Your best tips for labour?

I was just thinking it would be nice to gather together everyone's best hints and tips for labour. (Please pardon me if there is already a place for this and I just missed it! :doh: ) What I had in mind was advice about positions, mental preparation, physical preparation, breathing, support, things to take to hospital, things to request at hospital (or at home, as the case may be.) etc. Things that would help any mother in labour, whether she is having her first baby, or her fifth, at home, in hospital, with drugs, without, whatever. You get the idea.

My own tips would be:
Learn as much as you can about what your body is doing in labour, and try to teach your support person too.

Consider having a doula, especially if you are going to be delivering somewhere where there will not be continuous care - ie. shifts will change, doctors come and go, etc. Your doula will stay with you, coach you through your labour, and advocate for you.

Stay active for as long as you can in labour.

Get in the water if you can, in labour.

Tell yourself that you can do it, and it will not last forever, and that you will be OK at the end, and your baby will be in your arms. :)

Those are the things I can think of right now, and I really look forward to hearing other people's advice!

Hypnobirthing & showers and fitballs.............(I will elaborate later!)

EPIDURAL!

DOULA DOULA DOULA!!!!!

Having a birth plan and having someone else help you stick to it.... my husband just wanted me to have some peace and be pain free even though he was well versed in what I wanted, so when our birth support came in he was able to not worry as much and in turn it helped me relax.

If you have a plan in your head or written down, and part of that plan isn't working (in terms of pain relief, positions etc), don't stress on it and move on to the next thing that does work - getting worked up over something that isn't working wont help you at all.

Use the shower (relaxing and fantastic for pain relief I found), fit ball and try to stay upright, especially when in 3rd stage - let gravity help you. Use positive thinking - don't tell yourself you can't do it because you can! Do have a birth plan and know what you want and what you don't want in labour, so do lots of reading during your pregnancy and be aware of the risks and side effects of certain procedures and pain relief in labour - in short, BE INFORMED! Don't just assume that your OB or midwife will do what is best for you.

Finally, trust your body.

epidural, showers and breathe lots its hard to stay calm when your in pain.

try and find answers for any fears you have before hand... do your own research, listen to others and listen to your body...
practise positions before, that u will use throughout your pregnancy...
become one with the fitball, hehehehehe, seriously tho!!
try and visualise your labour, run thru it in your head when you are in the last few weeks.
Get excited, i think i was so excited and informed that whatever outcome i felt in the know.

Have a birth plan but also be open minded. Not all birth plans follow through.

Be informed is the best thing, know your options then go with the flow during labour. Your body will let you know where it wants to be. I can strongly advocate the use of water - mainly the shower while sitting on a fitball rocking and rolling. DH spraying water on lower back and other faucet spraying over head. Keep eyes closed and focus on what you are doing, your mind plays a big role. When breathing through contractions try to slowly exhale while making an 'oooooo' or 'aaaaaahhhh' noise, decreases amount of air you are blowing off and stops you from going very dizzy and nauseous. Use gravity during 2nd stage, I was kneeling in the shower, leaning on fitball, legs spread as far as humanely possible and I truly believe this helped with a fast 2nd stage, no tears to perineum and daughter came out with a nice round head.

Research
Good support person/people
Showers
Massage
I found being on my back helped.. (or maybe that was because i had no choice, hooked up to monitors??)
Listen and feel your body.....
Believe in yourself
Trust in your medical team
Take pain relief only when and if you want it..not when staff/support people want u too
Have a birth plan
...enjoy the experiance as much as possible!!!

Walk, Walk, Walk and more walking. Let gravity do all the work and try not to tense up through the pain. Keep breathing and keep walking. Hot showers are nice to ease the pain to start with but because i couldnt walk i didnt stay in there.
Sip water and um oh yeah, walk lol.
I hate talking about labour, brings back memories :doh: .

I never had a birth plan as i figured i had no idea with DD that it would probably go out the window anyway. I was adamant that i wasnt having an epidural and i never did. I went drug free with both kids and will again with this one. Thankfully my labours are only short and i dont think the pain is that bad. I always thought my pain threshold was low but obviously its quiet high.
I just get on with it and see every pain as positive pain.
Cant think of anything else.

Have some good support people who wont freak out.
Hot water on back feels good.
Plenty of reading beforehand.
I found fitballs and beanbags to be great!
Drink plenty of water.

Definitely don't rely on 'winging it'... this is part of an article from an Automobile Association magazine (of all things!) looking at the word ‘instinct’. The article's about something suddenly happening while driving.

'Pre-planning works. Winging it, rarely does. The most mysterious thing at first glance is why the driver doesn't get out of the way. The answer lies in a thing called 'IQ Dump'. In a highly charged situation, an unprepared brain doesn't work too well. The enormity of the situation overwhelms it. The brain can't process all the information and order the body to take the best action. Instead, the brain works on instinct and usually simply tells the body to react. Instinctive reactions can kill you. If you are driving on instinct your brain won't tell your arms what's the best and safest thing to do. To beat these dangerous instincts, you have to seriously develop your skill options for a variety of situations so you know exactly what to do.'

Don't forget the fluids! During each contraction I had DH holding my hand, rubbing my back etc & my mum feeding me ice cubes. It also helped me get through each contraction to have something to focus on, which was eating the ice.

Get some words or phrases to repeat so that you don't let negitive thoughts in, even just one word to concentrate on through the contractions eg: Calm or I am working to birth my baby.

Definitatly use water for pain relief.

-I had a wooden massage thingy - big ball for hubby to hold on with 4 legs with little balls on and It really helped him rubbing my lower back with that.
-fitball
- open mind! do your research and have your birth plan but if things don't go how you want them don't get hung up on how you give birth, in the end you have an amazing little person to love and care for and it really doesn't matter how they got there!

Julie x

Seriously consider your trip TO the hospital or wherever you are giving birth. I had 9 very strong contractions on the way in quite heavy traffic in a very small car and I think that threw me for the rest of the labour.

the best thing i found was a heat pack!! it worked amazingly..

I say do whatever helps relieve the pain at the time! Certain times through my labour i found the bath good but then later on i found just curling up in a ball and lying as still as possible.. i think at the time, youll work it out ;) Best of luck!

SOCKS, pack some old socks, it is amazing when i am in labour, especially nearing transition i start to get really cold feet

Oh, I agree with the socks thing. This time I'm taking explorer socks. I'm also going to try the "preggie pops" - last time my labour was really long and they didn't want me to eat anything, but sucking on a preggie pop has got to be ok (and the sugar for energy would really help)