Yousra Labour is coming, if you are pregnant, then labour is coming. It is going to happen no matter what, be it a C-Section or a natural birth, your baby has got to come out. It is a scary thing to think about, but to be frank, like most things the anxiety leading up to it will probably be worse. Once you have gone through 9 months of 100 different uncomfortable symptoms, this will seem very fast, like you are in a little bubble then pop out comes your baby and you have forgotten about everything before that moment.
At least those were my thoughts after using hypnobirthing as my pain management.
Childbirth is just one long deep set of breaths.
Labour Pains
When you hear a mother say that they were in labour for 3 days, that does not mean they were in unimaginable pain for 3 days, there are different phases of labour beginning with the prelabour contractions that all have different levels of intensity. I know how bad it looks in the movies but the ‘pain’ that is referred to in labour is the contractions that are on and off, it is thankfully not hours and hours of constant excruciating agony.
Look at the slow progression of labour as the body’s natural way of training you to deal with it, like if you were weightlifting and slowly increasing the weight until before you know it, you can lift so much more than you began with. The muscle pain feels good in this example, because we know we are working towards positive result at the end, in fact some people believe the more pain the more gain!
We need to stop fighting the process and start fighting our fears.
Prelabour Stage – Signs of Labour
The initial phase where you will start to experience contractions is called the prelabour phase, ‘prelabour’ being because the cervix is preparing but will not have begun dilating but your uterus muscles will be tightening and relaxing. This phase is usually shorter for subsequent births because your body has done it all before.
The prelabour contractions can be non-progressive, have no particular pattern and feel a bit like pulses of period cramps. You will probably start taking things easy at this point. It can last up to a few days and be on and off. I would suggest being aware of them but not getting your hopes up just yet until you start seeing some regularity in the contractions.
Dilation Stage – Labour has started
From then on once your contractions become regular, stronger and closer together, your cervix will begin dilating and this dilation stage of labour will last until you are fully dilated to 10cm.
The early labour phase of the dilation stage, until your cervix reaches to around 3 to 5cm dilation, will last the longest of the labour time, that being anything from 2 to 24 hours, with often manageable contractions. You might start to experience some back pain while your pelvic ligaments stretch to make room for baby.
The guidance is to stay at home for most of the labour and only go in to the hospital once the contraction frequency is at a regular pattern of every 5 minutes from the beginning of a contraction till the beginning of the next for 1 minute, continuously for an hour (5-1-1 or 4-1-1).
At this point, the active labour phase, up to 8 cm dilation, will feel the hardest with the shortest break between contractions and strongest and longest contractions of the labour. You hear that guys! before this phase, you would have had a break between contractions for longer than 5 minutes and the wave of contractions lasting less that a minute…you can do this. You will now likely be in a zone and go into more of an instinctual pain management method (swaying, moaning, Load breathing etc.) but thankfully this stage will be much shorter than the early stage.
You should already be in the hospital during the final dilation phase to 10cm. This will last for 5 to 30 contractions, and it is said that you will have passed the peak of the contraction pain in the active labour phase. This transition phase will feel different as baby begins to descend. You might start feeling the urge to push as well as the contractions being very close together.
Birthing Stage-Pushing Baby Out
Finally, the birthing stage where it all turns to pushing baby out with the help of your body’s natural pushing urges. You will probably feel a crazy adrenaline rush no matter how long the dilation stage went on for. This is when you will feel the commonly spoken about ‘ring of fire’ as baby’s head emerges.
Pushing too hard beyond what our body is ready for will increase the possibility of tearing and Haemorrhoids (piles), as tempting as it is to speed up the process we need to listen to the body. Tearing and Haemorrhoids are very common though and something you probably won’t feel while everything else is going on.
Once you see your little bundle you won’t remember anything, it will all feel like a dream and the squidgy placenta will be delivered while you have your baby in your arms.
That is the general outline of labour, but of course labour can be unpredictable and part of it is accepting that as much as you plan, things might not 100% go your way, so try not to have too many expectations or you will be focused on the disappointment of what should have happened as opposed to how well it went.
I hope I have given you a better idea of the process and what to expect.
Read on for natural coping methods to help you have a positive birthing experience.
What is Hypnobirthing?
Now for the whole reason you came here; to deal with the pain. I practiced hypnobirthing with both of my previous labours, and I am hoping to be blessed with the opportunity to use it during my third. It is so empowering, and you will really surprise yourself at your strength when you look back. Think Yoda or Master Shifu finding your inner peace.
Many women who practice this or even just the breathing techniques, will tell you stories of how the midwife didn’t believe how far along they were when they turned up to the hospital. I for one, was being waltzed around the different examination rooms, waiting to be seen, midwives trying to take pee samples… until they realised I was almost ready to push and rushed me into a delivery room.
You treat each contraction individually like a wave, using a mixture of breathing, visualisation, and relaxation techniques. Initially I considered the hypnobirthing classes but as I am a teach yourself kind of girl (totally not the price putting me off) I used a combination of YouTube videos and paid a small monthly fee on a hypnobirthing guidance app. I am sure the classes must work, but I can’t say my cheaper method didn’t work either…
You should begin practising in your third trimester as its not something you learn overnight. I also find that the techniques I have picked up have helped with my overall anxiety. You are coaching yourself to stay relaxed and calm so that you can allow your body to carry out its natural process.
The side effects of hypnobirthing are:
-Realising you are superhuman
-Going into shock of how awesome you are
-Becoming Grand Master Oogway
Hypnobirthing Steps
- Initially you can try distracting yourself with a walk, or your favourite programme.
- As it becomes more intense, start to create a calming environment around you: Dim lights, soothing music, nature sounds, candles, essential oils, a bath, calming images to look at.
- As the contractions begins, a slow inhale through your nose followed by a long, most possibly audible exhale through your mouth.
- Completely relaxing every part of your body with no tension in the breath.
- Visualise something relaxing that will work in rhythm with your contractions and breathing, examples such as an opening and closing flower, riding a wave until it peaks and riding it back down or arriving at the peak of a mountain and flying down(see ideas with gorgeous photos below).
- If you are not a fan of visualising, find something in the room to focus on while you breath.
- Do not rush into the next breath if it is in the same contraction, wait a moment before beginning the next breath.
- Remain completely relaxed between contractions.
- It might help to use your contraction timings as your focus, so you know that it is nearly ending.
- If you reach a stage of feeling the urge to push but you have been advised that you are not yet fully dilated, take two short breaths in and two short breaths out continuously until the urge disappears.
- Time to push baby out with the “J” breath – breathe in through your nose and tighten your stomach and uterus as you low moan out, pushing your breath down through your stomach and out. (This one can be practiced on the toilet)
Visualisation Ideas
For each image think about what it makes you feel, what you can see, smell, hear and feel.
Petals opening and closing on a beautiful flower as a symbol of the cervix opening and closing with each tightened contraction.
Getting up up to the peak of a Mountain, you can visualise walking along the edge and focusing on the details of the view that you can see or the type of path you are walking on, then reaching the top and having a rest at the end of the contractions.
You can be experiencing the waves in the water as you float up and down or sitting on the beach feeling the air of the waves as they come crashing and controlling the height of the wave with the contractions.
Watch the waterfall as it gushes from the top and ripples through the lagoon as the contractions ends.
Gliding off the top of the mountain at your own height and speed until you land at the end of the contraction.
Seclude yourself in a floating air balloon in any location you feel relaxed in with only the air and the fire fuelling the balloon or watch the balloon from far inflating and deflating in the sky.
