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Natural Strategies

15 Steps Toward a Natural Childbirth

By Jacqueline Rupp

To have a successful natural childbirth, it's important to plan your responses to the inevitable discomforts of labor. Going into birth prepared can give you a head start to having a fulfilling natural birth.

Here are some strategies to use during labor:

"Relaxation is the best way to approach labor – breathing diaphragmatically helps as well as the ability to allow every muscle in the entire body to loosen and relax," says Alison Haasch, childbirth expert and doula in Phoenix, Ariz., and founder of Birth Trust Doula Services, Inc. "This takes practice but allows your body to ease the process along rather than fighting it. Becoming like a 'wet noodle' is the goal! Work to make relaxation a trained response."

Haasch explains that with the uterus pushing forward, being able to relax the abs and diaphragm helps it work efficiently. Deep breathing also allows you to concentrate on something other than the contractions.

"We had a family friend as a nurse," says Sarah Westensee, a new mom from Pullman, Wash. "She knew my desire to have a drug-free birth and had great breathing techniques to help me along. As the contractions would intensify, she'd hold up different combinations of her fingers. If she held up one I'd do one quick breath, two fingers two breaths and so on. She'd do different combinations of one to four fingers. My breathing was never exactly the same, and having to change it up a bit really helped me keep a handle on the contractions. "

Here is where your significant other or labor coach can make a difference. Touch has a very reassuring and powerful effect. Massage also can aid in relaxation. Back massages are especially good for women experiencing back labor. Practice beforehand with your partner to find out what types of touch you prefer. Have a hand signal for "more" and "enough" so the massager knows what to do to help. Aside from these typical massages, olive oil can be used to massage the perineum during the final stage of labor to expand tissue and help avoid episiotomy.

Want to see more?

• Avoiding Routine Interventions in a Hospital Birth
• Unassisted Birth: Is It for You?
• BirthPlan.com
• Talk about it!

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