Preparing for a natural birth
We sat down with Amy, founder of Natural Birth Co to chat about how pregnant Mummas can prepare for a natural, empowered birth, what things are important to consider when it comes to mental, physical and partner preparation and what is involved with her upcoming workshop held at Back to Bounce; How to cope with pain in Labour.
Pregnancy, labour and childbirth; some magical, momentous occasions in life, however can also often be met with many feelings of uncertainty, the unknown and even perhaps fear. Pregnant Mummas can often become overwhelmed with a bombardment of opinions, advice and all of the tips and tricks, sometimes even when they don’t ask for it. Whilst often this information is well intentioned, it can also be extremely confusing as each individual’s birth story is different and unique to them.
So often in physiotherapy world we have pregnant Mummas express their fears and uncertainty surrounding many topics, but the common ones are; “Will I be able to have a natural birth? What if I can’t cope with the pain? What happens if I have major tearing or pelvic floor injury due to birth? Will my body ever be the same again?” Amongst a host of many, many other questions…
Well, we are here to help allay some of the fears and questions surrounding these topics and inform you of how you can prepare for an empowered natural birth. To keep things simple, an easy way to think about natural birth preparation and the pain associated with labour, is to break it down into two major aspects; the physical preparation and the mental preparation. Whilst physiotherapy can help with the physical preparation, the expert guidance and advice from a registered and experienced midwife and birth educator can provide education on the birthing process, what to expect, how to cope with pain in labour and how you can prepare for birth. Education, understanding and preparation are key factors for helping you mentally and physically prepare your body for what happens in labour and a natural childbirth, along with preparing for what could potentially happen and how to deal with things as they arise throughout labour.
In treating pregnant ladies and helping them prepare for a natural birth, we love to work closely with other health professionals to ensure holistic, patient centred care to deliver the best results for our patients. We sat down with Amy, founder of The Natural Birth Co to talk about strategies to help prepare the body for birth. Amy is an experienced midwife who is passionate about empowering women to feel prepared for a calm, natural birth in a hospital setting. She hosts her own podcast to educate women on a range of topics related to pregnancy, birth and the post-natal period, along with running pregnancy and post-natal pilates and yoga classes and workshops. With 10 years experience as a registered midwife, Amy combines her love of teaching yoga and pilates with her skills as a midwife and passion for educating women on the physiological process of birth to deliver exceptional care to Mumma’s in their journey through pregnancy and birth.
Amy, founder of Natural Birth Co is facilitating a workshop at Back to Bounce Sports Physiotherapy in Maroochydore on 12th May. Amy provides an all-encompassing approach in preparing Mumma's for their birth journey; from partner prep, to educating on physical and mental preparation, advising pregnant Mummas and providing guidance and support along the way.
In our chat, we delve into some of the preparation strategies Amy teaches to pregnant Mummas to help prepare them for childbirth, why the partner’s role is so important, why yoga and pilates are so important throughout pregnancy and what to expect in her upcoming workshop How to cope with pain in Labour.
Hi Amy, thank you so much for chatting with us today. Can you please tell us some things you commonly advise pregnant ladies to do to help them prepare for birth?
At Natural Birth Co we believe in preparing three aspects when aiming for a natural birth;
Preparing yourself PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY & preparing your PARTNER.
PHYSICAL Preparation is important for:
Balancing the ligaments and muscles, that surround and are within the uterus and the pelvis.
Building strength in the legs and glutes for the longevity of birth.
Building muscle memory of birth positions and movements.
LABOUR IS NOT A TIME TO LEARN NEW TRICKS!
MENTAL Preparation is important for:
Learning how to cope with pain in labour.
Building trust and confidence in your body to birth naturally.
Reconnect and fine tune into your intuition.
Preparing your PARTNER is important for:
Them learning how to support you emotionally during labour.
Learning how to enhance the natural birthing process, both hormonally and through creating space in the pelvis.
Learning how to advocate for you, and own the birth space.
What are the benefits of doing classes such as yoga and pilates throughout pregnancy?
Benefits of Yoga & Pilates in pregnancy (especially pregnancy-specific classes):
Yoga/Pilates can assist in bringing balance into the ligaments, especially if your teacher is training in this and specifically targets ligaments important for pregnancy and birth.
Yoga/Pilates builds mobility in the joints within the pelvis- when these joints are used frequently, they lubricate and become more flexible and therefore more mobile. This not only leads to a more comfortable pregnancy but also more freedom of movement in the sacrum for the birth. The sacrum being able to move through the labour is essential for normal birth in creating space in the pelvis for baby. Lengthening the calves, hamstrings and glutes is also amazing for bringing freedom of movement into the sacrum.
Yoga/Pilates connects mamas with your breath, body, baby, and intuition- very conducive to a natural birth experience.
Yoga/Pilates builds strength- especially in the glutes and legs- this increases your physical resilience towards labour, allowing you to endure labour longer, reducing your chances of physical exhaustion (1 of the 3 main reasons a woman taps out of the birth she desires, to an epidural or C-section she doesn’t need medically).
Build a community of pregnant mamas around you to support you, comfort you and connect to.
What does your How to cope with pain in Labour workshop involve and what can ladies expect?
After this workshop you will feel:
Confident, resilient and strong during your labour
Minimise the fear of anticipating your labour, feeling confident on your ability to cope with contractions
Remain calm during your labour, bringing great benefit to your baby’s ability to cope in labour
Increase your chances of avoiding the epidural- Refer to pro’s and con’s of epidural use here.
Reduce your chance of experiencing birth trauma (due to your shift in perception, and the difference in the path your birth takes if you cope well with pain in labour)
In this workshop you will learn & receive:
How to incorporate these coping strategies into your mock contractions
How to maintain calm through intense physical sensation
How to change your perspective on pain, enabling you to cope with labour pain rather than feel traumatised by it
How to avoiding needing an epidural
How this Workshop works:
We go through seven practical strategies to enable you to cope with pain in labour
We practise how to incorporate each of these contractions into mock contractions finding the ones you most prefer
You go home with a PDF of multiple mock contractions to practise both individually and with your partner.
We have a check in call 1 week post workshop to see how you are progressing- how we can meet and push past your ‘Edge of tolerance’ to find the techniques that work best for you to then communicate this with your birth partner to use in labour.
Why is it important to involve the partner in the preparation?
The partner's role in birth is HUGE!
They support you emotionally
Support you physically with your positions and movements through labour to create space in the pelvis for babe to descend
Create and protect the birth space environment
Advocate for you
Ask questions for you and make decisions based on your pre-discussed birth preferences during the birth process
Make you feel safe and held
Amy will be facilitating How to Cope with pain in Labour on 12th May at 6pm at our clinic, Back to Bounce Sports Physiotherapy in Maroochydore, Emporio Place. Amy is a wealth of knowledge, is so passionate about educating females and helping Mummas to feel confident, strong and resilient for their natural birth and we can’t wait to have her in our clinic for her workshop.
To book in for Amy’s How to cope with pain in Labour workshop, head over to the following link: https://www.naturalbirthco.com/natural-birth-co-intro-offer or, book below;
To learn more about Amy, her expertise and experience, visit https://www.naturalbirthco.com/about-natural-birth-co
To learn more about how to have an empowered, connected and natural birth, hear interviews and Amy’s expert advice, head over to Amy’s podcast Natural Birth Co. Podcast Podcast — Natural Birth Co.
To follow Amy on Instagram and keep up to date with the latest news from Natural Birth Co, check out Natural Midwife (@naturalbirthco) • Instagram photos and videos
