Battery candles/fairy lights

[Stargazer87]

I'm doing a hypnobirthing course and they recommend taking battery operated candles/fairy lights to create a relaxing environment for labour...do people actually do this? Worried it might look a bit over the top to start decorating the room! 🙈

Oh good grief, doesn’t the poor midwife have see what is going on?

I am doing a hypnobirthing class too ( PBC) and I found out yesterday that I have to give birth in the hospital instead of my birthing centre . I asked my midwife yesterday about that exactly . She seemed on board with hypnobirthing and was all for it . I have no idea if the midwife on the day will be 😂! I have decided not to give a fu@ck and labour how I want . I don’t know if I’ll bother with fairy lights but I’ll definitely be getting battery operated tea candles , turning off the lights , using a room spay and playing spa music !

@BillywilliamV not for the entire labour ! With my first birth I was only checked every 4 hours . My midwife was there the entire time and made notes in the corner . I had the lights off although I never asked for it ( she must have done it herself ). It’s common to labour in a dark room at home and birthing centres .

I think midwifes are used to this sort of thing by now, they are familiar with hypnobirthing methods. Midwife led units are generally designed to create a relaxing atmosphere with dimmable lighting with this sort of thing in mind.

I’ve done the online course from the positive birth company which is based around hypnobirthing and I think a lot of what they say about atmosphere makes sense. On their Facebook page you can see plenty of others who have done the course that have done just this.

I’m a FTM and I’ve just received my led tea lights yesterday ready to pack in my hospital bag. Quite frankly, I don’t care what they may think, I’m the one giving birth and I want to be as relaxed as possible.

I had a completely unplanned water birth and the hospital had all sorts of battery candles going in the room, it created a lovely environment.

We had to ask for the whale music to be switched off though as that drove me nuts.

My approach to birthing was “there is a baby in there, please get it out as fast as possible, with the minimum inconvenience to myself!” First birth was delightful and calm after I had an epidural, second birth was bit of a nightmare because no one could give me one until it was too late.
Horses for courses I suppose!

@BillywilliamV

Oh good grief, doesn’t the poor midwife have see what is going on?

Dim lighting is recommended for giving birth. My hospital provide lights and actively encourage it. My midwife told me to pack some of my own as well. Low light levels are said to help you produce oxytocin.

Honestly? You won’t give a shit when you’re in labour...

I had a hypnobirth too and I just had dimmed lights for the relaxing atmosphere. I just had it in my birth plan to turn the lights down as much as possible and you'd be surprised as to how dark / dim they were happy to make it! No need for fairy lights etc in my case and also as I arrived already 5cm dilated it really was the last thing on my mind! Good luck

@Bluntness100 that depends on the person . Atmosphere made a huge difference for my labour . I felt so much life relaxed 😌

I agree, I think atmosphere makes a massive difference! I just didn't know whether it's now the norm to bring candles etc or if I might look like a bit of a diva! 🤣

@Bluntness100

Honestly? You won’t give a shit when you’re in labour...

Speak for yourself.

Maybe I'll just get a pack of the battery operated tea lights so I've got them but they won't take up lots of room in my bag!

I was on MLU and they had dim coloured lighting. Husband asked me what colour I wanted, and I told him that I didn't give a f*CK about the lights 😂 he chose blue, it was nice and dim though, I just didn't want to choose between, pink, green, orange etc whe I was having contractions

Yeah it might be that when the time comes I couldn't care less about LED candles! 🤣It does sound nice though, I'm a big fan of candles for creating a relaxing environment!

I work on labour ward and have seen this a few times. It's quite nice. Depends on a)the time of day you give birth and b)the setup at your hospital though - at the one where I work most of the labour rooms don't have windows so you can dim the lights and use tea lights etc; but the one where I gave birth myself had windows and no blackout blinds so tealights would have been useless in the day time. I laboured both times in natural daylight and was quite happy with that, but others find the ambience more important.

We used the LED tea lights and every midwife and doctor that came in commented how nice it was. And that was a very medicalised birth with a lot of people coming in and out and monitoring. Helped me to feel more relaxed too. Really recommend!!

You’re midwife will be glad that you’ve researched birth, and know about the effectiveness of a calming ambiance.
They may need the lights on for certain checks, but I’d 100% recommend you pack them xx

Your* grr annoying typo

Thanks all, will definitely be adding some to my hospital bag!

My midwife led unit has dimmable lights etc in all the rooms anyway. Might be worth checking?