At just 20 years old, I laboured (at home) for 21 long hours to welcome my daughter into the world!
And I did it all without any pain-relief drugs (despite the fact that baby was posterior the first 17 hours of labour!)
In today’s episode of Lizzie Sophia TV, I share the 7 ways that people deal with painful and stressful situations in every day life.
My hope is that this video will encourage you that there are plenty of strategies you can use to manage your labour pains naturally.
So go ahead and watch the video now…
Now, I want to dive further into detail about how I personally used each of the 7 pain management strategies during my own labour.
The 7 Techniques For Pain Management are…
Movement, Breathing, Vocalising, Visualising, Stress Balls, Keywords and Counting.
How I Used Movement
In the past, labour was a very passive process, with mum expected to labour on a bed, often on her back and in stirrups.
However, there’s definitely been a move back towards natural, active birth. And this is where I learnt about the importance of keeping myself moving during labour.
It’s important to note that you don’t want to tire yourself out by moving too much. (Which I was probably guilty of – I was very active even in my early labour, and 17 hours later I was definitely fatigued!)
I knew that movement was important, because it helps use up some of the adrenaline your body is creating (rather than letting it build up and overwhelm you). So my aim throughout my entire labour was to move a little through every contraction.
This took many different forms.
When I sat on my fitness ball, I rolled my hips in a circular motion.
When I leant against the wall, I simply swayed my hips from side to side.
And when I was totally exhausted, and labouring side-lying on the bed, I kept myself moving by slowly rubbing my top foot up and down the calf of my lower leg.
How I Used Breathing
Breathing is not a skill that comes naturally to me, and I didn’t put any effort into building it up as a skill before my labour.
However, there were a few times throughout my labour that my midwife reminded me to breathe, and it was exactly what I needed! I was so focused on everything else going on inside of me that I completely forgot to breathe.
Next time around, I plan to practice a few different slow-breathing patterns during my pregnancy.
Why?
Because I was far too active in my early labour the first time around, and I wore myself out. I like the idea of having some relaxing worship music on (Sons of Korah, maybe?) and laying down, breathing through early labour.
How I Used Vocalising
Like I said in the video, vocalising was one of my primary pain management tools! And honestly, if you think vocalising is something you’ll do during labour, then I recommend watching my birth video and seeing it in action 🙂
My aim with my voice was always to match the pain. So as labour progressed (and got more painful!) I got much, much louder.
I would also recommend that you talk about vocalising with your birth team, and get them on board to help. Particularly during my early labour, I found it really helpful having my mum doing a deep groan right along with me.
She admitted that she felt silly doing it, but she was happy to continue as long as it was helping me!
How I Used Visualising
Again, visualising isn’t a strategy that comes naturally to me. But there was one visualisation that I focused on a lot throughout the labour… my cervix opening.
I was convinced that birth was a natural process. My body would get my baby out. But I needed to relax and open up my body.
So one of the images I focused on in my mind was a circle getting larger and larger, imagining my cervix opening up to full dilation.
How I Used Stress Balls
I loved my stress balls! My mum had hunted around town to find a great little selection of balls for me, and I liked different ones at different stages of labour.
I had my sturdy, multi-coloured juggling balls and they were great when I wanted to bang the ball against something. For example, while I laboured on the toilet, I had one stress ball in my left hand bashing really loudly on the wall. This was one small way I was staying active during contractions, even though I was exhausted and sitting on the toilet!
I also had some squishy balls that were covered in spikes. The only time I remember using these was during my two vaginal checks.
When the midwife checks for dilation, it is not comfortable. In fact, before my labour, my midwife agreed that she was happy not to do any internals. But when I was actually in labour, I changed my mind and asked her to check.
Anyway, I waited for a contraction to end, then laid flat on my back with my spiky balls in hand. The texture gave me extra distraction and I was glad to have them!
How I Used Keywords
Keywords were a really powerful tool during my labour.
During my pregnancy, I came to realise that birth is a very mental process. But I wasn’t prepared for some of the battles I would face during my birth!
The thing is, I didn’t have the mental energy or capacity to fight my negative thoughts and doubts. So when I started to think it was all too much, I had to vocalise it to let my birth team know.
They took it from there and spoke truth into the situation…
When I said “I can’t do this”, Mum said “You are doing this, and you’re doing a great job”
When I cried because my waters breaking felt like I was wetting the bed (and therefore out-of-control and not trusting my body), Mum said, “no Lizzie, these are your birth waters. These are beautiful and your body’s doing exactly what it should”.
Throughout my entire labour, my birth team encouraged me with phrases like “it’s good pain, it’s healthy pain”, but mum’s words of encouragement became a vital part of getting me through transition – which was by far the most intense part of the labour!
How I Used Counting
Finally, counting was another vital tool that helped me feel in control during each of my contractions.
Basically, my twin sister counted me through each and every contraction, at 5 second intervals.
There was one point when she went to the toilet, and mum took over counting. And she was awful at it. She sporadically mentioned… “10…35….50” It was at that point that I realised just how important the counting was to me.
My tip here is that if you want someone to count you through contractions, help them out by signalling when the contraction begins and ends. During my labour, this simply meant that I would say something like “yep” when the contraction started, and “over” when it was done.
Now What?
That’s it for today’s post. I hope this has been valuable for you and got you thinking about different pain management techniques you might be able to use in your own labour.
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