Breathing for Releasing Tension During Labor
Today I want to share about breathing and how to use it to cope with pain during labor and birth. But to understand why we need to think about this relaxation technique, we must first understand the pain or intense discomfort experienced during labor and childbirth. The spectrum ranges significantly for how women experience the intense surges, the discomfort, and the pain during labor and childbirth. You may hear some stories of a fast and easy birth or a long and arduous birth or one that was very emergent or scary or extremely painful. It is important to understand the stories you hear from other women, those are their lived and very real experiences but they aren’t yours. You will most likely not experience a birth free of pain but it can be free of fear. And part of getting to a place of not being fearful is understanding what purpose the pain serves during labor and birth.
Pain with Purpose
PAIN stands for Purpose, Anticipated, Intermittent, Necessary - Have you ever thought of pain during childbirth like this? Pain during childbirth is not like stubbing your toe on a table. It is gradual and it builds up and over time your hormones increase and build up to better handle the pain. It is not zero to a hundred in a second. It is slow and steady and overtime increases but during this time you are working with the pain because you are following your body's signals and taking positions that help ease the intense sensations and you make sounds that can also ease the pain. If you have not given birth before, it may be hard to comprehend this or visualize it but trust me, I have witnessed many many many births and have had two of my own. This is normal.
How it works:
Researchers think that relaxation for pain relief may work by interrupting the transmission of pain signals to the brain, helping you focus on something positive, so giving you a positive source of distraction, stimulating the release of endorphins (your body’s natural pain-relieving hormones), and reframing your thoughts to think of labor sensations as positive, productive and manageable.
It’s also thought that the more you tense up, the worse pain can feel. One example I give my clients in my childbirth classes is, for someone like me who was raised in the south, the winters up in Jackson Hole (we lived there for 6 years) felt very painful to me. I would tense up when I would go outside even if I was all decked out in a coat and gloves and a hat and scarf. But tensing my muscles actually caused pain. So you can only imagine that during labor, if you are tensing up your body, then labor may feel more painful. Working on relaxing your body decreases what is called the fear-tension-pain cycle, where fear and tension feed into and make pain feel worse.
There are certain relaxation techniques such as water immersion, acupressure/acupuncture, and massage that have been proven in studies to relieve pain during labor. However, breathing can also be effective at reducing pain during labor but it is not as researched or it is more difficult to prove. For example, breathing is a fantastic and very beneficial way to help reduce pain and pain perception during labor and birth but since it is almost always used in conjunction with another method then it is hard to prove definitively how effective specific breathing techniques can be during labor.
Let’s talk about breathing!
Breathing as it relates to birth is also referred to as psychoprophylaxis - which refers to teaching parents how to respond to contractions with relaxation and breathing exercises. The right way to breathe is whatever way feels best – no rules – and breathing patterns should be individualized to the birthing person. Now, the key to using breathing for pain relief during labor is that breathing should be conscious, not automatic. So in other words, it’s a behavioral, or voluntary thing to focus on your breathing. Breathing, however, is usually not used by itself. It’s typically combined with other relaxation methods such as guided imagery, visualization, hypnosis, continuous labor support, or progressive muscle relaxation.
This topic is all about mindset shift - when we recognize the pain of labor as purposeful and truly understand how pain works during labor, the fear becomes less and your confidence increases because you UNDERSTAND what is going on inside of your body and the greater purpose behind it.
Breathing benefits all types of births
Important note here, if you are considering an epidural, this is not to say you can’t or shouldn’t get an epidural. What I am saying here can be used as a tool in your decision making process. No one should suffer during labor so when a mom shifts from pain to suffering, it is time to assess options to help manage the pain. Also, if you know that you want an epidural, please don’t check out of this part. I still want you to understand what is happening with your body and how you can use this method as you experience various sensations during labor with an epidural and having an epidural is not a guarantee that your birth will be free of pain or discomfort. Breathing can also be used during pregnancy when you aren’t feeling well and in early labor. I also like to say that breathing techniques can be used well beyond just labor and birth.
Video for breathing tecniques during pregnancy and labor
This video is by Bailey Gaddis, author of Feng Shui Mommy
Focused breathing can be an extremely useful tool for many people in many varying situations and circumstances.
Belly breathing is a wonderful way to bring stress levels down and really focus inward.
What to do next:
To help guide you during this time, there are many benefits to hiring a birth doula and taking a childbirth education class. Doing this can help to ensure you have the tools and knowledge needed to navigate your unique, non-linear, and unpredictable path to giving birth with more ease and confidence. Take the next step to owning your birth…Learn more about our birth doula services, postpartum doula services, and childbirth education. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or to set-up your free consultation!