Inducing Birth Alternatives
One tool I promise that your local maternity hospital will not have readily available is PATIENCE.
As soon as you arrive at the hospital you’ll you to maternity triage before being admitted. It’s really tough to avoid a vaginal examination at this stage and it can often feel like the birth centre or delivery suite can only be accessed after accepting. “It’s the only way we will know how far along you are” the midwives will tell you.
A vaginal examination is an offering, you can choose whether you want to accept or decline.
As always: I am not a medical professional, I do not give advice or make decisions on your behalf, but I encourage you to seek out evidence-based information for you make your own informed decision.
An increasing number of women are being told that they have a risk factor that justifies an induction of labour. This is very often not the case. Read more.
Before accepting. Consider: how will the result make me feel? how will this affect my options? what happens if this method of induction fails?
1cm? 6cm? “But it’s been so hard already, how will I cope? I’m exhausted already” It’s disheartening. Trusting your body and understanding how your hormones work will give you confidence that you CAN cope, after birth you will get a hit of adrenaline that will keep you going.
Labour is LONG! It may still be days, it comes in waves, your contractions might completely disappear during the day and return at night. This is normal birth. Your body is DELIBERATELY giving you a break in between so you aren’t physically exhausted.
Your cervix has done it’s job beautifully for the last 9 months holding your baby in. It’s a tight muscle that now needs to relax and release, if this is your first birth your muscles have never done this before, it needs to learn. Your body in this moment needs hydration, energy, time and rest. Sat on a hospital bed in triage you’re probably anticipating a response from a medical professional, you might be disappointed, in pain, frustrated, excited. These feelings will be suppressing your oxytocin hormones, because adrenaline suppresses oxytocin, there’s only space for one to be in the spotlight. Adrenaline is signalling to your brain that the circumstances aren’t safe for you to birth a baby.
But patience isn’t available, and because you’re now in the hospital, the timer starts ticking…..by being there you’re costing the system money, they want that bed space freed up and you discharged as quickly as possible.
And so the interventions begin.
This is the start of your healthy, low-risk pregnancy and healthy birth to begin to slip away.
There will be talk of a membrane sweep, induction pessaries or an IV drip with artificial oxytocin that stimulates your uterus. Learn about what happens during an induction here.
And so, the purpose of this blog post is to offer alternative suggestions:
Wait 6 hours and see what happens
Go back home
Lights off, shut the world out, use an eye mask and headphones
Drink warm water, you’re probably dehydrated and your body will be calming and comforting.
Rest
Watch a TV show
Lunge Stretch to lengthen the PSOAS muscle
Homeopathy
Talk; share what you’re thinking, holding back may cause tension, now is the time to let it all go to someone you trust, who isn’t judging you and can hold the space for you. “I’m scared” “I don’t want pregnancy to end” “I’m not ready” “I can’t do this” it’s all valid feelings to have, but saying them out loud allows you to explore your emotions.
Your birth partner needs to remain mindful of
the environment; calm, dark, smells, the temperature
your state; hydrated, fed, comfortable, uninterrupted, shielded from stress
If you aren’t confident that your birth partner can do this, or you want a birth team rather than just one person to depend on, please get in touch.
Number one rule: for a healthy woman enjoying a healthy pregnancy, the best chance of experiencing a natural labour starts with staying at home for as long as possible. One way to do this is by planning a home birth, you can choose to transfer in to the hospital at any time.
Afterall, there’s no place like home!
Read more about the questionable evidence of the Arrive Trial that supports the idea of induction leading to fewer c-sections.
