Intro and questions

crystal8503

My husband and I are expecting our first child in December and have yet to do much of any preparation towards the birthing process.  I have purchased a book on the Bradley method and also a book by Ina May.  I have yet to finish either book and am honestly having a difficult time finding the motivation to read them.  

Our hospital is in a pretty rural area and the classes offered are limited to Lamaze and I am not interested in that at all.  I know that I want to have a med free birth and hope to have as little interventions as possible but that's it.  

My biggest question is, what other birthing techniques should I look into?  I don't want to get hung up on breathing techniques because I feel confident my body is going to adapt the way it needs to.  What I am most interested in is what techniques will help me the most mentally.  I know my body can do this and I welcome the experience fully but I am beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed.  I just don't know where to start.

What do you lovely ladies suggest?  If I am mostly looking for a technique that will help me the most mentally, what technique is best for that?  Like I said, I don't want to get hung up on breathing exercises and worrying about doing things right, I just want my body to adapt the way it needs to.  I trust that it will, which is why I am not worried about that aspect.  

I had a massage by a doula and she understood my theory on the breathing and suggested using the breathing approach used for yoga since I am familiar with it. She suggested that because it's a very natural way of breathing and also relaxing. Does that make sense to any of you? 

Please help me!  Any suggestions, guidance and experiences are wanted and welcome! 

katsue0xo

I would highly suggest you finish those books!! I believe that educating yourself is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for natural childbirth. Know that when you start saying 'I can't do it anymore' that you are right at the very end. Know that when you take your body to a new place (ie hospital) during labor, your body slows it down. There's a ton of things like that will help you to know what is going on, and help you stay focused on a natural birth. That being said, I took the Bradley course with my first, and it taught me bucket loads!! I am so glad I did! I have also heard that hypnobabies is amazing. Hypnobirth also comes up a lot and so does Birthing From Within. Good luck with it all!

abell77

Do you have the Bradley book by Susan McCutcheon, Natural Birth the Bradley Way?  I would strongly suggest reading that book asap.  It has valuable information about everything your body will go through during the birth process, exercises you should begin doing asap, and also some discussion about pain management techniques.  Have you been to the Bradley website or considered taking classes in the Bradley method?  It sounds like you live in a rural area so I don't know how far away your closest Bradley instructor would be, but I think it's worth looking into.  It's probably too late at this point in your pregnancy to do the full 12 week course, but we had a Bradley instructor come to our home for three condensed, intensive courses.  If that's not an option for you, you can use the McCutcheon book as a guide.  I've had two successful natural births, and we really feel that we benefitted from all of the preparation we did beforehand.  

Bradley teaches a variety of techniques for relaxation, and you and your husband can begin practicing all of them now.  This is important because sometimes you never know what will work best for you until you are in labor, and it's important to have done the preparation beforehand so you both have a "toolbox" to draw from, so to speak, during labor.  

It is fantastic that you have such confidence in your body to do what it needs to do.  I think if you can pair that with some practical preparation, starting now, you will do well.  Good Luck.  

ridesbuttons

I will tell you what I did.  I counted my breaths during the contraction.  I told myself I would never have to say (think) more than 20.  That meant, as the contractions got longer and stronger, I had to slow and deepen my breathing to compensate.  So what my mind was on was breathing very deeply and very slowly.  It put the pain of the contraction on the backburner.

ncbelle

If the classes are really Lamaze classes they aren't about "funny breathing" - common misconception!  They should be instead a very balanced sort of childbirth prep class - so it may be worth a look if you are interested in a class.

That said, I had a "wing it approach" to birth - that is no particular plan for pain management in terms of breathing or what not.  BUT I did do a LOT of reading about birth in general.  For me what was important was understanding how labor worked, what to expect, etc.  From there, I dealt with things as they came as far as figuring out what breathing, positions, etc, worked for me while in labor.

So I think your plan is fine so far as just going with what your body guides you to do.  But I still think learning about the process of birth as much as you can - whether through a class or reading is hugely important. 

ReichleyMama

Hi,

You're just like me.  I did not bother to learn any breathing techniques or any techniques at all.  I've had 2 natural births and working on the 3rd.  Confidence that your body knows what to do IS enough.  I do suggest reading the natural birth stories found in the Ina May book.  They will give you confidence.  I can tell you that the biggest hurdle you're going to hit is pressure from your OB (if you're using one) and the hospital staff (if that's where your delivering) to do it their way, which is the wrong way.  Your body is not broken, it doesn't need fixing.  Educate yourself on the hospitals/OBs practices and learn what your rights are.  You can always turn down medical intervention.  Ask questions and be firm with what you want.  Good luck.

Celyn

Everyone is different.  A lot of experienced yoginis have success with mindfulness based birth practices (look for Nancy Bardake's book).  Proper Lamaze is much more than just breathing, but most hospital "quickie" classes don't focus on the other stuff (it's usually at least a 6 wk and sometimes 12 wk course).  Browse through Birthing from Within, Bradley, or Hynobirth at the book store and see if one of those appeals to you. 

qtssima

Lots of good suggestions here - the Birthing the Bradley Way book is not that long and hits some relevant points that are just good basic information about transition, and what your emotional state might be like, etc.

I took the Hypnobirthing class. This centers a lot on meditation, which is something I was already doing, and positive affirmations. You can easily buy the book online. Bradley and Hypnobirthing do have a few things in common, so between those two I think you will be fine. I haven't done Hypnobabies, but many on the board love it and I believe it is a self-study course that is supposed to combine Bradley & Hypnobirthing.

Hypnobirthing breathing techniques are pretty simple if you are already familiar with yogic breathing - it is about getting yourself to a relaxed state and letting your body & baby dictate the pace of labor without the external "noise". The other thing I would recommend is to do a simple birthing plan and discuss it with your OB, and take it with you to the hospital. I would focus on fetal monitoring, labor augmentation, labor/pushing positions. These are typically easy requests even in the most traditional of hospital settings, and as a PP said, you need to start getting the team on board with your way of thinking.

crystal8503

Thank you for all of the helpful suggestions!  I didn't mean for my question to be a post and run, but that's what it turned out to be.  

I do live in a rural area and classes are not available to me with the exception of one that is offered at my hospital, so we are going to take that.  I'm also going to finish reading my books and look into hypnobirthing as well.  

All of the encouraging words provided were a wonderful pick me up and courage booster, so thank you!  I look forward to continuing to read about all of the successful natural births here, as well as post ours in December!  Thank you!