by Louise – NHS Bank Community Midwife & Andrea – NHS Community Midwife, antenatal educator and founder of The Birth Preparation Company

10 Early labour tips: preparing your birthing environment

You might already know that during labour women’s bodies release a hormone called Oxytocin.

Oxytocin is also called the ‘love hormone’, because it is produced when we are in love or feel loved and also plays an important role in bonding and breastfeeding. Increased levels of Oxytocin, in fact, are required in order to cause the uterus to contract and promote the progress of labour.

The levels of Oxytocin, as well as Endorphins (which are painkillers naturally occurring in our bodies) can be affected by the environment and are known to increase when you feel safe and relaxed.

But what does this mean, how does it affect your labour?

It basically means that if a woman feels safe and relaxed during the labour, her labour is more likely to progress well, and those natural painkillers are more likely to help her cope better.

Early labour tips: why is important to feel safe and relaxed?

If a mum-to-be does not feel safe or feels scared or stressed during labour, her body will produce a hormone called Adrenaline, which most people have heard about – this is also known as the fight or flight hormone.

High levels of Adrenaline can trigger a stress response, which if you think about it – a labouring body is probably not going to respond by getting into a fight mode but instead it’s likely to go into the flight mode – by slowing down or stopping the contractions entirely to allow the woman to escape the stressful situation.

What does this mean for labour?

It means, that if adrenaline levels go up, the levels of oxytocin and endorphins go down – the woman might not cope very well (because she might find the labour more painful if she doesn’t have enough of her natural painkillers) and/or the labour can slow down or even stop altogether. Which is not ideal, because then she is more likely to need intervention to help her baby be born.

Early labour tips: How to cope at home in early labour?

If you have had a low risk pregnancy, it is a good idea to try and stay at home for as long as possible in your early labour.*

This will reduce your chance of being sent back home from the hospital because of arriving too early.

To help you do this, try ignoring any ‘twinges’ and milder tightenings for as long as possible, using distraction methods such as watching your favourite box sets, meeting a friend for a cuppa, going for a walk, baking a cake or catching up on some rest. This is also a good time to start setting up your birth environment (plan this in advance and have things ready in one box to make it straight forward when you are in early labour).

*If your pregnancy has been classed as higher risk, your obstetric consultant might advise you to arrive to hospital earlier.

“If a woman feels safe and relaxed during the labour, her labour is more likely to progress well, and those natural painkillers are more likely to help her cope better.”

How can the birth environment help?

Most women will instinctively seek out darker environments when they are in labour. This can help them feel safe, undisturbed and unobserved.

Here are some ideas about how you can easily create a calm birthing environment. Start off by creating a lovely birthing environment at home for your early labour:

Most of this can be replicated when you arrive at the hospital, in case your room doesn’t have any soft lighting etc.

1 – Loosely drape some warm glow fairy lights around the room in a semi-loop pattern (make sure they can be taken down easily if you are planning on taking the same ones to the hospital (Please note that any equipment brought to the hospital must be battery powered)

2 – Whilst at home, light some candles (the bonus is that you can use real ones whilst you are at home!)

3 – If you have any soft battery powered lighting at home (i.e. LED candles, LED tea lights or battery powered fairy lights), feel free to bring some with you to the hospital.  This is a very easy way of transforming any standard clinical hospital room into the perfect calming birthing environment.  Instruct your birthing partner to put the fairy lights up and dot the LED tea lights or candles around the room when you arrive at the hospital (remember to take them home after). If you plan on getting some fairy lights, don’t go for a very long string of them as you might be limited in where you can hang them if they are too long. It might be useful to put a small roll of sticky tape in your bag, too.  That way your birthing partner might be able to tape the lights to some plastic or metal surfaces if needed – not the walls please so it doesn’t damage the paint, and also NOT onto any medical equipment or anywhere where they might be in the way!

4 – At home, turn off main lights or close curtains or blinds if it is light outside.  If the hospital room’s bright lights are on, feel free to ask for them to be turned off (please note that if any intervention is necessary because the midwives or doctors are worried about you or your baby, they might need to turn the lights back on)

5 – Think about the power of smell and how different scents can instantly transfer us to certain places or situations.  Whilst you are at home you can use aromatherapy for this – find two or three essential oils that you like the smell of (check that they are safe to use in pregnancy) and start using them during pregnancy, for example in a diffuser, when you are relaxing in a bath, practising your deep breathing, reading a book or falling asleep.

The aim is to create an association with feeling calm and relaxed.

Then use the same combination of essential oils during your early labour in a diffuser, oil burner or use a few drops on a handkerchief and inhale the lovely scents to help take yourself to your calm & relaxed place.

6 – Placing a few cotton wool balls in a ziplock bag and dripping a few drops of your chosen essential oils onto the cotton wool can be useful for helping you cope during the car journey to the hospital – just sniff as required! But please be aware that aromatherapy might not permitted in the hospital – always check with the midwives before you get there.

7 – Music

Create several playlists on your phone, i.e. calming one and more upbeat one, or a mixture of your favourites (remember that labour can be quite a long process so you might want to add plenty of tracks, otherwise you might get fed up with listening to the same playlist over and over! It might be a good idea to start creating your playlists now and gradually keep adding to them, rather than leaving it to the last minute). It is also advisable to take a small bluetooth speaker to the hospital with you, as well as a phone charger and power bank if you have one.

8 – Hot water bottle can be very comforting if placed on your lower back during labour. If you need to refill it in the hospital, some staff might reluctant to do so, as it might be against the hospital’s health and safety policy.

If that is the case, ask for a jug of hot water and get your birthing partner to carefully refill it for you – you might want to advise them to practice with cold water first 😉

9 – Take a pillow to the hospital with you – pillows are like gold dust in hospitals and the ones available are often not the most comfortable!

Tip: If you have a Caesarean birth, place the pillow over your wound before putting on a seatbelt – this will make your journey home more comfortable.

10 – If you are going to the hospital to be induced, take a comfy eye mask and some comfortable ear plugs with you – the antenatal ward can be a noisy place and if you are not in labour yet, you should try and get all the sleep you can!

Early labour tips: ready!

Remember – knowledge is power, and being prepared for all eventualities gives you a much higher chance of having a positive birth experience. This is where a good quality antenatal classes can play a big role!

Louise – NHS Bank community midwife

Andrea – NHS community midwife, antenatal educator and founder of The Birth Preparation Company www.thebirthpreparationcompany.co.uk