Tips on preparing for labour from Bumps to Babbas

This guest blog is from the wonderful Angela at Bumps to Babbas.  She has some top tips on how best to prepare for a positive labour - even in a pandemic.

For those who don’t know, I am a Midwife, trained health visitor, hypnobirthing teacher, baby massage teacher, breastfeeding peer support, cloth nappy volunteer and I am trained to provide pregnancy massage and aromatherapy to women. I also write research round ups and the occasional article for the health visiting and midwifery journals.

So what can you do to prepare yourself for labour and birth?

1. Gain lots of knowledge during pregnancy. Not just about labour and birth but about parenting too. Often we focus so much on the birth we forget we are going to be parents at the end of all of this. The more knowledge you have, the less scary and shocking anything else will be
2. Learn EBRAINS and get your birth partners on board for support.
3. Drink raspberry leaf tea, decent strength stuff (the stuff off the shelves ain’t gonna cut the mustard sadly due to incredibly low percentages), which is why I recommend Hottea Mama The Final Push to my clients and pregnant women. Not only is is a great percentage of raspberry leaf, but it is supporting another small business and fellow mums which I love. At my face to face classes I have been giving out samples of the lovely Night owl Tea which what I drink myself when I am going through phases of insomnia.
4. Undertake perineal massage regularly from 34 weeks OR use an aniball device from 36 weeks. This will significantly decrease your likelihood of having a perineal tear, which is a common fear of childbirth.
5. Eat dates from 36 weeks. This has been shown to decrease the likelihood of induction of labour, and if Induction  has been needed, shown that women have a higher ‘Bishop score’ making induction more likely to work.
6. Practise hypnobirthing, keep yourself calm and relaxed especially in times like this. The calmer you are, the calmer your newborn baby will be. It’s about being able to let go of the things outside of your control and take control of the things you can control (like your mindset).

Angela 

www.bumpstobabbas.com