10 Ways to Make Your Childbirth Easier

A Better Birth
In her nearly 40 years as a midwife, Eileen Ehudin Beard has been at “a gazillion” births. (Translation: More than 1,000.) She’s also given birth to five children of her own. “Every birth is different, every woman is different,” says Beard, the senior practice advisor at the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Still, smoother births often share common traits. Here’s what Beard and other experts say women can do to help make childbirth as positive — and painless — as possible:

1. Find a provider you trust.
Unless you’re an OB-GYN or midwife, you’re not a childbirth pro. But you are an expert in your body and know your preferences, says Dr. Aaron Caughey, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University. That’s why it’s important to partner with a professional whom you trust to make decisions in line with your values should things not go according to plan, he says.

2. Tell it to them straight.
Good communication is a key trait of a well-matched provider, Beard says. Does he or she listen to you ? Can you comfortably express how you’d like your birth to go ? Will your desires for a particular environment be accommodated? “If you go in having issues with your provider … that’s going to cause you to be tense,” Beard says. “And if you’re tense, you’re more likely to have pain.”

3. Don’t eat for two.
Tempting though it may be, pregnancy is not “an opportunity to just go crazy” food-wise. “You’re not eating for two — you’re eating for about 1.1,” Caughey says. Gaining too much weight can raise your child’s risk of obesity and is linked to complications during birth, including cesarean deliveries . “If you gain extra weight, then the baby gains extra weight as well,” Caughey says. “Bigger babies don’t fit as well, so you end up with C-sections.”

4. Gather your cheering squad.
Before the big day, enlist a support person or team. Whether it’s your partner, mom or entire circle of friends, your posse should comprise people who make you feel most at ease, Beard says. Want to add an expert cheerleader to the mix? Consider hiring a doula — someone who’s trained in supporting women before, during and after birth. Research shows their presence can lower the risk of delivery complications and having an underweight baby.

5. Set the scene.
One of Beard’s patients blasted loud music and surrounded herself with about 10 friends and family members during labor. “This is what relaxed her,” she remembers. “For me, it would have been a nightmare.” But no matter: Women should be able to give birth in an environment that makes them most comfortable, whether that’s a hospital or birth center , with loud music or silence, or under bright or dimmed lights, Beard says.

6. Don’t rush.
When it comes to childbirth, faster isn’t always better. In fact, first-time moms whose doctors allow them to spend at least three hours in the first stage of labor — from when contractions start to when the cervix is completely dilated — may reduce their chances of having an unnecessary C-section, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports. “We really need to allow sufficient time for [the cervix] to dilate,” says Christina Tussey, a women and infant clinical nurse specialist at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix.

7. Move it.
Don’t think staring at the ceiling is your only option when it comes to pushing that baby out. Squatting, walking, rocking in a rocking chair and even going on all fours in a tub may be options, depending on where you’re giving birth and whether you have an epidural to reduce pain. “It’s like taking your ring off your finger — you don’t just pull it off your knuckle,” Tussey says. “You’re going to try to ease it around that knuckle, twisting it different ways. Then, it slides off.”

8. Ask for a peanut ball.
In a 2015 study in the Journal of Perinatal Education, Tussey and her colleagues found that women who received epidurals and put a “peanut ball” — or an exercise ball shaped like a peanut — between their knees during childbirth had shorter labors and fewer cesareans than those who didn’t use the balls. (Earlier research showed the same is true for women who don’t use epidurals.) “If we can open the pelvis by using the peanut ball or changing positions, that really is to our advantage,” Tussey says.

9. Be in the know.
When Tussey gave birth to her first baby, she had a plan and confidence — two factors she thinks set her up for success. What wouldn’t have? “Just going in and going, ‘I haven’t read anything, I haven’t looked into anything, I don’t know what to expect,'” Tussey says. Her colleague, nurse Emily Botsios, suggests taking childbirth classes to learn about different techniques. Women who practice various positions with their partners before and during labor, Botsios says, “are going to find what works for them.”

10. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
As important as it is to be prepared, it’s just as important to be flexible. If you want a natural birth, for example, don’t blame yourself if you wind up wanting an epidural or needing a C-section. In the end, the goal is a healthy mom and baby. “We all have this fantasy labor or how we want things to be, but nature is not predictable all the time,” Beard says. “It’s really just important to go with the flow and listen to your body.”

SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com