How to Have a Positive Birth in a Pandemic - Kirstie Harrison, Hypnobirthing Coach and founder of Feelgood Parenthood
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How to Have a Positive Birth in a Pandemic
Let’s face it, when you’d dreamed of your pregnancy and welcoming your baby, a global pandemic was NOT part of the plan!
It’s true, Coronavirus is changing the landscape of birth and maternity services, but there are still PLENTY of things you can do to have a positive birth.
First, make sure you take some time to allow yourself to feel whatever it is you feel about the situation. It’s OK to be upset that your partner can’t attend antenatal appointments with you, to be downright pissed off that your hopes for a homebirth may be off the cards, to feel disappointed that you may be unable to have a doula supporting you in labour. Acknowledge it, feel it…then let’s move on.
How to Have a Positive Birth
Depending on guidance in your local Hospital Trust your pregnancy and birth care might look a little different to normal (and to other Trusts), so let’s focus on what is within your control (which, FYI, is still a LOT) and how you can use this to achieve your positive birth. Let’s start with planning and decision making, then creating your optimum birth environment, and finally your mindset.
Planning and Decision Making
Probably the most important thing to note is that, in spite of Coronavirus, your fundamental rights to a safe and positive birth remain the same! It’s YOUR CHOICE what position you birth in, to have access to pain relief, whether to accept vaginal examinations, stretch and sweeps, induction of labour, other interventions such as artificially breaking your waters, instrumental birth, C-section…it’s ALL up to you. So it’s a good idea to get informed and consider these choices in advance, and reflect them in your birth plan.
Birth plans
Writing your birth plan or preferences is always a good idea, but perhaps more so in the current situation as it enables you and your partner to discuss and plan for your ‘ideal’ scenario and any deviations from this.
There are lots of ways to actually create your birth plan, and it needn’t be complicated. If you’re a list maker then go with that, or simple symbols are great (particularly for your caregivers for ease and speed of understanding your choices). I’m a big fan of the visual birth plan download from The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hill.
It’s often instinctive to start writing a birth plan as an actual chronological story of how you’d like your birth to pan out, but what’s often more useful is to list your preferences in order of importance to you. So if you’re set on a waterbirth and a physiological 3rd stage get those at the top of your list, and the things you’re happier to be a little more flexible on – perhaps the attendance of student midwives, or keeping chat to a minimum – these can come further down your list.
Some people also like to create plans for different eventualities, so for example, if your Trust has currently suspended home birth support and this was something you were hoping for, you may like to create a plan for birthing in a hospital setting AND a plan for home births should that option become available to you again during the course of your pregnancy.
The key thing in creating birth plans is the opportunity to explore your options ahead of time so that when you’re faced with choices during birth they don’t come as a surprise and you are able to make decisions from an informed and confident place.
BRAINS
This is a really handy tool, designed to further your confidence in the choices you are making for you and your baby. When making decisions, use your BRAINS and consider the following:
B – Benefits: what are the benefits of accepting this option, AND the benefits of declining?
R – Risks: what are the risks of accepting this option, AND the risks of declining?
A – Alternatives: what other options are available to me?
I – Instinct: does this feel like it’s right for me and my baby right now?
N – Nothing: what are the implications if we do nothing for 5 minutes/an hour/a week?
Environment
With so many additional guidelines and restrictions in the current climate it may feel that things are out of your control. Again, they are NOT! The key things to facilitate a smooth and comfortable labour are to feel safe, relaxed and unobserved, so take a look at this list of suggestions for creating an environment that works WITH your birth physiology:
• Stay home – Choose homebirth if that feels right for you, or if you’re planning to birth at an Obstetric Unit or Midwifery Led Unit, don’t go until you need to! The more you can labour at home (your familiar, safe space) the better for keeping things moving along
• Take home with you - this could be in the form of your pillow, a blanket, family photos, anything that’s familiar and comforting. Make the room you birth in your nest! And if restrictions mean your birth partner can’t be with you initially, take an item of their clothing with their scent, a photo, and a recording of their voice (perhaps reading a relaxation script if you’re hypnobirthing)
• Lighting – keep it low, use fairy lights, or even block it out with an eyemask. Did you know you can request lower lighting at your head during C-sections too? Under low lighting our bodies produce melatonin – part of the essential cocktail of hormones for birth
• Music – make yourself a playlist or two and get them playing, wherever you’re giving birth. Tracks that make you happy keep the oxytocin (your best hormone friend in labour!) flowing, and calming/soothing music or hypnobirthing tracks can really help you to maintain your undisturbed birthing ‘bubble’
• Essential oils – often a personal choice in terms of what you find comforting and familiar, but popular choices are lavender (calming) and rose (feminine power)
• Affirmations – never underestimate the power of surrounding yourself (and feeding your subconscious) with positive messages. You can get creative with these – flashcards, posters, bunting, texts from your birth partner, just keep them coming throughout your pregnancy and labour, and make them part of your nest
• Keep moving – walk, sway, dance, change positions, and listen to what your body is telling you feels right (because it will be)! And remember, wireless monitoring is available to facilitate this
• Minimal chat – as labour progresses, you’ll find you begin to access a very deep instinctual place in your mind, and talking brings you out of this birthing ‘bubble’ so keeping chat to a minimum and having a birth partner who can advocate for you and be your communication conduit with your caregivers is hugely beneficial
• Breathe! – essentially, breathing is a really effective method of pain relief!
Mindset
‘Where the mind leads, the body follows’. So if you want your body to birth your baby with confidence, feed your mind with positive messages and stories that empower you and uplift you (stay away from One Born Every Minute!) and tell yourself you CAN do this. Global pandemic? Pfft, who cares? Women are birthing their babies with as much (if not more!) power and confidence as ever.
And to return to decision making, feeling that you are making choices from an informed and positive place can have a huge impact on your mindset and how you feel about your birth from an emotional perspective.
This is where the right HypnoBirthing Course can really help; by providing you with the information you need BEFORE labour so you can make confident choices DURING, giving you an understanding about how to work WITH the natural physiology of birth (even if you’re having an induction or C-section), and providing you with relaxation tools and techniques, you’ll feel calm, empowered and positive about your baby’s birth.
Much love, strength and positivity to you all. You CAN do this, you ARE DOING THIS!
More About FeelGood Parenthood Hypnobirthing
My service is a comprehensive antenatal and hypnobirthing course, carefully crafted to help you to feel empowered, positive and informed about birth. It’s so much more than just breathing and visualisations (although there is some of that too!); it’s about what your body actually does during labour, about the hormones and physiological processes at play and how you can optimise them, about the many methods of making your birth more comfortable, about your choices and where to find quality information to help you to make those choices, and it’s your chance to really get prepared for your baby’s birth.
I’m based in the North West, teaching face-to-face across North Lancashire, South Cumbria and Furness but all of my courses (Private, Group, and Refresher) are also available over Zoom so no matter where you’re based you can access the in-depth birth preparation you deserve!
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