(s) that you’re fearing the most and learn about them to put your fears at ease; or perhaps you’ll learn some prevention strategies for that fear.

• Writing down each care or concern on paper and then doing something that represents releasing it into God’s hands. That could be burning it, ripping it up or even placing it into a prayer box.

• While you’re thinking about or imagining the thing you’re afraid of, practice breathing deeply through it, feeling/noticing your bottom on the chair, your feet on the ground, yourself in your body. Practice being calm and present in the face of the fear. 

• Activate your praying community to pray with you about your list of fears and concerns.

Check-in with God, your body and your baby

Have a time each week that you sit with God, yourself and your baby. Check-in’s can look different for everyone. You could do “clinical” observations, if you choose. Or you could just check-in with how you’re feeling emotionally, spiritually and physically. There isn’t really a right or a wrong here. But this inner work is so important. 

• “Clinical” Observations; whatever resonates to you, so some ideas would be:

• Pregnancy Symptoms

• Fundal Height

• Fetal Heart Tones

  Doppler or Fetoscope

• Blood Pressure

• Weight

• Temperature

• Urine Strips

• Belly Mapping

  Spinning Babies

• Emotional and Spiritual Check-in

• How are you spiritually and emotionally?

• What’s nourishing you this week?

• What movement is refreshing you this week?

• How is your energy this week?

• Journaling 

• Gratitude Journaling/Gratitude Prayer

• Journaling Prompts 

• Journaling your previous birth stories

• Get Curious. Sit quietly with God and get curious.

• Journaling Prompt: every week during my last pregnancy I would spend a lot of quiet time with God, myself and my baby. I usually picked Monday evening. It was a nice way to quiet myself after a busy weekend and before our week really kicked in. Monday nights are also the night my husband heads back to work for the week, so it was just a really nice way to prepare myself for a new week. I would lay still, do a few “clinical” measurements like fundal height, palpating my own belly to feel for the baby's body positioning, check baby’s heart tones with my fetoscope and sometimes I took my blood pressure. Then I spent however long I needed to journal through some prompts. This is what I used:

• Body: Sensations and changes that you notice in your body. Actions you have taken to care well for your body with nutrition, movement, rest, supplements, etc.

• Heart: Dominate emotional themes. Actions you have taken to care for your emotional health; counseling, crying, journaling, nurturing yourself with feel-good activities

• Mind: What lies or fears have been creeping in? Truths about who you are, who God is, and what promises you can claim for your pregnancy and birth. Affirm the truth.

• Spirit: Ways you have sensed God’s nearness; provision, presence, dreams, his voice in your spirit, etc. What do you sense God saying to you this week?

  
  

Visual Affirmations/Scripture

• Handmade Cards

• Chalkboard Writings

• Phone Backgrounds

• Visuals for Birth Space

• Coloring/Drawing Affirmations

Education

Education is KEY and I cannot stress this enough. Too many women are going into birth blindly and a “whatever happens, happens” mentality. I was also that person with my first… But, the rate of birth trauma is rising while outcomes are not improving, postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety are rising at rapid speeds. Education on the Labor Blueprint, the Physiological Way of Undisturbed Birth is a very clear gap in our society.

I recommend taking a holistic childbirth education course. I have resources if you need direction in where to turn, feel free to reach out! But taking a course not affiliated with a hospital is going to be your absolute best bet to learn about physiological, undisturbed birth. 

By learning about the labor blueprint, the basic anatomy of birth, physiological, undisturbed birth, you can understand what you’re feeling and fear it less. 

I also recommend watching as many undisturbed birth videos as possible as well as watching the undisturbed births of ANIMALS! We can learn so much from the instinctual way animals give birth in the wild. 

You will never regret taking the time to educate yourself. The more you know, the more prepared you’ll be and the better you’ll know what you DO want and what you DON’T want… which will give you a voice for advocating for yourself and your baby because you’ll be well educated and well researched. 

Instinctual Coping

Sister, I hope that as you journey along in your pregnancy and preparing for your birth that you are finding your voice and confidence to KNOW and BELIEVE that YOU CAN DO IT! It might be hard, but you CAN do it! So many generations before have done it and SO CAN YOU! 

Doing this inner work is one of the most important things you can do in pregnancy to prepare for your birth… and will give you so many tools to use for everyday life! 

Think about this for a moment, what are ways that you already use to cope with life stressors? What do you do to cope when you’re sad? What do you do for yourself after you’ve had a really hard day of parenting? Perhaps write a list of things that bring you comfort and you can use that list to expand upon and get curious about what may be super helpful to you during the birthing process. 

Theories of Pain

Ultimately, pain is a part of birth and IS a good thing! Pain regulates the contraction, the strength and the timing. Which is super helpful for both mom and baby. Giving both mom and baby a chance to rest and restore energy. Pain is a fail safe to keep the mom and baby safe during the birth process. Pain also creates the hormonal cocktail that facilitates bonding. This all goes back to the labor blueprint. When we take pain away, it actually impacts the hormonal levels and can take the birth process off course in a lot of ways.

I want to encourage you to replace the Fear/Tension/Pain Cycle with the Trust/Relaxation/Pleasure Cycle. If we trust enough, we can almost override the pain! How cool is that?! Not to say that painless birth is necessarily the goal… and it’s cool that some experience that. But, a pain free birth is really subjective to the person. What is painful for one person is not necessarily the same pain to another person. Me, personally, I don’t find birth to be painful in a classical definition until transition… and, at that point, I’m almost done! When I start to think, “ok, this actually is starting to hurt!” and sometimes I find myself thinking, and even saying, “I can’t do this anymore.” That’s when I know it’s just about time for emergence and that kind of “pain” actually excites me because I’m about to meet my baby! 

Gate Theory of Pain

I’ll touch on this more as we go along and I can use specific examples, but in general, the Gate Theory of Pain isn’t really a theory because it is proven. But it’s a “theory” that is an understanding of how pain works in our bodies. The touch fibers in our body actually override the sensation of pain. Think about when you burn yourself on a hot stove… what do you instinctively do? Most of us would probably say we shake our hand vigorously… maybe we blow on the burn spot… maybe even vocalize with our mouth. This is the Gate Theory of Pain. Again, I’ll get more into this as we go along! 

Pain versus Suffering

Just because you’re in pain doesn’t mean you’re suffering. There is a difference, especially in labor. I would maybe even argue that someone who loves going to the gym… They’d say it’s a “good pain”, right? Working out your muscles, pushing them to the brink and even feeling the soreness the next few days. Labor is kind of the same thing. It’s a good pain, it’s a different pain than say, a toothache. That is a pain that I would classify as suffering, personally! 

Basic Needs During Birth

Ok, here I’m going to go over the basic needs of a woman during birth. These are basic needs that CANNOT be ignored, they are foundational! Ideally, these basic needs are just an extension of what you’ve built through your pregnancy already. But, I cannot stress how imperative it is that you and your birth team are committed to these basic needs. 

When you’re thinking about who it is that you want at your birth, I encourage you to be thorough. Don’t just invite your best friend or your mother or your mother-in-law without carefully considering some things. Take each person to God and ask Him what the role of each of those people may, or may not, be at your birth. If you’re feeling a pause in your spirit, can I encourage you to listen to that?

• When choosing who you want at your birth, ask these questions:

• How many births has this person been to? spouse/mother/MIL/friend/sibling

• How useful is this person going to be at my birth?

• How many hours has this person spent researching, learning and figuring out how to support me?

• Does this person trust birth and understand the physiological process?

• Depending on the answers to those questions, is that person going to be more of a hindrance at your birth than a help… 

  
  

Birth partners

This is anyone who you may invite into your birth space. Obviously your spouse, but this also includes your mother, your mother-in-law, your friend(s), your sibling(s), anyone you’re considering for in-home childcare. They need to prepare too. They need to work through any fears that they may be harboring because it is not fair to you, the laboring woman, to cater to their fears during your birth. Being a birth supporter is important and BIG work and it should be taken seriously. Also, spouses, your woman WANTS you to be involved! I promise! She doesn’t want you to take a backseat to her, or to her midwife, her birthkeeper/doula, or anyone for that matter. She wants you to be an active participant in the whole pregnancy and birth process. But, mama, communicate that with your spouse, ok? Help guide your birth partners to the education on how to support you in ways that make you feel supported, loved and seen. 

Midwives and Doulas are there to compliment the spouse. Of course a midwife has clinical observations she is making. But even doulas that are present, as a birthkeeper myself, I love nothing more than sitting on my hands as you and your spouse work together, getting all the juicy oxytocin flowing between the two of you! Guiding you, the spouse, on how to use counter-pressure, massage, light touch, etc. We are a team! Women have always supported women at birth! Truthfully, I hope and pray that one day we see the community of birth supporters return. The women who are knowledgeable about birth and just attend the births. Traditional Midwives taught this way well before any certification or licensing body came to existence. It’s really awesome that we have doulas since we don’t have the same village as our ancestors did. But I hope we see a return of village midwives and birth supporters one day! 

So, with all this said, have you talked with your partner or labor support team about your expectations and desires for labor?! 

Nutrition

This is another area I cannot stress enough! Nutrition is one of the most overlooked areas during pregnancy and birth but nutrition can absolutely prevent and improve pregnancy complications. During birth, it’s imperative you stay hydrated and nourished! You’re performing a marathon! Did you know that?! Even marathon runners don’t run an entire marathon without hydrating and nourishing their bodies! Especially during a long labor… being mindful on nourishing your body with nutrient-dense foods is so important to keep your energy stores up for transition and pushing. 

You can google this and even check out the Facebook groups, but one nutrition guidance I usually suggest for a pregnant woman is The Brewers Diet. 

Some general things to consider with nutrition for any season of life, but especially when pregnant:

General Ideas for Pregnancy and Everyday Life

• Eat every 2-3 hours, sometimes every 1-2 hours; especially when nauseous 

• Balanced Plate

• ½ plate of vegetables

• ¼ plate of fruit

• ¼ plate of protein

• “No Naked Carbs” always pair your carbs with healthy fats and/or protein

• Long Burning Fire analogy: I kind of made this up and I don’t know if it’s clever or not… but it has helped a lot of people that I coach in their nutrition for all aspects of life. I call it the “Long Burning Fire” analogy. So creative, I know! But, anyways, it’s pretty simple. Carbs are fast burning energy. Protein and Healthy Fats are slow burning energy. When you’re building a fire, typically… well, this is how I watch my husband do it, typically you build a grid, persay. Two pieces of wood on the ground, then opposite of those, stack three pieces of wood on top of the foundation. This creates a bit of a sheltered area for your fast burning fuel… So, when you start the fire, the fast burning fuel like paper or cardboard or even kindle will burn quickly but will compliment the whole fire by igniting the long burning fuel, which is your logs of wood. So your carbs, be it toast or crackers will be your fast burning fuel and peanut butter, yogurt, cheeses or whole protein like meats will be your long burning fuel. This helps you stay satiated longer and keeps your blood sugar stabilized without huge spikes and deep crashes. 

  
  

Nourishing Labor Snacks

I recommend eating as you normally do for as long as you can in early and active labor. At some point, most women will want to cease eating, usually around the time transition hits… But some women have been known to take a spoonful of honey or a honey stick, or even a few bites of dates between contractions in transition.

An experience I find quite funny, actually. With my youngest baby, it was around 8-9am and our birth team had been there since about 6am. The midwives were discussing ordering breakfast from a local breakfast place that my husband and I frequently had breakfast dates throughout my pregnancy. I was really craving my usual omelette of mushrooms, onions, mozzarella cheese and the hashbrowns that came with it. When my husband brought me my food, he brought it on a giant cookie baking sheet! Suddenly, I just HAD TO HAVE honey! So someone brought me the jar of raw honey and I doused my omelette in honey. I took several bites when suddenly a super strong contraction came on. Then another one. With each one I had to really move my body and breathe more intentionally than I had been needing to do. By the time the third one hit, I shoved my food away, went to the bathroom and said, “I NEED MY WATER!” So, with that, I was in transition and an hour later, we had a baby! So, sometimes you NEED that nutrition to fuel your body up for the next stage of labor! 

• Honey Sticks

• “Groaning” Cake

• Fresh Fruits

• Fresh Veggies

• Dates

• Nuts and Seeds

• Protein Bars

• Protein Drinks

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

Water/Caloric Beverage

• Teas with Honey

• Labor-aide

• Shamelessly plugging in the book, The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother. Not only is there a great recipe for a “labor-aide” drink but it’s a must have book for everyone preparing for postpartum!

• Coconut Water or other Electrolyte Water

  
  

Rest

The importance of resting during labor is overlooked all too often. I get it, it’s so easy to get excited that you’re finally having signs of impending labor! Or your waters released! Or you’re having bloody show! Or you’ve started having waves that just feel… different! But, trust me, you want to rest! In early labor, it’s best to go about your day as normal. If you’re feeling waves in the morning/afternoon, then going about your day as normal is beneficial. If you start having waves or your waters release without contractions and it’s night, the BEST thing to do is to go to bed as normal and rest… or at least lay horizontal and pretend to be asleep. No elaborate comfort measures at this time, it’ll only exhaust you. Save those for when you actually need to work through the contractions. 

Connection to Others

Connecting with your spouse and your kids during the birth process is extremely beneficial for getting the oxytocin flowing! Whatever feels good to you in the moment! 

Breathing

Breathing techniques like paced breathing, box breathing, counting your breaths... You can youtube these if you need examples and want to practice! According to a study, people experience less pain when they look into somebody else’s eyes. Paced breathing while looking into someone else’s eyes can be a really powerful technique. I did a lot of box breathing during my last pregnancy whenever I had a desire to take my own blood pressure… The anxiety of the reading can cause the reading to be false whether I take it or a midwife takes it… Paying attention to your breath can also help you be more present during a contraction. A support person breathing along with you can help you feel supported, held and grounded. 

Vocalizing

Vocalizing tends to be very instinctual for most women… but I have been to births where the woman made it clear during her pregnancy and even during her birth process that she would like a more “hands-on approach” to helping her breathe and remain focused, present and grounded. A technique I learned about during a workshop on Intuition, Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge with Robbie Davis Floyd: she said doulas and midwives can really change the energy of the birth space. She shared a story of a woman in labor who was not progressing and how this woman said “OH GOD!” in a high-pitched tone closes up the throat and closes the body. But, by getting level with the birthing mama, she was able to help change the energy of the birth space and the woman by helping the woman say: “Oh goooooooood!” by saying it gently in the woman’s ear. Instinctively, the woman began mirroring the sounds. A low, guttural sound that opens the throat and opens the cervix. Robbie Davis Floyd said that by doing this, the woman had her baby in her arms very quickly!

Moans, yells, singing. I remember in the labor of my third baby, trying to open my throat as if I’m saying “mmmmmooooooooo!” Being loud is effective for some and being silent can be effective for others. There’s no right or wrong and I encourage you to follow the lead of your body when it comes to the sounds you may, or may not, make while birthing. 

For me, personally, I’m very quiet and inward during early and early active labor. Usually no one knows I’m having any kind of contractions at all. In late active labor, I tend to be vocal with deep, low moans and distracting movements. With my third labor, I had to move my legs. While in the bathtub, I was slightly on my side to rest between contractions. When one would come on, I would push my hips and butt into the sidewall of the tub over and over again. With my most recent birth, I did this thing with my hands. I would touch each finger to my thumb slowly and intentionally. Sometimes, at the peak of a contraction, I would press my thumb and pointer finger together, hard, over and over. Once transition arrives, I tend to go into a very deep quiet. I go very deeply inward and get very quiet with pushing until I announce the head is born. Then the baby slips out and the oxytocin surge encourages the sounds of elation and relief! 

Audio Analgesia 

I love how music can have almost an instantaneous soothing effect. Creating a playlist that brings me comfort, peace, helps me worship deeply and even eases my fears has become one of my favorite ways to prepare for birth. I’m able to put my playlist on at any point when I’m feeling fearful, weary, joyful, excited, seeking peace and comfort. Whatever the mood, my playlist has been a welcomed friend. Personally, I have a worship playlist and a playlist of soothing “spa” or “meditation” type music that omits words. Sometimes you just need to escape and allow your mind to drift off to a different consciousness that words in a song would prevent. I even use these playlists for everyday life. My meditation/spa playlist is used a lot when I’m working on creating content, writing blog posts. I use my worship playlist when I’m getting into my own “zone” as a birth worker when I’m preparing to support a woman through her own birth. Getting my own mind in the zone helps me show up with a calm, peaceful, prayerful spirit. I’m able to arrive to her birth space in a higher consciousness and have my eyes set on walking with Jesus during the birth I’m supporting! 

Some ideas of different playlists or apps your could look into creating and using!

• Playlist of soothing music

• Meditation music

• Worship music

• YouTube playlist of deep sleep music or even hypnobirthing music

• Christian Hypnobirthing

• Made For This App

• Anything that makes *YOU* feel calm to reduce the fear/tension/pain cycle and enter the trust/relaxation/pleasure cycle

• Hypnobabies/Hypnobirthing; practicing during your pregnancy for the most effect 

If you’re stressed out, when you’re getting ready for bed. Playing your playlist will help to create a relaxation loop in your brain. The playlist will be the “trigger” to help encourage relaxation and calm and that release of calming hormones will create the trigger, stimulus, reward loop. The more you practice during your pregnancy, the more effective these methods will be during birth.

Aromatherapy

Essential Oils are incredible tools for relaxation, decreasing stress, decreasing pain, peace and calming. Please, do get familiar with oils during your pregnancy, I don’t recommend introducing new smells during the birth process. Again, the more you use essential oils during your pregnancy, the more effective they are at encouraging a sense of peace and calm to wash over you. You could run a diffuser, create an essential oil roller bottle that you use topically on yourself, you could have your spouse give you a massage with a carrier oil during pregnancy and birth. During the birth process, you could use a diffuser, you could put oils on a cotton ball to simply sniff. This makes it easier to take the scent away if it’s suddenly revolting to you during labor. 

Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy is very simply; the use of water. That could be a birth pool, a bathtub, a shower. For me, the water is what I crave whenever I need some peace and calm to wash over me, whenever I’m really stressed out, whenever I’m in pain; for whatever reason, be it my cycle or just a really tough week physically. Water is what I turn to when I’m sick as well. Either a bath with some Epsom Salts or a hot shower where I just sit and let the water run down my back. 

Now, the Gate Theory of Pain is a pretty new concept for me. It makes sense… and it’s said that water functions with the Gate Theory of Pain. For example: if you’re in the shower, the water running down your back or down your belly, the droplets of water are overriding your sensations of pain coming from the contractions and the cervix opening. 

Movement

Another aspect that functions with the Gate Theory of Pain… and perhaps why I did this “thing” with my fingers while I was in labor with my youngest baby. During a contraction, I would tap each of my fingers on my thumb, very slowly. Being very present with the sensation of each finger meeting my thumb. Sometimes I would press my pointer finger and thumb together for a really long time during the peak of a contraction. During my labor with my third baby, while in my bathtub, before moving to my actual birth pool, I would press my hips into the tub wall as hard as I could in a rhythm throughout my contraction. Creating a distracting movement but also creating touch on tender areas. So this really fascinates me to learn there’s a name behind this! For me, it was all instinctual, I had no ideas there was a name for it. 

Anyways, back on topic here! Movement is another really great tool to have in your birth toolbox. Moving your hips, swaying, dancing, someone else moving your body for you. Sometimes having a labor support person jiggle your hips through a contraction can dull the sensation of pain. Allow yourself to move your body instinctually. Squatting. Hands and knees. Walking. Lunges. Birth Ball. Backwards on a toilet. Anything goes, really. I just encourage you to be open to switching up positions. Not only can one position become really hard on your body; hands and knees for example, but it can also hinder the baby from rotating through your pelvis. So allowing your body to move instinctually and switching things up when you’ve been in one position for a long time can help conserve your energy and help the baby rotate through the pelvis. 

Touch

Any kind of touch that feels really awesome. I was at a birth recently and she really liked a light touch where I just slowly moved my fingertips up and down her arm or her upper back during a contraction. Sometimes a gentle head massage feels really nice. My doula did that for me during the birth of my third baby. The term for that is Effleurage.

Hot and cold packs can be really nice. Many women want warmth during the early and active stages of labor but need cold during transition and pushing, back to warmth during the third stage. Some women even like hot in one area and cold in another. 

Counter Pressure is another good touch technique. Using counter pressure on the sacrum. Hip squeezes can be very relieving, especially for back labor if baby is malpositioned, such as posterior (sunny side up). I usually suggest The Miles Circuit during labor if that’s the case. 

Non-Focused Awareness

This is a meditation technique to expand your awareness, to focus more wholly on what’s around you; as opposed to one aspect of your experience, being the pain of contractions. 

Non-Focused Awareness is the opposite of going into the pain, but both are a mental exercise. With non-focused awareness, you are sort of diffusing your awareness to everything around you and not focusing on one thing at all. Going into the pain is the opposite where you are focusing only on the pain and exploring THAT in its fullness. Going into the pain might look like asking some questions. Where exactly in my body is the pain? What shape is the pain? What color is the pain? What does it feel like? How would I describe it? By being curious, you can sometimes take the power of it away. 

Birth Plan

Truthfully, I love a good birth plan for all types of births. As a birth worker, having a written list of what wishes, desires and preferences the mother and her spouse have for all the things is super helpful. Sometimes it can be difficult to remember all the techniques the woman has researched and is interested in using/trying, especially at a long birth. So having a written list of the tools the woman has prepared, such as essential oils and/or herbs. A list of techniques she is open to trying throughout the process. All of this is very helpful to reference back to. 

So I encourage you to have a chat with your birth team about all the different techniques and tools you have on hand and want to try out during your birth process. Having a list printed out and nearby while you’re laboring will be helpful for your birth team to reference if you’re ever struggling at some point, your birth team can try things until you find one that feels like a good fit. 

You will be in an altered state of consciousness during the birth process. So anticipating what you might want or need is helpful and having those tools available is really great. But, writing it down can help you really sort out what you really, truly want during your birth process. And, what you don’t want. You don’t want words on shirts? You don’t want any voices to be heard by the baby after birth for the first 30 minutes except yours and your family’s? You want to make it known that you have herbs on hand in the case of heavy bleeding after the birth? By writing it down, this will give you, your body, your brain and your soul the space to slow down and really visualize how you would like your birth to look, and communicate that with your birth team. 

Rebozo

A rebozo is a traditional Mexican shawl or wrap that’s used to support and comfort pregnant women, especially during the birth process. 

I encourage you to google these to get visuals and more in-depth information. 

• Hanging; tie a knot on either end, put the knots on the other side of a door at the top and close the door. Then you have a loop of fabric that you can use to hang on, use for a supported squat, etc. Wrap it around your shoulders and lean into it, etc. 

• Belly Sifting

• Belly Lifting

• “Shake the Apple Tree”

  
  

Hospital Birth Tips

I know this workshop has really focused on home birth but I recognize that not everyone who stumbles across this blog post and video are going to be preparing for a home birth. Many of the tips I’ve already gone over can be applied to laboring at home before you transport to the hospital and many of these techniques can be applied at the hospital. I do recommend you speak with the hospital to be sure they are fine with your use of essential oils, a string of lights so that you don’t have to be completely in the dark but rather have soft, ambient lighting to get into your zone. 

I’m not going to beat around the bush about hospital birth, especially if you’re local to me as the hospitals in this area are not known for low-intervention births. So, with that said, having a low-intervention, intervention-free, physiological birth in the hospital will take some deep commitment and a lot of intentional preparation. My good friend, Brooke Collier of SisterBirth, says it really well: “Why? Well, maybe it’s like trying to live in a totally foreign country that doesn’t understand your language, culture, values, or needs. The country isn’t designed to accommodate anything about your lifestyle because it has its OWN language, culture and values which are the default. In order to preserve the lifestyle you’re accustomed to whilst there, you’ll have a lot of hard work to do so. Alternatively, you can give up and acclimate, adopting the culture/values/language of that other country.”

Now, if you’re a home birth mama who is transferring to the hospital during your own birthing process, you may be there because you NEED the interventions and emergency response that the hospital is equipped to offer. 

• Set Clear Intentions

• To achieve a physiological birth in the hospital, ultimately you’re already a birth-trusting woman who is confident in your body and your baby that you can work together to give birth without interventions. Making the decision that this is just the way you are going to give birth. 

• Bring Your Own Carefully Curated Birth Team

• Carefully select your birth support team. Find a doula, birthkeeper or a Montrice who is confident and well educated. This person will be with you throughout your pregnancy, will be available to support you through early and active labor over the phone and in-person and will remain with you until several hours after the birth. This support person should ideally be someone who really understands birth and is comfortable advocating for you as needed but also comfortable being firm, but respectful, with asking hospital staff to leave your room, if needed. Having your spouse be confident and supportive is great as well, but having a third person to support your spouse as he supports you and to help reaffirm his confidence in the birthing process, especially if and when hospital staff is putting on the pressure is often how these physiological births happen. 

• Arrive at the Hospital Late in the Game

• Labor at home as long as possible, until your labor is very well established and will be less likely to stall out once you’ve arrived at the hospital. At home, you can labor freely and accomplish most of the work in the comforts of your own home, basically arriving at the hospital close to or ready to push your baby out. This means less time stuck in a hospital room and less likely for hospital staff to push augmentation efforts on a labor that they define as prolonged. 

• Refuse Even the Most Basic Hospital Procedures

• Simple things like refusal of the wheelchair, the hospital gown, an IV port, fetal monitors. These things may seem really small and insignificant, but consenting to them can subtly change your mindset from Powerful Laboring Woman to Hospital Patient. Every, even seemingly insignificant, intervention will begin to change the locus of control from which is within yourself to that which is external, namely the medical professionals. Once that shift begins to happen, you’re more susceptible to other more invasive interventions. 

• Avoidance of the Hospital Bed

• To get the most home-like experience in a hospital birth, labor everywhere except for the bed. You can even give birth, not in the bed! Yes, you’re allowed to do that, no matter what the hospital staff says is their “policy.” By staying off the bed, it allows you to labor in positions that are instinctual and are positions that you and your baby need for this birth. You can pace the room, sit on a birth ball, squat down on the floor, be in hands and knees on the floor or support your upper body on a birth ball while your knees are on the floor. You can utilize the chair or couch, walk the halls, sit on the toilet, take a shower or even a bath if your hospital holds that accommodation. Just stay off the bed! Once on the bed, it can be hard to get out of the bed due to hospital staff pressure. If you start getting “pushy” and you’re in one of those “non-bed” positions, you can simply hold your ground and say “no thank you” when a nurse or doctor asks you to move to the bed. If you do find comfort in the bed, you can be on all fours or squatting; most hospitals will bring in a squat bar if that’s something you want to look into utilizing. Now, if you genuinely WANT to lay down on the bed to give birth, that is fine too! Just listen to your body! 

• Say No to Cervical Checks and Continuous Fetal Monitoring

• Research shows that both of these things do NOT improve maternal or infant outcomes, at all. They’re not evidence based… Truthfully, if you look at the studies and the evidence, they are associated with higher cesarean rates. The hypervigilance over your cervix and your baby’s heart rate can, and most often do, lead to heightened anxiety and compulsion to intervene, as well as put you “on the clock.” Instead, ask for intermittent fetal monitoring; which can be every half hour during active labor and every 10-15 minutes during pushing. You may want a single cervical check when you’re feeling pushy so that you can release any fear that you may have about pushing too soon, but that is not necessary at all! Many mamas, including myself, have delivered babies without a single cervical check during pregnancy or labor. You cervix is not a crystal ball and your progress may not be “textbook” at all, leading hospital staff to intervene and push a physiological birth off course. 

• Choosing and/or Requesting a Nurse Midwife (CNM) or an OB with a Reputation for Supporting Unmedicated Vaginal Birth

• In general terms, a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) is more supportive of natural birth and willing to let your labor and birth unfold without interruption. If it’s possible, working with one is a great option. If your local area does not have a CNM or your insurance won’t cover them, do your research on the OBs in the area. Ask around to see what the “word on the street” is and ask at your first appointment what his/her c-section rate is, what their experience is with supporting non-medicated vaginal birth. Also, do not be afraid to continue this research and to switch at any point in your pregnancy. Doing your research will hopefully lessen the risk of finding an OB that plays the “bait-and-switch” with women. Leading them on to “supporting” their birth plans only to pull the rug out from under the woman when it’s, essentially, too late to back out. 

• Bring Any Prenatal Record Sheets and/or Records of Your Labor Progress

• By having these records, you will minimize the irritating questions that most women get asked upon intake and will help the process of transfer. You can find printable prenatal record-keeping sheets on the interwebs or create your own spreadsheet. 

  
  

So that’s it! Some basic techniques for coping during your birth process! I know this was a long and big topic, so thank you for sticking with me through to the end! I hope this information was helpful for you and you can take some of this away to your birth team and have more clarity of what you’d like during your birth. Maybe even some helpful ideas of what you can be doing mentally, emotionally and spiritually during your pregnancy to prepare. 

I’m including the birth video of my January 2022 baby because it shows a variety of labor strategies that are mentioned in this post!