Support
Continuous labor support provided by a doula, a lay woman trained in labor support, consistently has decreased the use of obstetric interventions, including the need for pain relief.
Your labour support person does not have to be a doula. It can be your partner, a close friend or relative who trusts in your ability to birth. This support person should know specifically what you desire for your birth and be confident enough to speak up on your behalf should there be other persons in attendance at your birth.
Love & Oxytocin
Kissing, touching, and cuddling releases oxytocin into your body, giving you a pleasurable, calm feeling. Because of this, it is best to seek this kind of loving support from someone very close to you such as your husband, mother or best friend rather than a doula, as they can connect to you on a deeper and more intimate level.
If you have older, breastfeeding children, you can try breastfeeding and cuddling your children during labour to increase your oxytocin levels.
Partner tips - Tell the woman you love her and are proud of how well she is doing, rub her back, neck, shoulders, arms, belly, etc, kiss her, support her in positions, nuzzle her neck as she lies against you in the pool.
This kind of loving support works best in a warm, secure environment where the labouring woman is comfortable and receptive to loving. Some couples make love in one of its forms (intercourse, rubbing, touching, masturbation) during labour and have orgasmic, painless childbirths.
Massage & Counter-pressure
Massage and/or counter-pressure can be applied where ever you feel it is needed. This can be a good tool for handling back labours with posterior babies.
Massage should be firm, calm (slow) with slight pressure applied. Don't rub frantically or do a half arsed job, this will cause tension in the labouring woman.
Warmth
Different forms of warmth can be used, ranging from body warmth, warm to hot water showers, baths or birth pools, massage, hot water towels, heat packs, hot fluffy towels from the dryer etc.
A popular homebirth warmth aid is Hot Towels. Click the link to see pictures, descriptions on use and how to make them.
Water Birth & Birth Pools
Labouring and birthing where most of the woman's body is submerged in warm water is effective for pain relief. A bonus of waterbirth is the water supports the perinium and takes some of the pressure off it.
Cold / Cool Packs & Cloths
Labouring can be hot, exhausting work sometimes. It helps to have cold washcloths on hand for faces and necks and to cover the eyes with. Some times back pain is relieved better with cold packs than hot. If labouring in a birth pool, women will almost always appreciate cool washcloths closeby on hand!
Relaxing & Breathing
Remember to relax. It helps to breath calmly and deeply as this relaxes the body. One of the key things to remember going into childbirth is to remind yourself to just let go and relax where you can. Women report it is easy to forget this and tense up in antipication of an incoming contraction.
Try to completely relax other body parts and concentrate on them rather than the build up of a contraction.
Open O's
The crown chakra at the top of your head - visualise this as a white light down through your body. Visualise white light bursting forth from your mouth and cervix. Keep your jaws and mouth slack and loose.
Strange as it seems, having a loose, open mouth helps your cervix to relax and open too. Some women chant "Open, Open, Ooooopen" while labouring and find this to work well.
If you have loving support present at your labour, you can kiss large, open, deep breathy kisses and visualise your whole body opening up.
The Birthing Roar
Some women relate to stress release and pain relief by making noise. Rather than waste energy and force on screaming, swearing or saying "I can't do this", start moaning. Moan and groan deeply. Make the relaxing, sensual noises that you do during making love. Breath the moans out and relax.
Open "O" howling works nicely too! Don't feel inhibited in your noise if you need to make noise. Just tell the neighbours if they ask that you were having wild, kinky sex *wink*
Individual Coping Mechanisms
Your own individual system of pain coping - some people make noise, want to be alone, don't want to be touched, need absolute quiet, eyes closed, etc.
Sensual Movements & Song
Dance solo to your own inner song, or with a partner. Use music that you feel is appropriate - relaxing, quiet, calm, earth moving, inspiring, waves lapping on a shore or even songs of South Africa. Singing, vocalising, dancing, tranquil yoga asanas and so on all can help relaxation, calmness and confidence.
Scents
Some women like to burn incense or essential oils to relax. Be aware though that sometimes strong smells can be hard to get rid of especially during labour where your senses are heightened.
Strong smells can cause discomfort and nausea - like plastic shower curtains, plastic birth pools, essential oils that were lovely one minute but wrong the next. Try to avoid strong smells in your birth environment and stick to more natural smells like fresh flowers, pine needles, herbs etc.
Positioning
If you are uncomfortable or not handing contractions well in a position, change it! And keep changing it until you find your rhythm and place.
Rest & Sleep
When you need to, rest and sleep. Even if you don't need to, during the early stages of labour it is best to rest as much as you can. Difficult yes especially if you are excited about the impending birth!
During active labour, relax as much as you can and get into comfortable, supported positions like leaning your upper body on the inflated wall of a birth pool. This allows you to doze in between contractions and make the most of your relaxation.
Energy Levels
Keep your energy levels up with rest, relaxation, food, sleep, water, herbs or homeopathy.
Labour Exercises & Stretches
Cat curls (get on all fours, arch your back slowly and breathing out while moving your head really slowly to look at the ceiling. Hold a few seconds, then move your head down slowly to look at your belly while breathing in and hunching your back) is wonderful for relieving back pain and can assist in the baby's positioning, especially if posterior.
Standing either alone with hands on hips or hands holding onto a countertop, or upper body resting against a birth pool wall, gently rotate your hips back and forth (sorta like Elvis lol but gentler!), clockwise, anti-clockwise, and in figures of eight. This keeps things loose, relaxed and encourages your baby to turn down into your pelvis properly.
Standing against a wall with your back and shoulders up against the wall, slide up and down the wall in squats.
Squats down to the floor or holding onto a chair to squat (either on the balls of your feet or with your feet flat on the floor and your legs in an open squat like a primal woman squatting)
Homeopathy
Homeopathy can be used to support labours and assist with problems like a breech baby or stalled labour. Because homeopathic remedies have to be matched to the person it is best if you have some experience self-prescribing homeopathy or have a support person experienced with it.
For informative purposes, here is a Childbirth Materia Medica that lists remedies often used in childbirth and when to use said remedies.
Herbs & Tinctures
Cannabis/Marijuana has been used for coping with labour and with pain. However, this is an illict substance and you would be breaking the law if you smoked pot to relieve pain. Cannabis herb tincture might be legal. You would have to find out yourself the legal issues surrounding this.
Bach Flower Rescue Remedy is a great all-time remedy for times of great emotional stress, exertion or panic.
Motherwort tincture - 5 drops in a glass of water or juice, results should be noticeable within 20 mins, fading gradually over 1-3 hours. Repeat dosage as needed. This tincture is great for the early achey (period-like cramping) of early labour. Motherwort produces a floating feeling in the uterus.
Skullcap tincture - a single dose of 3-8 drops is usually all that is needed to ease pain such as headaches, contractions, dilation of the cervix etc. Repeat as necessary but be warned this tincture has a sedative effect.
St Joan's Wort for back spasms. Works for other spasms as well. A mixture of 3 drops skullcap and 20 drops St Joan's Wort can be used every hour to ease pain.
Chewing Ginseng root throughout labour can give you a safe source of energy release for exhaustion in labour.
Remember the Baby
Remember what you are doing. Yes its a baby! You are birthing your baby and she/he will be along sooner or later to look into your eyes from their secure position in your arms. Everything has an end, and it will all be over before you know it! You are strong, you can and will get through it like the millions of primal women that give birth without epidurals, laughing gas and pethedine!
"It's a BABY! I'm having a baby! I'm going to be holding my baby sooooooon......... Labouring does not last forever, other women have done it, other women are doing it elsewhere in the world RIGHT now with me! I can, will and am doing this!"
