Coping in labour:
Congratulations - the big day is almost here! You've been training for this moment, and you can DO IT! Trust that your baby will choose the right time to be born. Babies are considered full term from 37 weeks, right through to 42 weeks. So, labour can start any time in that period. Your EDD is exactly that, an ESTIMATED DATE OF DELIVERY, not a prediction. In those last few weeks your job is to rest, hydrate and eat well. Consider it like filling your petrol tank and pumping up your tires before a long road trip.
Labour takes time. Your first baby will take more time than subsequent babies. Your baby needs to negotiate your pelvis and get into a flexed and anterior position, and your body needs to prepare. You may find that you have irregular and relatively mild contractions for a couple of days before the big event. They will feel down low in your belly and in your back. Take heart! This is so positive! Your baby is doing their job getting ready, and your cervix is ripening and effacing ready to start dilating.
So rest, rest, rest, and drink, eat, and rest, rest, rest. Use your peanut ball, TENS machine, heat packs on your lower back, and take panadol if you need it in the early stages. Try to sleep between contractions or watch a movie to distract yourself. Done call your support people yet - save them for when the going gets tough. Keep the lights down low and snuggle in, get warm and as comfortable as you can - your birth hormones flow better if you are relaxed, warm and in a dark room.
When do I call my midwife?
You will know its labour by some (or all) of these signs: you may have loose bowels or diarrhea. Your vaginal discharge may have red fresh blood in it as your cervix starts opening. Your waters may break - but it's fine if they don't. You may feel restless, unable to lie down now, and need to be upright and moving. You may have to really work and breathe through the pains now, and you may be making some noise - all fantastic and totally normal. You may feel baby down really low, almost like they are in your bum! You might feel anxious and excited.
Pains will become strong contractions, quite painful and regular. They will start at the top of your puku and radiate downwards. They will be 4-5 minutes apart and 60-90 seconds long. When you have had this for four hours (for a first baby) or one hour (second or more babies) then please PHONE your midwife.
We are excited to hear your baby is on the way and we really really don't mind being woken up for this. The most common time for a labour call is 2am so don't be afraid to call. Remember though that we don't hear texts when asleep so PHONE rather than text if you want us. Even if you are worried, anxious and just want us with you. It's fine. It's awesome!
PAIN RELIEF:
Hopefully you have completed your birth plan by 32 weeks, and your midwife knows how you want to cope in labour. There are many options: hypnobirthing, aromatherapy, movement, dancing, rocking, breathing and massage. Heat, TENs machine and use of combs or pressure balls. Then there's the magic of water! And if you want more there is entonox (nitrous oxide or laughing gas), or epidural - but these are only available in hospital. Its your birth and you decide how you want to do it. Do not feel pressured by anyone else.
GentleBirth midwives are experts in using movement and gravity to help you cope and to help baby move down easily into the birth canal. We use Active Birth, Hypnobirthing and Spinning Babies techniques to support you. Changes of position can really help labour progress better so give the suggestions a good try.
When its time to push baby out, we will guide you through this. If you are not birthing in water, we like to apply warm compresses to your perineum as it stetches and guide you to breathe baby out rather than push. We want your skin to gently stretch to try to avoid tearing. We will encourage you to put your hands down and touch your baby, and to guide them out and up into your arms. We love your partner being involved in this too. We want your baby to be born into your loving hands! That moment that you look into your baby's face, and they take their first breath is just MAGIC! You can do this, Mama!
