Breathing exercises in labour - need clear instructions for DH

[Jenko77]

I'm expecting DC1 on 14th Oct. DH is going to be my birth partner and is pretty confident that he's up to the job.

We've covered the usuals - offer me drinks, help me to the toilet, rub my back when I need it, etc. We're also both aware that breathing exercises are important. Everything I've read up on them so far offer different patterns of breathing for different stages of labour. If I explain all this to DH, it will go in one ear and out the other.

Is there a simple set of fool-proof breathing exercises that I can run him through so that he can help me in this area? A simple "breath in through the nose, one, two, breath out through the mouth, one, two" would be great!

Is it this simple? And does it actually work?

Breathing was my source of pain relief, as I had a quick labour and unexpected home/ambulance birth!

To be honest, and I know this is rubbish advice as it's your first and you want to be prepared, but the breathing will alter the further your labour develops.

Contraction wise, you'll feel the muscles tighten, and as they hit the peak of pain-like a period cramp, you breathe in, and by the time your breathing out the contraction is over.

Your husband needs to maintain calmness and support you. It's important that he doesn't panic (make him watch a few births on youtube) because you may panic a little because you don't know what to expect, and this may knock your breathing.

YOU are the one who needs to know when to breathe, as it's 99% likely you'll be advising your husband to shut up as he doesn't know what it's like (during the labour!). The more you breathe, the more relaxed you are, the more relaxed you are the less chance you have of a nasty tear. You must listen to your body, and it will come naturally. If you have gas and air (like I did at the dentist) it should stabilise your breathing, as you'll know the delay in breathing it in and the pain stopping! Best of luck to you my lovely ! :o

Thanks Paradise.

I guess I'll just have to play it by ear and try to stay calm and relaxed. And I'd better apologise to DH in advance for ripping his head off when he tries to help me!!

I believe my words were "what the fuck do you mean the hose pipe is the wrong fitting blowing up the fucking pool the baby is coming"
DH: "Breathe"
Me: "bleeeeeeeeep bleep"

i had a book i think it's called breathe your way through birth with yoga, it has lots of exercises in it and then summaries at the end of hte book for different types of labour. i took that with me and got DH to read it in the delivery room!

If you start to panic, you need to focus on breathing out. Not breathing in. So practise with your DH beforehand, taking a long deep breath in, then in a controlled way, breathe out. Breathing in then comes naturally. Your DH should place a hand on you and breath in time - breath out loudly (e.g. make a vowel sound like ooo or uuuu) so your DH can follow you.

Try practising every day for a few minutes, somewhere calm e.g. in the shower/bath.

During labour your DH can remind you to breathe out, perhaps by making the vowel sound and doing himself. You can then copy.

I got through my labour with this kind of breathing (I did yoga which helped loads) - practising every day so it was second nature by the big day!

I made lots of low vowel noises as Igglybuff described when I was breathing out. I don't think there is really any mystery about breathing excercises, but it does help to practise. Take a good breath in and see how slowly you can let it out (but don't strain). I did yoga before DC1 and this did help with the breathing.

One tip I would mention is that DH did remind me a few times when I was suddenly making high pitch ouchy noises, as this was when I was starting to panic and tense up. He even moo-ed with me a bit

having just had dd2 3 days ago i can say that i wouldnt have wanted instructions from dh. the mw was helpful enough & knew the right thing to do & say at each stage, especially when i wasnt pushing effectively enough.

I didn't practise breathing exercises but I found that I naturally concentrated on breathing out. I had a fast labour and was panicking towards the end but I remember thinking blow the pain away and blowing out slowly when I was at home.

I think Marjee is right, you breathe out as the pain subsides, and it's as if you're blowing the pain away...Bumperlicious, I think the majority of us don't want to be dictated to by men when we're in labour! (Congratulations by the way :) )

Thanks for all the advice.

I think I'd better start practicing, especially the breathing out bit, with DH over the next couple of weeks then - but reserve the right to tell him where to stick it when the time comes!!

And congrats Bumper - I was following your thread as it happened!!

If anyone had tried to talk to me about breathing in labour I'd have ripped their limbs off. If you're doing anything wrong (panting/ hyperventilating etc) the midwife will tell you, and she's far more likely to know what she's talking about!