Does "breathing" through contractions really help???

[Paranoid1stTimer]

Never done the birth thing before and am just wondering if breathing through the contractions helps or if this is all just a ploy to keep your mind off things and to concentrate on something other than the pain?

I understand the technicalities of oxygenating your blood supply and how this helps muscles relax and the baby and all that but I have never been one of these people who can just relax when you are really freezing out in the snow because "if you tense up you will just feel colder"

I am a stubborn b!tch sometimes so am worried about not being able to calm myself down when the actual labour part starts...

THanks for any feedback xxx

wobbegong, thats what i did!!! It totally helped - each contraction had a rhythm, - it would peak at a certain number, then gradually ease off. It did actually help me "go into myself". I know this because I am a hypnotherapist (i studied after i had my babies), and the experience of going into trance is very similar to what happened when i was counting through my contractions.

The best thing you can do is to go into yourself, and just get on with it. Stuff everyone else, what time is it, how long they think you'll be, just go with the here and now.

I was 6 cm before they noticed I was in labour (had been admitted to antenatal ward as waters had broken at 35 weeks, and in the bit between asking whether I should tell them if I felt contractions, and someone coming in to give me ABs I sort of lost track of time), and just had gas and air. And my back rubbed. Couldn't have water birth or very active labour due to continous monitoring.

I did moo and sway though. When DH wants a laugh, he still moos at me now ! Fortunatly my doula would have thumped him if he'd tried that during labour

I had two 'difficult and long' labours, both ending in emergency C sec, and for first birth breathing didn't help one bit (neither did G&A) because I had a high fever and other problems such as a blader infection and the baby was 'back to back'. so Epidural was 'the only' way to go. With second labour, none of these problems happened (had a slight fever) and breathing REALLY helped. What I did was when a contraction was starting, I would breath in through the nose as slowly as I could (this did become fast with the pain) and breath out through the mouth like blowing candles. My husband was massaging my lower back. I spent most of the time on my knees or on my side. G&A did help with second labour. I ended up with aseciton anyway!!!

What I'm grying to say is that sometimes, because of circumstances that have nothing to do with your preparation or your readiness or your nerves or hypnostuff or whatever, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

BPxx

Definitely helped me.

1st time around I had no idea, I laboured for a long time and just didnt understand how to control my breathing. That said, I did get it when the baby was crowning - the midwife somehow managed to convey the message - breath or you'll tear, so I panted my way through the crowning and delivery.

2nd and 3rd time round I learned the technique of blowing away the pain. Basically I inhaled deeply at the beginning of each contraction and then throughout the contraction blew out in a staccato type way.

Worked brilliantly and also helped to maximise the G&A from 8cms to transition. No G&A during transition or delivery - it was more irritating than helpful by that stage.

Good luck

Message withdrawn

Definitely. Without a doubt the best thing I learned at antenatal classes

I think the beathing technique kept me on track. I got my DH to time how long each contraction lasted. Then i then took deep breaths in and for every second I counted as i breathed out. This way i knew when the end of a contraction would be (approx). I sounded mad, but it passed the time, and i felt I was in control of the rests between contractions or at least I had a pattern to what was happening. The deep breathing i has practised before, but the counting was spontaneous - my midwife thought i had been training!

The concentration was trance like and helped with pain relief, i also used ten machine and gas and air.

I think breathing through contractions is actually really important. The key is to stay relaxed. If you get tense, it hurts more. Breathing slowly and as calmly as you can during contractions helps you stay more relaxed. It's really, really tough to stay relaxed during a contraction, but the breathing does help. I didn't learn any (missed ante-natal classes altogether) but just breathed, as I say, slowly and deeply and calmly for the duration of each one. And I got through it sans pain relief.

Focusing on breathing definitely gives you something to concentrate on. I breathed and counted to 10 - sometimes in my head, sometimes out loud - and naturally went into some weird kind of internal trance thing. Sounds weird, but it kept me sane!

It's a ploy to keep your mind off the pain and to stop you having a panic attack. I breathed "in 2 3 4 out 2 3 4" and that worked well for me.

Did hypnobirthing and whilst I couldn't get into my lovely mental "place" I was supposed to give birth in, the breathing was fantastic.

4/8 breathing between contractions. In for 4 out for 8 to keep calm. Longer breath out relaxes you.

20/20 during contractions. In for 20 (it can be a fast count!) and out for 20.

"J" breathing to breathe the baby out. Deep breath in, then breathe out hard imagining the breath is making a J shape down to your pelvis and the end of the J curling out at your pelvis. Supposed to relax the muscles in the right order.

Worked a treat. No pain relief other than the pool needed and no tearing or stitches.

The best bit of advice i was ever given was by my first midwife who said whatever you do don't clench your fists really tight as this will make the rest of you tense. I have had four children and remembered this for each labour. Convinced it helped.

For me personally, all I can say is SOD the breathing techniques. I am glad I NEVER attended ONE class before I gave birth, as had I learnt any breathing techniques I would never have used them. I was in such agony that I could not concentrate on how I was breathing, at all (even when I knew the basics about breathing techniques from having read books )!

The pain was so overwhelming that it did not matter what anyone (including the midwife present ) said to me. I just spent the time screaming for pain relief and telling the midwife that another contraction was on its way.

My labour was pain beyond description, but all women have different labours - some less painful, I have heard.

But then that is just me and my character - I knew that from my character and how I am, that breathing techniques would never have been the right thing for ME, and I was right.

I just did not prepare myself for the birth at all and I sailed through - it lasted 5 hours with me.

Yes i agree, all very different experiences but mine did fall into the very easy, less painful band, sorry girls!! I think if you feel you need pain relief then you should have it, i had gas and air with all mine for about the last 1/2hrs and my last labour only 2.5hrs so i only needed it for about 30mins. But i also think the key is not to fight contractions, go with the flow (i know it's easy said) and try some music, and i hear that tens machines very good. I found sitting in a bath for the most part very good, most of my pain in my back!! I knew i didn't want pethidine or epidural from the off!!, i am very strong willed and stubborn and once i've set my mind to something thats it. Although my 1st baby 8.5hrs labour i still managed with gas and air and my own threshold!! I think you know what your own limits are so i wouldn't rule anything out and keep an open mind...Above all don't hold your breath in an effort to stop the pain..doesn't work and you need to keep breathing, so you have enough energy to push baby out!! Don't worry it's not as bad as it sounds and good luck..i didn't have a birth plan either!! Your body tells you what do to and when!!

Another vote for the breathing, also recommend the hypnobirthing, not for the hypnosis, but found the breathing really useful, and used it with the gas and air which you have to control yourself. If you have trouble relaxing then having something to concentrate on really helps. Also fiddling with tens machine gives you something to do. Had both of mine just with the breathing tens and gas and air. Choose a breathing techinique you can believe in and practice so it is second nature when it all happens. Found relaxation breathing helped when I couldn't sleep when I was pregnant too....
Hope is all goes well whatever you decide to do.

helped me through 24+ hours where they wouldn't let me come into hospital.

I still use the breathing technique nw when having things done like coil fitting, dentist, peircings etc, makes it all quite nice!

I didn't use (or learn) any 'techniques': when giving birth, hopefully your instincts take over and it all comes naturally. I can see from the other posts though that breathing techniques have helped others. I felt that being able to move around freely was the most important thing.

I used the breathing and rocking/ stamping techniques I had read about and learnt in my NCT classes. These worked a treat as I did not have to use any interventions until transition (about 30/40 mins before birth itself) and then only gas and air. May I recommend signing up to the active birth centre newsletters or just view their website. www.activebirthcentre.com/

Good luck with the birth and do not worry if you have missed a few classes - you should be able to get the information in written form from your class teacher and they should still offer you any advice you need.

Moo'ing - I thought I was the only one!!
Breathing definitely helped me. Birthing pool labour was brilliant, really helped me to relax and G&A was good although I had to ask for a mask as I couldn't get on with the mouth piece - it seemed to contradict the way I'd practised to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth.

I found myself kind of singing - well, one tone at a time with the out breath of each contraction. Bloody marvellous. Midwife not so impressed - shoved G&A at me to shut me up.

i was in so much pain and was so hot (the delivery room was like a sauna) I could hardly breath so no didn't help me!

Another vote for breathing through here!!
I used a tens machine but needed some "help" - at 10cm with a lip of cervix still there. Wanted to push but couldnt.
So whilst one midwife "firtled" with me another got right in my face and breathed through contractions with me to stop me pushing. Never had such an amazingly intense experience, couldnt have done it without her!!
The breathing worked absolutely.

I had my first baby at home 30 years ago when NCT taught "the breathing". It really worked for me and I used no other pain relief. I went on to be an antenatal teacher and learned that what worked for me didn't work for everyone.
I have now trained as a hypnotherapist and I realise that what I had learned was a form of self hypnosis. I am not trained in the Hypnobirth school (very expensive) but I would like to offer my skills and experience to help mums in my area. Not only with birth but with general de-stressing, confidence building, getting back a sense of self after birth, combatting depression, you name it. Not sure how to go about this. Any suggestions?

It certainly helped me. I counted the breaths on each contraction, so when the next contraction came, I could tell when I was nearly halfway through it - because I'd got to half the number of breaths from the previous contraction. As others have said, this gave me some sense of control over the whole thing.

I did find that gas and air helped a lot too - and I could still count the breaths (though sometimes I got a little woozy and lost count ).

It helped me, I felt out of control if I forgot to breath through them.