I like to think of birth as two main elements unfolding together to support labor >>

the hormones/physiology

the mechanisms/anatomy

there is a third > your connection to birth. This is your intuition, your trust in the process.

this third element lays the foundation for the first two to unfold smoothly, but they are all interwoven. One effects the other.

Another way to think about these elements is >>

Mind / Body / Energy

You can prepare for birth by focusing on your mind, body and energetic well-being.

These three elements support a natural, biology based and intuition led birth.

1. Hormones

Which hormones affect labor and how do I balance these hormones?

Hormones like oxytocin and progesterone allow for the softening and opening of your body, your pelvis and your cervix. They keep your contraction pattern stable and progressing steadily.

There are two distinct hormone pathways, or feedback loops, that make the difference between a naturally unfolding labor and one that leads to intervention: 

Oxytocin or Cortisol 

Oxytocin is the love and labor hormone. It supports a smooth progression of labor, steady and effective contractions, and…best of all! It is a natural pain relief! 

Cortisol on the other hand, is the stress hormone and this hormones actually prohibits the release of oxytocin, Oh no! Oxytocin disruptors like cortisol, cause irregular, ineffective contractions, and can cause pain. 

When under stress, our bodies tense up. If you’re stressed in labor, your pelvic floor muscles can tighten up keeping the baby from coming down.

Tight muscles intensify the sensation of each contraction, causing more pain and contributing to your stress level. This feedback loop of stress can even stall labor altogether.

How to prevent this cortisol feedback loop and promote oxytocin? 

Take a deep breath. No literally, deep breathing activates your nervous system to relax and promotes oxytocin. Also oxygenating baby helps them tolerate labor better, keeping you both calm and avoiding distress. 

Feeling safe. Choose a birth place that makes you feel safe. Your environment directly affects your hormones! Keep the space intimate with dim or natural light, quiet music or soft voices. 

Choose your birth team with intention. Have people that you know and trust. Protect your energy. 

Be mindful of your lifestyle, nourishment and exercise. How you live, nourish and move your body affects your hormone production.

Circadian rhythm, your natural biological cycle regulates hormone output that can interfere with your hormones and when your labor starts!

Lastly, when it comes to anything in the childbirthing year, invest in education.

Educating yourself and learning about birth (like reading this post) can shed light on the mysteries of birth, empower you to set fear aside and labor with confidence. 

2. The Mechanisms: The Dynamics Between Your Pelvis and the Position of Baby

Mama and baby need to work together to facilitate a smooth and short labor. The Maternal pelvis and the position of your baby both affect the length of labor, the sensations of birth and the need for natural or medical intervention. Baby’s head alone can affect how your cervix softens, stretches and opens and because the baby’s head holds the largest diameter that will pass through your pelvic outlet, we want to optimize how baby sits in the pelvic bowl and support the flexibility of the pelvis both in pregnancy and in labor.

How to Facilitate Good Fetal Position? How to get my baby in their version of an optimal position?

Mama’s pelvis

• Creating space in the body-lover back, pelvic bowl and pelvic floor
• Maintain full body symmetry
• Staying soft, open and surrendering to labor

Baby’s Position

• Integrate movement like walking or yoga to give baby the chance to adjust their position
• Use a rebozo to encourage baby to find their optimal position
• Do exercises like cat/cow, hip tuck with abdominal lifts and squats to get baby nice and flexed(curled up with chin to chest)
• Belly massage and Baby rubs to stimulate baby
• Connect with baby-use the temperature of your hands, your voice and energy to connect with baby

Creating space includes nourishing and hydrating your body well so that hormones, like progesterone, can soften smooth muscles and ligaments in and around the pelvis to be more elastic and stretch during birth.

Staying active in pregnancy. Movement in pregnancy and birth creates opportunities for your baby to adjust their position. Changing positions and moving freely in labor opens different areas of your pelvis. Mobility gives your baby the chance to settle into new and more optimal positions as they navigate the three levels of the pelvis: inlet, mid pelvis, and outlet. 

What Exercises can you do to prepare for labor?

Doing exercises like spinning babies during pregnancy and in labor (if you haven’t heard of spinning babies yet, check out their website here). 

Walk daily. Walking creates space in the pelvis, improves blood circulation, and releases tension in the pelvic floor. walking in nature and/or with a person you enjoy being around can improve your overall wellbeing, balance your hormones, reduce blood pressure, and support mental wellbeing.

Allow your intuition to guide you and work with a support person that is experienced with labor positions, like a doula.

3. Believe in your Body, your Baby and Birth.

If I could recommend one tip for labor, it would be to trust the process!

Trust that your body won’t give you more than it is capable of.

Unless you’re inducing labor or introducing other interventions that can cause painful contractions and unnatural sensations, otherwise you are made to birth. You have evolved to birth and you come from a long lineage of women that could and did birth your ancestors.

Trust your body and your baby to communicate with you. Our bodies have an intelligence, an inner knowing, for birth, because we have evolved to birth over thousands of years. 

Take a moment each day to connect with this intelligence through your intuition, deeping the mind-body connection, so when labor begins you are comfortable listening to your inner voice and feel confident to work with your body in birth. 

Trusting in birth allows you to fully surrender to the unfolding of hormones like oxytocin, soften your pelvic bowl and reassure your baby.

I’m so excited for you to meet your baby! Follow these three tips of 

•Supporting your labor hormones 

•Facilitating your pelvis & position of baby

•Trusting your body, your baby and your birth! 

And have a smooth, safe, and sacred birth. 

Thank you for taking the time to invest in your conscious childbirthing year.

I have supported dozens of mamas amd babies and after learning a few things ( more like a few million things…) the one thing I hear from new parents is “We didn’t know what we didn’t know”.

I am on a mission to change this by sharing as much as I can to help you feel informed, confident, inspired and empowered to navigate and prepare for your experience.