10 tips to help you prepare for labor and delivery in the hospital +video
Can I Prepare For Labor and Delivery?
It’s a myth that there’s nothing you can do to prepare for your labor and delivery in the hospital. In fact, there’s actually a lot more that you can do to prepare than you think!
All 10 of the tips below can help you prepare to have a confident hospital birth experience. They’re taken directly from the labor and birth coping flip book – brought to you by a recovering labor and delivery nurse. (me!)
Tip Number 1: Start Having Conversations With Your Provider
Yes.
Now.
If you’re reading this post, now is a great time to start that.
The medical model is based on the fact that your provider knows more than you. They write care plans (which are more like rules and plans for you to follow) insinuating that they know more than you about your own body and about your goals.
So a great start is to utilize them as consultants or use their advice, instead of relying on them to formulate a plan that they feel is best suited for you.
Tip Number 2: Calm Your Nervous System
There are actually a couple of pages of ideas here, but consider how you can feel calm, confident, and safe inside of a hospital room.
Create that space in your home today, and then figure out ways where you can transfer it into the hospital when you go.
If you’re not sure it’s allowed in your hospital space, ask your provider!
It’s a great conversation starter for how you feel safe in a hospital with them. They might give you great ideas and also how to stay home in early labor.
Tip Number 3: Pressure Points Decrease Labor Pain
Find them – they can help reduce pain and even promote contractions. 
This is the pressure point I used in my labor. I made my husband push in the meaty part of my hand with his thumb and finger, and s-q-u-e-e-z-e. It really helped reduce the pain that I was feeling in the contraction! I also liked the closeness and that we were holding hands.
Watch HERE to see my pressure point squeeze in action! Try it out and drop a comment below 👇 👇 👇 letting me know what you think!
Tip Number 4: Practice Labor Breathing
Have you learned to breathe correctly yet?
No!?!
It’s okay. There’s no right or wrong way to do it!
Most of us hold our breath and have a lot of tension when we’re hurting, scared, or with intensity.
When you practice breathing, I want you to just practice having control over your breath. If you lose control, that’s when your partner can go through the flip book and remind you:
- in through your nose, out through your mouth,
- exhale longer than you inhale
- relax your face, shoulders, and muscles, with every exhale
It’s not going to be perfect every time but it can help you get back into control, rest in between contractions, and have a better experience.
Tip Number 5: Move That ASS!
You’ve heard “move that ass” in labor, but what about in pregnancy? It’s all about move, move, move!
So you’ve watched (or maybe you haven’t – if not, go to TikTok next!) the videos about movement, how to move in labor, and even how to move in pushing.
What is NOT intuitive are labor movements in pregnancy.
Moving now is going to help your body move easier when you ask it to move in labor.
It gives it more flexibility of movement in the joints and gives some love to the soft tissues in your pelvis that the baby has to navigate, so start practicing now!
If you need help while in labor, your partner can remind you of your favorite positions from the flip book!
Tip Number 6: Prepare For the Unexpected
Modern management of pregnancy and birth outside of the midwifery model is to:
- test
- look for concerns
- and try to fix things
when they pop up.
Very little attention is paid to education and preventing problems, not to mention healthy living.
Even if you don’t do drills for prodromal labor, solid labor problems, or problems pushing, you can educate yourself and have ideas at the ready.
Tip Number 7: Rest and Relaxation in Labor
Hell yeah, you should rest in labor!
And, yes! Your labor can progress even while you’re sleeping. Thank goodness!
My flip book gives you seven positions that you can rest and relax in that are still productive and comfortable.
Sleeping relaxes the pelvic floor and can allow the baby space to make good changes in position and help them get on your cervix. (Hello labor!) It can also give you the energy you need to keep going.
Tip Number 8: The Right Way To Push
How do you know if you’re pushing right?
Let me calm your nerves about the right way to push.
Have you ever heard you have to hold your breath like you’re going under water? Or maybe like the stench of baseless rules and punitive positioning just hit your sensitive sense of smell?
I can truly say there’s really no right way to push. There is not just one way that is guaranteed to be right for you.
- There’s counting. You can count to eight. You can have someone else count.
- There’s holding your breath.
- There’s breathing out like you’re doing really tough exercises.
Just see what works for you, and what’s effective. And take those reminders with you to the hospital!
Tip Number 9: Brain Changes in Labor
Your brain is not capable of critically thinking or making decisions while in labor, which is okay, because it is actually protective and it helps you get through the contractions. Isn’t that cool?
You can learn more about my experience with "labor brain"in this video:
Your brain not being normal leads me to my last tip…
Tip Number 10: Support for Birth Partners
People who don’t have a ton of experience around birth often need direct instruction on how to be supportive, helpful, and engaged in the birth process that changes over time.
You have
- early labor
- active labor
- transition
- pushing
These are all different stages of labor and you may need different things that whole time.
Some partners just want to be told what to do, but that’s just not likely for laboring folks. It’s just not possible because that is not where your brain is at. You can either think rationally about what you want, or you can just be in your body. It’s really hard to do both. That’s why planning ahead is super important to do.
Since your brain is not really capable of making decisions very well or of critically thinking when you’re in labor, you need reminders for your partner in case they forget how to help you or forget what you like.
When I showed my husband the flip book we made, (with your birth-brain in mind, by the way!) he said he felt like he wanted to help me while we were in the hospital but he just didn’t know how.
He said that in the moment, with short notice, it’s hard to Google stuff, so it would be nice to have it at hand.
The flip book is laminated and ready for you to take into labor and birth with you. You don’t have to remember anything and your partner has a quick-guide. You can just flip and get all of the reminders that you need to right here from us!
Click below to grab yours! 👇 👇 👇
I’m a trauma-informed L&D nurse and educator on a mission to change birth culture to be parent-centered, trauma-informed, and safe for all!
Join me on TikTok for more discussion and fun! 👇
