Three Key Steps For Labour Preparation

One of the greatest times in life is having a baby. There is such a build up to the arrival of this little bundle of joy, baby showers, nursery decorating, name choosing, maternity leave, and the list goes on.

Everyone shares in the excitement, asking all the questions or passing comment...

"Do you know what you're having?" "When are you due?" "Can I touch your belly?" (Or some random stranger feeling it their given right to touch your belly). "Make sure you have an epidural!" "Haven't you had that baby YET?" "Are you having TWINS?" "You're enormous" ... always a guaranteed winner for the heavily pregnant mother! "I hope you're prepared for life never to be the same again!" Well of course it's never going to be the same again... I'm having a baby! Derrrrr! "Get some sleep while you can"... I know I know... I'm not going to get a full night's sleep like forever!

And while all this is as common as chips, you are left wondering what the hell it's all about!

At the end of the day, EVERYONE will have a STORY (usually a horror story), have an OPINION on what you should and shouldn't do, and want to give you some 'really great ADVICE' that most likely isn't going to serve you well anyway.

In MY opinion and experience, there are three key things you need to do to ensure you are well prepared for labour...

1. KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge is power, and having knowledge of the NORMAL process of labour is going to help alleviate any concerns you may have both before and during your labour. Now this is important because you will know what, when and how things progress. You will also have a better understanding of any detours from the normal.

This allows you to choose what you want and how you want things to be. When you have this knowledge it takes the uncertainty of things away. That means if there is a deviation from what is normal, you are better prepared to cope with it. You know what to ask, and can make informed decisions around what you need to do.

Empowering yourself with an understanding of labour also frees up 'space' for you to then learn and practice techniques that are going to benefit your labour, help you maintain a calm positive mindset, and give you the tools and belief that you can have a calm positive birthing experience, regardless of what turn your birth may take.

Mastering relaxation techniques, meditation, optimal maternal and baby positioning, and having clarity around your preferences and options, will all help to build confidence in yourself, and your baby and body on the big day. It also builds trust with your care provider because you have been able to choose the options that best meet your needs, have had time to discuss and plan with your support person, midwife, doctor, and allowed yourself plenty of time to practice the things that are going be of most benefit.

2. HORMONES. Know your hormones, what they are and how they work. Your hormones are going to play a HUGE part in your labour. Knowing what they do and how you can actually regulate them gives you a great advantage.

Learn about the love hormone Oxytocin and it's role in helping to initiate and maintain labour.

The all powerful Endorphins, provide a feel good, calm (mind, body and baby) effect AND their pain-relieving effect is 20 - 40 times more powerful than Morphine. You have your own inbuilt supply and you can actually regulate the flow.

Adrenaline, one of the stress or excitable hormones. Necessary for that extra ommpphhh when you get to the bearing down stage, but not a hormone you want freely flowing during your labour. Adrenaline inhibits oxytocin and endorphins and results in the body responding with more pain and actually slowing or in some cases halting labour altogether. Then it's intervention city here we come!

These are only three of the hormones involved, but they are key hormones and you need to understand the role they play.

3. RELEASE YOUR FEARS.
Going into labour with any sort of fear will definitely have a negative impact on your MINDSET, HORMONES and UTERINE MUSCLES.

Fear results in the activation of the Fight/Flight/Freeze response. The mind becomes excited and overactive, looking for perceived 'danger'. This causes tension throughout the body, the release of stress hormones and results in blood (therefore oxygen) being directed to the survival organs.

Newsflash... the UTERUS is not a survival organ. What this means is that some of the muscles in the uterus become taut, there is blood vessel constriction which means decreased oxygen to baby.

The flow on effect is intervention, distress (for mother and baby), increased pain and 'failure of labour to progress'. A common outcome is caesarean birth.

I know this can all sound dramatic... because it can be. I have seen fear in birthing women impact hugely not just on the outcome of their labour but also on their whole perception of their birthing experience. Often the negative emotional impact on mothers (and fathers) can affect them for many years. And when the next pregnancy comes around, it brings it all up again.

The simple solution is to release those fears well BEFORE labour begins.

These three simple steps will empower you to embrace your birthing experience with a calm confidence. Avoid the naivety of 'winging it'... you are giving away your power and it simply does not work. This is you body and your baby, and your experience. Take charge, equip yourself with the knowledge that you have given yourself the very best possible chance to have the birth that you deserve.

In the words of Marci Macari

​"Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed too, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth.”

If you would like to learn more about these three steps, check out my antenatal education options.