Comfort Measures During Labor
Sometimes when we learn something, even something that we’re completely obsessed with and know front and back and in and out, we forget it. Shit happens. I don’t know about you, but I was never a good test taker as I always choked 🤷🏼♀️ No shame in my education game 😂
I know many people who choose to give birth at a hospital also choose to do the hospital birth education class (I did). It’s convenient, there’s a hospital tour involved, bing bang boom done. However I know in the hospital classes, the comfort measures aren't taught as deeply as I feel they should be. These are the tools you will use to give birth unmedicated, and if you have no desire to birth unmedicated, these are the tools you need to make it to 6 cm at the hospital as many hospitals won’t admit you until you’ve reached 6 cm dilated. This is now considered the beginning of active labor to them and because many hospitals are attempting to lower their cesarean rate, they are reducing their early admissions as that increases a laboring person’s risk of a cesarean (check with your hospital though to see what their admitting process looks like).
However, there’s plenty that you can do at home or wherever you’re most comfortable to help hack your hormones and keep labor progressing while coping with the increasing intensity and pressure that you will be feeling.
Remember: Pain is in the brain. How are you going to interpret the sensations you’ll feel in labor?
make yourself a cave
In a previous blog I talked about the 5 elements of birth: safety, privacy, warmth, darkness, and silence. Making yourself a cave, hits all of these. Many times it’s your bedroom, or the bathroom (umm hello toilet laboring 🙌🏻 we’ll talk more about that later). But it’s a space where you feel safe. Where you can let go and just do your thing without feeling like you’re being watched or having any inhibition whatsoever. Close the curtains, put on your diffuser, wear comfy clothes, eat and drink, etc.
This is YOUR safe space.
Bam, labor starts
Ok now what do you do? Honestly, in the beginning of labor we want you to ignore these sensations as long as possible. Make some food, watch a movie, go grocery shopping, take a nap. We want you as relaxed as possible. If it’s in the middle of the night, go back to bed. If you can’t sleep, rest until you physically can’t rest in your bed anymore and then go rest on the couch and watch a movie. We want your energy to be reserved for the intense surges. And if the sensations come on fast and strong from the get go, use your comfort measures to relax through them.
Comfort Measures
Rest, relax, and sleep as much in early labor as possible. When surges begin to pick up and you have to focus more to get through them here’s a list of comfort measures you can have in your back pocket.
***For every hour you actively engage in labor, you need to rest for the same amount of time. Remember to stay hydrated and eat throughout (at least 100 calories per hour), you need the energy. And use the bathroom at least every hour, a full bladder can actually make contractions more intense and even impede their effectiveness since the uterus sits on the bladder. Every time you change positions, your contractions will be more intense (this is also a tell that it’s real labor actually changing your cervix instead of prodromal labor). Stay in that position for at least 3 surges, typically after that your body will begin to get back into a rhythm and they won’t feel so intense.
Distraction. This is especially important in early labor. For first time parents, it’s especially difficult to ignore labor. I mean you’ve been waiting the whole pregnancy for this moment, how could you ignore it!? But no really, ignore it as long as possible. Go to the movie theatre, go grocery shopping, prep freezer meals, or bake your baby a cake! Do anything to take your mind off of it.
Walk. When you have a surge, walk through them as long as you can. It will get to a point where you physically won’t be able to walk through them anymore. This is a good sign that labor is progressing. Walking also keeps your hips moving which we want as it allows baby to do their thing and make their way through the birth canal.
Swaying. When you aren’t able to walk through your surges anymore, swaying through them should help. This also keeps your hips moving from side to side. You can also sway your hips on a yoga/birth ball if you have one.
Intentional Deep Breathing. When you feel the sensation begin, take a deep cleansing breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth in the shape of a straw. When you release your breathe, let go of any tension you’re holding in your body. Do this for each sensation when it begins, all the way the way through it, and also when it ends. The first and last one should be cleansing breaths.
Water Immersion. Taking a warm shower helps the intensity of the surges by triggering the nerves in your skin with warm water. Good sensations make it to the brain faster than intense sensations do.
Massage/Light Touch. Similar to taking a shower, it’s part of the gateway theory and is said to reduce the intensity of surges by triggering the nerves with touch that feels good. I mean, massages just feel good also.
Toilet Sitting. This is an amazing position to labor in. Yes they will be more intense but it is super effective as we automatically relax our pelvic floor muscles making the contractions more effective and less intense (because we’re relaxed down there 😉). I also can’t tell you how many babies make their entrance on the toilet because their parents pelvic floor is finally relaxed and they can make their way down.
listen to your body.
You know your body the best. If you’re going through comfort measures and your body starts to tell you to do something different, do something different. If you don’t want to lay down and rest in early labor, because your body doesn’t want to, don’t. So many times birthing people automatically get into positions or do things that we as their birth team don’t necessarily understand (until baby is born typically, and then everybody is like “oh that makes sense now”). Birthing people are very intuitive in labor. Remember: