Natural Birth
Another question about NB
Before I got my epidural, I was moaning and screaming a lot from the pain of the contractions. I'm sure I would have been doing the same thing (and more so) as my labor kept progressing if I had not gotten an epidural.
Did any of you ladies make as much (or more) noise than I did while you were in labor? I'm all self conscious about it...but I want to have a NB next time, and I want to know if I'm not the only one...
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Re: Another question about NB
First and foremost, who cares if you yell???
I didn't make alot of noise except groaning through transition but that is because I knew yelling was not the optimal way for me to handle the contractions. I focused (and I mean FOCUSED) on breathing and getting through each contraction. You need to relax and not fight against your contractions. Let them do their thing. When you're yelling, you're using energy that can be used elsewhere. The same for pushing. I yelled when I felt LO decend and my OB yelled at me to focus. He was right though.
For your second labor, youll have a ton of positions and ideas of how to deal with the contractions. (I don't know how your 1st went down so I am assuming a bit here). You'll have to remember everything you read and learned and stay calm. Write a list if you must.
There's alot to read about how fear stalls/hurts labor and you should read up on that too. Yelling often comes from that.
My labor was very very long and my water never broke. It progressed slowly over 40+ hours that made it easier in some ways then a labor that goes from 0-60 in an hour. Regardless of how your labor progresses, you can do it and no one cares if you yell. Good luck!
Do you think it was the contractions itself or do you think you got scared? I only ask because with DD I hummed during contractions. Her labor was a nice slow steady labor that was pretty peaceful. With DS I arrived complete and DS was born in triage. I was doing fine, went with DH to park the car walked into the hospital, refused a wheel chair, etc. Still being vocal through contractions, but just moaning. When my MW checked me she said with a surprised look on her face, "Your bag is bulging and the head is right there!" Then all of a sudden I got scared. I only pushed twice, but was screaming as I was pushing. But I remember it wasn't so much the pain just fear. It all just took me by surprise!
You shouldn't be self conscious at all, you were having a baby! That being said, if you felt like screaming was not helpful to you maybe you should consider Hypnobirthing. It focuses on keeping you calm and breaking that cycle of fear.
You know, I'm not sure what it was. I think it was mostly the pain, because DS had always been low in my pelvis before I went into labor (that's just where he was; I was 80% effaced about 2 or 3 weeks before I went into labor). I took classes and I knew exactly what was happening to my body, so it wasn't like I had no idea what was going on. I think I just needed to let it out, and I always thought those breathing exercises (the hees and hoos) were really weird, and I wasn't going to do them, so I think I was a little ill prepared in the fact that I wasn't sure how to cope with the pain, if that makes any sense.
Towards the end, I was vocalizing with my contractions, but it was not really yelling, it was more like a PP described of humming, which helped a lot.
When it came time to push, I actually started yelling, but it was not from fear or pain, but because my MW was telling me to 'push gently' (whatever that means! [:-p]) when I was pushing out her head, and yelling helped me to stop my body from pushing with everything it had. I barely even remember doing it, but it worked.
I think that if your sounds are helping, not hindering you, you just have to go with it.
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste,
It all revolves around you.
I hate that sensation with a fiery passion. FWIW, it isn't painful to me. It just an incredibly uncomfortable feeling. So I yelled. Frankly, I don't care who heard. If I am pushing a baby out, I will make whatever noise I deem necessary.
My first birth I was very quiet and only grunted during pushing but my second labor I moaned through contractions for about 4 hours. It was the only way I could process the experience. I wasn't getting more than 30 seconds to a minute to rest and the power of each contraction was so strong that I had to release some of it.
I actually commented to my husband around 7 cm that I was shocked at myself for being so loud and was glad there wasn't anyone else having a baby that night so they wouldn't be scared.
For my first birth, 17 and a half years ago, I didn't make much noise. But, my mom and I had gone to a pretty good lamaze class so I knew what to expect a bit and was able to focus a bit more then than I was able to this time. I also had a nurse that was able to snap me back out of my small moment of hysteria. She got in my face and gave me simple directions that snapped me back into the room.
For my new baby who is 2 weeks old, I was doing really well about not making too much noise until the last 10 minutes. I was doing deep breathing and using a focal point pretty well. But, when she checked me at 1150, she said I was dilated to 6 and everything got crazy really fast. 9 minutes later, my big screaming baby was born. In those last 9 minutes, I grunted, I yelled, I hummed, I dropped the f-bomb, and I even shook the bed by the guard rail a couple of times. I freaked out my hubby and my teenaged daughter, but fortunately it was over with quickly so neither one ran for the hills. I think the big difference was that we took a really crappy prep class. I really should have taken the time and made the effort to take a better class or at the least read a book about techniques for natural birth- because I found myself on the bed having contractions and pushing while running through techniques I had "learned" from watching A Baby Story and a few choice popular movies on child birth, like Knocked Up, The Back Up Plan, and What to Expect While You're Expecting. My hubby agrees with me about the class having been crappy and we both wish we had taken more time together to actually prepare for the labor process.
ETA- This recent birth was a pitocin induced labor at 40 weeks 1 day (dr was appropriately concerned that baby was large). Other than the pitocin, I did not have any pain meds, although in those last 9 minutes, I was yelling for them to bring the drugs fast! "Little man" was 9 pounds 13 ounces, and 23 inches long. Pitocin was started at 730 am and little man was born at 1159am, so it was a relatively short labor, which got really intense really fast at the end!
What I learned helped was the low gutteral moaning. It relaxes the pelvis. Try it! You can feel the connection!
That helped a lot.