Best giving birth tip?

[NewMum26]

So I'm 39 Weeks first time mum and been thinking ALOT about having to give birth soon 😱
Just wondered what your top tips for anyone giving birth for the first time were? 😊

Labour doesn't last forever, it may feel like it but it's only a very very short part of life.

Be open minded, don't have a birth 'plan' have a 'guide', follow what the experts say and go with the flow, be amenable to change.

It's thirsty work.

Stay at home as long as you can manage.
Eat, drink, wee & rest lots.
Also look up latent stage of labour and what to expect.
First babies can take time.

Take the drugs ha
I was induced and got 6 hours in and decided to have the epidural, made everything easier - pushing was the hardest physical thing ever done (to be totally fair I'm not exactly a marathon runner!) and cannot imagine doing it with the pain on top.
And also try remember what happens after - I don't remember hardly anything of first 12 hours of babies life, was on a different planet!

Cartons of juice to sip in labour for your hospital bag. It's impossible to drink from a glass but you will need the hydration

Walk as much as you can, walk through the contractions. Its what I did and worked for me but more importantly do whatever you feel comfortable doing.

Distract yourself as much as possible.

Go in when you want pain relief - their measure of 3 in 10 etc is only ever going to happen for a certain % of women

Believe you can do it! Remember each contraction is a step closer to meeting your baby.

Don't expect it to go how you think xxx.

Make sure your birth partner knows what you want, and knows to stand up for you and your preferences when you're too exhausted or out of it to speak up if the midwives are ignoring your birth plan.

Ask for the epidural as soon as you think you want one, it can take ages sometimes for the anaesthetist to get to you.

Drink a lot of liquid.

That was my three top tips, I'll stop now

If you want to avoid having pain relief, stay at home and active for as long as possible. Lots of walking like a pp said plus bouncing on a ball helped me get through most of it. Think of the contractions as 'good' pain and each one gets you that much closer to meeting your baby.

If you want pain relief - there's nothing wrong with that, it's there for a reason! Have a birth plan written but just go with how you feel on the day

Good luck :)

I second staying at home as long as you can. But also there is nothing wrong in going in to get checked out. The worse that will happen is that they will send you home for not being dilated enough

You can do ANYTHING for 90 seconds.
My standing up births have been much easier and quicker.

Sit on the loo till the last minute and just breathe, even when thoughts if I can't do this creep in just concentrate on breathing!

The position of sitting on toilet is important, this has worked for me 4 times and longest labour was 45 minutes from waking to having baby

Eat lots and lots of fruit in the 24 hours after giving birth. It will make your first post-labour poo much less scary!

I know now why I had such an awful birth, it was becasue I was terrified, the midwives were horrible (this was the 1980's), all the lights were on and incredibly bright and I was in a white tiled room on my back on a hard couch.
Being very young and absolutely petrified slowed the whole thing down and made it 10 times as hard physically.
i think it's essential to be in a calm relaxing place, being able to move around during the whole birth with somebody very calm whom you can trust and maybe the lights dimmed a little. Some nice music would help too.
I think my labour would have been so much nicer if I'd had those things.

Breathe...

It's surprising how many people forget and hold their breath. This does not help at all!

If you have to be induced and go on the drip definitely get an epidural!!

I would recommend listening to your midwife, they know what they are doing ! Also, keep telling yourself that your body was made to do this !keeping calm also helps loads !

Take the drugs.

Walk.

It will end.

Take food, water, and a towel with you - then you're sorted for the hot postnatal ward as you can tie the towel to the bed and soak it in water to cool down.

If you have relevant medical history or allergies etc, put it on one sheet of paper so any new staff can see it before they get round to reading your notes. I had lots of stuff they needed to know, did a 1-page fact sheet, and the MWs gave it to any incoming consultants saying "this is what you need to know ".

Try to relax and and go with the flow, and find out about hospital parking in advance!

Count through your contractions - it gives you something to concentrate on, and you know from the last one when the pain will start to tail off, so how much more you have to get through, iyswim.

Oh yeah, relax - it will hurt more if you are tense. Tell your dp to remind you to relax in case you seem like you've forgotten!

Another take the drugs here.
Try relax into the contractions as much as possible. Let them do what they need to do instead of fighting them.

Stay at home as long as possible.

Organise help for when you come home after the birth. Even just having someone make you a cup of tea and hold the baby whilst you take a shower will make a huge difference.