How to prepare the body for vaginal labour..?

[ChicaMomma]

Happy Friday ladies

I'm living in a world of a LOT ladies who have all suffered the same fate in labour- horrid labour that ended up with an emergency section after 10+ hours of 'not progressing'. Like 50% of my friends have ended up in this situation.

I'm really determined to have a 'good labour' if at all possible.

Im trying to give my body any chance it possibly has by helping it along during pregnancy, including:

• Walking, approx 30 mins a day
• Pelvic floor exercises thrice a day (do these even matter for labour?)
• Yoga once a week and Pilates once a week

Is there anything at all that I'm missing?
Gentle birthing?

Wow that's impressive - good luck! Don't forget the breathing but I guess you do that in yoga anyway?

I think a lot of it comes down to what happens actually in labour - so, staying upright and active, avoiding epidurals if you can, being somewhere calm and comfortable.

Some of that stuff you can control and some you can't, so it's more about giving yourself the best chance.

"I'm determined to have a good labour"

Bless

You missed the last bit of that sentence in your rush to be patronising Cote.

Thanks Cote, that's helpful.....

lilyaldrin that's exactly it- some you can control, some you cant. My yoga instructor does really drive home the point about staying active during early labour too. I'm more wondering if there's anything i can be doing during the 40 weeks.. everyone seems to say that saying fit and strong really helps during the labour process.

Sounds like you're doing everything you can. But you can't prepare for the unexpected! I ended up with a forceps/episiotomy, as baby was back to back and with each push, was coming down and then popping back up! Nothing I could have done could have made a difference frankly.

Just go with the flow :)

I agree with the staying active during labour. Nothing too strenuous, I just mooched around the house, tidying and getting sorted but always upright. Once I needed to stop for contractions, I always got into a forward leaning or kneeling position so I was still upright. I really couldn't have sat or laid down to be honest. Sounds like you are doing all you an to prepare already. Good luck!

Absolutely- and to be honest i dont mind the idea of the forceps and that- i'm sure you're bound to end up with a certain amount of intervention on your first.. it's more the situation where i end up with an EMCS..

I've heard of babies coming down and then somehow being sucked back up a little bit alright- mental.

I am a keen gardener. When I was expecting DD I couldn't bend to weed the garden (she was a summer baby) I had to squat all the time. I don't know whether that it helped, but I did have an easy labour.

I would also suggest that you go in with an open mind and expect the unexpected. A lot of disappointed women have had set ideas about what they would like to happen and wrote detailed birth plans. When they went wrong they felt that they had failed. I didn't have a birth plan and decided to go with the flow.

It sounds like you are doing all the 'right things'. You can never really plan for the unexpected and some births will inevitably end in CS etc for various reasons but I think if you can stay reasonably fit, active and try and move around as much as poss in early labour it might just help things along.
Congrats on your pregnancy!

Maybe raspberry leaf tea? (from 36 weeks onwards only) I'm not sure how much evidence there is for it but I have had it just in case it works for both my pregnancies and both births have been quick and straightforward, with very short active phases and not much/no damage down below.

Thanks Bunbaker that's interesting. The yoga teacher was saying that squats during labour really help things progress so maybe i might start doing some in the mornings or something.

i agree you need to have an open mind- and while i will have a birth plan, it wont exclude anything either- just be an 'ideal scenario' kind of thing.. if i end up with an EMCS then as long as the baby is ok that is all that matters ultimately!

lackingideas i seem to remember reading somewhere here that Evening Primrose Oil also 'ripens the cervix' for labour, so will definitely take that an raspberry leaf tea from 36 weeks for sure. Thanks!

Try reading up on natal hypnotherapy - the theory is around adrenalin having a negative impact on oxytocin which is the hormone that makes labour happen, to put it very simplistically!! So the calmer and more relaxed you can get yourself, the more chance of a quicker, "easier" labour with less intervention. I didn't go down the full hypnosis route cos my DS was 4 weeks early and I was unprepared but nevertheless remained pretty calm and felt I was in control and understood what my body was doing, and it was 8 hours start to finish with gas and air. Would really recommend having a look into it. Good luck!

The only thing I can add is trying perineal massage, it makes 'that' area nice & stretchy.
There are a few classes I went to on how to breath through/ride the pain wave of each contraction but honestly after 41 hours of labour I can safely say that went out the window.
Good luck & hope it goes well!

Thanks berberana- that sounds very like GentleBirthing??
It makes sense that the adrenalin would literally make your body seize up so best to manage it somehow rather than let it inhibit your body.

Chica it sounds like you're doing a lot but it also sounds like your group of friends might have had particularly bad luck - of mine, only one has ended in an EMCS, and that includes people who have been induced.

I haven't ever been through labour myself (37 weeks at the moment) but I've heard from quite a few people that the thing about progressing is often related to going into hospital too early as that gets the clock started as it were. So try to stay home as long as humanly possible. Oh, and eat and drink plenty when you are in labour - again, friends have said that keeping your energy up is one of the toughest things as it can go on for days and it can make you quite nauseous/vomity.

I think preparing your mind is more important than preparing your body. I did a bit of antenatal yoga and listened to a bit of hypnobirthing and walked quite a lot during pregnancy but the single biggest thing that made a difference was believing that I could do it without much intervention (first baby, ended up being 10 hours with TENS, pool and a bit of gas and air at the end). Which actually came from reading Nicole Croft's good birth companion book before I became pregnant.

I found that in labour itself all of my nice theories about remembering to be active etc went out the window and all that remained was instinct and sheer detemination to get it done on my own ie "the only way out is through"... Physically I wasn't tired at all, although my back muscles started to seize up a bit - I think physical fitness doesn't make as much of a difference as your state of mind.

A Yoni massage?

Is this your first time? you may well just get lucky. My first labour took 28 hours and only just avoided forceps; the next two were a walk in the park. I personally prefer to stay stading up all the way through and I find that helps.

The main variable is luck though, so here's wishing you some :)

I swam right up to the end of my pregnancies and think it helped.

marzi, for some reason i thought you were discouraged to eat during labour in case they need to operate?? I may have dreamt that though, admittedly. If so then it makes perfect sense to keep your energy stores up- just like you would in a marathon (if only labour was a mere 4 hours!!)

Where i must look up Nicole Crofts book, hadnt heard of that one, thanks.

First pregnancy beast, i hear it's infinitely easier on the 2nd!

mangina- had to google yoni massage - i'll definitely have one of those please!!!!!!!!!!!! have already asked OH if he'll learn how to do reflexology but yoni sounds infinitely more enjoyable :)

You might be lucky OP!

My first labour was only 4 hrs though 2 of those were spent pushing...bloody big headed DP!

Chica if you're in the UK then you shouldn't be discouraged unless you're particularly high risk so there's a strong likelihood they'll have to operate before you even get started, if that makes sense. In fact on the 'birth plan' page in my notes it actually says 'what will I bring with me (e.g. music, food and drink, birthing aids, etc)' and all the 2nd/3rd time Mums on my ante natal thread (if you haven't joined one yet, recommend you do!) have talked about which snacks they thought were good during previous labours. So if anyone tries to dissuade you from eating then, yes, tell them that if you were running a marathon you wouldn't try to do it on empty and nor will you try labour on empty! :)

i dont think you can plan anything about the way your labour will turn out, i was a perfectly healthy 21 yr old with my first but my body didnt progress as it should and i ended up having a drip which worked straight away and then i delivered naturally.

Dont stress about it, at the time you wont care anyway as you will just want your baby out no matter what has to happen, good luck