what to use as a focal point during labor

Today we're talking all about tips for natural birth, mamas! Considering if you put your mind to it I KNOW Y'all CAN Practice THIS!

My natural birth mamas accept a special little place in my heart, becauseI, too, rode the no-epidural train.

And after that experience, I realized Fifty-fifty MORE how important instruction, research and grooming are to having the natural birth you desire.

So, I wrote this article and created a nascency course just for you guys. Because I want every mama to have a better nativity.

Well, mama. Permit's go to it. My meridian 25 natural birth tips!

1. My feel with natural nascence
2. 3 Awesome Natural Birth Resource
3. 25 Natural Birth Tips Directly From a Labor and Commitment Nurse
4. Which tips for natural birth resonated most with you?

Get more support from the @mommy.labornurse Instagram community! Join over 460k mamas for tips and solidarity on all things pregnancy, nascence, and postpartum!

My experience with natural nativity

I was a labor and delivery nurse before I had my son, and I'm going to acknowledge, I thought I had my caput wrapped around the whole "natural nascency" thing.

I was confident in myself, and I had seen countless moms practise it without epidurals. I knew…

• It was going to hurt,BAD
• Labor was going to probably be long, and tiring
• I was probably going to lose my heed at the end
• Well-nigh women have a perception of what "going natural" is like, beforehand, just to findout the feel is a lot more painful and intense than what they originally thought

I had seen thatbreaking pointmany women become through during transition, and at what point many of them call it quits and scream for an epidural.

Honestly, I thought I had information technology all figured out. I had read books, talked to many moms who had done it before, and done my enquiry.

Well…NEWS Wink…my perception of what I thought it was going to be like versus my bodily experience was but a little chip more intense.Okay,A LOT More than INTENSE.

In fact, I'll commencement off this listing with maxim…practise as much research every bit you can but be aware that your feel volition most probable NOT match your expectations! Merely that's okay.

That'southward part of it all. And, that'south role of the mentality of having a natural nativity.

Letting get of that control factor, and letting your body just do its thing!

3 Awesome Natural Birth Resources

ane. Read Ina May'southward Guide to Childbirth

Before I become likewise deep, one resources that I feel helped me IMMENSELY was Ina May'due south Guide to Childbirth. Seriously, this lady and this book is a godsend for whatever natural birth mama out there. A MUST-READ if you are trying to avoid an epidural.

I also would recommend reading it after (only not too much subsequently) in your pregnancy. I read information technology when I was around 6 months pregnant, simply by the time I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, I felt like I had forgotten a lot of what she had to say. I concluded upward re-reading it around week 37, and I got much more out of it! Hither's the link, if you lot'd like to purchase off Amazon. 🙂

2. Listen to podcasts about birth

Check out the Mommy Labor Nurse Podcast! We've got all different birth stories, expert interviews, and info most pregnancy, birth, and postpartum to help you lot accept a more informed and positive birth experience.

Head here to see a circular-upwardly of all my FAVORITE pregnancy podcasts 🙂

three. Take a birth class specific to natural nascency

Focused preparation is KEY! Too many mamas fall into the trap of wanting their natural nascency, and maybe even understanding what it's all well-nigh, but not adequately preparing.

When it comes to natural birth a LOT of moms will tell y'all, simply wanting it isn't plenty. I've really seen tons of women come into my Labor and Delivery unit maxim they want to become natural.

When I enquire them if they've taken a birth class, far too many say no. And judge what? The MAJORITY end up getting epidurals.

To really upwardly your success rate and accordingly prepare yourself you lot demand childbirth education that's tailored to a natural nativity.

• You need SERIOUS preparation for this mental game!
• You need to exist informed about the childbirth process.
• Y'all demand to learn coping strategies and be PRACTICING these strategies leading up to the large day

And I desire to assist you take a meliorate nascency! I want to hold your mitt for every footstep of the style which is why I created my natural birth course, Birth It Upward the Natural Series.

25 Natural Nascence Tips Straight From a Labor and Commitment Nurse

Alright, so I'm going to go over some mental tidbits, tips, and notes I personally used to help me get through my labor, and what I tell my natural mamas during their labors!

These are in no particular guild!

1. Choose your provider wisely

That merely ways, choose your provider…and your place of delivery wisely. If yous're interested in having a natural birth, the Commencement thing you lot should do is interview your provider! Inquire almost some statistics.

What is your provider's opinion on going epidural-complimentary? How is the success charge per unit of your hospital? You may be surprised when you first request! (PS: Did you know y'all can look up your hospital's C-Section rate on Yelp?)

2. Gear up and do your enquiry

Labor is no easy feat (natural or not). I tin't tell y'all how many people I talked to, how much I read, and how much I mentally tried to prepare myself for my labor.

I volition say, the women I care for who have washed their labor research, are usually the ones who rock it!

That goes for annihilation in life, also! Usually, when you do your research on something, your feel tends to be much more positive, and y'all tend to be much more mentally ready for it, because you have an idea of what to await.

So, read lots of books, take a prenatal class, and talk to lots of your friends and family unit members! Basically, endeavour to larn as much equally you can most going natural!

Y'all will not merely be much more than educated on pregnancy and nascency, merely doing research WILL Admittedly get you excited most doing it!

iii. You can do anything for x seconds

Fifty-fifty though contractions terminal anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, the PEAK of intensity roughly lasts about 10-15 seconds. So, if you can think near information technology this way, you lot may exist able to mentally get through them better.

Sure, the whole contraction is going to final a while, but the terrible, awful, gut-wrenching part really only lasts 10-15 seconds. You can do anything for 10 seconds!

4. You do go breaks

Yep! Yous do go piffling breaks in between, to ready yourself for the next one. I don't recollect women could get through labor if there were not small breaks in between contractions!

Value these breaks and use them to your advantage. Savor them.

5. Information technology'due south only 1 24-hour interval of your life

Okay, sometimes two, but mostly the god-awful part of labor lasts much less than a day. Usually hours. You've been alive for how many days? This is only one of them! Think of it this style.

Related: The Iv Stages of Labor

half dozen. Don't think about how many more than contractions you'll have

Think about how many you've washed, and how each contraction you lot accept is one footstep closer to you being Done and meeting babe.

This is a very common "defeatist" attitude I see women have during labor if it's not going as fast every bit they want information technology to. And, a negative attitude is not something you want during labor!

Instead of clinging on to how many hours y'all've been 4 or five centimeters, congratulate yourself that you've made information technology this far. Celebrate each contraction equally one less you have to deal with!

7. Somewhen information technology will stop

Yes, information technology will! This pain you are dealing with isn't going to be every 24-hour interval for the residue of your life. Somewhen, the labor process is going to be over, and you will have your babe, I hope!

I like to apply this mantra when I'grand swamped at work, or I accept something really stressful going on, as well. I used to wait tables, and I call back it beingness then busy some nights that I would be running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Simply remembering that the nighttime volition eventually end, and I'll get to become home and go to slumber actually helped me look at the bigger picture. It gave me the little pick-me-upwardly I needed during my shift.

I know that's a weird analogy, but truly only reminding yourself that eventually labor volition exist over can help you push through and make it!

8. Fifteen minute increments, or four more than contractions

This is a mental do I like to do with my natural patients, and one I personally used equally well.

When you lot are on the brink of exhaustion, and thinking you can't do information technology anymore, I like to suggest we keep going for either some other xv minutes, or iv more contractions. Later on that time frame is up, something changes. We either alter positions, get a dose of medication, arrive the shower etc.

Sometimes past just setting a time frame, and changing something at the finish of that fourth dimension frame, information technology helps women have more than control over the setting. For some reason, getting through iv fifteen minutes increments sounds much easier to me than doing something for an hour! Agreed?

Related: My FIRST Birth Story

9. Literally, have it one contraction at a time

This goes along with everything I've said thus far….simply take it one at a fourth dimension! Focus on only the i you lot are having.

Don't recall most how horrible the final one was, or how horrible the next 1 is going to be.

Just FOCUS on the i you are having at present, and getting through it.

ten. Clear whatsoever mental blocks you have

I am a firm believer in positive energy, and I think negative energy has a way of impeding labor progression. I've seen it!

Really, if yous've got any mental blocks you are focusing on during labor (coin stress, family affairs, etc.), your body is going to accept a heck of a lot harder job doing its thing.

Try and focus on the here and at present. Clear your personal stressors for the time being, and focus on the job y'all accept to exercise, LABOR!

xi. Have the pain

Don't fight it, accept information technology. Embrace information technology. It'due south easier said than done, but this is one fundamental element every natural mama must confront.

Any other time our bodies are in pain, our natural response is to fight information technology, fix it, bandage it.

Well in labor, you truly must just deal with information technology, and have it…then it will exist over!

Alter your mindset about the pain, because in this case pain = progress. Hurting = closer to baby!

12. Breathe equally tedious and deep every bit y'all tin can

Those animate exercises in prenatal classes can actually work! It's true. The slower and deeper you lot breathe during a contraction, the more oxygen your uterus is getting.

One of the reasons contractions are painful is because your uterus is a huge muscle, and when muscles contract, they tighten and restrict blood flow and oxygen to their surroundings.

A lack of oxygen causes pain! So, Breathe DEEP to go more oxygen pumping to that uterus!

Related: 10 Things You May Not Know Nigh Labor And Delivery!

13. Be a rag doll

Limp, loose and relaxed during contractions. Information technology'S Mode HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS, I KNOW! Truth is, tensing up during each contraction is only keeping baby in there longer.

Doing your very best to relax your muscles during each contraction tin can make a globe of departure in terms of progression. And, I'one thousand not merely talking well-nigh relaxing your bottom. Relax your face, shoulders, artillery, legs, entire body!

14. Keep your mouth relaxed

Plain, the muscles around your mouth and the muscles within your vagina are somehow connected. (They don't teach usa that in nursing school, ha!)

Try this simple exercise:

• Purse your mouth, and practice a kegel (tighten your vaginal muscles)
• Now, relax your oral fissure and relax your vagina
• Now, tighten both again, and try to only relax your vagina
• It's a little harder to practice, right?

Isn't that weird? Well, it may requite you some benefit during labor! This is as well in Ina May Gaskin'south Book, and she highly recommends focusing on having a relaxed jaw during contractions, to encourage cervical dilation!

Read more than about Ina May Gaskin's Sphincter Law here!

xv. Be confident and have back up

I had a alter of heart afterwards I got pregnant. I started to become much more than curious about trying to give birth without getting an epidural. I had seen COUNTLESS women do information technology…right in front end of my eyes. I started to really amp myself up.

I kept thinking, "IF Sally JO CAN DO It, THEN I Can Do IT!".

I also started analyzing how my natural mamas were coping throughout labor, and when exactly that BREAKING POINT of epidural-state broke through.

I realized that many of my patients who were successful in delivering naturally all had two things in common: CONFIDENCE AND Back up!

The conviction and belief that you can do this

It takes A WHOLE LOTTA confidence to requite birth, whichever way you exercise it! But, for the sake of this article, I'm going to blatantly say….if you desire to go epidural-free, you've got exist CONFIDENT!!

You've got to BELIEVE you're going to exercise it. Y'all've got to Beat those contractions. You lot've got to AMP YOURSELF Upward Like I DID!

The back up to get information technology done

At present for the second matter I noticed…Back up.

All of these women had A SUPER SUPPORT Team. Whether it be their partners encouraging them, their mothers, their sisters, a doula…these women all had someone to dorsum them upwards (and sometimes it was just me, little ol' labor nurse!).

And then, lesson 2, make sure you've got someone who knows what you want in terms of pain command, and make sure they BACK YOU Upwards!

Giving nativity is hard (Okay, permit's exist honest, PARENTING is difficult), you Demand someone who's on your team. (PS: I'thou Ever on your team too!) ?

*Let me also say, I generally recommend not having too many people in your room. It'south totally up to yous, BUT sometimes I discover that once in that location are more than 2 or 3 helpers, sometimes there are power struggles. Don't be agape to tell (insert annoying family member) you don't want them in the room.*

16. No fearfulness

You've besides got to get rid of the fearfulness cistron.

What is the "fear factor"? It'southward exactly what I had Earlier I amped myself up.

I was TERRIFIED of labor hurting. What is it going to exist like? What if I tin't do information technology? What if I pass out or something? WHAT IF I Only Can'T DO IT AND I STAY Significant FOREVER???

Labor is PAINFUL AS F*CK, in that location's no other manner to put it. Fearfulness of this pain makes labor 100 times worse. Going natural is virtually realizing that labor is going to be the worst pain you've ever experienced in your life, and taking information technology on LIKE A Dominate.

Accept the hurting. Welcome the pain. The hurting is your B*TCH.

Get rid of all the "what if's", and become rid of the fright. KNOW Yous Can DO It.

Related: six Nascence Fears Unpacked

17. Stay at dwelling house as long every bit you lot can

Or, if you're delivering at your home…well…just stay in that location! Merely seriously, if you begin to labor at habitation on your own (your water hasn't broken nevertheless, you're not haemorrhage, babe is moving around), y'all need to literally stay at home every bit long as you can perhaps acquit information technology.

I'm talking…you're shaking, yous're vomiting, you think you only can't exercise information technology anymore…THEN leave!

Unless you lot have a super long commute (I'm not advising you look TOO long) look until your contractions are:

• 3ish minutes apart
• Lasting about a minute long
• At about a 9 out of 10 on your pain scale

This happens all the time, women end up rolling into triage BEFORE they are in active labor.

If this is your first pregnancy, information technology'south also extremely common to wonder, "is this information technology?", go excited, and come up direct to the infirmary. It'south okay, MANY women exercise this.

The key here is, you shouldn't be coming to the infirmary until you lot ARE ABSOLUTELY Sure THIS IS LABOR, AND IT JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE.

18. Proceed telling yourself information technology's going to get worse

Okay, I know y'all're probably wondering "Huh??"

The truth is, this is a piddling mental game that I played with myself during my ain labor.

I kept saying, "Okay, I got through that wrinkle, merely information technology'due south going to get worse…exist prepared for it to get worse." This went through my head at 4, 6, and ten centimeters. Information technology was my way of retaining some control over the pain.

My thought process was…if I can somehow trick myself into thinking "It's going to keep getting worse, it's going to get worse", then peradventure when I was ACTUALLY at the peak of "it existence the absolute worst" (which for me was around 9.5 centimeters right earlier I started pushing) I had already gotten through the worst of information technology! Success, at present downhill!

Related: What To Expect When Y'all're Expecting a Labor Induction!

19. Move around a ton

I remember MY lovely labor nurse telling me mid-labor "don't do the same thing for more than 30 minutes", and I didn't. In fact, I couldn't assistance BUT move!

I'thousand the kind of person that completely CANNOT sit still when in pain. I was moving, shaking, kicking my legs, rocking back and along…basically Annihilation to distract myself from my contractions.

Moving and irresolute your positioning not only helps labor non feel then long (considering you're ever irresolute something up), it also helps with progression! Seriously, the more than movement you lot do, (usually) the quicker your labor will progress once you lot've reached the active stage.

Fifty-fifty if it doesn't feel intuitive

I can't tell y'all how many times I've had patients who simply want to lay in bed on their backs in agony during their contractions. I've literally had to pick patients up out of their beds before and encourage them to move.

I become information technology, though. The way some women deal with wrinkle pain is tensing up and trying to stay as nevertheless as possible, hoping their stillness will lessen the pain intensity.

Not moving volition actually prolong things

Unfortunately, this prolongs everything and has a negative upshot on your labor pattern. Remember what I said earlier near NO Fearfulness? This "staying still" drill is fear.

Instead of laying there and letting each contraction hit you like a ton of bricks, it'south Manner more benign to Testify THEM WHO'S Boss. Move your butt effectually the room! I promise movement will shorten your labor duration SIGNIFICANTLY.

Gravity is also your best friend, and whatsoever position that allows your pelvis to be upright is nifty! (Walking, squatting, leaning over your partner, sitting on a yoga ball etc.)

PS: My nascency grade has a whole section dedicated to labor positions and natural pain management!

20. Know that there are enough of other options

Have you read my post on alternative pain command methods you can use during labor? I've put a listing together of EVERYTHING y'all tin can do INSTEAD of getting an epidural.

Trust me, there are a lot of options out there…and I'one thousand not just talking most "labor animate" (even though that is 1!) ?

21. Detect your focus

This can be a spot on the wall, the audio of your own animate, looking someone directly in their optics (I've done this many times with patients and it helps!), or but thinking of one certain thing that helps you overcome that current contraction y'all are having.

Labor is a huge control boxing. Finding a focal point to direct your out-of-control mind is HUGE.

If I take a patient who is really out of command (crying, kicking, screaming, jumping all over the place etc.), I go right in her face. I sternly say something like:

• FOCUS
• Call up near that baby!
• You can do this
• Look at me and accept a big deep breath
• Exhale information technology in, blow it out. Let information technology all get

This is normally enough to get through a contraction! It's all about FINDING THAT FOCUS and concentrating on it.

Labor really is mind over thing

Labor is "listen over affair" as cliché equally that sounds. It's a huge mental game you lot play with yourself, and the biggest battle is convincing yourself Yous CAN make it to the stop.

Have you ever run a marathon? Labor is undeniably similar to running a marathon.

I've completed a few half marathons, and it's really amazing to me how like the picayune voice in my caput during my half marathon….was during my labor

• "Yous can exercise this, ok this is the easy part"
• "Getting tired, but KEEP Animate"
• "Pace yourself, it's going to get worse, just proceed the end in sight"
• "Get over this loma! I know it's and so hard, but you're well-nigh over the tiptop! Come on! FINALLY, downhill…ahhhhh"
• "Virtually at the finish line, I CAN SEE Information technology! I'Thou Then TIRED BUT I GOTTA PUSH A Trivial HARDER TO GET THERE!"

I'chiliad not advising you lot sign up for a half-marathon while you're pregnant (even though some bad*ss mamas totally practise that!), simply maybe wait at it this way for some inspiration!

23. You're probably going to lose your heed at the cease

But, that's okay! Everyone does. Almost every laboring pregnant lady completely loses their state of mind at the end.

Possibly y'all snap at your partner, scream at the top of your lungs, whatever it may exist. It's totally fine, and it'southward expected!

Don't worry, this usually means you lot're almost washed.

24. Pushing is the cease

I remember thinking during my labor, "I can't expect to be pushing, I tin't wait to be pushing". Yes! Keep this in your head. Once you lot've made it to the indicate of pushing, TRUST ME, you've made it through the hard part.

Some may debate that pushing is just every bit bad as contractions, but I say different. Most women feel much more in control of their labor in one case they hit the pushing stage. And, just recall how far y'all've come up, you lot've made it to 10 centimeters, now to just push baby OUT!

25. And, finally, you go a large reward at the terminate!

Go along that baby in your mind! During each contraction, remind yourself what's virtually to happen, y'all're virtually to be a mom. You're about to meet the piddling love of your life, and meet his/her face after nine months of waiting.

Don't become too consumed with the pain that you lot forget why you're really at that place in the starting time identify. ?

Which tips for natural nascency resonated nigh with you?

Labor is about KNOWING you lot can do it, and taking it on like a Boss. Remember, it's a mental game more than anything.

It's personal and anybody is different. Some methods that work for some ladies, work terribly for others. It'due south all about finding what works for yous and harnessing the power and drive within yourself that y'all knew yous had all forth!

With that said, what other tips for natural birth practise you have that helped yous through labor? I'd love to know.

These are some of the methods I personally used, and what I employ in my practise to help my natural mamas cope with labor pain. I know there are plenty more out there! Leave me a comment!

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Source: https://mommylabornurse.com/natural-birth-tips/

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