How are you going to get cozy in a room full of people watching you?
How easy is it for you to poop in a public restroom?
Yes, seriously, stay with me here.
What if we took the door off of the stall?
What if there was a parade of people coming inside the room to check to see how you are doing and wanting to put their hands on and inside your body just to check your progress and see how close you were to the finish line?
What if we added in some beeping machines and discs strapped to your belly to monitor what your body is doing and alert people to come watch you perform the biggest most challenging poop of your whole life?
I’m not trying to be gross; I’m trying to get you to think about other situations where your feelings & hormones can make it really difficult for your body to perform a perfectly normal thing that it was designed to do.
Hormones can help relieve your pain in labor. Hormones can stop your labor. The good news is that you don’t have to know all the fancy names for the hormones to figure out how to help them help you bring that baby earth-side…
So what can you do to prepare to help yourself get cozy & your hormones keep doing their jobs during your labor? Here are our top 4 tips:
1. Get cozy: Relaxation!
Whether you like a little guided meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, or breathing patterns, finding and practicing the thing that helps calm your nervous system is a MUST for labor prep.
2. Make your space perfect to get COZY.
One fun easy hack I like to tell clients about is to bring your pillow and blanket from home. Having the smell of home (and those pheromones) can help your body know that you are in a safe/cozy place—as long as your home is that for you. I’ve had clients drape tapestries from home over the stock pictures on the wall in the hospital room and hang twinkle lights or bring LED candles to put around the room. The environment can make a big difference for your hormones and how you feel about what is going on. I’ve had clients who brought earplugs and a sleep mask so that they could stay tuned into their body and focused. If that’s what you need, then do it, but you won’t know that for sure unless you practice before the big day! Bring the tools you need to help get cozy–ambiance matters.
3. Communicate.
Learn about all your options and how things usually go in your chosen place of birth, and communicate your wishes to your team. That can be in a written birth plan or just verbally communicated if you’d prefer not to write it down for whatever reason. If you have any special requests or things that will effect your comfort to have to repeatedly disclose, then please please consider writing it down to pass to your care team–a fun little tip I learned from having a kid compete in Speech btw. Practice ways to get cozy by enforcing your boundaries too!
4. Teamwork.
Build a team that makes you feel cozy, supported. and comfortable with your plan. Find a provider that helps you feel comfortable. Ask for a new nurse if the one you are assigned isn’t giving you teamwork-vibes. Bring a doula to support your journey the whole way if that’s going to help you.
COZY MATTERS! Yes, seriously. There are so many lessons I have learned the hard way, and this is one of them. Don’t get stuck in the fear-tension-pain cycle unprepared. You can do this your way. Hopefully these 4 tips sparked a few ideas for preparing to optimize your hormones.
