Is there anything we can do to prepare for labour?

[MrsC2010]

I guess I mean, do things like 'hypnobirthing' techniques work?

I'm about 18 wks at the moment, so am thinking quite along way ahead!

Obviously I'd like to be as prepared as possible for the birth, be relaxed, ahve the best possible shot at the best labour/birth I can manage!

I'm hoping there are a few on here who ahve been through this before that can advise me, you hear so many bits of advice from different places but it is hard without real experiences.

I'm very excited to be pregnant and can't wait till LO makes an appearance, but I'm still a little nervous.

Any advice gratefully appreciated!

Hi Mrs C,
Congratulations on your pregnancy! It's such and exciting time.

I think it's important to read books which cite positive birth experiences as you hear so much about what can go wrong.

People on here seem to recommend Ina May Gaskin and Sheila Kitzinger (have I got that right? Pregnancy brain kicking in now!)

The best advice I received prior to my first labour came from Mumsnet. Basically, remember to breathe - blow out during contractions steadily as if blowing out a row of candles. Also very important is to welcome the pain. The pain is what will get the baby out. If you tense up and fight it, your body will produce adrenalin, which will slow the labour. Oh, and try to stay in an upright position if at all possible.

This advice really helped me and I attribute it to my first labour being only 5.5 hrs long. I felt generally in control of what was going on (until the midwife cut into a blood vessel giving me an episiostomy).

I'm now 37wks with dc2 and am trawling Mumsnet for further gems of wisdom (hoping to avoid cuts & tears this time).

Good luck, you've definitely got the right idea thinking ahead of time.

I went to a Hypnobirthing meeting last night and have decided to sign up and do the course - this will be my second labour and I'm very keen for it to be a lot more relaxed than the first! The dvds they showed us of women in active labour who were so calm and actually seemed to be enjoying their labour were amazing - totally unlike my DS's birth, where (although it was only 13 hours) I was in agony for most of it, hated everybody and just wanted to leave!

I did NCT classes first time round and while they stressed that being relaxed in labour was the best way to manage pain, they didn't actually give us any real idea about how to do this! The hypnobirthing seems a lot more practical, and gives you actual techniques on how to manage the pain, how to breathe, and really how to approach the birth without fear - when you're frightened you tense up which is a major contributing factor to how much pain you feel.

I think that you can just buy hypnobirthing CDs to listen to but I prefer to do the course and be shown how to do it properly. Also, spending all that money will hopefully be an incentive to actually practise...

BTW - if you do a search for hypnobirthing on here there is loads more info and stories from people who've actually experienced it - that's what made me want to find out more.

the best thing i did was have a waterbirth with DD

both times i stayed at home as long as i could stand it (first time i got to hospital was 3 cm dilated, second time 4 cm dilated)

had very good, supportive birth partners who knew what i wanted and so could support my choices

the first time, i tore and having stitches was a big shock - actually worse, for me than giving birth ...

ultimately believe you can do it ... sounds hippy but you can!

Remember that a lot of it is down to luck so if it doesn't go 'well' do not feel like it is your fault.

My obstetric physio gave me the best advice. Breath out for longer than you breath in (gets rid of more CO2, allegedly) and keep your hands unclenched. These simple things really helped me. You could also try to see a physio/osteo/chiro who specialises in pelvic issues in women. I had bad PGP first time and have it agian this time (25 wks atm) but luckily my physio specialises in pelvic pain during pg and last time I gave birth my lower back was in good order for giving birth. Mw said this defintely made a difference as my pelvis was able to open up, etc.

Good luck. Normal to be nervous!

Oh, yes and I stayed home as long as I could stand it. Much more relaxing than being in a hospital room with mw drifting in and out.

(Tbh, I'd actually go in sooner this time for the gas and air as I was beginning to lose it and ds was on his way down when I arrived last time.)

Hypnobirthing was great for me.
Hope this doesn't make you nervous but I ended up having a very long, back to back labour. However, the hypnobirthing gave me the confidence that I could cope.
It was a planned homebirth, ended up transferring to hospital but only because I was so tired.
I think it turned out the best it could have in that situation (first baby, bad position, slow progress) because had I been in hospital from the start I would have been in line for a CS by day 2.
I found it also gave me the confidence to decline an episiotomy and I just knew my body could do it, even though the hospital midwife was doubtful.
In all, I found it to be an excellent preparation for birth. Our course was run by a midwife so we got an really detailed description of what happens in labour.
Even if you are sure you will want an epidural, it is a good idea to have some coping techniques ready to get you to the point where you can have one.
You don't have to pay for the hypnobirthing course (about £250 when I did it), I think you can get CDs etc nowadays. I would definately do some reading up though and practise LOADS! If you start practising your breathing with your Braxton-Hicks, by the time laboutr comes you won't even have to think about it- it's definately what got me through.
Sorry it's a bit long winded. Good luck.

I'm going to have a look at hypnobirthing this time. I did a DIY version of it last time, mentally going to a nice place I had carefully constructed over the preceding months during each contraction. I was careful to include each sense - sight, sound, smell, touch and taste - so that I could totally immerse myself in it. I practiced it through every time someone had to stick a needle in me in my pregancy, and as I was Rhesus negative, and the hospital kept losing my blood samples, I had a lot of needles in me!

It has stayed with me, too. When I was kicked by a horse in Sept last year and needed a lot of stitches deep in my knee under local anaesthetic, I went back to my nice place. The nurse assisting the doctor told my husband she was very impressed by my sitting there calmly as she was poking a tube into my open knee to flush it clean before the doctor could anaesthetise it.

I have no idea if my own version is better than one of the hypobirthing packages, but I feel it is worth having a look, in case it is!

The other thing, I cannot recommend enough having someone such as a doula with you. OH had thought he would be everything I would need, but he was a bit lost, and a doula would have been fab. I am having someone like that with me this time.

hi there,
congratulations! I had a miserible 1st birth and fantastic 2nd this yr. Here's what I wish I had done 1st time round - use hypnobirthing cd and focus on baby position, I hung on all fours over a birth ball for at least half and hr every day, I had such a bad bachache labour before I really wanted to avoid it again.

Only thing is I wound up relaxing so much and got ds into such a good position I wound up not getting to the hospital on time! It all happened so fast, in under an hr I had an unplanned home birth, but no stitches needed! And really not particularly painful, staying calm and concentrating on your breathing works. I also hired a doula and she sent me Ina May's book which was great, but the speed of my birth even threw her, the ambulance team were fantastic though. I really do believe in hypnobirthing, ds shot out, I didn't even have to push, just breath to slow it down!

oh and antenatal yoga

I did the hypnobirthing course 2nd time round, and I wished i'd done it first time round instead of NCT.

Although my 2nd labour followed a similar pattern to the first (ie started off slowly and then change tempo to intense after waters went) it was much less painful and much calmer and DS arrived (no pushing) in perfect condition (both me and him) unlike DD who needed resucitation (and I needed stitches).

Luckily we were in hospital - I didn't want to go as I said it was too early and contractions not strong at all (hadn't even bothers with tens) and I was fine at home but DH insisted which was lucky as he was born 2 hours after we arrived.

I don't think the CDs would be as effective as the course but better than nothing.

Thanks for all of this ladies, it's really helpful.

Off to look at hypnobirthing now!

Hypno worked perfectly for me, easy pain free birth.

Gather as much information as you can, about everything to do with childbirth etc. Knowledge is power and power is control.

Feeling like you are in control of proceedings is excellent.

Apart from the hypno/research I mostly prepare for labour by lying on the lounge eating chips. There is a school of thought that says exercise is a good idea, but I find the lounge thing works best for me.

Hmmm, I like that theory! I'm giving it a try with an ice cream at the moment...

concentrate on keeping your jaw relaxed and everything else will relax with it (in so far as one can be relaxed in labour!) natal hypnotherapy cd helped me loads cos i was bricking it about giving birth

I've never managed to stay conscious to the end of the CD, so for all I know she gets bored half way though and starts reading the shipping forecast, and I've no idea how it's going to help when it actually comes to giving birth since this is my first child, but I really enjoy the 25 minutes relaxing, listening to the hypno-birthing so it's worth it just for that.

If I have another labour I would definitely read Ina May Gaskin and put a bit more effort into the hypnobirthing cds. Would also really like to have someone like a doula who could be a bit more constructive in their assistance than dh who was mostly terrified and had no idea what to do.

It does seem to work even if you go to sleep 90% of the time ChunkyPickle. I drool as well, which is nice.

Have been wondering if it is possible to get yourself into such a relaxed state that you actually sleep through labour and wake up to a lovely clean pink cherub asleep next to you?

My pearl of wisdom would be perineal massage. I started doing this daily at about 36/37 weeks after a warm bath. I avoided an episiotomy or tear and this could well have been why. Who knows really but I'm going to give it a go nearer the time with DC2 due in May.

Oh and stay active and try to get it into your mind that the baby is coming at 42 weeks then you shouldn't get apprehensive and stressed should you get to 40+ weeks.

I have no experience of hypnobirthing; if you want to try it out, why not, it might help.

But my advice is to just be prepared for the unexpected. Labour rarely goes as we imagine it, its a big shock in many ways (was to me), and its better to know beforehand that, however much you plan it, it all may still go completely differently. I know many women who prepare themselves for wonderful birth experiences, & end up with very difficult labours which shock them. Better to be prepared that it can indeed be a very difficult & distressful experience. Sorry to say this, but I wish someone had told me that instead of just saying 'breathe through the pain' and 'welcome the pain'- advice which was completely useless at the time of the labour. Be prepared for the most overwhelming (physically) experience you will have experienced & then some.

But then again, you may well have an easy labour . Just don't count on it happening that way.

I think Maria2007is right in that labour can be an overwhelming experience but it's still worth preparing for as calm alabour as you can.
Just putting effort into remaining calm can be really helpful in the early stages of labour, even if it all goes out of the window later on!
Also, it's really important to have good support during labour- I felt like I couldn't do it at many points, my sister convinced me that I could and that bit of self belief got me through. Instruct your other half/ mum/whoever to be as encouraging and positve as possible.
Hypnobirthing is not a magic wand- my labour was very painful due to DS being in an awkward position but still well worth it. I would not have coped nearly as well without it and it also took the fear away in the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I recommend it to everyone and will be using it again this time.