Techniques for coping with labour pain please

[balena]

I have 4 weeks to go with my first baby and would like to hear about people's non-chemical techniques for coping with (or distracting themselves from) labour pain, e.g. vocalising, breathing, visualising, etc. etc. What helped you get through?

Please be sensitive that I am a first-timer and while I am aware it is unlikely to be a picnic, no scare stories please! Any positive advice and encouragement would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I'm also a first timer. I've started a hypnobirthing course that I'm finding really helpful and refreshing. It is focused on releasing endorphins (happy hormones)through relaxation, massage, meditation, calm environment etc. When endorphins are released they block the pain. It also is about 'self fulfilling prophecy' - what you expect is what happens e.g we're told it's painful so we tense up and visualise horrors whereas when we relax our bodies are equipped and able to cope!

Obviously, I haven't had my baby yet but I'm now looking forward to my birth and my husband came to these meetings too, he was initially against a home birth - after one meeting he changed his mind and is now totally supportive and now knows his main role is to keep me calm and focused.

Don't watch 'One born every minute' or listen to other peoples horror stories.

Hope this is encouraging for you.

Three things helped: breathing in a very controlled way (use Braxton Hicks to practise this), using a TENS (not sure how much it actually did help because obviously I didn't take it off to find out!) and the main thing was power-walking round the house, pausing to lean when the contractions really hit. I have no doubt the latter sped things up a lot.

I did most of my labouring at home for dc1 and was so calm when going to hospital they didn't believe I was in advanced labour!

get a birth partner and teach them some breathing exercises for during the birth. they then breath with you during each contraction - 3 different types of breathing for the start, the 'peak' and the end of the contraction - panting with mouth o shaped, then 'hee hee' type breathing for the peak, then open mouthed panting for the end of the contraction. Having someone to breath with you will focus and calm you
visualisation is good for the early stages especially as well
when you feel you can't cope any more, it's probably transition - so remember to look out for that feeling and see it as a sign that there's not much longer to go

A doula!

TENS and walking around, as above, when contractions come just grab hold of door post or similar.

TENS worked great up until the point of baby coming out, then it just got really annoying and I had to have it off, but by then it doesn't matter coz baby is nearly there...

I don't really know how to explain what I mean, but I'll try:
Just go with the pain, don't fight it, let it kind of roll over you - it won't last, it's there to do a job and the contraction you've just had will never ever come back .

I found I had to really concentrate on each contraction and humming helped .

I found TENS helpful up to a point, then it just irritated me.

Water is wonderful to labour in, really really good painrelief - problem is, pain kicks in big time when/if you get out (I haver never actually delivered in water - one of my v few regrets).

FWIF, I have 4 DS: 1 induction over dates with epidural (was phantastic!), 1 emCS (was scary as I was worried for DS2, but not a bad experience in itself), and 2 VB with Gas+Air - great stuff !

Transition is truly weird and makes you say insane stuff ("I cannot do this anymore, I want to go home, I'll come back tomorrow, I promise" ), but it means that you are almost there.

The 'urge to push' is no urge, it is a frigging imperative; you have no choice: you don't push, your body does and you have no choice but to go with it. I totally understand now why babies get born in the back of taxies (my last 2 labours were v fast).

Yes, labour is sore, but it also exhilarating and by far the single most exciting thing I have done.

Good luck to you all .

Pethidine!

Counting as you breathe - count to four as your breathe in. Count to SIX as you breathe out, and really really concentrate on that out breath. Really helps with the contractions.
I used it for both mine, and told a couple of friends about it who've since come back and said it was the best piece of advice they had.
Seems to focus me on breathing rather than the pain.
Good luck!

If you can keep walking around especially during contractions. And as already said try to accept the pain and take it.
I did laps round the hospital car park with DC2 as it was evening and noone there.
Keep taking cleansing breaths and try not to tense.
If you have to be in bed for whatever reason then get you birth partner to time how long a contraction lasts, then count aloud during it so you know when its getting to its peak and when it will start to ease off.
I also found dia morphine quite good for when your really knackered and need a break!!!
Good luck!

I've just had my second, and I promise you I am a complete wimp. I found it helped to have thought what I would prefer to do on my birth plan, but to be open to anything. I knew that I wanted to labour in water, but was open to the idea of having an epidural, if I felt I needed one, so there was always that to fall back on if I needed too. Pschologically that was a big boost.
I had done alot of research, because I'm the kind of person that needs to feel informed and therefore knew I wanted to be as active as possible to help things along, so I stayed at home as long as possible, watching crap on TV and moving round. During this phase I had a TENS machine and used breathing during the contractions. It was fine, perfectly manageable. I got to 8cms and, as mentioned I am a wimp of immense proportions.
At hospital I continued using TENS and breathing, until I got into the pool, and the pool was ace. I kept upright (on kenees) and breathing during contractions and that was all I needed.
Unfortunately I had to get out to deliver, but by then it was almost over, so fine.
I did have a crack at the gas and air, but it made me feel sick, but I'd def give it a try and see if I was you.
Good luck.

As everyone else has said, unless told not to for proper medical reasons, keep moving. Counting is good too. My dad, don't ask, gave me a lovely back rub in the early stages. Even though mine was a prem birth i was still allowed to move and when in established labour stand leaning. Just think gravity

Good luck

I'd planned to keep active during labour the first time around, but found that I coped with the pain better by sitting and focusing on my breathing. I felt the contractions in my back, so sitting forward felt best. On the labour ward, I spent most of my labour sitting on a birth ball leaning forward onto the bed and breathing with gas and air. DH pressed his thumbs into my back too, which helped a lot.

Another advocate for breathing - sounds really basic but it gives you something to focus on. And as others have said try not to fight it but accept the pain and relax your body. It might sound impossible but tensing up makes the pain worse. During my first labour the midwife kept reminding me to relax my shoulders. It really did make a lot of difference.

With my second labour I tried to relax my body completely during each contraction whilst repeating in my head "it's not so bad" over and over and it really wasn't. Good luck

Wathcing with interest...

How do you use gas and air properly?

There are some good breathing/visualising techniques in the Marie Mongan hypnobirthing book. I didn't do the course but the one that worked best for me is visualising blowing up balloons, each one a different colour of the rainbow.

Also Juju Sundin's Birth Skills book is excellent (it's an entire book of the techniques you're asking for!)

Unfortunately the induction drugs hyperstimulated me and with no breaks between contractions I only managed to successfully practice these techniques for a short period before I lost the plot. But that was due to medical complication and lots of people swear by them.

Keep active - but I'm not talking power walking (unless of course that works for you!) Sit and bounce or do hip circles on a ball. Get down on all fours, or have your knees on the floor and your arms and shoulders on the sofa so the sofa takes some of your weight. If you need to lay down and rest for a while, lay on your left side.

Let the contractions roll over you, accept them because that is what has to happen whether you like it or not. Relax your face and blow out through your mouth with your lips soft. Go with them, don't fight them.

If you are starting to feel out of control tell your partner and MW how you are feeling and ask them to help you get back in control of what is happening.

Good luck

The pain relief of water is immense, don't underestimate it. You can labour but not birth in water if you don't feel a waterbirth is for you.

Tens, and water - the pain relieving effect of getting in the bath was honestly absolutely incredible - i laboured at home and we're in a flat so couldn't have a pool (too many lbs per square inch and I really didn't fancy ending up in the flat below!) so I got in the bath for a rest every now and again. DH and the doula put loads of towels in the bath to pad it and support me, DH poured water over any exposed bits and covered me with warm wet towels. I was amazed at how well it worked, I was having v strong contractions and whilst in the bath I could chat and smile through them!

Good luck :)

Thanks for the advice everybody!

WATER NICE guidelines say that water is the most effective form of pain relief second only to an epidural!

Not only does it relax you and help to release endorphines but it takes the weight off you so that you are able to manouver into postions that are more comfortable and beneficial to birthing your baby.

And it's drug free.

I'm due to give birth next week and I shall be using TENS, Entonox and a birthing pool. Hopefully that will get me through it! Good luck to you balena!

Warm water, stay active when not in the pool, extreme back massage for any back labour (DH's thumbs were sprained for a week and left bruises on my back...) and don't lie on your back during a contraction.

The same contractions which are perfectly manageable when stomping up the stairs or on all fours in a pool are absolutely agonising if you're lying on your back.

totally agree with togarama. The two main things that helped me were having a bath and my partner massaging the small of my back. They were absolute lifesavers!

I learned breathing techniques at pre-natal yoga.

Fortunately/unfortunately I had a cluster headache episode at about 30 weeks for which I couldn't take any effective pain medication so I got to put the breathing techniques into practice early. (Some sufferers say their cluster headache hurts more than childbirth, I wouldn't go that far but it does really hurt.)

Anyway, by the time I was in labour I was quite a pro. The MWs were very impressed. I would highly recommend it. It helps to keep you calm too - as does humming.

I also planned to use a bath/birthing pool but when I got in the bath I hated it. It really wasn't for me, which was very disappointing.

I second keep moving, hip circles on a ball or leaning against the wall with your head resting on your hands. Laying down was the worst. And don't watch OBEM. I wouldn't watch it if I was pregnant.

All the best with the rest of your pregnancy and birth.

Tens worked well for me.

I did a lot of deep, slow breathing (longer breaths out than in) and I had something to focus on. I used something different each time (mostly as I was contracting for 3 days and I would have got bored if I used the same thing. I decided on the thing I would think about next inbetween contractions.
Sometimes I focussed on the "happy place" I had made in hypnotherapy sessions (a beach), but I would focus on particular things, like how the water would feel lapping at my feet, the warmth of the sun etc, concentrating really hard on one thing. Sometime I used positive phrases (My NCT teacher gave us a list and DH prompted me when I needed one) and sometimes I focussed on something I was looking forward to, like smelling the baby's head, his tiny feet, taking him for walks in the summer. It takes an immense amount of concentration to hold the positive ideas through the contractions, and if you aren't used to meditation and the like, you need to practice regularly first, until you can focus on one idea, phrase or train of thought without distraction.