Ready for Labor & Delivery, Mom? 5 Secrets for an Easier Labor Labor and Delivery Third Trimester

You'll have many wonderful memories of being a mom, but those of being in labor likely won't be among them. That said, how can mothers make their labor easier?

Here are five of my secrets that I share with moms-to-be to make their labor easier: 

1. Let Your Baby Decide When to Be Born

For many women, labor tends to start and stop. It may take longer to let your baby decide when to be born, but you and your baby will fare better with a labor and delivery which avoids as much technological intervention as possible.

2. Avoid Being Tethered to the Bed

It often helps to promote labor if you’re able to walk around. If you have all kinds of monitors attached to yourself and IVs in your arm, you're unable to get up and do what’s best for advancing your labor: walking. Plus, being able to walk around tends to moderate fear.

3. Labor Works Best Without Fear

Some doctors don’t understand that fear stops labor. We know this is true for animals in labor – if they become afraid or detect a predator, their labor will stop. Often, when women enter the hospital for labor and delivery, their fear will tend to stop their labor. To alleviate fear, it helps to be met at the hospital by the familiar face of the physician you have being seeing throughout your pregnancy. Ask your physician if you will be met by a familiar face when you go to the hospital.

4. When Not in Active Labor, Eat What You Feel Like Eating

Sometimes women in labor are not allowed to eat, possibly because there is always the fear that emergency surgeries may become necessary. In natural labors, when contractions may stop for a while before starting up again, laboring women should be allowed to eat if they feel like it.

5. Avoid Pitocin If at All Possible

Pitocin creates hard contractions that are so painful that epidurals become necessary. On a fetal monitor, Pitocin contractions show a steep increase into a sharp point followed by a sharp decline – a type of contraction that can be ineffective in labor. Natural labor contractions, on the other hand, show a slow increase into a wide bell curve and a slow decline. A natural labor contraction is painful, but less painful than those created by Pitocin, and women can often manage the pain of natural contractions without an epidural.

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