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Natural Birth
iLoveblueberries
member
What were some of your favorite mantras during labor/birth?
iLoveblueberries
member
I am starting to compile a list of sayings/phrases to start using as we prepare for natural birth!
What are some things you heard or said that helped you through the process?
Did you have one mantra or did you use varying phrases?
Did DH or SO say anything that really helped? Anything that made you want to punch them?
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Re: What were some of your favorite mantras during labor/birth?
Not really a mantra, but I focused on taking it one contraction at a time and telling myself it wouldn't last forever. During my son's labor/birth, I kept thinking of the time a few months earlier when I'd had the stomach flu and it was awful but I survived, so I would survive this too! Kind of silly but it worked.
My husband and doula kept telling me that I was doing great and that was helpful.
One thing that made me want to punch my husband was during crowning when he told me "the baby's head is coming out" and I was like "I KNOW!!!!" LOL
With my first I was rubbing my forehead on the couch (kneeling on the floor in front of the couch) and repeating "ahf" over and over again. For some reason it was very soothing to me, and every time I said the word I was picturing the letters in my head.
With my second I was rubbing my forehead on the side of the birth tub where the midwives had put a washcloth. At some point I said "I can't do this," but I realized that wasn't helpful so then I just kept repeating "I CAN do this!" over and over again during contractions/pushing.
"your body was made for this."
"relax into the contraction...welcoming the contraction"
Rocking/swaying. (especially leaning over things, or on hands and knees)
Focusing on my breathing (a yoga thing)...and making a soft vocal "hum" when I exhaled. That one helped the most for some reason...and I did it for hours.
I didn't say it out loud, but I during contractions I thought "this is my body doing big work." "my uterus is doing big work." stuff like that.
It seriously made the sensations more tolerable--knowing at the forefront of my mind that there was a good reason for the intense sensations.
4/25/12 ~ Our angel, Persephone James, is here!
My body knows how to give birth.
My baby knows how to be born.
Those affirmations really helped me. My doula would remind me to relax my shoulders, and my H was constantly saying I can do this and I was doing great. Those things were very helpful.
I only said them in my head, but these are the two that got me through:
"It can't be stronger than me because it is me." My body was creating the contractions, and I trusted my body to only give me as much as I could handle.
"I can do anything for two minutes." If you take them one at a time, you only have to get through the next two minutes. I had *no* idea how much time past because I couldn't see a clock and I took them one at a time.
My single best piece of advice is to cover the clock if you can. I labored for a looooooong time, and I think I would have been much more frustrated and tired if I had known what time it was. I was trying for a homebirth, so I was laboring at home and it just so happened there was no clock in the room I was in. At one point I asked my wonderful midwife what time it was, and she wiped the hair out of my eyes and said, "You don't want to know, sweetheart. Just keep going." I thought for a second and realized she was completely right. There was no good that could come from focusing on how long things were taking.
I counted my breaths to twenty during each contraction (silently). I never counted more than twenty breaths. That meant that as the contractions got longer (and stronger) I had to slow my breathing to accomodate. I concentrated on the counting as much as I could.
I was very quiet for both my labours. No chit chat, no 'you can do it' for me. Very quiet.
Mine was "the only way out is through."
(Which I've used for a lot of hard things I've taken on in my life, from running races to finishing my novel to doing big presentations at work.)
When I was going through transition, my midwife said, "You're doing great... you're listening to your body and doing exactly what it tells you to do." I took that to heart and realized I just needed to keep doing what I had been doing.
My DH told me jokes and funny stories during most of my contractions. I don't know how he did it, but I swear he had a new joke for each contraction. Some of them were funny stories about our dog or things we'd done. Some were random lines from 30 Rock. Some were just jokes he made up on the fly. I laughed all the way through, which was so helpful.
I said much the same thing, "nobody ever died of pain"
That and "I am not a driver in this process. I'm an active participant, but not the driver" This was really cornerstone to me surrendering control over every last little thing and let my body take charge.
I'm a FTM and haven't been through labor before but I do live with chroinc pain. I find reminding myself, "It's only temporary" very helpful. I use "It's only temporary" for a varity of unpleasant things in life and it helps me keep things in perspective.
I also like to imagine waves crashing over me and the rythmic movements of the ocean. Thinking about the ocean and waves as I breathe helps me to relax.
I also have a ton of affermations and Bible verses that I say to myself such as "If it is to be it's up to me." and "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
When I'm in pain anything my husband says and even the sound of his voice annoys the crap outta me. Last night at our Bradley class we were practicing relaxing through contrax and the coaches were supposed to be giving the moms encouragement. I kept telling Hubby to shut up!
those two things for me...and just listening and trusting my body and baby that we could do this....I followed what was comfortable for me...I remember not wanting to move around (mind you my labor was less than an hour long), I was in the bed, inclined, legs bent and liked swaying them side to side and would tap the bed with my hand to get through the contraction. My doula softly stroked my forearm which was also great...I didn't ask she did it and it was perfect.
My two cents...we can tell you what mantras or positions or things that worked for us...but truth is just listen to your body and do what is most comfortable and soothing to you. Good luck!
Konstantino
Maximo
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I could only focus on the moment because if I thought of the past or future, it slowed me down. So, I had to recognize and appreciate what was happening in the moment and live in the "now." In transition, all I could say was "my thighs are burning" and to own that sensation. During pushing, all I could say was "get it out!" because it was all I wanted and the only way to channel my energy.
For most of my labor though, I was completely silent, both externally and internally. It's like I went to another place, but really that other place was somewhere deep inside of me. Sometimes there is no mantra because words and thoughts are not what's needed.