Tools for Natural Birthing workshop

Most of us picture a particular kind of birth – water birth, active birth, hospital or home birth – and for many women, as little medical intervention as possible. Birth plans and hope have their place of course, but what one really needs is practical tools and skills that you and your PRE-EDUCATED birth partner can draw on when the baby drops and show time begins.

Let’s start with the prep work. Shaping up for labour is an obvious no brainer, whether you’ve managed to find time between work and family demands/convince yourself that your deep-seated dislike of exercise can be overcome – or not – we all must agree that birthing is a demanding creature, and like a four-day hike through the Andean mountains at ridiculously high altitude, one really should at least try to train perhaps a little before the big event (true story, much pain).

Prenatal Yoga and other alternatives

Prenatal yoga is a wonderful way to move and stretch the body, and research suggests it can improve sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, increase the strength, flexibility and endurance of the muscles needed for childbirth, and decrease the aches and pains we often experience during pregnancy [1]. The wonderful thing about prenatal classes is that they are specifically designed to help prepare your mind and body for labour. Breathwork, visualisations, pelvic opening and more…and just having a regular practice that makes you feel good can be something you can draw on as you move through the stages of giving birth.

Walking or swimming at whatever pace and distance you’re comfortable with is also invaluable, especially in those last weeks when the body and mind should be kept as quiet and calm as possible. Walking is the most natural exercise a human body can do, and the gentle rhythm of the hips is comfortable for many women right through to the end.

Spinning Babies – an invaluable collection of birth knowledge and tools (not just for babies in breech presentation either) – have ‘10 Daily Essentials’, a curated set of exercises and daily practices for comfort and positioning in the later weeks. Some of them have contraindications, so check with your midwife or obstetrician before you start. Find the list, along with other fantastic information and videos, on their website: spinningbabies.com

Massage

Massage during pregnancy is one of the simplest things you can do for back and leg pain — and for the plain relief of an hour where someone else is doing the work. Most women find it helps them sleep better too.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a fantastic addition in the later weeks. It can help with pain and stress, and is a really great way to take some ‘me time’ that is too often lacking in the mad scramble that is many of our lives. If you can find a therapist that combines acupuncture with massage, you’ve got it made in the shade!

The birth day

But let’s get down to the main event. What tools can we get on board? Midwives have been collecting birthing tools and knowledge for eons, and while that level of knowledge would be amazing, a simple understanding of the birthing process and a handful of tools to use if and when needed go a long way. Feeling informed helps a lot of women feel calmer going in, and calm is worth having whatever the day brings.

Breathwork, sound and visualisations are super valuable in the birthing process and exploring a variety of techniques is great to allow you a small collection of ‘favourites’ to draw on in each stage. Different stages of labour will place different demands on the body – early labour may only require some long smooth breaths, whereas later in the piece, some low guttural oooooooo’s may really fit the intensity of the process. Always remember that central to all is the long smooth exhale, and the loose jaw (as it correlates with the pelvic floor).

Massage, acupressure, and other manual techniques can be invaluable pre, during and post labour, to help ease pain, calm the mind and encourage everything to flow. If birth partners have a few options in their tool belt to contribute in each stage, it can really make them feel they are a valuable part of the team, and give mum some significant help. It is also wonderful to have some positions and techniques to try if things slow down — comfort and positioning are things a birth partner can actually help with, which matters more than people expect.

When it comes down to it, the key is to have mums AND birth partner/s educated and empowered with knowledge and tools so that if/when mammas lose themselves in the ‘moment’, someone is there to offer strategies and techniques to help them manage the intense physical and emotional nature of this most sacred process. Too often mum does all the preparing…. meditating, yoga’ing, whatever she’s drawn to…. while the birth partner turns up on the day to offer moral support. While moral support is a huge part of things, what is even better is really understanding the process and having educated and thoughtful techniques to draw on, if and when the need arises.

We can never predict how we will go in labour – what will be helpful and what will get thrown out the window. Sometimes medical intervention is necessary and thank goodness the option is there. What preparation gives you is not control over the day — it is a set of things to reach for, and a birth partner who knows what to do with them.

Join Tanya for her ‘Tools for Natural Birthing’ workshop, co-presented with prenatal yoga and Hypnobirthing instructor Esther McVicar of Free 2 Be Yoga in beautiful Cabarita Beach. This workshop covers all the aforementioned birthing knowledge and tools, and is designed to educate and empower birthing mums and their birth partners.

1. Curtis K, Weinrib A and Katz J, 2012. ‘Systematic Review of Yoga for Pregnant Women: Current Status and Future Direction’, Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Article ID 715942.