I had a very good 1st labour and I am unsure what exact made
it so good, or if was a combination of all but I will try my best to have a
very similar one now. This may not work for everyone but if you want to give it
a try here are my tips and ideas I used last time:
Watch for signs of the labor approaching:
I had all the signs
below, some people may not have it, but here they are:
-
Baby movements can slow down 1-2 days before the baby is
coming as he is saving energy for the task ahead
-
The mucus plug can come out couple of days before the labor
which means the passage will be open
-
Diarrhea and vomiting is normal on the day that the labor
is starting, which is your body trying to clean up to make more room for the
baby to come out.
Help your baby come out:
There are many theories on what to do when you start your labor, I used
the active birth techniques ( Birth Skills - http://www.jujusundin.com/), combined
with some other ideas I heard before labor and had my own plan on what would work
for me:
-
My main focus was to keep moving and match the
pain. In the beginning as the pain was not strong I just moved slowly,
tried to go to sleep and had long hot baths. As it progressed was my time to match
the pain, so I started moving more, bouncing on the yoga ball, had my hips side
to side, stumping the floor and pressing stress balls. All this specially
during the contraction time. This was the time where the baby was pushing to
come out, the body was pushing to come out and I had to help. But when the pain
was gone after 1 minute I would just rest as I could not waste my energy. So it
was 1 minute active, 3 relaxing. That is the only reason why it is possible for
us women to birth, if this was a constant pain we would not be able to handle
as much.
-
Be calm and secure, have a good
environment. I brought many of my favorite music, oils, pictures so I could
feel like I was home. I had the baby at the delivery centre but I didn’t want
it to look like a hospital as this could make me scared and it could stop labor.
-
But also laughing
really helped me so we kept it all very informal. I had my whole family in
the labor room with me (husband, mum and sister) and by making jokes and being
not stressed I was able to also help the labor by releasing good hormones on my
body. The funniest moment was when the midwife gave the gown to change, so here
I come out of the toilet with my gown and undies on and the opening to the
front and the midwife says on a joking voice: ”Please have some dignity the opening
is to the back” – How would I know? I never had a baby before, in my mind they
had to access the belly somehow… so I just replied joking too: “Are you asking a pregnant woman to have
dignity? Sorry I lost mine long ago” We all laughed so hard and 30 minutes
later my baby was already in my arms… Not that this was the reason, but it was
quite funny, and I am quite sure it helped 😉
-
Be mentally
prepared to help. This is an interesting one, but I do believe it 100%. At
every contraction I had to move but also think: “My body is opening; my baby is coming down and turning the correct
way to come out” This was my mantra and I kept believing it 100%. Every
contraction was making my baby come closer to me and I was there for her all
the way.
I hope some mum can use at least some of those ideas to help them have a
good labor I would be happy 😊 Here is also a link for those amazing drawings from
the picture ( affirmations) that I found from a doula that can resume a lot of
what I used on the day.
A mum after 30 planning
her next labor 😉
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