Most women who are expecting their first child often only know pain during childbirth from films and series: there is usually a lot of screaming and strange breathing, the woman lies on her back, there is a lot of pushing and then the baby is there. OK.
In reality, things are usually quite different. The go-to birth position is neither lying on your back, nor is the birth mainly about pushing. What happens before the last phase of the birth is called the dilation phase - and is the time when women are most involved in the contractions. There's not much more you can do during this time than breathe through them, relax in the breaks between contractions, and hope that the cervix opens well and quickly.
Coping with the pain of contractions varies from woman to woman - just like the perception of pain and the location itself: some women feel the contractions as a pulling sensation in the back, for others the pain rushes into the groin and legs. Some women find it bearable, others want an epidural quickly (and should then be given one) because they cannot handle the pain well. We think all of this is totally OK and, as always in our articles, we want to encourage you to go your own way.
But in order to be able to do exactly that - make your own decisions and speak to midwives and doctors on an equal footing - you need a basic knowledge of the processes involved in childbirth. And for us, that means not only knowing the four phases of childbirth, but also, for example, knowing what options you have for dealing with the pains of contractions. In this article, we are therefore devoting ourselves to precisely this topic: what techniques are there for dealing with the pains of contractions? What can I do if I have to wait for the epidural or other medication? And which mental techniques help even if I don't take painkillers? We have written down the four best tips for you.
1 | The Classics: Movement, position changes, pressure massages, water - do what you want
We don't want to steal the spotlight from the classics of coping with contraction pain, of course - so we'll start with them! First of all, we want to encourage you to try absolutely EVERYTHING that might help you. With one leg on the bed and hanging on your partner's neck? Totally OK. Screaming out the pain on all fours? Extra OK! Ordering your husband to put all his strength into your tailbone with every contraction? OK, OK. Screaming for the tub and then getting out again after 2 seconds? SO OK.
Of course, this is just a selection of the possible positions, aids and ideas that can make the pain of childbirth more bearable. To give you a little more inspiration, here is a small list of labor hacks from our community:
# Sit/stand/lie so that your feet can rest on something
# Have something to hang on to - a cloth, the edge of the bed, the shoulders of your birth companion
# Go into the water / don't go into the water
# Keep your hips moving during the contraction - circling on all fours or standing, bouncing on the ball, etc. - this can be particularly helpful in the transition phase (when your baby's head/feet move through the pelvis) to relieve pressure pain
# Apply pressure and massage to the coccyx
#- Don't work against the contraction, but let yourself be carried along and drifted like a wave
2 | Mental support
For many women, giving birth is a real borderline experience. They reach their physical and mental limits - and still manage to bring a child into the world so incredibly well. But because all of this can be quite a lot and not every woman gets into a contraction flow or a trance-like state, it can be really helpful to have a supportive person with you. This could be your partner, your best friend, sister or mother. And here again the appeal: it's best to take the person with you who you can most easily let yourself go. And if that's not your partner, we think that's totally fine too.
3 | Hidden secrets: The comb
Comb? Comb! A simple comb for combing hair can sometimes help you to bear the pain better during childbirth. It is used to stimulate acupressure points in your hand and reduce the perception of labor pain in the brain (gate-control theory, Melzack and Wall, 1965). You hold the comb in your hand so that the teeth rest where your fingers meet the palm of your hand. You hold it with your fingers and apply pressure to the comb during the contraction. This procedure is not scientifically proven - but heuristically, i.e. based on a wide range of experiences, the gate-control theory is considered to be proven in pain management.
4 | Understanding contractions: counting from 1 to ?
A counting technique doesn't necessarily make the pain of childbirth easier, but it helps many women deal with it. Contractions almost always build up quite slowly and evenly, reach a peak and then subside again. Then there is a break in the contractions and it starts all over again. How can counting help you? We'll explain here: as soon as your contractions are so strong that you have to breathe through them, start counting. This is usually enough for just one contraction, because the aim of the exercise is for you to know at what number the peak of the contraction is reached - and how long the contraction lasts in total. For example, the contraction starts and you count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - peak of pain reached!, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - contraction over! For the upcoming contractions, this can be very helpful in estimating how long the pain will last, which in turn helps many women to endure it better.
5 | Breathe deeply into your stomach and downwards
Where? Many of you are probably wondering now. Of course, you breathe the way you breathe. But because our breathing is really powerful, we don't want to withhold this technique from you either: when you breathe in and out, imagine that you are "breathing your child out". And by that we don't mean pushing, pressing or anything like that! With both breaths, focus on making sure that the breath goes deep into your stomach first. And when you breathe out, relax your abdomen as much as possible - almost as if you were breathing out through your vagina (sounds weird, we know). In fact, you can practice this well before the birth - and it's best to do this while you're having a bowel movement. Because you can breathe out too - really! ;)
This is not really a plea against painkillers or an epidural - we believe that every woman should decide for herself, without dogma or patronizing, how she gets through the birth. If you need medication to help you do this, take what you need. And don't let anyone tell you that it would be worse to go through the birth "without" it.
