Top tips for a drug free, natural birth?

[lizzyttc2017]

Exactly that ^^ 37+4 and would love to hear some tips in coping with pain and helping your body labour!

Thanks! :)

Breathing techniques are essential. I was taught breath in through your nose for 5, out through your mouth for 10.

Stay mobile, walk around a lot. Sway through contractions and keep upright as much as possible.

Tens machine! Heavenly.

TENS machine and staying active worked for me, but the thing that was most helpful was sheer dumb luck and a well positioned baby (and having a pelvis like the tyne tunnel).

Honestly, try and be open to any outcome assisted/epidural/waterbirth/section being no better or worse than any other. Yes, the ideal for your body and recovery might be a natural birth, but don't hold it as a moral ideal.

Agree TENS machine, build up a rapport with mw, ask for replacement if you need to. I did once!!

TENs machine, breathing techniques, staying mobile and gas and air once in hospital worked for me. I also stayed at home as long as possible so I was in my environment

I second what enjoyingscience said about being open to any outcome that allows safe delivery of the baby though. Know what your ideal is but just take it as it comes and consider all options when you are in the midst of it (I did strongly consider both drugs and epidural at one point but then decided to try that little bit longer and it got me to the end).

Water birth, gas & air, breathing teqniques - focus your mind on what your feeling, not what you expect to feel. Breathe through the pain.

Focus on lots of good deep breathing, try to stay relaxed - I kept telling myself women have been doing this for millions of years so I could do it too.
Stay at home as long as you can - I got up, had a shower, got dressed, used a hot water bottle at home from my contractions starting around 5am until going to hospital at 11am. I was 8cm dilated on admission to hospital so was too late for anything but the pool/gas&air anyway! I found being on all fours and swaying about the most comfortable.

I agree with above though, be as open minded as possible. There is no shame to having an epidural or pethidine or whatever else you may need. You just don't know how your labour will go. Take it as it comes! I think going into it without too much expectation or pressure probably helped me.

Breathing techniques really help, keeping mobile, not going to hospital to early (assuming you are having a hospital birth) Glucose sweets to suck to give you a burst of energy, when pushing. Tens machine can be helpful too. I had two natural births without any pain relief. Good luck OP.

TENS machine!

Plus, if you go for a homebirth then there's literallly fuck all else they can give you aside from gas and air. So you may want a load of drugs, but tough. I'd have happily accepted a general anaesthetic if it were available, alas, it was not.

Only half joking tho. Your body does amazing things during labour. The pain is there but it's manageable. Positive thinking is key!

I’ve had 4 natural births with no pain relief - not even gas and air.

That’s because they all came a bit too quick and our nearest hospital is an hour away. I would have taken any pain relief offered!

Try a yoga class to help with breathing techniques and try and think of happy thoughts with each contraction.

Good luck. Your body is made to do this! X

Read In a May Gaskin- you are not a lemon! Believe your body is made for this and can do it. Soak up the rests between contractions and concentrate on them. Stay active. Late on, find something to concentrate on and describe in detail in your head- a bag, a fixture, a water bottle. Oh I'm so jealous. Good luck!

I believed I could do it and my body was made for it. I read Gaskin, did hypnobirthing, booked a homebirth, stayed upright, used a pool...

Turned out my body wasn't made for it and I couldn't do it. Sure, the above stuff would have helped if my body and babies aligned but they didn't. I agree about hoping for an ideal and exploring things to help achieve that but please do consider you might not get the ideal. There's joy and positivity and choice in all options.

Good luck. You may need it with no pain relief.

My babies came too quick so couldn’t take the drugs!

To be honest I think it will depend on the longevity of your labour. If it’s 48 hours your going to want some help. Just go in with an open mind. You and your baby being safe is all that matters

Be open minded to using drugs if needs be. I think the best tip I can give about labour is to go into it with a fully open mind, and let what happens happen. So if you get to 6cm and you’re screaming for an epidural you never feel like you’ve failed. No plan is a good plan with babies because they never read the bloody things anyway!

I went in with an open mind, prepared to ask for pain relief if I felt I couldn't cope. I used hypnobirthing techniques from start to finish which kept me calm and gave me a better feeling of control. Hope you do get the birth you wanted :)

1- Be grateful for gas and air - giving birth in Germany there was none available, i had to manage an induced labour with sheer willpower (didn’t want an epidural).
2- know that there is a stage where things feel unbearable, and you are really out of it - this is possibly Transition, and means you are progressing with the birth. If no one knows that it is Transition (not even midwives, who just put you on a drip and lead you off the birth ball and rebozo and force you to lie to the bed (its easier for them to monitor you) then interventions can lead to the birth slowing/you begging for an epidural or caesarean (I was close to begging for it to end but by then fully dilated thankfully). Second time round I also want to avoid a “cascade of interventions”.

Oh, I didn’t want an epidural/caesarean because I hate needles and catheters, so I actively chose not to have one. Would do so again provided all other factors allowed this again.

Hypno birthing visualisation
Supportive birth partner
Birth plan and a midwife you trust
Meditation
Positive thinking
Avoiding horror stories and 1 born every min

Water birth.
I can’t convey how much better it is to give birth in a pool!

Ive had natural births, and honestly, I think its more luck that anything.

I stayed active, walking around until 8/9cm dilated, was on all fours even when the midwives demanded I be on my back, and concentrating on breathing helped.

However I think the main thing is the shape of your pelvis and position of the baby. If you need pain relief, thats fine, and once youre cuddling your newborn it really doesnt matter.

Good luck, and feel free to update with pics to make us all broody!

I found breathing and 'welcoming' each contraction was helpful. I wasn't going to fight it, I would relax and let it happen.

Tell your midwife you want to do as much at home as possible, the midwife calls an ambulance as my water contains meconium (spelling) paramedic turns up in a car and is sent away, another ambulance is called, turns up, half hour to the hospital (I live in the sticks), I askthe midwife for drugs, she tells me it too late, dd arrives 5 mins after arriving at the hospital 1 job done

Breathing. Stay active and don't panic with the pain. Get a birthing pool if you can. Try hypnobirthing

Try not to plan too far ahead. Just go with the flow.

Breathing! Try hypnobirthing- it's really not as arty farty and stupid as people think! Ive had 4 drug free births and what's helped each time is breathing techniques, moving constantly and visualising. Each contraction I shut my eyes and try to visualise being someone else. Also with each breath I like to remind myself how many women have done this before me and how many will do it after, reminding myself how natural the process is seems to help me cope with the pain better.

Births don't always go how you intend them too and if your birth ends up needing medical intervention, don't try to refuse it on the grounds you want things 'natural'. Ive been lucky to have 4 textbook easy births which have made having them drug free possible but if things had of been harder or more complicated, I wouldn't have refused