Movement vs. energy conservation

smilelari · November 2011

I might post this on the natural birth board as well, but RedCamaro's post below kind of spawned a spinoff question for me. Especially when talking about natural birth, there seems to be 2 pieces of advice that conflict. The first is to move - walk, lunges, hip circles, etc because this helps baby descend and can speed up progression. The second is to conserve energy so that you aren't completely drained when you get to pushing. Last time I definitely took the conserve energy route (until we got to the pushing part), even snoozing between contractions, but I wonder if my long labor might have been shorter and if my posterior baby might have turned anterior if I had moved a bit more. Kind of random but wondering if anyone has any thoughts on movement vs. energy conservation

MrsCaddyshack · November 2011

I wonder about this one too... and from my Bradley classes, what I'm planning to do is try to play it by ear in terms of the time of day. For instance, if I go into labor at night, I'll try to rest at night during early labor... But in general, it seems like movement would make things progress faster, I mean, hospitals must have women walk the halls for a reason, right?

I'll be curious to hear what other people say.

SuzJune04 · November 2011

I have no advice because I was wondering the same thing. I must have walked 2+ miles yesterday and I sat on the exercise ball for two hours in the evening. If I don't get this LO's head to drop & go into labor then I'll end up with a RCS.

It seems weird that you spend your entire pregnancy trying to "not overdue it" and now at the end we got to "walk/work hard" to get labor started. Anyway, I still plan to nap when my DS naps over the next week (I know what sleep deprivation lies ahead).

Mrs.Greeko · November 2011

I've never had "early labor," so for me there was no choice in the matter. I had to be moving to handle contractions. When back labor started with my posterior second baby I started bouncing on the exercise ball and she turned pretty quickly. But I start out with hard contractions 3 minutes apart to start so there really isn't the option to do anything, but move with the contractions and because they are so close that basically puts me moving constantly.

smilelari · November 2011

Mrs.Greeko:
I've never had "early labor," so for me there was no choice in the matter. I had to be moving to handle contractions. When back labor started with my posterior second baby I started bouncing on the exercise ball and she turned pretty quickly. But I start out with hard contractions 3 minutes apart to start so there really isn't the option to do anything, but move with the contractions and because they are so close that basically puts me moving constantly.

See, I was opposite. Even when I was getting close to transition I didn't want to move. In fact, I started to think we should go to the hospital and I stood up (I was in the tub) and decided I couldn't handle it outside of the tub

Mrs.Greeko · November 2011

smilelari:

Mrs.Greeko:
I've never had "early labor," so for me there was no choice in the matter. I had to be moving to handle contractions. When back labor started with my posterior second baby I started bouncing on the exercise ball and she turned pretty quickly. But I start out with hard contractions 3 minutes apart to start so there really isn't the option to do anything, but move with the contractions and because they are so close that basically puts me moving constantly.

See, I was opposite. Even when I was getting close to transition I didn't want to move. In fact, I started to think we should go to the hospital and I stood up (I was in the tub) and decided I couldn't handle it outside of the tub

Transition is a different story... I don't move places in transition (well I had to with Lucy and it was torture), but I keep swaying or whatever if that makes sense.

I think you just have to really listen to your body. If your body says movement then move, if your body says rest than rest. I think there is really no way to know what your body will be telling you until are actually in the moment. But once in the moment it's better to do what your body is telling you rather than what the books or whatever say.

CheriCO · November 2011

Mrs.Greeko:
I think you just have to really listen to your body. If your body says movement then move, if your body says rest than rest. I think there is really no way to know what your body will be telling you until are actually in the moment. But once in the moment it's better to do what your body is telling you rather than what the books or whatever say.

This is pretty much what I was going to say. Listen to your body.

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