Women’s bodies are amazing and know just what to do to birth babies. Allison and Brigitte explain what undisturbed birth is and how you can achieve it.
Join as we discuss:
Resources Mentioned:
Guide to out of Hospital Birth use code PODCAST20 for 20% off!
Looking for more? Check us out on Youtube & visit the blog for show notes and transcript
Connect:
Into the Labyrinth Birth Services, LLC
Brigitte- Instagram & Facebook
Free downloads:
Holistic Birth and Beyond Freebies
Holistic Birth & Beyond’s Spotify
Into the Labyrinth Birth Freebies
Looking for more? Check us out on Youtube & visit the blog for show notes and transcript
Connect:
Holistic Birth and Beyond, LLC
Into the Labyrinth Birth Services
Brigitte- Instagram & Facebook
Women’s bodies are amazing and know just what to do to birth babies. Allison and Brigitte explain what undisturbed birth is and how you can achieve it.
Join as we discuss:
Resources Mentioned:
Guide to out of Hospital Birth use code PODCAST20 for 20% off!
Looking for more? Check us out on Youtube & visit the blog for show notes and transcript
Connect:
Into the Labyrinth Birth Services, LLC
Brigitte- Instagram & Facebook
Free downloads:
Holistic Birth and Beyond Freebies
Holistic Birth & Beyond’s Spotify
Into the Labyrinth Birth Freebies
Looking for more? Check us out on Youtube & visit the blog for show notes and transcript
Connect:
Holistic Birth and Beyond, LLC
Into the Labyrinth Birth Services
Brigitte- Instagram & Facebook
Allison 0:17
Welcome back to the Holistic Birth Podcast. This is episode seven, and we're going to talk about undisturbed birth. We'll explain what it is and why you may want to consider it. And I think, we'll just get started immediately. Brigitte, what is undisturbed birth?
Brigitte 1:04
Yeah, so undisturbed birth is you know, it's pretty much just that honestly, it's undisturbed! But what that can mean is really giving you the opportunity to have a physiological birth. So where you are completely undisturbed, you have set your environment, so you are in a place of feeling very safe so the hormones of labor can really do their thing and your body can do what it's designed to do. Allison, can you tell us about the hormones of labor?
Allison 1:34
Sure. Yeah so the big one, the one we always think about when we're thinking about labor, is oxytocin. Oxytocin is also called the love hormone. It's released during bonding times, during breastfeeding and intimacy. It's kind of the main hormone we think about when considering your uterine contractions. There's also estrogen which does increase later in your pregnancy to help make your uterus more sensitive to oxytocin. There are also prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are that hormone that helps to ripen your cervix, like you're a fruit!
So it helps to soften the cervix and allows it to open. There's also relaxin, which does exactly that. It helps all your ligaments and muscles to loosen and relax in preparation of labor. A lot of clients one, especially last week, just asked like, how is it possible my body will make any more room for this baby? And I said relaxin will be on your side, don't worry! There's also melatonin; that's another hormone to think about. Melatonin and oxytocin do work together synergistically. That's why our labor usually starts at night or it will ramp up at night. Sometimes it'll kind of quiet during the day and then kind of charge ahead at night. But our natural instinct is that we do want it to be dark and quiet and safe to give birth, which is a huge part of undisturbed birth. There are also beta endorphins, those hormones usually create these sensations of pleasure, euphoria and does make us a really great pain reliever. And also, baby helps to secrete that. So it's kind of neat. And then one of the big ones is catecholamines, which is also like a form of adrenaline. There's definitely a fine balance between all the hormones but catecholamines do help with that, right before baby is born, they peak so that there's a little bit more of that promotion of the fetal ejection reflex, which usually only happens when birth is undisturbed. What is the fetal ejection reflex, Brigitte?
Brigitte 3:44
This one really is so cool to me, like I always tell my clients about it and are like, Whoa, what is the fetal ejection reflex? So it's really amazing to witness if you look up, like I mean, it does happen at hospitals too but it is in a lot of like homebirth and birth center videos, that sort of thing. And basically, the baby just kind of shoots out, but what's actually happening is the the uterus is-- I mean, it doesn't happen exactly like that. But they do come out pretty quickly! So the uterus is working really hard, because it's a muscle and all those hormones that Allison was just talking about, really work together. Especially the catecholamines, because that's adrenaline and that's usually at the point where someone that's in labor will be like, Oh my gosh, I can't do this. And that's like at that point where they're kind of, you know, freaking out a little bit and everything seems very intense and overwhelming. That's when that hormone is really you know, peaking at that point, and the uterus is actually pushing from the top and it's doing all the work essentially, for you. Your body is amazing, it knows exactly what to do. So yeah, your uterus will basically push down on the baby and will basically just push the baby out for you and a lot of women will say they don't even have to push like they're the uterus is just doing all the work and their bodies doing all the work and the baby just comes out without them actually needing any coached pushing, and that sort of thing. So the fetal ejection reflex really does happen mostly with undisturbed birth. Just because again, those hormones are all working together and the uterus can do what it does.
Allison 5:29
Oxytocin is definitely something that we want to help promote throughout all of labor, it will help obviously with making progress with stronger surges and will kind of help peek your like intuitive parts of your body in your birthing experience. And really, oxytocin is released when you're in a safe, private and supported environment. So the best ways to kind of promote that undisturbed birth and to help oxytocin flow are to really tune in on the environment. I mean, if you think about a mammal in the wild, they don't just decide to give birth wherever they will please, they usually choose someplace that is safe, and they know they can labor and birth their baby, you know, safely. If for some reason there is a threat or something like that, their fight or flight kicks and their stress response kicks in, they cannot proceed there, labor literally will pause in order to kind of wait for that safe place to be again. So we're kind of the same if there's a lot of stimuli or unsafe people around us or anything like that it can reduce how our progress is going to be over overall. I've had clients that weirdly kind of will have like a pause and their labor when certain people are in the room like I've been at a homebirth before where like they totally didn't love that their grandfather was staying in the doorway, just kind of like hanging out, obviously meaning well. Then things kind of pause for a little while, they had longer breaks in between surgeries. Then once he had gone to go make them something to eat, they then resumed, like maybe like an hour later. Even in the hospital setting, I've seen people where they really loved their nurse -- really, really loved them --and then they left because of change of shift and that relationship wasn't yet established with the new nurse and that change of shift actually pauses their labor, but really anything you can do to avoid inhibitors of oxytocin are the goal so avoid bright, unnatural lighting like fluorescent lights kick them off. If you're able to have like LED tea lights or any candles if you're in an environment that does allow open flame then that can be really helpful. Obviously, high or excessive noise levels can influence how you're feeling. There's definitely something to be said about music you've chosen. You might want like spa music or massage music. I've also had clients totally rock it out to like Disturbed, that band you know?
Brigitte 8:15
Oh my god, I saw them in concert!
Allison 8:17
Yeah, I had someone who was listening to Disturbed and she was pumping yourself up. I probably will end up talking about her another time because that was such an awesome birth.
Brigitte 8:31
Sounds like it!
Allison 8:32
It was pretty cool. Whatever noises are soothing to you, that obviously could be Disturbed or whatever music you like. Country is not something I see a lot. I like country but I think it depends on if you're just going bro country or you want acoustic or whatever.
Brigitte 8:54
Bro country? I've never heard that.
Allison 8:56
That's like Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean kind of music. It could be some good music but it's like this "my girls in the truck and I got me a beer" and yeah, bro country!
Brigitte 9:09
I love that. That's so funny!
Allison 9:11
I did not make that up. I actually wrote a paper on why bro country is a causing a downfall to country music. I wrote a paper literally in college.
Brigitte 9:19
Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. I love it.
Allison 9:23
Anyway, the music that you play does matter. But if there are beeps or noises or extra conversation or anything that sounds very disruptive, or it's not rhythmic or doesn't kind of fall into like white noise, then that also can be inhibiting oxytocin, for sure. And also anything that really gives you the sense that you're being watched but like not by like helpful people. If it's observers in the room, for some people that really impacts greatly how safe they're feeling. I was just at a birth maybe two or three weeks ago, and there was a very well meaning paramedic who had stepped into the room, and he was just standing like in the doorway, just as part of a rotation for him or training or something. I looked to my client, and I was like, are you okay with observers? And she's said I don't care. But for some people that could be very distracting especially if someone didn't first say, are you okay with it? And also, you can change your mind, if you did say, that's fine, I don't care and then it was actually a distraction, you can kick them out. They don't need to be there. But it's anyone who doesn't make you feel safe also, as part of that, so making sure that you feel really, really connected and heard and supported by the people around you is going to help. If you're feeling threatened by someone or if there's someone that's distracting you in a not helpful way, or you can feel the pressure or some sort of presence or tension or something from them about their opinions. It's okay to ask for space from those people, especially if you don't feel like maybe your labor is being impacted by those things. But yeah, definitely keep all of that in mind with thinking about oxytocin inhibitors. Do you feel as like a doula, you see any impact being in a hospital setting? Or are there certain settings that make it feel impossible to have a undisturbed birth at?
Brigitte 11:41
Yeah, no, I don't feel like I feel like that. You can have an undisturbed birth anywhere. It really just depends on who you have on your birth team. Having the right support is really important. So I mean, you can absolutely advocate for yourself, no matter where you are. But if you're wanting to really essentially be very undisturbed, you can set up your birth team where they're like, you know, they make sure that you're getting your birth wishes met. I do absolutely believe that it can happen anywhere. Because I get that question a lot, like, oh, can I really have an undisturbed birth if I'm in the hospital? And I say absolutely, you can definitely do that. We just have to set the environment for you and make sure the staff knows what your wants and desires are and we can we can make that happen. It's really just about you know, feeling the safest you possibly can, as you've mentioned before.
Allison 12:34
Totally agree.
Brigitte 12:35
Definitely.
Allison 12:39
Are there some examples of things you could implement in a hospital setting that, maybe an example or two, that would help with promoting undisturbed birth?
Brigitte 12:52
Yeah, requesting minimal staff in the room like only having them come in you know, when they need to check heart rates or something like that every hour, even at that point if you don't even want that just having minimal people come in at all you can definitely do that. And have again your staff just you know, alert somebody if there may be something that doesn't feel right or whatever. Shutting off all the lights, having smell that you enjoy, like you mentioned like music is a big one or if you want to completely quiet. You can have LED candles or real candles if you're at home. Yeah, just really setting that environment to be as dark and quiet as possible is really going to help with being undisturbed.
Allison 13:43
I think that's a big job that we kind of take on as a doula is to make sure that certain environmental elements are in place or certain things aren't in place. I feel like we usually come with some sort of Mary Poppins bag. It's just a pit of "I don't even know what's in there anymore" because so much is in there. Yeah, right.
Brigitte 14:06
Yep.
Allison 14:06
I could pull out a lamp and I would not be surprised. But yeah, I think it's okay to turn to your doula and your partner if you don't have a doula to rely on both of them to help with promoting that safe environment of what feels good to you. If I've just arrived I tend to kind of flutter around lik a little wallflower, and usually if things are already set, then then I don't have to do too much. But usually I kind of come in and start dimming lights, especially if people have told me that that's helpful. It's not that you aren't capable of making that decision or doing it yourself in labor. It's really nice to just not expend the energy. So tell your partner and tell your doula clear intentions about what makes you feel best with an environment. Everyone feels safe with different things so it's about communicating that to your people, too.
Brigitte 15:16
Yeah, definitely. If you want your doula or your partner to be literally your voice so you don't have to respond to anything, you can just be in being your laborland and be undisturbed, then you can do that. You just have to, you know, voice that you that's what you need, is for them to essentially just talk for you. My question is, is, if something does disturbs one of your clients during labor, do you have techniques or anything that you recommend doing to like, get them back into a rhythm of being undisturbed, even if it's like a car ride to the hospital, or, you know, anything like that, where medical staff comes in that they're not crazy about or something like that, and they just kind of want to get back in that rhythm and their labor hass paused or something, do you have like techniques that you really recommend that they they try? Because I feel like a lot of people worry like, oh, no, I got disturbed and now I'm not gonna be able to get back into the rhythm. So I think it might be helpful to say it's possible or if it's not.
Allison 16:31
It's like you kind of you really are trying to focus but not in a logical way, you're just kind of like in the zone. And so then I think it's usually pretty obvious to people when they feel like, I don't think I'm in the zone anymore, or I think I've sort of stepped out. It can feel a little frantic at first because you it's almost like a fish out of water, like you were swimming, you were in your groove. And then all of a sudden, you're kind of pulled out of what you were doing. But it's definitely very possible to find your rhythm again and to kind of sink back into that more like undisturbed peaceful kind of space. I guess the first things that come to mind are is if there's anything environmental that shifted like say someone came in and your midwife came in, you're like napping on bed or something. And she like flips on a little light to check in on you or something. Just turn that back off. She can chat with you in the dark if you want to. Just little things about the environment that had shifted, how can we set reset those. If it's something that's on a deeper level than that, perhaps a really deep conversation was had to be had or whatever it was was a little bit more disruptive to you, I definitely recommend thinking about Penny Simkin's three R's: rhythm, relaxation, and ritual. Whatever rhythms you were in before (sometimes they might not work the same for you immediately) try them again and try falling back into things. Rhythm is where you think movement, so start moving, start swaying, start rocking, start going in circles, sit on the birth ball, get in the tub. Find some sort of thing that you're doing with your body that's in your control that you're able to tune back into. Relaxation would be adding in massage or changing the music. The tub as hydrotherapy could be really helpful. It could be listening to affirmations or a guided meditation. It could be asking your doula to walk you through some sort of meditation or something. A lot of times I'll use the body scan for my clients. Ritual really is just kind of the repetitive motion of all of it together. Whether it's relighting candles or getting time with your partner or doula to reset or even just going into the bathroom by yourself, find that moment to reset. Shut the door, sit on the toilet (#dilationstation) and just sink into that room. Unplug. Those would be the first things that come to mind for some tips.
Brigitte 20:41
Speaking of the bathroom, I've heard of like, so many women at their home birth where they'll just lock themselves in the bathroom with the lights off and have their baby in the bathroom by themselves. Well, they don't lock themselves in there but you know, they'll close the door, or even their bedroom, they'll just go in their bedroom and just sit in the dark and have their babies in there or whatever. So yeah, there's a lot to be said about just even isolating yourself if you need to.
Allison 21:05
And some people are very independent, they're just very independent. Yeah, there's a homebirth that I can think of that we were all just hanging out in the rest of her house and she was off doing whatever she was doing in labor, like no one really knew, because we were in there to check on her refill her water, and then give her space again. And that's exactly what she wanted. She called on us when she needed us, she would come back out, it was almost like this deer (or more like a lion) was emerging from like the back of the house. And we would kind of just like, get quiet and not stare at her or make her feel like weird or anything, but just kind of like, be like holding space, she'd come out to like, get a snack or something. But I've also seen people who really like touch or like the presence and the safety of their partner or their doula. So if that's also part of it, they don't have to say anything, they don't even have to touch you, if you are overwhelmed like that but if they are a safe person to you, then just being present. I have crocheted at births before or read my book. It doesn't even have to be that I'm actively doing anything. But it's like that calming presence of someone that you know, like they care about you and they're able to just hold space. Like sometimes that can be really important too. Just sounds so simple.
Brigitte 21:09
Yeah, it could definitely go either way where someone may just want to be left alone, or they may really need that support surrounding them so they can feel safe. So yeah, go either way.
Allison 22:25
Yeah, but especially if you're worried about certain scenarios, feel free to reach out. We were always available by email, put a comment on Instagram, comment on YouTube, whatever it is. We're always here and happy to help answer questions about any scenarios or if you have anything else that you that comes up for you with this topic. Thank you for listening. Thanks for tuning in this time around. We hope to see you next week. And we hope you have a good rest of your day or night, wherever you are.
Brigitte 22:55
Sounds good. Bye, everybody.
Allison 23:03
Bye.