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?

I too did pre natal yoga. Was desperate for a natural birth, learned how all the hormones work, the controlled breathing etc. well yes I had a natural birth but god I was overwhelmed with the pain and too far gone by that point to have pain relief except gas.

Not sure if the yoga helped or not. I tried all the visualisation stuff etc but it was sooo painful.. To be fair it was a fast and furious birth so may not be that way for you.

My advice is all the stuff you are doing is good prep but keep an open mind!

you must be right marzi- the girl who told me about the 'no eating' rule was high risk (pre eclampsia) so that makes sense.. (and in the end she had a reasonably ok labour)

She said she had a bite of a peach when her midwives back was turned.. which then came back up anyway. I have a great appetite so will eat throughout if that's the case!

I was advised by my MW to try perrineal massage.

You basically use oil to massage your perineum three times a week from 30 weeks (?) to soften it which lessens the likelyhood of tearing.

I have no ideas if this works though as after all my hard work DS' cord was strangling him. FWIW bad labours are mentioned far more than good ones so don't panic.

Congratulations

Definitely try to eat, drink and rest as much as possible, especially in early labour - even if it's just sipping on lucozade. My first labout was really long (30 hours) and I just didn't feel like eating or drinking and refused everything which really didn't help my exhaustion levels (and I think contributed to needing an epidural = being kept on my back = not feeling contractions = needing forceps etc).