This family was prepared!  Healthy Whole Grain Muffins straight from the oven, cooling on the counter!

But what is this about not be allowed to eat in labor?  Robin Elise Weiss, at About.com does a lovely job of explaining the history of why hospitals restrict eating during childbirth.  
It is clear that the approach of restricted food and drink is based on the assumption that all laboring women might end up in the operating room giving birth by cesarean section, under general anesthesia.  
Robin’s article also points out very well that women often experience the benefits of being allowed to eat and drink as desired…(slightly shorter labors, less stress to mother).  
Midwives understand the importance of eating and drinking in labor and encourage women (and their partners) to stay well-hydrated and nourished through the labor.

So what to eat during your labor and birth?  What are some other great options for what to eat during labor besides healthy muffins and fruit?  Easily digestible, nutritious foods such as yogurt, cheese, eggs, toast, and even warm soups are often recommended.   Once in active labor, keeping your energy up by eating a bite or two every 30 minutes or so is essential.  Eating during childbirth can be hard for some women…I have found that laboring women will eat until their body tells them it is too busy focusing on labor, but it is so important to keep the calories/energy for the labor going in even if she has some trouble keeping it down.  
When that happens, there are other options like 100% fruit juice popsicles (if you find you simply cannot keep those other things down).

Hydration is also essential in childbirth.

St. Luke’s and St. Alphonsus make drinking water easy in these HUGE water bottles you will take home with you.

If water doesn’t appeal (over a longer birth perhaps), trying re-hydrating drinks like Recharge by Knutsen available at Fred Meyer.

Coconut Waters are making an appearance  now in labor and delivery but not all are created equal.  Consumer labs did a comparison and only Zico lived up to its claims.

This week’s class was the birth rehearsal and each expectant couple arrived with pillows, birth balls and comfort measures bags in tow.  From the very first class, I stress that they are not just preparing for the labor and birth; they are preparing for parenting and partnering as well.  Each week, with every exercise and exploration, every comfort measure and coping skill, I try to connect its value to both the birth and beyond.

In this class, as they unpack their cars and tote in armfuls of labor “essentials”, I jokingly remind them this is practice for all the “essential” baby gear they will be soon be schlepping everywhere they go.  (You know those babies…they just aren’t complete without all the accessories!  More on that thought in a minute.)

Soon, they are in “labor” and the discoveries of the previous 5 weeks of class are being strung together in the context of this birthing rehearsal.  In previous classes we have explored many options for how moms might work with their labor and many of them learned early on their own personal styles of relaxation and rhythm.   Tonight is another opportunity for each couple to try out a few particular comfort measures they think might work for them, explore some meaning and some manner of connection and become empowered together.  This is the fascinating part…to see which style works best for which woman and for each couple.

Some are “innies“.  They enjoy focusing their breath, their thoughts, their BodyMind inward and often their partner becomes the container of that energy.   You can feel it. There is something quite remarkable there…that “contained” focus, strength, and connection is powerful and palpable and it is easy to imagine that it remains and grows between the couple after the birth of the baby.

And then there are the “outies“.  With great attention and intention, these moms place their concentration on something outside themselves, and draw great strength from the meaning and value of this focus.  Here, partners open the space a bit and flexibly support her need for this extension beyond the “container of the couple”.   Here is a reflection of the reality of the family…where there is movement…both toward and away from the twosome.  The need of the laboring mother to find what works for her is honored.  This ease of acknowledging each other’s personal needs, and holding the space for each other in it, is the true “essential” for partners who are also parents.

So which one will you be?  An “innie” or an “outie”?

More than likely, you’ll be both and your labor, like your life,

will ask you to welcome both at different times.

At the end of class, as each couple loads up all their comfort measures “accessories”, and cart them all back home with them, I have to wonder: how much of the “stuff” will they use in labor?  What will truly be essential?  Of course, in Confident Birthing we are big on birth options, but…just like babies don’t actually need all those “accessories”, everything a laboring woman needs is pretty much standard equipment as well.  And the partner who keeps her in the driver’s seat for her birth will most likely find the trip rewarding too.

In the Confident Birthing Childbirth Class, we learn this comfort measure early and repeat it, building layer upon layer of information in several classes, so birth partners can feel not only comfortable in doing it but also clear about their intention while doing it.  For some visual recognition, below are some examples of the double hip squeeze (as well as direct pressure) being practiced in class.

Here are just some of the positions you can do the double-hip squeeze in while in labor (or even in late pregnancy since much of the mobility of the pelvis is already felt and may be contributing some discomfort for mom).  Try it!  She might really appreciate a little relief from all that pregnancy pressure.

standing leaning over the birth ball

sitting, leaning forward (over the bed, the back of a chair or even the toilet)

placement of hands:

note: this is the higher placement…you may also place your hands lower and toward the middle aiming directly for the sacro-iliac joint.  And your thumbs won’t wrap around through the pelvis like this either

on hands and knees

 on knees leaning over ball note: laughter in labor is always nice….

until it isn’t anymore :0

below is a variation on the double hip squeeze: direct pressure applied directly over the sacrum

I tell my classes all the time…if you go into labor before the birth rehearsal class in week 6 of the series, (or, if when labor begins, you find you just can’t remember to do anything else) these four things make a huge difference in a woman’s ability to work with and move positively through her labor. 

MOMS:

1. Move Your Hips Through Space

Moving your body by walking, rocking, and changing positions assists you in labor in several ways.  Moving around can help you be better distracted with interesting activity and more easily cope with the earlier, less intense contractions.  Later, as contractions get longer, stronger and closer together, movement helps you cope with the strong contractions that are needed to change the cervix and bring the baby down by allowing the pelvic bones to move apart more.  Some women find that movement lessens the painful sensations of the uterus’ contractions and often, while coping becomes easier,  movement seems to allow the uterus to work more efficiently.

Generally, to truly move your body (especially your knees and hips), you’ll probably want to be in an upright or semi-upright position.  Working with gravity helps your uterus do its jobs of moving the baby down.  Having said that, even sitting, on a birth ball, in the tub, or even on the toilet, will work just fine for many women.  Any position that allows you to move your hips helps.  So, rather trying to find the ideal position, keep it moving.   Janet Balaskas, author of New Active Birth, says “being free to change position during labor is more important than finding a single best position.”

I also find that, in addition to changing positions for physical comfort and labor progress, changing positions also encourages a change of environment.  Fresh air, (even the air of another room) makes a huge difference,especially in the case of birth that is progressing at a slower pace.  These can be challenging births due to the fatigue to the mind as much as to the body.  New positions, new environment, fresh air and fresh perspective is crucial.  In this case…keep it all moving…BodyMind and Motherbaby.

Which brings me to this point: it so important to trust that the MotherBaby know what to do.  When I say “move your hips through space” it is more of an affirmation of what I know you will do instinctively, rather than advice.  As midwife, Naoli Vinaver says in her film, The Birth Day, the woman’s body who made the baby knows how to get the baby out.  This instinctive movement produces the rhythmic coping that we explore in Confident Birthing in great detail.  And given a comfortable, private space, you’ll find your instincts are readily accessible to you.

For more information about the benefits of movement and changing positions in labor check out Lamaze Healthy Birth Practice #2

2. Let Some Sound Out 

At Confident Birthing Childbirth Class reunions, there seems to be a common theme to the things women say surprised them most about how they labored.  One of these is the sounds they found themselves making.  So, like moving your hips through space, this “advice” is, again, really an affirmation of what most women will find themselves doing instinctively, and yet, I find many moms just can’t imagine themselves doing it. 

The explanation of this really simple…given a safe enough space, the laboring woman will instinctively use sound to cope with labor and to assist her body in progressing through labor.  We explore this concept thoroughly in class, but for now let me just say…keeping your mouth, throat and jaw as lose as possible is key to your labor progressing.  You can read more about this essential of labor in Ina May Gaskins’ Guide to Childbirth.  This book is not required for your Confident Birthing Class, just HIGHLY recommended to every pregnant woman.  Hint, hint.

PARTNERS:

3. Try the Double Hip Squeeze

If you could do only  one physical comfort measure (besides loving touch), my recommendation is to try this one.  While there are a few moms who don’t like it,  I would say at this point in my career (15 years and 175 births), the overwhelming majority of women I have attended in labor found comfort from the firm, but gentle pressing together of their hips. 

We practice this (and many other comfort measures) often in Confident Birthing, so you’ll have it mastered by the time you need it.  The key is placement and then with gentle, but firm and evenly distributed pressure through your hand, you simply squeeze her hips together.  If you are not in Confident Birthing…ask your doula…she’ll know.

4.  Love Her

I don’t really think I need to say much more.  It is afterall, the most important thing, yes?

It is surprising to many people who have been through my Confident Birthing Class to learn that I am a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator.  Having taught childbirth classes for so many years prior to becoming certified by Lamaze International, I, too, associated the name, Lamaze, with hospital-based classes teaching an outdated technique.   I was very surprised, in 2005, when my class was part of the ethnographic study commissioned by Lamaze, to learn just how wrong I was about that.  Once associated with “patterned breathing”, Lamaze is no longer a “technique” and breathing is no longer the hallmark of the organization.  

Upon discovering the heart of the Lamaze Philosophy through their Position Paper, I found that it was so completely congruent with my own philosophy that I wanted to know more.  So began my appreciation for Lamaze International. 

“The Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator promotes, protects, and supports every woman’s right to give birth, confident in her own ability, free to find comfort in a wide variety of ways and supported by her family and all members of the health care team.”  The emphasis on keeping birth normal while promoting, protecting and supporting women’s childbearing rights reflects my own mission of helping couples explore and identify their own definition of a satisfying birth.

Lamaze Philosophy of Birth:

 Birth is normal, natural, and healthy.

 The experience of birth profoundly affects women and their families.

  Women’s inner wisdom guides them through birth.

 Women’s confidence and ability to give birth is either enhanced or diminished

by the care provider and place of birth.

Women have a right to give birth free from routine medical intervention.

Birth can safely take place in homes, birth centers and hospitals.

Childbirth education empowers women to make informed choices in health care, to assume responsibility for their health and to trust their inner wisdom.

Thank you, Kam Taylor, for taking the photos of our “got oxytocin?” baby tee shirts

Confident Birthing is an oxytocin-promoting environment.  

This special time of preparing for your birth amd welcoming your baby

is also the perfect time for...

connecting

  strengthening

and caring for your relationship  

 Everything we do in Confident Birthing to prepare for the birth and the baby

 is also a preparation for your partnership in parenting

OK. So I know you are all wondering… “what kind of class IS this, anyway?”… or “what is up with the blind-folded lady with the guitar?” I can assure you Guitar Hero is not a common occurence in Confident Birthing Childbirth Class, however… on this particular day, in this particular class, this soon-to-be-a mama’s husband, who was guiding her on a blind-folded journey (exploring trust and healthy dependence) sat her on this birth ball and placed this guitar in her hands.

The smile on her face says it all. And, because the time couples spend together preparing to welcome their baby should be fun, I am happy to say smiling and laughing IS a common occurence in Confident Birthing!

Much thanks to Lindy English for catching this wonderful moment in class.

When I first heard about a “birth ball” it was 1995 and I was attending my DONA birth doula training. I couldn’t wait to see what it was and I imagined all kinds of contraptions so when my doula trainers showed me the “birth ball” I was both disappointed and excited. Excited because, as a licensed massage therapist I already had several “physio balls” (which is what I knew it to be called) and disappointed that there wasn’t something a lot more special about it.

Well, it didn’t take me long to learn that this simple tool could be considered the swiss army knife of pregnancy/baby paraphernalia to expectant and new parents.

Pregnant women soon discover that the birth ball is often the most comfortable seat they can find.

See what I mean?

Now don’t think this ball is just for sitting… there are many more ways we use the birth ball in pregnancy, labor and the postpartum period. I am not kidding when I say it really can become the go-to tool for expectant and laboring moms (ask any doula), and lest you think I was kidding about the swiss army knife analogy…

I always tell dads… since you can’t lactate… you better get yourself a birth ball!  Babies love to be bounced and a birth ball makes the bouncing easy.  So, dads, the next time you find yourself needing some assitance soothing your baby, try out the birth ball…if you are like the dads I hear from, this will be the “tool” you can’t imagine being without.