Transcript of
Choices for labour
Everything that you do in labour,
you're really aiming to increase your endorphin level.
Endorphins are endogenous morphines.
Endogenous just means what you make yourself in your own body,
so they're morphine-like substances
that you make in your own body when you're relaxed.
So all that you do in labour
should be working towards you helping increase your endorphin levels,
so feeling safe and secure,
perhaps listening to the music that you like,
having low lighting, doing some relaxation and breathing,
all of those increase your endorphin level.
And another thing that's really important
is to have the people with you who help you to feel safe and relaxed.
If you remember one thing about labour
and how mobility and gravity and positions can help you,
it's just a little saying, "If in doubt, move about."
If at any point in your labour you've been in one position for too long,
then just move around and try a different position.
I've been very active throughout the whole of my pregnancy,
so that's something I want to carry on when I am in labour.
You can fill hot-water bottles
and put them against your lower tummy or your back,
and keep drinking plenty of water,
because when you're dehydrated in labour your contractions tend to go off
and also you feel more pain,
so keeping really well hydrated and having snacks of easily digested food,
they're very important tips as well.
Of course there's a birthing pool, fantastic for helping you relax,
helping your contractions to get stronger,
and you can give birth in them as well.
By remaining upright and mobile
you increase the dimensions inside the pelvis by up to 30%.
So your baby's got so much more room to come down and move through the pelvis
during the second stage of labour.
I was planning to walk around as much as I could during the actual labour,
and then probably on all fours if I could.
I think I was stood up, leant over, leant over the hospital bed
with my husband one side of me and my best friend rubbing my back.
It helps a lot sitting on a ball and on a chair, you know, that position.
Using a birthing ball you can have your partner behind you,
just giving you a shoulder massage or a hug,
and you can also rotate around on the ball.
- Are you able to do that, Kerry? - Yes.
So like that.
When you're doing that moving around on the ball
you're actually altering the internal dimensions in your pelvis.
That is a fantastic position if you feel like you want to push
before your cervix is fully dilated,
sometimes called transition,
that's a great position
because it takes the pressure of the baby's head off the cervix.
There's no reason to get on the bed if you're having a straightforward labour.
Relieving pain in labour is about all the things we've talked about.
It's about using water, partner support,
mobility, massage, changing positions.
This is another really good position for pushing and for delivering your baby in.
It's a squatting position but it's a supported squat,
so you're not having to bear any of your weight,
and your partner can sit behind on the chair.
The midwife just kneels to your side
and passes the baby up to you as she's born.
You're very upright and the sacrum and coccyx are free,
so there's lots of space in your pelvis.
If you want actual relief from pain,
the only way to do that is to have an epidural,
and that provides most women
with pretty much 100% relief from the pain of their contractions.
It comes with a package which includes having the baby continuously monitored
and having a drip in your hand,
so it does limit your mobility,
but with an epidural you can still change position
and you may be able to deliver your baby kneeling up.
You need to ask your midwife for help with that
because mobility's much more difficult with an epidural.
What did we try? Lots of movements. Lots of...
Moving around to kind of distract yourself from the pain, which helps.
Lots of labours need some help, they need some intervention,
say a drip to speed the contractions up,
so if you need to be on the bed you don't need to be lying down,
you can sit well propped up, you can go on your side,
you can kneel up.
Very often if you need to be monitored you can sit in a chair
or you can even sit on a birth ball.
So don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
If you need some help, still think, "If in doubt, move about"
and use gravity and mobility as much as you can
and ask your midwife to help you.
Stirrups are only used when your baby needs help to be born with a ventouse,
that's a small cup that's put onto the baby's head,
or with forceps that make a cradle around the baby's head,
either because the baby's getting tired
or because the mother's tired and can't push any longer
or the baby's in a difficult position.
In those situations you would have your legs put into stirrups,
but they shouldn't be used in a straightforward birth.
So what about this position, Kerry? Is this...
This is really nice. It's really comfortable.
It feels really nice having that support under your bump.
This is definitely a position that I will choose to use.
So all the way through labour, being upright, mobile and moving about,
all of those things help your labour to go more quickly,
reduce the pain from contractions and make the contractions more efficient.
