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Childbirth

What did you have (or use) to focus on during your labour?

59 replies

biglips · 23/09/2006 23:13

as i had nothing and i was flippin in serious pain (it was my first baby and i was induced after being 12 days late, had G&A throughout and Epidural couple of hours later) i remember the pain was ssoooo unbearable as im terrible for pain as i do actually go light headed in real life on pain

OR

i possibly go for "as soon i step my foot in the hossy i want Epidural"....

OP posts:

Report

2Babies0Bumps · 25/09/2006 20:37

in my mind i focused on the end of childbirth and knowing it wouldnt last forever and the baby i would get at the end.

2plus2plus1 · 25/09/2006 22:45

I chanted relax through the contratctions, with my breathing (silently of course).
Breath in through the nose (RE-)
Breath out through nose (-LAX

Ilost it towards the end. Saw a sign on the side of the bed, so started chanting BIRTH-RITE in the same way LOL!!!

kittywits · 25/09/2006 22:54

Despite having had 5 I have never liked giving birth. Some people do. I am expecting no. 6 and I am scared of the pain. My third labour was good because it was a good slow and gentle build up so that I had time to get used to things.
My last started like a gunshot, was extemely quick and very shocking, but I do remember knowing that I had to keep in control during the contactions.
For me screaming would have made the pain worse if that makes sense. I tried to breathe evenly, focus on something, let out low noises if I wanted to and try and focus on something else like a pattern or shape.
Perhaps the next baby will come out so quickly I won't even notice

kittywits · 25/09/2006 22:57

Oh yes, I also remeber being told to open my mouth slightly as this reduces tension in the body and also allows the pelvic floor to relax. It is infact extremley helpful, if your jaw is relaxed your body is relaxed to. It hepls if you've got someone there to remind you.

clairemow · 26/09/2006 18:45

If you can stop yourself screaming it does help - the doctor told me to stop screaming, he said I was wasting energy.. I tried so hard not to scream that it took my mind slightly off the pain of a baby coming out with his hand on his head... Ouch!! But as soon as he was out, the pain went totally away which was just so wonderful!

lulumama · 26/09/2006 18:50

clamping so hard on entonox mouthpiece and breathing so intensely that my lips cracked and bled and i had pain in my jaw for 3 days after DD was born....also, DH trying to pull mouthpiece off me when had to push ...i growled at him...... but then baby born and ITS SO WORTH IT!!! had eyes closed so didn't look at anything so using entonox really helped with something to 'do' and focus on!!

GreenLumpyTonsils · 26/09/2006 18:52

was about to post exactly the same as lulumama

fridascruffs · 27/09/2006 21:28

first labour: screaming. (no pain relief till eventual epidural). Had a bloody sore throat next day. Second labour: epidural ASAP. Lovely. Highly recommended! The only thing with an epidural is that you have to remember to take something with you to read or you get bored .

cardboard · 01/10/2006 18:04

Hi I have six weeks to go until I am due to have my first baby and have started having quite bad panics about the birth. Some days I can cope with the idea and others it terrifies me. i know its got to be done (clearly) and I cant wait to be a mum but I get light headed doing my bloods and cant imagine how I am going to cope with this sort of pain. Feeling quite dizzy now just thinking about it!
(terrible nickname but all the good ones were gone)

YellowFeathers · 01/10/2006 18:10

I did have a TENS and said I would battle through with G&A but as the birth turned out, my TENS bust on the big day and when I tried the G&A I thought it tasted funny so didn't bother with it.

So after pushing with a back to back baby that also went transverse and an episiotomy all I used was a flannel folded up with ice cubes in and crunched on them!

Worked just as well

ish!

squishy · 01/10/2006 18:15

I've got 4 weeks to go and having felt reasonably calm all the way through, the reality that I'm going to actually have a baby keeps coming up and biting me on the @ss!! kjaysmum, what do you mean with "serious" homeopathy? Have got some 200c arnica and some serious aromatherapy, but am planning on doing all I can to stack the odds in my favour!!!

cardboard · 01/10/2006 18:34

Did the ward supply the ice cubes? and apart from the drugs do they have any other ways of helping. I'm told its alot to do with who looks after you, but my biggest fear is being left on my own with no medical attention.

squishy · 01/10/2006 19:14

cardboard, can you take a birthing ball? Also, I've bought a vapouriser (so there's no need for naked flames) which I hope to use at home, but if not will take into hosp with me (when I do relaxation and visualisation, I burn the lavender so my body/mind associates it with being relaxed). You can also order and take your own super strength arnica which is supposed to help - I ordered following advice on here from helios.co.uk, but if you phone them, you can speak to a homeopath who I've found to be really helpful.. Although I'm hoping for a home birth, my motto is count on nothing from the hosp (apart from medication) so if there's somethign you think might help, be prepared to take it yourself.

maewest · 01/10/2006 19:35

cardboard, I'm sure you'll be fine What's on offer at the hosp depends on where you are - have you had a chance to look round the delivery suite? We did this (even tho we were planning for homebirth) and found it helped with the scared feelings. As it happened I did deliver at home, but went into hosp to get checked out beforehand (in middle of the night natch) and felt a lot calmer as I knew what to expect (am a bit hospital-phobic).

maewest · 01/10/2006 19:37

Oh, and if you do go for look round, make sure you ask any questions you need to, like how many midwives per woman etc

Piffle · 01/10/2006 19:41

I shut everything else out. Listened to my body, felt what it was trying to do, beleived that my body knew best and let it do its job. Focussed on breathing to suit the kind of pain/contractions and just felt my way through it.
Afterwards it was like waking up from a fierce dream, but I felt wonderful afterwards.

I had no drugs though and midwife who was seriously amazing

terratrio2 · 01/10/2006 19:53

hi, with all 3 of mine i used TENS, which r very good if u get them on early enough! I also did visulisation, with the horrid wall paper and counted how many diamonds there were on the wall, it worked for me an all my babies were 9lb and over!! Good luck, although at the time u won't remember any of this and u'll find ur own stratagy. All the best

MuddyMum · 01/10/2006 20:40

I listened to my body in the end. Had some thoughts about trying allsorts, but when it came to the moment, my body just took over and I went with the flow. 14 hours actually flew by and I can't remember much, except when the midwife dropped the heart monitor into the water (water birth obviously) and said "b*gr" and then the machine started squealing ( and I half anticipated an electric shock and thought "Help, not a retraction after all this".....

cardboard · 02/10/2006 12:31

Thanks everyone for the advice, I think thats it isnt it , you just have to go with it and try and stay in control. Have not had my tour of the maternity ward yet so hopefully that will make me feel better. Is there such a thing as too much information? Remember reading that ignorance is bliss with the first one!

YellowFeathers · 02/10/2006 12:58

i recommend a tour. thats why i used ice cubes because they showed us the ice cube machine
i had also put in my birth plan that i wanted things really normal, so lots of chatting, tv on etc but if you dont want to be left on your own make it known. write it in your birth plan, tell your mw on the day and tell your birth partner in case your too busy to get across your wishes

charleymouse · 03/10/2006 13:19

Hi
Patterns in the carpet for me, I sat on the loo and counted how many spots were on the carpet between the wall and the sink pedestal over and over and over and over again and again and again and again.
You kind of go "into the zone" as my DH called it where you focus on getting that baby out and just concentrate on the job in hand.
Also remembered the session with the physio who fitted my TENS machine who said SOS Sigh Out Slowly. This focuses you on breathing out all the breath rather than holding on to it and just gasping the next. This really helped.
I managed iwth 2 paracetamol and a TENS machine so it can be done. DD was 7lb 15oz.

Carpo · 03/10/2006 20:38

I'm with Piffle and Muddymum here. Maybe I was lucky but just listening to my body and believing in its ability to DO THIS was really helpful.

I saw one reference to Ina May Gaskin earlier in this thread and would definitely recommend reading some of her book (if only I could remember the name...). While it's very US biased in terms of reference to medical profession etc, her explanations of what exactly happens during labour and childbirth are really good, positive and ultimately empowering because they reaffirm the fact that we are actually pretty well designed.

Ante-natal yoga and active birth classes helped too, I think, in finding positions in which contractions were manageable. For me, all fours while breathing out hard - good. Sitting normally in the passenger seat of the car - v. v. bad. (Had to stop and get in the back to resume charming all fours position!)

Sorry, this has got really long but to summarise:
breathe out lots
try lots of different positions till you find the one that suits (water's good for this too)
remember you only have each contraction once
remember each contraction brings your baby nearer
make whatever noise helps (I think I mooed like a moose)
you can do it!

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expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 20:43

death. i focused on the fact that soon i'd either die or give birth.

Mojomummy · 03/10/2006 20:49

I went for the 'I need an epidural' but unfortunately (or fortunately ) my labour was very fast. I also thought I wouldn't be able to get one, so had prepared myself by doing NCT refresher classes, which were great.

I went straight into very strong 5mins apart contractions which were SO intense. I concentrated on my cervix opening up with each contraction & bellowing alot - which does help strangely enough. I got to hospital & was 7cm (in an hour), threw my clothes off & leaned over the bed desperately trying to slow it down so I could have an epidural. By then I was imaginging my pelvic floor muscles opening for an easy delivery - I was standing up bent over the bed. My waters burst & 2 pushes DD2 was out.

We survived & my labour was just less than 2.5 hours.

I was knocking back rescue remedy afterwards 'cos it was so quick, she was 2 weeks early & boy was I in shock !

moaningpaper · 03/10/2006 20:55

I didn't find I needed to focus on anything

1st birth was a million years of agony with failed epidurals - I was just focusing on the various staff coming into the room and begging them for help

Second I was pretty chilled out until the end and then I was praying pretty hard

Flip

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