Dave and I started our birthing classes last week. These aren't your mother's lamaze classes. Sure there are breathing techniques taught, but really this class is a comprehensive class teaching about labor and delivery and all the options that are available. I've got to be honest, I don't have a birth plan. I guess my birth plan is to go with the flow. Almost all of my friends who have kids had them cesarean, so I don't have my hopes set very high. I'd like to think I have a high pain tolerance and could do this naturally, but I also know my anxiety may get the best of me and I will need the epidural to CTFD (calm the **** down).
Anyway, in our class we are learning about relaxation techniques. Last week we learned hand massage. For me, this was the WORST relaxation technique you can teach. I absolutely despise being touched and especially do not like massage. So, since that class I've been thinking about what I would do for my relaxation techniques. Funny enough, I think I'm going to focus like I do for running. For example, if I will use visualization I am going to picture miles 23 through the end of the Boston Marathon. Also like running, I use counting to get in rhythm and to relax. I can certainly see myself counting through contractions to focus. And finally, I will probably take my iPod and use one of my favorite albums that helps me calm down (Kenny Chesney - Be As You Are).
So, what do you do to help you relax? Ladies with children, what did you do for pain management in labor?
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
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3 comments:
I can't weigh in on the pain strategies for labor..other than to say there's nothing wrong with epidurals. When Jennifer and I did birthing class, I had to do wall squats for 3 minutes at a time so I could have some approximation of labor pains. Wow that hurt. I have a new appreciation for a woman's pain threshold as a result.
I went into the birth process knowing I would have an epidural; hell, I take 3 Aleve just for menstrual cramps!!!
As for the labor part, I somehow just started counting to 10 over and over again during the contractions. It worked great so it sounds like you are on the right track!
With Keira, I thought I would try to hold off on the epidural as long as I could, but I found that I was so tense during the contractions (all of me was tensing up, which is NOT what you want to do), and it was prohibiting labor from progressing. I honestly just watched the hand go around the clock until a given time when my dr was supposed to come back and see if I could have my epidural. Thankfully, he said yes. It took a while to get it administered. Once I had my epidural, things really went fast since I wasn't tensing so much. I was like the opposite of most people. With Soren, I knew I wanted the epidural, and got it as soon as I could. My labor was a bit slower, as I also learned there are multiple fluid sacs (who knew?), and although my water had official broken, there was still one left that hadn't, and needed to be done manually. Once that happened, boom, Soren was born. I was mega paranoid about having a C section. I didn't want it, and cried a ton when an intern got me confused with someone else because I didn't realize he called me the wrong name at first, so he didn't know I was the wrong person, and I didn't know why he wanted to prep me for a c section. He felt really bad afterwards for making me flip out like that :) I just wanted to keep my abs in tact, and with a second child, it was even more important to not have the longer recovery since I had a toddler to worry about, and I lived in a condo with 3 floors.
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