using movement and labor can help labor speed up and for the contractions to hurt
less so for those two reasons let's talk about the best ways 20 of my top tips to
make the most of moving and position changes in labor I brought you to my happy place today
Green Lake are the Ducks really loud today they're like right there the geese and the Ducks so when
do we start moving in labor do we start changing positions as soon as we feel the first contraction
do we as soon as we feel like we have a rhythm is that when we start changing positions this
is a question I get all the time and it's a great one and what I'd like to say is you start actively
dealing with labor when you need a way to cope so when labor is like serious you're no longer
kind of doing your same old routine or whatever you're doing and you really have to stop for a
moment that's a great time to start thinking about the positions that you're going to be
in labor so before then just ignore it but once that becomes serious then time to use movement to
your benefit in labor so I often get the question how often should I be changing positions in labor
and I think it's commonly misunderstood that you should be changing like every contraction or every
five minutes or so that is way too much so as a general rule when I help someone as a doula I say
about every 20 to 30 minutes so there's no hard fast rule but that's a good general rule of thumb
to live by when you're in labor so many times I have worked with clients where they say as soon
as I got up from a laying down position as soon as I got out of bed my contractions didn't hurt
as much I was able to cope with them better and this is such important information that I feel
like people are not telling you about so you've got to know that your contractions will likely
hurt less if you're upright so or if you're not leaning back if you're leaning forward so if you
can remember one takeaway as labor approaches get out of bed get upright and move dads and partners
can be so helpful in using movement and labor the thing that they can do is give a suggestion
the thing about it is when you're in labor you are not thinking about what position should I do
next what haven't I done how long have I been on my left side or my right side but dads and
partners this is great for you so if you can give a suggestion like how about the birth ball next
how about after that next contraction you go labor on the toilet let's give that a try that is going
to be so much better than asking a question so what you don't want is to say hey babe do
you want to sit on the birth ball or do you think now's a good time to walk in labor go for a walk
you don't want to ask a question asking a question can send the person in labor into a real spin in
their brain so just giving a suggestion can be so helpful to the person that's laboring can
joke like yeah let's do it one of the categories of movement that I highly recommend is asymmetric
movements so that means that both of your legs are not doing the same thing and a great one is
the Captain Morgan so putting your leg up and you have one foot going to your right in this example
my other foot is pointed straight out so they're at right angles to each other so doing asymmetric
movements like this are a great way to open up the pelvis on one side and I would definitely
add asymmetric movements into your routine that you're going to be doing in labor the next tip
has to do with asymmetric movements when you're doing these make sure that you even yourself out
okay so if you spend time let's say 15 minutes with your right leg up make sure you switch and
change to your left leg up this is a great thing for your partner to remind you about so Partners
if you look at the clock and you say 10 minutes on the right switch and do 10 minutes on the left
now it is not uncommon that these asymmetric movements can make contractions feel stronger
so if you change your position and you find that all of a sudden your contractions feel stronger
in that position this is another tip but that's actually a really good thing we're trying to make
labor progress I mean nobody wants a slow flavor right so sometimes if you're in labor you're
gonna feel like oh no I don't want to do that position because it just got more intense or the
contractions just got closer together but that's actually like a jackpot when you change a position
and you see a change in labor like that where it's they're either stronger or they're longer
or they're closer together that's a great thing so position changing in labor we all know that it
is helpful it can help reduce pain but what's the magic formula like give me the step-by-step which
positions did I start with and then what's next all the way until either I'm ready to push or I'm
ready to get an epidural I wish I wish I could give you that combination it doesn't exist we
all have to just try just try things see if they work that's what we all do even doulas I remember
when I was a newer Doula I worked with a client who found out that she needed to be induced and
she called we were talking things over what was that going to look like and she was so devastated
that she wasn't going to be able to move in labor that she was you know she said my whole idea for
labor has totally changed I'm going to be stuck in the bed now and I was like whoa whoa whoa time out
that is not the case just because you're being induced does not mean that you're going to be
stuck in the bed like you know I think people get that idea in their head that they're just going to
be like laying down sort of in that semi-reclined position and that's going to be their labor so
that's not the case when you're being induced you do have a few things that are limiting you
know you have an IV usually if you're having a pitocin induction so you have you know a tube
into your arm and you have a pole well that pole can be moved and I have worked with clients where
we have brought that poll all over all sorts of positions in to the bathroom a lot of times
you're even able to labor in the water in the tub if you have the pole and all of your monitoring
that is able to be submerged in water so also if you have to be on the bed for some reason maybe
um who knows if let's just say you had to be on the bed had to be in bed or on the bed for some
reason there are still lots of positions lots of options that you can do on the bed so don't just
throw in the towel on movement and say you can't move anymore just because you are going to have
to be induced so if you're planning an epidural that's great what I don't want you to do though
is to forget about moving and labor a couple things you can move before you get the epidural
so think of pre-epudural at the time that you can be outside of the bed these are the time to use
things you've probably learned in childbirth class or maybe on this channel about sitting on the ball
and doing slow dance with your partner think about getting those in before you get an epidural then
after you get the epidural you can use movement in the bed as well now I really want you to be
sleeping and resting if you get an epidural but you can get your labor and delivery nurse to help
you maybe even with the peanut ball and move get your body moving and movement in labor does not
up just because you get an epidural when it comes to movement and labor one thing I'd really like
for you to remember is to mix active positions with restful positions so you don't want to just
be like walking all the time and trying to like do lunges and get on the birth ball and you know do
hip movements that's going to wear you out like really kind of do a couple active and then some
restful positions so take time to sit on the bed you know sit on your couch maybe lie down anything
that's restful you definitely want to mix up with your actives so that you can keep going and keep
your energy up in labor so walking in labor can be an amazing way to move and sometimes I'll have
clients that will pack their running shoes so that they can walk comfortably in the hospital
but what you don't want to do is wear yourself out one of the absolute easiest things easiest
movements in labor easiest positions is the forward lean leaning forward usually feels so
much better than leaning back and so I feel like that should be your go-to position the one that
is like that first comes to your mind when you start feeling contractions that you really have
to deal with so whether that is at home if you're laboring at home or whether you're being induced
and contractions finally pick up that forward lean should be your top and you can do it in so many
different ways so the birth ball it is not just for sitting on actually I love using the birth
ball for leaning on it's one of my favorite ways to use the birth ball you can kneel and lean on it
you can take the birth ball put it up on something higher like the hospital bed and lean on it that
way when you're leaning on it you can really like get a good Rhythm it is an excellent way to use
this tool it's not just for sitting on it but what I want you to remember is cover up that
plastic when you are at the hospital and you're putting the birth ball on the hospital floor
I mean kind of gross right and then you want to lean on it ah so a great way to cover up the birth
ball super easily is to grab an extra hospital gown out of the cabinets totally okay you can
use that and just throw the hospital gown over the ball so that way you have a nice protective layer
between that that plastic that's been rolling around on the hospital floor and your face
and being able to lean on that oh it is a really awesome way really awesome positioning in labor
okay so speaking of the hospital floor all of those positions that you might see on videos
here or in books that show someone kneeling on the floor or sitting on the floor anything on
the floor just know that you can do that up on the hospital bed so you don't have to be on the dirty
Hospital floor you can be up on the hospital bed and do all of those kneeling positions and they
are excellent positions so don't cross those off your list because you think you're going to be on
the hospital floor when contractions are really intense one thing I see people do a lot and it's
super natural and that is to keep their knees closed so if you are leaning against the wall
and you have your legs closed together it's almost like you are racing against the contraction that's
not going to help our baby descend through the pelvis so you want to do is have nice open legs
nice think about almost opening lining up your feet with your shoulders so I have something to
admit I never really liked the slow dance position I kind of made fun of it it looked so much like an
eighth grade dance situation and it wasn't until several years into my Doula career that I realized
that I was thinking about slow dance really wrong like the slow dance position is one that takes a
little bit of effort to get right so I think that you have to kind of make adjustments and figure
out who what kind of lean you're leaning on your partner what kind of um sort of you have you're
working with your height height differences and you know do you put your head on your partner's
chest do you put your head on your partner's shoulder you know how are you really making
that position work and I think it takes some adjustment but man when you get it right and
it feels comfortable and your partner is able to take a load uh take you know some of that weight
that you're bearing off and it's not killing your partner's back which is also adjustment
that sometimes has to be made that part that position can be so golden the thing that is cool
about that position that a lot of people I think maybe don't think about is it it really is that
close connection between you and your partner and a lot of times a close connection like that can
actually help increase the oxytocin and increase in oxytocin can increase your contractions so
you're feeling that love that connection with your partner with a really good slow dance
position and that's just going to help your labor progress and get you closer to meeting your baby
so I was working with this couple one time they are having their first baby labor was kind of
like not stalled but it wasn't changing and we knew that you know it had been some time she was
getting tired probably was a good idea to try to figure out how to get labor to start progressing
so we were trying different positions we were being really intentional of kind of
going through what are different positions that we can try and we got to one of my favorite
positions which maybe some people don't think of it as a position but it is a position and that's
the toilet so sitting on the toilet is an excellent position I've seen it many times
actually you sit on the toilet you got your pants down nice and relaxed pelvic floor and all of
a sudden you get a really strong contraction on the toilet which if you're experiencing it
it might seem like you don't want that but it's actually a really good thing because a nice
intense contraction gets us closer to having our baby so that's what happened with this client of
mine she tried so many different positions and it wasn't until she was on the toilet experienced a
contraction and there was she looked at us and she said that was the strongest contraction yet and I
don't want to go back there again I don't want to be on the toilet anymore and so her partner and I
looked at each other like in this knowing way like that's really a good thing even though she doesn't
want to have the strong contractions we know that's what she's hoping for so what we did is
we said those are great how about we do like every few contractions sit on the toilet and that's what
we did my client ended up embracing the toilet because she just found her rhythm so she stayed
on it and all of a sudden she was feeling the urge to push so it she turned the corner that
she needed and the toilet really made it happen it was amazing I hope you liked today's tips thanks
for joining me here at my favorite place I am off to get some coffee I mean I'm in Seattle I'm
going to put a video right here that I know you'll like to check out next see you next time bye guys