Tools to prepare for a natural birth
- Karolina C
- Dec 31, 2023
- 3 min read
In this article I want to share concrete tools I used most to prepare for a natural birth.
I thought I would share it in a "condensed" way as when I was doing my preparation I would download all the books about birth on my kindle, and wanting to make sure I knew all the tools possible. The thing is: you'll only use a few that work for you and sometimes having too much tools can be overwhelming and we don't know what to use anymore. So here is my recipe:
Physically:
I did a few different workout/ stretch videos throughout the pregnancy from the same YouTube channel (from the 2nd trimester, I did not do much in the first one except a long long hike in Madeira haha)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AERzKViXfMM Most of the videos require a pregnancy ball but if you go on the YouTube channel it has other videos where you don't have to have the ball.
In those videos some stretches are really good poses to do during labour when you are staying mobile through the contractions, so I would practice those some more after the videos.
Mind: I read a few books to fill my mind with positive birth stories and understand the different stages of labour (see in previous article here).
I made affirmation cards and put them everywhere at home where I could see them daily.
Some examples here: "Every surge of my body takes me one step closer to meeting my baby."
"My baby and my body are working in unison." "I welcome each surge as a sign that I am moving closer to meeting my little one"
"I am preparing for my calm birth" "I notice the perfect moments on my birth journey"
"The sensations of birth will require all of my attention" "I smile through my surges when I think of meeting you"
"I look forward to birthing my baby with a calm and controlled energy"
1"I trust my birthing body" "I have prepared my mind and body for birth" "I inhale calm control and exhale fear and tension" "There are many women birthing today in unity with me" "I focus completely on each of my surges and breathe slowly through all of my physical sensations" "Relaxing my neck and jaw helps to relax my pelvic floor" "I relax my muscles by relaxing my mind"
Soul: I would do visualisations and meditations and imagining how the birth would go and what feelings I wanted to feel. I only did this as preparation and definitely did not meditate while giving birth! (if you manage to do that bravo! haha) Meditating about this "event" and associating positive feelings in my visualisations, helped me to have some kind of "muscle" memory of calm when it was harder to reach it during labour. Breathing helped me the most to remind my body how to calm down and relax.
Breathing: I used the hypnobirthing breath and did the ice exercises a few times, or when I was working out when it was getting challenging I would use the breath : Which was: In for 4, out for 8. That is the breath I tried to use the most during labour as well, the most important was that my exhale would be longer than my inhale, no matter how long I was managing to exhale for. Most of those I used as preparation, and what helped me during every stages of labour was the breath and reminding myself what was happening in my body, to help relax my mind and so my body, so I did not get into a fight-or-flight state. Those are the only two things that really stuck with me during the actual "Event". The other things I did were great as a support and preparation but I did not try to remind myself of affirmations or any other things during it. Each woman find different things helpful, and that was my way of going through it.
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