Tools For An Easier Natural Birth Experience

Ideally, giving birth is a natural and joyous experience, a blessed event in which the forces of creation and transformation can be shared by all present. This is to goal most of us try to achieve during our birthing experiences. Giving birth as a couple in your own home gives you the opportunity to fall in love all over again, both with your baby and with each other. The birth experience is a rite of passage and a transforming process that touches every aspect of your perception on life.

Unfortunately, most women in our culture do not achieve this experience. Instead, they end up experiencing a largely self-fulfilling prophecy of birth as a painful, terrifying ordeal and/or as a medical, high-tech, drugged, intruisive process over which they have no control. Birth is greatly influenced by our ideas and our attitudes. The images we have of giving birth, our expectations, conditioning, and our body image, determine not only how we react, but it influences the length of our labors, its progression, and how we feel about it afterwards.

Our culture still carries mush of the idea that childbirth is a fearful and painful experience. It is both exciting and enlightening when these concepts suddenly fall away in the light of new revelations. The revelation that some women are beginning to experience is that childbirth doesn't have to be fearful or painful. It can be a very positive, joyful experience when you are prepared physically, emotionally, and mentally. As we deliver our children with these positive experiences, our children after us will be able to face their birth experiences with a familiar outlook and the knowledge that it can be a rewarding and positive experience for them as well.

ABOUT PAIN

Although we tend to assume that what hurts, really hurts, psychologists have discovered that there are many things that can influence our experience of pain.

HUNGER is best dealt with by eating light foods during early labor and drinking juices to keep up your blood sugar level. (The hospital procedure of refusing food and drink to women in labor in case general anesthesia is required then necessitates the use of routine IV drips).

Here is a recipe for Labor Aide that might help keep up energy and electrolytes.

1 quart water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 crushed calcium tablets

Red raspberry leaf tea (or pregnancy formula tea consisting of 2 parts red raspberry leaf, 1 part nettle, 1 part alfalfa, and 1 part peppermint leaf) can be made up before labor begins and used as a warm or cold tea, or frozen into ice cubes or herbal popcicles. This tea is great for adding other necessary herbs that may be needed during labor and afterward. It is very nutritious and help prevent bleeding problems, helps with promoting adequate contractions, and the red raspberry leaf is a great female tonic.

Light soups and juices (can also be made into juice popcicles) are also recommended.

TIREDNESS can be prevented by resting your last month of pregnancy, sleeping through early labor if it is night, and relaxing fully between contractions.

FOCUSING ON PAIN intensifies it. If you keep your attention focused on your surroundings, your partner, and the purpose of the labor, this will keep your attention directed externally so the pain doesn't register in your conciousness. Staying focused on everything but the pain is an invaluable tool in helping you deal successfully with contractions.

WORRY & UNCERTAINTY are handled by preparation. Taking childbirth preparation classes, knowing what to expect, and being able to interpret what is happening with your body. A good coach can help immensely in maintaining confidence.

TENSION is probably the major cause of pain in labor. A baby is born through contraction of the uterine muscle. The uterus is the strongest muscle in the human body. If the rest of your body is relaxed, your uterus can do its work effectively, without the pain or exhaustion of muscular tension in your abdomen, legs, or shoulders. Relaxation, aided by touch, encouragement, and attention of those who love and care about you, is the key to a comfortable and joyous labor.

WAITING FOR PAIN is self-fulfilling, because it causes tension, which actually creates pain. It can cause all your past experiences of pain to become jumbled together and be carried into the present, along with all the fears of the future. Experiencing each contraction and each rest period as each one comes solves this problem, for the experience in a given moment is never so intense that it cannot be accepted. Staying in the hear and now is one of your best tools.

In addition to these factors, our experience of pain is influenced by our attitude towards it. If we can simply recognize pain for what it is, a sensation our body is registering to inform us of our situation, and meet it calmly and dispassionately, our body can accept the message we send back such as "I know what is happening and I don't need any further signals right now, thank you."

Your partner will probably be your primary support and he plays an important role in helping you stay relaxed and enjoy your labor. But other friends and family members can also fulfill that function for the single mother or can relieve your partner during labor. Some couples may consider obtaining a doula to assist them with labor support. This may be very helpful in a hospital or birthing center since the regular staff will not be able to provide much in the way of continuous support. At home, for a homebirth, you will have your midwife and her assistants (if any) to help with labor support. Here are some other tools you can use to help with keeping your labor as a positive experience and tension-pain-free as possible.

PREPARED CHILDBIRTH PREPARATION

Women do better in labor and birthing when they learn to say yes to every sensation they are feeling and open up to birth, which is extremely intense and may even be uncomfortable or painful at times, rather than trying for a painless birth. Keeping your expectations within a realm of calm, relaxed reality will help to keep you grounded during your birthing experience. Even if you have a good theoretical grasp of breathing and relaxation, attending classes will provide you with an opportunity for regular practice, update you on current techniques that can be used for relaxation and visualization during labor, and it will help your partner to be more immediately involved in your pregnancy. If you decide to take a group class, you will be able to meet other expectant couples. In private or group classes you will obtain a better understanding of birth through visual aids, films, slides, tapes and so forth.

There are many things you can do to make your goal of a natural birth easier to cope with!

EMOTIONAL PREPARATION

Fear of pain, fear of failure, or unwanted emotions from past births, miscarriages, abortions, or sexual abuse can negatively influence your feelings and decisions so your present birth is also less than ideal. Pregnancy is a good time for cleaning out your emotional "closet" and discarding any trapped emotions from past experiences. The exercises found in books listed below will provide valuable tools for approaching this birth with as much clarity as possible. Some excellent books for exploring your feelings about birth include:

• Creating a Joyful Birth Experience by Lucia Capacchione and Sandra Bardsley
• Birthing From Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz
• Pregnant Feelings by Rahima Baldwin
• An Easier Childbirth by Gayle Peterson
• Transformation Through Birth by Claudia Panuthos

If you have had a previous birth (especially one that was difficult or less than you desired):

• Rebounding from Childbirth: Toward Emotional Recovery
  by Lynn Madsen
  This is excellent for women grieving and healing past births.

• Ended Beginnings
  by Claudia Panuthos, Cathy Romeo
  If you have a history of miscarriage, infertility or other loss, this book can be very healing, appropriate for resolving issues from previous childbirth experiences, and issues of pregnancy loss.

• Open Season: A Survival Guide For Natural Childbirth & VBAC in the 90s
  by Nancy Wainer Cohen, Clar Doyle
  For women considering vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) or those trying to avoid a cesarean.

• Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention & Vaginal Birth After Cesarean, VBAC
  by Nancy Wainer Cohen, Lois J. Estner
  For women considering vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) or those trying to avoid a cesarean.

If you are interested in learning more about choices and "informed" decision making for your pregnancy and birthing care:

• The Thinking Woman's Guide To A Better Birth
  by Henci Goer, Rhonda Wheeler
  Necessary reading to make informed choices.

• Heart & Hands: A Midwife's Guide To Pregnancy & Birth
  by Elizabeth Davis, Suzanne Arms, Linda Harrison
  Subtitled A Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, is not just for midwives. It's an excellent and thorough resource for parents-to-be who are thinking about delivering their child with a midwife, or who are concerned about the medical establishment's over-control of birth.

• Birth As An American Rite of Passage
  by Robbie E. Davis-Floyd
  Why do so many American women allow themselves to become enmeshed in the standardized routines of technocratic childbirth routines that can be insensitive, unnecessary, and even unhealthy? And why, in spite of the natural childbirth movement, has hospital birth become even more intensely technologized? Robbie Davis-Floyd argues that these obstetrical procedures are rituals that reflect a cultural belief in the superiority of science over nature. Her interviews with 100 mothers and many health care professionals reveal in detail both the trauma and the satisfaction women derive from childbirth. She also calls for greater cultural and medical tolerance of the alternative beliefs of women who choose to birth at home.

• Immaculate Deception II: Myth, Magic & Birth
  by Suzanne Arms
  Immaculate Deception (I and II) opens eyes to the realities of childbirth. It is not by nature a dangerous process -- an illness that modern medicine has only recently learned to deal with adequately. It is, however, a physically and emotionally demanding process for which our culture does not adequately prepare women, much like menstruation, breastfeeding, and menopause. Hospitals are not "safe" places to give birth. Women who are uneducated about and unprepared for childbirth are placing their lives and their children's lives in the hands of chance, luck, and fallible professionals. No place is a "safe" place to give birth for these women.

• Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities: A Guide to the Medical Literature
  by Henci Goer, Don Creevy
  Anyone working to improve the childbearing experience and help women avoid unnecessary intervention has encountered numerous "obstetric myths" or "old doctors' tales." And while the evidence in the medical literature may be solidly, often unequivocably, against whatever "the doctor said," without access to that evidence, the pregnant woman is quite reasonably going to follow her doctor. This book is an attempt to make the medical literature on a variety of key obstetric issues accessible to people who lack the time, expertise, access, or proximity to a medical library to research concerns on their own. This compact, accurate, yet understandable reference is designed for people without medical training and organized for easy access.

• Spiritual Midwifery
  by Ina May Gaskin
  From the amazing birthing tales to care of the newborn, Spiritual Midwifery is still one of the best books an expectant mother could own. Includes resources for doulas, childbirth educators, birth centers, and other organizations and alliances dedicated to improving maternity care at home and in hospitals.

RELAXATION

Perhaps one of the most important keys to coping with labor is relaxation. Relaxation allows you to work with and stay on top of your contractions, riding each wave as it comes to you. Rather than breathing faster or trying 128 different positions to get comfortable (which may be impossible during intense active labor), Relax More!

• Be in and stay in the present moment. Do not concern yourself about what has already occurred in you labor or what will occur in the next moment, minute, or hour.

• Center your attention on your breath and keep telling your body to relax and release all tension. Tension and fear increase the pain you feel. Keeping any set of muscles contracted for the duration of labor is going to be very uncomfortable. Your uterus relaxes between contractions, and the rest of your body should be relaxed all the time. Pain is also caused by resisting what your body is attempting to accomplish and the sensations you are feeling. This results in more pain and tension. And enjoy your release. Although labor is extremely intense at times, you will NOT be pregnant for very much longer, and you're not going to be experiencing labor and birth for very long, or very many times, either, so savor the experience. It involves a whole set of new sensations and emotions. The goal we are aiming for is a completly relaxed body in which the contracting uterus is allowed to do its work of opening the cervix while you conserve your energy.

• Relaxation is not a passive process. It is a self-directed interaction between your body and mind. One of the main tools used to achieve this is intention. You are going to sit or lie in a comfortable place, completely relaxed, while strong uterine sensations recur from time to time, and tell your body and your various groups of muscles (especially those in your shoulders and lower belly to release, relax, and stay relaxed.

• Have available anything you use which helps you relax. Lotions for massage, pictures of children, pets, or favorite places to focus on, a favorite pillow, anything that is familiar, which will make you feel comfortable.

• There are tapes and videos out there, which can teach you relaxation techniques and labor coping skills. Pregnancy yoga and the new hypnobirthing are becoming pretty popular!

• Practice and repetition are helpful, for they teach the body new response patterns, which has become automatic (like learning how to type). By practicing breathing and relaxation exercises regularly, your body can learn to greet strong sensations with relaxation and slow breathing, rather than filled with tensions, recoiling and holding the breath, as we usually do. This relearning will come to your aid in all stressful situations, from experiencing emotional upheavals to visiting your health care provider or dentist.

BREATHING DURING LABOR

If you have taken any birthing classes, you will have learned a breathing pattern, to help you cope with your contractions. If a method like Lamaze, they will be slower for early labor, a little faster for active labor, and very fast during transition with shallow, panting breathing for strong contractions. Some women may find this method works fine for them, but it doesn't work for everyone (including myself and my homebirthing clients). If you find it is actually harder for you to concentrate on a breathing pattern, and you are losing your concentration, then do what feels right (which you should do anyway!). Don't hold your breath, that is one of the worst (and most common) things that women do.

Your breath is intimately connected with all your physical and emotional states. It not only reflects them, it can also produce them. Professional actors often use the breath in this way to produce the emotions they need while on stage.

Use your breath as a tool. Keep yourself centered in it. Place your attention on your breathing, and feel as if you are floating in the middle of the breath. Keep the breathing as slow as possible. Many people who have been trained in the Lamaze Method don't really believe it is possible to maintain slow breathing throughout labor, but the Bradley Method teaches only slow breathing and it really does work. I used it through my five births with my children long before I ever took a childbirth class. With only slow breathing, you end up much more relaxed, are more in touch with your body, don't run the risk of hyperventilating, and enjoy labor more because you aren't bouncing around the ceiling doing rapid breathing.

BREATHING BETWEEN CONTRACTIONS