Healthy Living
This post offers 9 must-do tips to prepare for giving birth naturally, whether in a hospital setting, at home, or in a birthing center.
Guest post by Shannon of Growing Slower
I have spent the last two years reading every natural birth story I could find and talking with women about their natural birth experiences. I wanted to know every detail from what they ate to what birth class they took, who they wanted at their birth, and what contractions felt like.
What started out as preparation for my own first natural birth evolved into a personal passion and from there into an entire book. I am so excited to share with The Humbled Homemaker readers a little of what I have learned.
If you’re planning on giving birth naturally, I’m sure you already know there is a whole lot more to it than just the day your baby is born!
Here are 9 must-do tips for preparing to give birth naturally:
Natural Birth Tip #1: Find a Supportive Midwife or OB
Interview any potential care providers before you agree to hire them. Find a midwife or OB that will fully support you in your decision to have a natural birth. The two most important factors are finding someone who genuinely shares your birth philosophy and who has a proven track record of attending natural births to back it up.
As women and moms we often put ourselves in the role of trying to keep those around us happy and comfortable. However, finding a supportive midwife or OB is one situation when you have to stand up for yourself, even if that means changing care providers at 38 or 39 weeks as two of the mamas in the book did!
Natural Birth Tip #2: Read Natural Birth Books & Birth Stories
Read as many natural birth books as you can. You never know where you might pick up a tip or technique that really resonates with you. Especially read as many positive natural birth stories as you can find. There’s something about a birth story that hits us in that deep down emotional place. It could change the whole way you think about your birth!
Pregnancy in the time of COVID-19
Natural Birth Tip #3: Choose Your Support Team Carefully
In just the last few years, the number of women who choose to hire a doula to support them during labor has doubled! Whether you choose to have a doula or not, having any form of continuous physical and emotional support (other than your medical team) has been shown to make labor shorter and a more positive experience. This might include your husband, mother, sister, friends or anyone else who is 100 percent on board with your birth plan and is willing to support you.
Natural Birth Tip #4: Choose a Positive Birth Location
Choose the location for your birth that is right for you. You can give birth naturally in the hospital, and that will be the right choice for some women. Having extra medical care available just in case will give some moms the peace of mind that they need to be comfortable.
You also have other options. An increasing number of women are choosing to have out-of-hospital births in birth centers or in their own homes. That home-like atmosphere gives these moms the ability to fully relax into labor as they might not be able to do in a hospital.
Natural Birth Tip #5: Make a Birth Plan
Making a birth plan is a great opportunity to explore all of your options for your birth as well as postpartum and newborn care. You do have options!
Some of the women I interviewed chose not to write down a formal birth plan because they were very confident that they were on the same page with their care provider and the policies of their birth location. However, each one of them still had a very clear plan that they had communicated to their support team.
If you’re looking to push the “easy button” on the birth plan, check out this sample birth plan!
Natural Birth Tip #6: Stay Healthy
Natural birth is usually only a safe option for low-risk moms, so do everything you can to stay healthy! Focusing on keeping a healthy nutrition and exercise plan can go a long way to accomplishing that goal.
That isn’t to say that you have to be perfect. With the challenges of nausea and exhaustion that some women experience during pregnancy, along with the busy lives that we all lead, it’s usually enough to just do the best you can.
Natural Birth Tip #7: Educate Yourself About Natural Birth
How much do you really know about childbirth? (Test your knowledge with this childbirth quiz and you may be surprised!) Before you can experience your own natural birth, both you and your birth partner need to learn what to expect. One of the best ways to do this is to attend a childbirth class that focuses specifically on natural birth.
Of the women I talked to, the most popular were The Bradley Method and Hypnobirthing, but there are also many other options available too. If you’re not able to attend a class outside the home (or don’t want to!), take the Mama Natural Birth Course, which is completely online. It’s also much cheaper than many in-person classes, and you can re-watch the videos as often as you like!
Natural Birth Tip #8: Learn Natural Pain Coping Techniques
Just because you choose not to get an epidural doesn’t mean you have to be miserable. Believe it or not there are lots of pain coping techniques you can use to cope with contractions.
Of all the natural birthing mamas I interviewed, their favorite and most effective natural pain coping technique was laboring in warm water.
Natural Birth Tip #9: Expect the Unexpected
Whether it was dealing with gestational diabetes, an extra long labor, a hospital transfer, or even an unplanned unassisted birth, almost none of the birth stories that I’ve gathered went exactly as planned. However, each one was still an overwhelmingly positive and empowering experience for the mom involved. As long as you take the time to prepare, you’ll be able to feel confident and successful, no matter what twists and turns your birth may take.
Have you had a “natural birth” with any of your pregnancies? Which of these tips did you follow?
Shannon writes about pregnancy, parenting, and simple living at GrowingSlower. She and her wonderful husband are parents to two beautiful babies. She’s an author and creator of a great ecourse to help you save money on groceries!
Jessica
I have had two homebirths and I think all of these are great tips to follow, and I did all of the above as well. Especially finding a great midwife and educating myself on birth.
I was not the healthiest pregnant lady {didn’t exercise like I should have and I drank one too many sweet teas everyday} but luckily this did not affect me.
I believe that your mind is so powerful. The most powerful thing I did before both of my births was visualize how my birth would go. And both times, they pretty much went exactly how I envisioned. EXPECT THE BEST OUTCOME is my 2 cents 🙂
Joan Smith
Great article! I had three home births after a bad hospital birth experience, but even in the hospital our preparation paid off, helping us know what was going on. That was in 1976, and we finally found a midwife for the second birth, which was just about perfect, with my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law taking active roles. Third birth, in 1981, the midwife didn’t make it but my husband and mom did a great job. We were separated before the fourth baby was due, and he came pretty quickly, so my nine and four year olds were my labor coaches and friends helped out until my midwife and husband got there at the last minute.
All along, I read everything I could get my hands on, went to classes, (i like Bradley) was very involved in La Leche League, read books to my husband since he didn’t like to read, and prepared, prepared, prepared. If we had had the Internet back then, I’m sure I would have read even more and had more communication with like-minded folks.
I believe the reason we were successful was our belief that having a baby naturally and then breastfeeding were just the way God intended, so that was the right way. It helps that I’m really stubborn, too. My advice is get educated, get support, be prepared and expect the unexpected and just go with it.
Joan Smith
One more thing. I realized that everything I did would shape my child’s future, their body and brain, so I didn’t find it sucha big deal to give up sugar and white flour, and processed foods. We ate very lots of vegetables and fruits and I baked bread and all. We had one vehicle and two bikes and a bike cart, so I was in pretty good shape and I know that made a difference in my labors. I’m proud that to this day my kids are tall, slim and have been very healthy with bright minds and loving hearts. OK, so I’m a little partial…
Rebecca
I have had 2 natural births, the first in a hospital with a midwife and the second at home with a midwife. I loved both my births, but I will pick a home birth again every time, should the Lord bless us with more children! It’s amazing the support and encouragement I received from my homebirth midwife, and the care was much more supportive and individual to my needs. I had some challenges with both pregnancies, which thankfully, did not affect the outcome (with my 2nd pregnancy, I had high blood pressure, despite eating very healthy and exercising).
I would add, for me, a couple of things that helped me achieve natural births is to trust God and pray a lot! Prayer helped me stay relaxed mentally, which is sooo important during labor without drugs. The other thing that I found really helped me is to accept and even embrace the pain and intensity of each contraction! Also walking a lot between contractions. Every woman will find what works best for her, if she’s determined to go through with a natural birth. But mental and physical relaxation and acceptance of the pain as being a positive thing was very important for me.
JIB
Coming from the Netherlands, it is normal to give birth naturally. I gave birth to three children, all naturally. Two births were at home, one birth was in the hospital due to complications. Because it is normal to give birth naturally, the health care system in The Netherlands is totally focussed on this. We have a lot of courses to prepare the mothers and fathers to be. We also have a lot of different books to prepare you for the contractions and the rest of the delivery. The midwives are used to accompany the women when they give birth naturally, as are the gynecologists. The downside of this is, because this is the culture it is sometimes difficult to ask for some kind of anesthesia when a women thinks she needs it.
It was a great experience to have two of my children at home! I had the children in the same home where they will live during childhood. It felt really good!
Due to complications I was not able to give birth at home for my third child. I was really happy that I could go to the hospital and have some help with the birth. It was the best of both worlds.
It were all three fantastic experiences, and it is true what they say: it’s all worth it!
The additional tip, to the excellent ones given in this blog, I can give to future moms is to believe in yourself. If only biljons of mothers did it without epidurial, you can do it too!
Nichole
These tips are great! I had both my children naturally and without any pain medications (my first 20 months ago and my second just three weeks ago). I did not follow all of these tips but what I did find most helpful in my decision for natural births was
1) Having a supportive partner. My fiance was completely on board with my decision to have a natural birth. We both agreed that we felt it was best for myself and for the baby. This was especially helpful during labor as he was able to remind me that it was the best decision, even when contractions intensified. My mother was also present during my first child’s birth and I made her aware of our decision for a natural birth. Not only did it help having her aware of our decision, but it also turned out that my mother had natural births with both my brother and I so I had her complete support.
2) Hypnobirthing. I did not know what this was during my first birth. I took a regular birthing class and didn’t look into this technique but a close family friend had reiterated to me time and again that the best thing to do during labor would be to focus in on myself and the baby and picture myself going through the birthing process with the baby. By focusing on that and not the pain, I believe it made it much easier for me to handle the contractions since I was focusing on what those contractions were doing (lowering and preparing the baby into position for birth) instead of the simple fact that they were painful!
3) I highly recommend staying healthy during pregnancy (though I wasn’t perfect!) so your body is ready for the whole ordeal. I specifically recommend drinking lots and lots of water all through pregnancy, maintaining some physical activity (even if it’s just walking on a daily basis) and being active during labor. I really recommend using a birthing ball during labor. I really feel the birthing ball helped get both our babies into position for birth much quicker than could have been done if I was lying in bed.
4) The first time around I did not use these two things, but this second time I drank red raspberry leaf tea daily and took evening primrose oil during the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I do believe that this helped prepare my body for labor. For my second birth I barely had to push for the baby to come out and I did not tear at all (I did slightly tear during my first birth but required no stitches and had to push for three hours that first time) and I really believe it’s because my body was prepared to push the baby out.
5) TRUST IN YOURSELF, YOUR BODY AND YOUR BABY.
Jacquelyn
Having given birth 4 times, 3 of which were natural, I feel that some things on this list (#s 1, 3, and 6) are extremely important. For my first baby, my doctor was awful, so I had to fight and fight, and eventually I gave in because I was just too tired and scared. It was my first, and I didn’t know better. After that, I focused on (a) warning my doctor of what I would do and informing her that I required absolute support, (b) educating my husband on my expectations and specific requirements (he is great, but he needed to be told what I wanted; I think that makes sense because he has never had a baby and wouldn’t know what would help me feel supported and comfortable), and (c) staying healthy to believe I could do it. I found, in fact, that reading several books on methods and stories and approaches only made me feel like I was not in control–that I was “supposed” to do it somebody’s way. Furthermore, my Birth Plan only tended to alienate the nurses (I had all mine in hospitals), and books on pain management techniques were so dictatorial I couldn’t stand it. In the end, I just prayed and had a baby, and I LOVED IT! I felt so strong and powerful. I moved when my body wanted to, I lunged and squatted and plied and stretched and walked and danced and even crawled when I had to. I sang and hummed and prayed some more. And I’ve had 2 more babies with the same method: my body’s. It is amazing and painful and empowering and I love it. If you are healthy and your pregnancy is healthy, you are ready to have a baby. Your body is made to do this.
Birute Efe
This is a great list. Every time I think about how natural births can be better, easier, more enjoyable I get angry. Why? Because many women don’t know all of this above. They go to the ONE doctor that their insurance covers and think they will take care of them.
Elizabeth
I feel compelled to comment because my birth was such a great experience. I had a miscarriage at 13 weeks in my first pregnancy. I was under the care of a doctor and just followed whatever he told me. I had a very hard time. After the loss I read everything I could about pregnancy and got a midwife when I got pregnant my second time. What a difference! My husband’s family work in hospitals and were against my decision, butmy husband eventually got on board. We delivered in the hospital and will do so the next time as well. I 100% plan to do it again! Most important thing is just believing in yourself. Many women (and me, initially)assume that the epidural is part of giving birth and that the pain will be unbearable. This is just not true!
Erin
Thanks for your great testimonial to natural birth, Elizabeth! I think we do expecting moms a disservice when we emphasize the pain over the beauty. Birthing my babies have been some of the greatest experiences of my life!!
Michelle G.
Elizabeth, I had a miscarriage too, at 7.5 weeks gestation (after conception). Like you, I had very little support as far as from the midwife I was about to enter into a contract with. My fiance was my best support – and he turned out to be the only one I needed.
His support, that birth, and the birth of my first daughter all lent a hand in my eventual water freebirth, and all of my experiences and research have given me the confidence to do it all again, although I hope I’m able to experience a midwife and doula being present at some point.
As for the epidural, I was there too! Even a pain-wimp can get through contractions drug-free, right? 🙂
cara
Both my babies were born in the hospital naturally. I went into my first having taken a hypno birth class and thinking that was all I needed. I forgot everything when the pain started! I toughed through but it took longer then it should’ve-27 hours. My second I went into much more educated! I read and planned and talked to others. When my contractions started I started walking. I went in at 11pm and 5cm, walked (waddled?) for 4 hours, pushed for 20 minutes and felt very little pain 🙂
Tina
My only natural birth was my 4 and most recent son. He just turned one last month. It was an amazing experience. Having been enducedar with all three of my other children I had no idea what it felt like to go into natural labor. With the other inductions I could only handle the pain so far into them and felt out of control. With my natural labor everything was sooooo laid back. 40 weeks plus 4 days had come and gone and I had just been for a check up with my OB at 3pm on monday. They said that they would not allow me to go past 41 weeks and scheduled abother induction for that friday. I was broken hearted and defeated. I longed for a natural child birth. That night my husband I watched TV together and then he fell asleep. A little later I felt a pretty good pain and was somewhat convinced that something progressive was happening. And waited a few more minutes and another one came but milder this time. Well after weeks of timing contractions and them going nowhere I decided to get up and do some laundry because I was not going to just sit there and watch the clock. About 10-15 minutes went by and no more pain. I had picked up a load out of the dryer and was making my way to the living room when I felt what I thought was a pop and then a gush hit my thigh. But I couldn’t find anything g on the floor or my clothes! But I knew it was something. So I woke up my husband and we got ready. I was in NO pain. All I felt was what I had been feeling for months…what I thought were Braxton hicks. We went to the hospital and got looked overy by the l & d nurse and she checked me for amniotic fluid but it did not register. By now it’s 1am. They hook me up to the monitor s and I do have contractions but sometimes I’M not even feeling them. Now I’m not convinced I’m in labor. We wait an hour and I still am not feeling much in the way of labor but she checked and I had dilated a 1/2 cm. So they talked to the doctor on the phone and the nurse told him that I wanted no drugs unless absolutely necessary and then on my timing and I wanted to be able to move around. I did not want to be stuck to the bed. He agreed to all of my requests, surprisingly! So I felt much better but I was still waiting for them to say my labor had stalled and they would have to put me on pitocin. But it never did! But it was never intolerable! My husband and I sang to his christian Playlist in between contractions and laughed! Oh we had a great time. One particular funny thing that happened was the nurse had put the bed way up to the height of my armpits so that I could lean against it and sway my hips back and forth standing up. Well my husband made a joke about having to go to the bathroom and it got me laughing so hard! We we were both cracking up and I was failing under my weight and all of a sudden pop and gush I was pretty sure I peed myself! All over the floor and my ugly hospital socks. But I couldn’t stop it. She checked for abiotic fluid again and it did not register so they determined it was pee. That was a great joke for me and my husband! So at this point I know my labor is progressing and I am feeling truly blessed.you contractions hurt but I breathed through them and they were overy and I was back to talking with my husband again. When I was about 7 cm the nurse came in and said “I know you said you don’t want any drugs but I wanted to let you know that if DO want any now is the last time you will have the opportunity. ” this thought kind of scares me because my pain is not intolerable but I know pain comes between 7-10 cm. I told her that and she said that she was so impressed by the way i was handling labor and she she thought I could go all the way without any pain meds. That’s all it took. A vote of confidence. And it never did hurt any worse and the closest my contractions came were 1 1/2 minutes apart. The most painful part was delivery and that was because there was a stubborn part of my cervix that wasn’t ready but the rest of my body was ready to push and I was fighting against myself. Once that was over I pushed and got his head crowned, episiotomy, then the cord was wrapped so had to stop pushing again, then one more big push for the shoulders and the doctor had to catch my son in midair! He through him up on my belly and it nearly knocked the wind out of me. They read the time of birth and weight but it was in grams so I didn’t know what it converted to so the number meant nothing to me and then all of a sudden everyone in the room hooted and hollered and said you just gave natural childbirth to a 10 pound 7 ounce hunk of a baby boy! It was so joyous and such a blessing. And I thought that it couldn’t be done. But the Lord answered my prayers. It was the best experience in my whole life. I pray that all of you who try to do this have similar blessed experiences. Oh turned out that I didn’t pee myself! lol. That was my water breaking the rest of the way. The doc came in an hour or so before I delivered and tried to break my water but there was no water to break!
April
Thank you for sharing this, I am pregnant with baby #4 and have always had to be induced. I really want a natural birth!!! This has given me hope, along with these articles on natural child birthing. Thank you all so much !!
Erin
You are so welcome–and congrats!
kate
Thank you for posting this!! I want a natural birth so badly!!!
Jessica
I really loved your story! This is my first pregnancy and I’m not sure about how to do anything but pray that everything goes well. I’m due December 13 and expecting a baby boy. I haven’t planned anything, except I did consider having a water birth. I have yet to considered a home birth, my boyfriend is the most supportive person I’ve got, he’s amazing! I have actually considered natural birth, but my boyfriend thinks I can’t handle pain and I think that makes me more confident to try a natural birth.
Tina
Oh I also forgot to say that when the contractions got painful I did do a little breathing exercise with the word relax. I would breath deep and exhale with the word relax concentration on relaxing my muscles. When you fight against yourself and your muscles the pain is so much greater.
Erin
Thanks for the tips!
Chris
Like I responded to someone else’s post, I’m an L&D nurse and if I could give 1 piece of advice, it would be to CAREFULLY choose who delivers your baby. It the single most important thing you will do, but seems to be the least with people who arrive to my unit. We are trained as nurses to be supportive of labor, and natural labor. When someone who strongly desires a natural birth has a physician who doesn’t tolerate doulas, doesn’t like natural labor and has a history of C Sections @ 5 p.m. Also, every intervention leads to more interventions. You get induced and it makes natural labor much more difficult (but not impossible). If you have a medical reason, but ALL means, be induced. But don’t just because you’re 39 weeks. I could go on and on, but find a supportive person to deliver your baby!
Chris
I was typing so fast that I didn’t my sentences! But you get what I mean!
Erin
Thanks so much for weighing in!!
leah
Its all very well and good, but I think women ought to prepare for things to not go to plan. I wanted to go drug free and ended up needing them all, I wanted to have natural onset of labour and ended up being induced, I wanted to birth at my hospital of choice and ended up being transferred and last but not least, I wanted a natural delivery and ended up with emergency cesarean!!
Mara
I would also add be prepared for the unexpected and to discuss with your partner, support team and care provider what you want to happen if you do need an intervention or have an emergency that requires a change from your birth plan. My first 4 children were natural deliveries. With my 5th I came down with the H1N1 flu at 16 weeks. I needed massive amounts of steroids for the resulting respiratory issues. As a result my 5 child grew rather large especially his shoulder measurements. My midwife referred me to a maternal fetal specialist for a really good ultrasound and consult. After much discussion and watching the situation for several months they were concerned that I would birth my sons head and then his shoulders would get stuck. At that point the protocol is to break the babies collar bone, roll their shoulders in so they can pass through the birth canal. This posses all sorts of risks for the baby. After much discussion and prayer we decided to go with the recommend c-section. Our goal was a healthy baby and in the end I gladly sacrificed my wish for another natural birth for that. Once that decision was made my hubby and I had a long talk with the doctor about what we wanted in the delivery operating suite. I didn’t want the drug cocktail they usually give after the baby is delivered while they finish putting you back together. We wanted soft music playing and for my hubby to stay with and hold the baby as soon as possible while I was in recovery. Because of this discussion the doctor got approval for my mom and hubby to be in the or with me, and my hubby got to do skin to skin care with our son within 30 minutes of his birth. It wasn’t what I would have picked for myself but given the circumstances it was the best experience it could be.
Julie
At this very moment I am overdue with my 8th baby. Lord willing, this will be our 8th home birth. I have found with each anticipation of labor and delivery I need to refresh memory with the Bradley Method and other birthing/body mechanic facts. Each labor and delivery are so very different. The human body is amazing and perfectly designed. It is an awesome blessing to have had this many opportunities to experience this. It is also a little nerve wracking!
Emily
Midwives can’t legally practice without a doctor’s supervision in Alabama. So all of mine have been in the hospital. My first was an awful MEDICATED experience. So the next time I educated myself and decided there had to be a better way. The best thing I did was have my mom act as my doula. She is an RN so she would also be able to understand when/if something was really going wrong, not just a scare tactic to get me to give in. With my 2nd birth, it was long but I stayed away from the hospital as long as I safely felt I could (that’s the other best thing I did). It went great. I had him within 3 hrs of getting to the hospital. It was perfect. With my 3rd, I did the same, and had my mom again, with one major difference. With my 2nd, I was active but not as active as I should’ve been. With my 3rd, I started high intensity Zumba BEFORE a I got pregnant and just stuck with it through the entire pregnancy. In fact, I did Zumba on Tuesday and Wednesday, and had #3 on Friday! Labor was a total of 7.5 hrs. 2 pushes, no tears! It was AWESOME. And while I know some of that had to do with it being my third, I think a lot of it was also because I was so active:) I think my body was stronger and was able to labor more efficiently:) I had him 1 hr after I got to the hospital:) so my most importants are, a doula or someone who knows enough to have your back, make sure your hubby is on board and understands how strongly you feel about it, educate yourself, and stay active through the whole thing! Toward the end I had to use one of those support belts for all the jumping around:)
Michelle G.
My second child was a natural in-hospital birth. That was the first step in my homebirth journey. Two years later, I had a miscarriage at 7.5 weeks (from conception) gestation. I was at home, in the bathtub. The only real support I had was from my now fiance, then only best friend. While I did have to go to the ER to get the last bit of placenta removed, that pretty much cemented the idea of giving birth at home in my mind.
Fast forward to my rainbow baby. I had a planned freebirth. That’s an unassisted birth, for those new to the term. My fiance wasn’t exactly comfortable with it, but I stood my ground because I absolutely felt that a hospital was the last place to have this baby. This was a gut feeling/instinctual decision. So we planned and researched and researched and planned.
We discussed water birth (and went with it), and found out everything we could. The warm water is AMAZING for pain relief and support! It’s what we plan on for the rest of our births.
Through doing our research, asking questions of various like-minded people (they wouldn’t term themselves birth professionals, but that’s a story for another time), my hubsy-to-be came around. While he supported my choices as long as he believed I was making them out of best interest for the baby, birth, and myself, he was also a bit nervous until she got here.
Had I been able to afford a midwife and/or a doula, I’d have had both. But, unless I birth in a hospital, they’re out of my price range, and I had to make decisions accordingly.
One tip I wish I’d been told is that the pain isn’t as bad as it seems…not even to a pain-wimp like me. Some others: Don’t fear birth and trust that God knew what He was doing when He made us to do this…I am woman…I am MADE to give birth. And that means that I don’t need anyone around me but those I invite to be there. Last tip: Not all experts have it right, so always do your own reading up!
Erin
Thank you so much for these tips and for sharing your experiences, Michelle!
Jessica
Thanks for sharing these tips, this is my first pregnancy and I really don’t know what to do.. I am planning to give birth naturally, you’re tips are so helpful.
Tierney
I’ve had two hospitals births… I received an epidural for the first, and no kind of pain medication for the second. I wish I had hired a doula for the first, which was 16 hours of back labor and a son born posterior! My second labor was 1 hour and 30 minutes total, thankfully not back labor. It happened so fast that although I’d hired a doula, she didn’t have time to get there to support me and you better believe I was begging for an epidural! There was no time to receive one. I’m going to try for another natural hospital birth if I have more kids but I’m not as passionate about avoiding pain meds as I once was. I just don’t know if I’ll ever have a beautiful natural birth. My natural birth was way more traumatizing than my medicated birth! I’m much more passionate about knowing my options, especially when it comes to the care of the baby.
Sarah North
Not at all helpful…This was a total common sense waste of my time. I’d like my 5 mins back please
Elizabeth
A natural way to get pain relief is acupressure… I have used my husband as pain relief all 3 times – there’s a spot on the sacrum that is brilliant to get a support person to push on only during contractions, because at transition it pops out as baby is passing through this space… That acupressure point alone is enough to get you through any contraction without any other pain relief, though there are others also!
Protecting the sacral areas natural opening by popping out as baby passes by of 30% more than the space before this happens at transition, ( the area I mentioned is technically called “the rhombus of Michelais) is another reason that a woman should NEVER be laid on her back in Hollywood birth style to labour… That laid-on-the-back position is a cause of many complications and issues in the birthing process and may have been the cause of the majority of issues in birthing in the past few hundred years and so 100% must be avoided!
It’s a crime that ‘birth professionals’ and hospitals still try to use it!!!
Gravity is meant to help you, not hinder you as your body does what it was made to be able to do naturally.
If you have reasons to birth at hospital rather than home, the best plan is to arrive at hospital as close to babies arrival as possible to avoid any intervention/ interferences which is what I did for my first birth, arriving at hospital 20 mins before baby did… However it would have been an hour before -if my husband had packed in good time – he’d made a point of saying that because he was an adult I shouldn’t do it for him… Somehow he took 40 mins to pack shorts, wallet, phone and a tee shirt! Maybe because I was not dramatic like in a tv birth… So the first time, I had to pant in order to slow things down to avoid pushing in the car on the way.
Because I believe that my body, like every woman’s, is made to birth and I am relaxed and unafraid of the idea of the process, this avoids the fear leading to pain cycle and I have had shorter and shorter births… In the first not so painful, totally natural 12 hour labour I had 5 hrs active labour the first time and halved it all the next time.
My fastest labour not only used gravity by kneeling during the actual birthing, but it used gravity to get baby down the canal previously as I walked around, even with a monitor on, and the syntocinon drip to drag with me, which for comedic relief, I dubbed “Linus”.
It was less than 3 hours active labour.
A month overdue that last time, (a boy, of course,) I also found getting a chiropractic acupuncture induction very helpful and relaxing, sadly a stressful phone call originally shut my labour down after a mild but continued 3 days and 2 nights of gentle build-up like I had experienced in my first and totally natural first ever birth.
I would do chiro induction again over and above getting a hospital induction. I also found a homeopathic induction kit by ‘birth and beyond’, helpful, but you need to allow for the fact that it can take a couple of tries before it works, with a 24hr break in between each time…
If you have an induction, you can get them to go slower on the drip or to NOT double the amount every half hour or even simply tell them to turn it off… I have needed tell them to back it off twice, (the process used for induction in many places, is more friendly to higher pharmaceutical use, than to Mum and baby,) they rev the level of contractions up beyond the bodies natural process, which is why the level of interventions once induction is involved, often goes up.
I hoped for a home birth, but got to 43 +3 & the system here pressures mum’s into tests & interventions with fearmongering and dodgy diagrams on a 2% axis… It’s tricky to be under that pressure and relax enough to get into the birthing zone… & you have Gotta be well informed to be able to stand up to the system.
Renae
Great article! I’ve done each and every one of these steps when my baby boy was just born this past May! I did so much research and work my hardest to do everything I possibly could physically and emotionally to have a natural birth. Ate dates, went ro the gym up until 37 wks, drank loads of water, etc. What I didn’t expect was that my amniotic fluid is dangerously low so I needed to be induced with pitocin. I did hire a doula but my dreams of laboring at home naturally were shattered when they wouldn’t let me leave the hospital. I looked right at my doctor and said “I trust you, lets do this!” Luckily the hospital, my doctor and my team which included my Doula and husband were all 100% in support of me trying to go natural any way. I had a beautiful Hospital birth while on Pitocin and 0 pain medications! Within 10 hours my beautiful baby boy came to meet us! It is possible!! Put your mind to it, but be 100% okay with anything that comes your way! Commit your ways unto the Lord, and he WILL ACT! – Psalm
stacey
I think these are great tips.
I had my first baby 3 years ago with a very successful natural birth in a hospital with my partner, doula, and midwife. labor lasted less than 8 hours and was not as painful as I expected. There were no complications and we are both healthy.
Pregnant with baby number 2, now ready Hypnobirthing by Kathryn Clark and I am very excited to have an even more positive birth experience this time. If nothing else the book is making me feel more confident and relaxed about the upcoming labor.
Erin
A HUGE congrats to you!! I had #4 (3rd natural birth) 3 months ago. There is nothing like it!
Sophie
Reading this in the UK is very strange. Unless you have a medical reason not to, you have a natural birth. You don’t automatically get an epidural either! You cannot opt for a CS/any other intervention unless indicated (there are exceptions). I can’t really give any advice as your system is so vastly different to ours. I advise women here to not make a strict birth plan and to go with what happens. Birth is not one of those things you can predetermine – you just have no idea what will happen. By all means research everything/go to classes etc but don’t be disappointed when it doesn’t follow your perfect birth plan. As long as mother and baby are ok I think that’s all that matters. Guilt and disappointment that it didn’t go as you wanted it to should play no part in the birth experience.
On a separate note the USA has the highest mortality rate in the western world so I’m thinking there might be something a little wrong with your system in general….
Melinda Wedgewood
I totally agree with you regarding the mortality rate here in the U.S. and am that I won’t be giving birth somewhere like the U.K. that really embraces and encourages natural birth. It’s such a shame we have to fight for it here. 🙁
Estee
Each point you gave is beneficial. I WISH with all my heart I had understood the importance of really INTERVIEWING and feeling confident about choosing my midwife… with my first, I was naive & thought that by just having a midwife, I was gonna be in good hands… wrong. I never felt good about her & she sabotaged my first birth experience- even forcefully admitting my gorgeous baby into the NICU. It was all so devastating & far harder than it had to be….
with my 2nd & 3rd, I paid top dollar for a reputable, experienced, stellar midwife and those labors were far better. I’ve achieved a natural birth all three times…. breathing is critical, doing your best to relax body & mind… realizing that each contraction is bringing you closer to meeting your baby… having a strong bond with husband… I’ve loved being in the safety & comfort of home. Would not have it any other way!
Arianna Hamrick
Tina i just read yours and you are so brave and my mom had a natural baby with her last baby but her first three were c-sections i was the first and the stubbornest. I just love how brave you are.