Comfort
Comfort: • things that contribute to physical ease and well-being. • a person or thing that helps to alleviate a difficult situation. • a warm quilt.
COMFORT MEASURES: WAYS TO COPE DURING LABOUR
Unmedicated birth or medicated, in most birth stories, there’s a portion of time when we are looking for comfort and ways to cope through the work of labour. Hospitals have always encouraged birthers to stay home until active labour is well established in a pattern of 5-1-1 (surges/ contractions happening approximately every 5 minutes, lasting a minute, and the pattern has continued for at least an hour). Additionally, in this time of a global pandemic, many families choose to stay home longer or not birth at the hospital at all (with midwives at home or a birth centre where available). This is where comfort measures for labour are really helpful!
Please know that not all comfort measures feel good to everybody. Think of the following list as a full toolkit of options, and you get to choose what works for you.
• BREATHING. Focus on deep inhales and extending your exhales. Blubbering your lips and low exhales with sounds like "haaa" or "house." Keep tension out of the face, neck and shoulders.
• POSITION CHANGES. Aim to change positions at least every 30-60 minutes to help labour progress. Sit on the toilet or on a birth ball and move your hips, lean forward and add gentle squats or side lunges, all fours, side-lying, slow dancing with your support person or standing sways/ squats/ lunges are all great options.
• SELF-HYPNOSIS. Hypnobabies and Hypnobirthing courses offer in person classes and take home materials to study. • Attention focusing. Using a focal point, like an image on the wall or an internal image.
• RITUALS. Tapping, swaying, singing or blowing out. Repeating the comfort measures that are working during each surge/ contraction.
• WATER THERAPY. Using a bath, shower or birth tub.
• HOT & COLD THERAPY. Using magic bags or rice socks, as well as ice chips and cool cloths for the forehead and neck.
• MUSIC. Make a playlist to guide you along at each stage. Check out this one that I made for clients - Birthing Day
• TENS MACHINE. Sends electrical pulses to your skin to build up endorphins. I bring one of these with me to births, but you can also rent these from medical supply stores.
• COUNTER PRESSURE & MASSAGE. Hip squeezes, counter pressure and acupressure points around the shoulders, hips and feet, firm downward strokes on the back or legs and holding ankles can all feel relieving and grounding while helping muscle release tension. I can teach you how to do these!
• REBOZO. The long, tightly woven scarf can be used in all manner of ways to support pregnancy & birth. Hip squeezes, belly lifts, Sifting and Shake the Apple Tree are just a few. I can also teach you Rebozo techniques. Find out more about the Rebozo here.
• REASURRANCE. Affirmations and words like, "Yes," "Yes. Baby," "Open," "Surrender," "I've got this," "You ARE doing this," "This is the work," “I can do hard things",” “This is not bigger than me - it IS me” can be very helpful. A web search for Birth Affirmations will bring up lots of images.
• IMAGERY. Picture a flower blooming, a light gradually growing in intensity, riding waves or simply imagine meeting your baby.
• PERSPECTIVE. Remembering that this is work that you and baby are doing together and it is not something being done to you can be a very helpful perspective. Know that you are doing this work to bring your baby into this world and you are choosing to take this work on to meet your baby.
The above comfort measures often work well when you combine a few favourites and do them at the same time.
Clients I supported doing the double hip squeeze with the Rebozo wrapped around her belly to do the belly lift and tuck after. The birther is also wearing a TENs machine to help her cope with labour contractions. Photo shared with permission.
Many times labour does not progress like it does in the text books!
One scenario is that labour feels very intense and is in your back more than in your belly. Surges/ contractions might be very frequent but they’re only 30- 45 seconds long OR they’re exceptionally long 1.5 to 2 minutes. This is often referred to as “back labour.” Back labour is typically more uncomfortable and while it feels like active labour (and the pattern looks like active labour) it usually progresses much, much slower. Back Labour is often because baby’s head is facing in a less optimal direction. It can mean you’re more uncomfortable and working harder for longer. BUT, there are things we can do to help encourage baby into a better position!
If you feel a lot of uncomfortable labour in your low back and or tailbone and suspect you maybe experiencing back labour you can try:
• Open Chest to Knees (bum up, chest down) for about 30 minutes and or Cat/ Cow
• Extreme side lying with leg up over the back of the sofa or over lots of pillows/ peanut ball for about 30 minutes
• Walk sideways up stairs, uneven stepping for about 30 minutes
• Heat on belly, cold on back
• Side lunge or leg up on chair
• Rebozo: Belly Sifting, Shake the Apple Tree or Standing Belly Lift with posterior tilt of pelvis.
Knowing when and how to use various comfort measures is one of the biggest assets that a doula brings to birth support. Would you like to learn these Comfort Measures for your birth? All support packages include instruction on comfort measures and video reminders. Book a 1 hour Check- in lasses to learn Comfort Measures happen several times a year.
