Labour and birth is a fine balance of hormones for contractions, for energy, for pain relief and for calm. And a few things can impact your hormones when you are in labour, these can include how you feel:
being alone and feeling vulnerable
feeling frightened and overwhelmed
feeling unsupported and not listened to
bright lights, noise and interruptions
travelling from home to hospital in labour
too many people and feeling watched
feeling uncomfortable and unable to use positions and gravity
being in an unfamiliar space
All of this can mean you don’t feel safe, you can feel vulnerable, tense and overwhelmed by pain.
These issues can impact a homebirth as well as hospital birth but it may be easier to control some of these elements at home. Wherever you do labour and birth, it’s important to think more about what can impact how you feel, and therefore your labour. These can be important foundations of your birth preparation.
Labour is about knowing how to stay calm, navigating changes and adapting to your environment.
When you go into hospital, you may need time to adapt to your new environment, for it to feel familiar and for you to feel comfortable there. And there may be a few steps until you can settle in:
making the decision and travelling there from home
finding where you are going in the hospital
speaking to someone
being assessed
gathering information
and then being booked in.
All of this plus the interaction and bright lights can slow contractions, especially labour isn’t established, so take some time to relax, settle and feel comfortable in your birth space, make it feel like it is yours.
So, as part of your preparation for your labour and birth, consider what you might need - at home and in hospital - to manage what could impact how you comfortable, safe and supported you feel so you can help and work with your contractions.
Let me have your questions and comments and you can also arrange a conversation with me to talk through your labour and birth preparation.