Ep 141: Childbirth Education - Lamaze 6 Healthy Birth Practices

*Rebroadcast* Doula Rachael shares the framework that can help guide you along your unique path to giving birth. The Lamaze 6 Healthy Birth Practices are foundational, practical, and effective in helping to ensure you have the best chance at having a safer, healthier, and more satisfying childbirth.  

Use these birth practices to help increase your knowledge and confidence and to have conversations with your care provider about how they support these healthy birth practices.  

You can also use these practices to begin filling your tool bag with resources, tips, and information to help you navigate the unpredictable events that can often lead to additional and oftentimes unnecessary or unwanted consequences later in labor or birth. 

In this episode, Rachael shares the Lamaze 6 Healthy Birth Practices:

1.Let labor begin on its own

2.Continuous Support

3.Move around, change positions during labor

4.Avoid unnecessary interventions

5.Avoid pushing on your back

6.Keep mom and baby together

If you can root in these guiding principles, you will be able to achieve the safe, healthy, and empowering birth experience you deserve!

Your Birth Your Way Online Childbirth Education Course (by Doula Rachael)

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the aligned birth Podcast. Today it's just me doula Rachel talking about the Lamaze six healthy birth practices. I find that these six healthy birth practices are super important to learn about very applicable and accessible and can be used no matter what twists and turns and bumps and potholes along your unique path to giving birth that you face. They are a great framework to help you learn more about your options and to help guide you along your way. So today in this episode, we're going to be diving deep into the Lamar six healthy breath practices. So a little bit of a background on me is that I am a Lamaze certified childbirth educator. So these six healthy birth practices are the main main framework for my online childbirth education course, as well as the in person homework prep course that my co doula partner and I teach together. These practices can help guide you when you are facing decisions during late pregnancy or during labor. Learning about them helps build a strong foundation that is practical, accessible, and beneficial to ensuring you have that best chance at having a birth that is safe and healthy and satisfying. And so I chose to certify with a MAS because of these six healthy birth practices because I feel like they are practical like I said they are accessible and they can be adapted, no matter what you face along your unique path to giving birth. I think it's also important to keep in mind that these practices should not be taken as a pass or fail, or an all or nothing concept. I want you to use them as tools to learn about your options during pregnancy and birth. And then if something arises that disrupts one of these healthy birth practices, or even prevents it all together, I want you to have filled your toolbag with resources and tips and information to help you navigate the unpredictable events that can often lead to additional and oftentimes unnecessary or unwanted consequences later in labor or birth. If something arises that is necessary and interrupts one of these healthy birth practices, I want you to have the confidence, support and knowledge to know what is needed to protect the rest of the birth practices, when and where possible, to help ensure that you have that safe, healthy and satisfying birth experience no matter what you're faced with. So what are the Lamaze healthy first practices. The first one is let labor begin on its own. Okay, so what does that mean? Letting labor begin on its own means that you are comfortable and your provider supports term pregnancy which is between 38 and 42 weeks, so like normalizing your due date, right? So that's where you start is focusing on a guest date or just a timeframe for when you're due versus an actual due date. A lot of times inductions occur just purely because of not waiting for labor to start on its own and in some situations, that is necessary right to to start labor artificially because it's safer for baby and mom for baby to go ahead and be born. So this is where you want to talk to your care provider early in pregnancy and ask them how they support that that due date and how they support going beyond the due date, right? Are they comfortable going to 4142 weeks, so long as baby and mom are healthy? That's where you start. You ask them how they support that and and what their you know, options are if you go beyond 40 weeks, that's really really important. To have those conversations early with in your care with your provider to avoid any sort of, oh, now you're 4041 weeks and they're wanting to induce purely because of your due date. You that's more stressful to have that conversation and maybe even switch providers later in pregnancy versus learning that early on. And then taking some steps to avoid that unnecessary induction just

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purely due to due dates. Another thing of that mental preparation around due dates, so focusing on a guest date, sharing that with people and just saying hey, you know I'm due around mid May I'm due end of August. I'm due early July versus like a firm date. You know, only 5% or less of babies are actually born on their due date, but it tends to be what we focus on. And so when we put a lot of focus on the due date, and our family puts a lot of focus on the due date, it tends to interfere with like our mental and emotional like state surrounding the end of pregnancy. And so when we're more at ease and more confident with letting labor begin on its own, and trusting that baby will come most likely baby will come before 42 weeks almost all babies are born. You know, I think it's like 95% of babies are born before 42 weeks, with the vast majority of them between 38 and 42 weeks, and the average first time mom goes between five and eight days, over 40 weeks. So that's 40 weeks plus five or 40 weeks plus eight ish, and that's a range right? 40 days. 40 weeks is just an estimate. It is not like an eviction notice it is not a hard and fast okay baby must be born at this point or something is wrong. So when we normalize that it helps us feel more common at ease as we approach the end of pregnancy. And then we have a supportive provider who isn't. Isn't you know, mentioning induction at 3940 weeks 41 weeks, you know they're giving it time to start on its own. So what the other cool thing to know about letting labor start on its own is that when labor starts on its own, it's a signal that of fetal maturity. It's a signal that it is time for both baby and the body to give birth and to be born. And so when the baby's lungs are done developing, this is one of the coolest things I think about about birth pregnancy and birth is so when the baby's lungs are done developing which they are one of the last things to finish developing. They communicate with the body that releases a hormone called prostaglandins and these prostaglandins settle in the cervical mucus, and they begin to soften the cervix and that's one of the very first things that occurs as your body begins to prepare for labor. And so letting labor begin on its own is a positive signal to the outside world and to your body, that it's time for baby to be born and the baby is ready to be born. And so protecting that and avoiding unnecessary inductions is really really important to protecting those downline effects, right because if we have an unnecessary induction that might lead to other interventions that we may not have wanted or anticipated or expected, and that could lead to you know, undesirable consequences, possibly and so can can we protect that healthy birth practice of letting labor begin on is done by you know, hiring a supportive care provider who supports that normal range of pregnancy 38 to 42 weeks? Working on focusing on that the mental preparation around the due date and sharing that with our friends and family and then you know, really working to trust that your body and baby know when to go into labor and that baby can choose its own due date its own birthday, right? So that's healthy birth practice. Number one is to let labor begin on its own. The second healthy birth practice is continuous support. So continuous support can be from your partner, spouse, a loved one, a close family or friend, someone you trust, and or a doula.

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So there's birth, doulas who can provide continuous support now as a birth doula, I believe you know, and I have my own personal experiences with a birth doula that were really positive and I I've been a birth doula for several years now. And that I think the cool thing to understand is that your partner, or whomever you want, in that space with you, who is your loved one or your family member or your partner they know you intimately. And then a birth doula knows birth intimately. And so together, this can be a beautiful trifecta of support, that is necessary in feeling confident and more at ease and safe and comfortable as you navigate your unique path to giving birth. So how does continuous support provide benefit? So whether it be that trusted person and or a doula continuous support is where someone has is staying with the birthing person throughout the entire course of their labor without leaving them and that helps the birthing person to feel safe and comfortable and secure. And with those things in place, the body can more easily open and expand and dilate and progress through labor in a healthy and safe way. So continuous support is the second health healthy birth practice that you really want to try and set up before you go into labor. So who are you going to have in your space and so you have likely hired or will likely hire a midwife or an obstetrician. They are a part of your birth team but they are not present for most of your labor. You will be in touch with them. They will come see you off and on during labor but they are really not there continuously. They offer a wealth of knowledge about pregnancy and birth and they are looking after your medical care making sure all of that is going well and that baby is good and you're good. That's their main priority. And then there's your your nurse so if you're giving birth in a hospital, you will have a nurse that's dedicated to you but she also has one or two other patients. So she is going to be the person you see a lot but not continuously. And she's again in and out. She is looking after other patients and has other responsibilities. So he or she nurse can be a great resource and a great part of your birth team. But they're not there continuously. And then there is your partner, whomever you're bringing into the birth space with you like I said, your spouse, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, close family member or close friend, a loved one right? someone you trust intimately and who knows you intimately. And then maybe you're bringing in a birth doula and a birth doula his primary goal is to focus on your emotional and mental well being to provide informational resources to provide physical comfort. doulas do not do like medical care. They're not looking after the medical side of you or your baby that is the OB or midwives responsibility. But they do not leave you for the duration of your labor from the time they join you until you have given birth and then a couple hours after birth. It is the doulas responsibility to stay with you. And now if it's a long birth, and that doula has been with you for a long time, sometimes 1215 18 hours, they might then need to trade out with another doula. So that is there could be a shift there but the goal is to keep you with doula support the whole time. So if you have a doula with you, they're going to really offer that continuous support. And now the benefits of continuous support from someone like a birth professional like a birth doula is a significant decrease in use. of pain medication, a decrease in unnecessary interventions, a decrease in Cesarean birth, decrease in instrumental birth, so using vacuums or forceps, and really they improve the overall birth experience for the birthing person.

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And so, continuous support is really important thinking about who's going to be in on your birth team and in your birth space, and how they make you feel. And it's really important that you bring people into your birth space that you trust, who make you feel safe, who make you feel comfortable, who respect you who listened to you because all of that's going to facilitate an environment that is conducive for labor and birth unfolding in a healthy and satisfying way. So that's healthy birth practice number two continuous support. healthy birth practice number three is to move around and change positions during labor. So this one is important to remember. And this can apply if you are going to have a medicated birth if you know you want an epidural or if you end up choosing an epidural. This one still applies because there's a lot of time in early labor before you get the epidural. If you're choosing that or if it if it ends up being part of your your birth, where you will be laboring at home or even at the hospital before you get payment so knowing you know ways you can move knowing that being upright or in gravity neutral positions are really helpful in you know, getting baby in that optimal position to come out helping you get comfortable because when we're having sensations and pain and discomfort that can guide us into positions that are more comfortable and good for us based on how we're feeling the baby on the inside. And so, moving around, changing positions. My favorite acronym for this is BLT. So be open, lean forward and trust gravity. And so no matter what position you're in, and there are lots and you can do like textbook positions or you can just listen to your body, but if you do that BLT, keeping that in mind, kind of however you're moving throughout your early labor or late labor, it can really be beneficial in helping baby descend through the pelvis, helping baby get in a good position and helping provide comfort to you because you're able to get into positions that are good for you. And also every time we you the birthing person, move your hips, whether you're walking, swaying, alternating lunges, maybe putting your foot up on a stool and going changing sides, maybe walking up and down stairs, maybe doing squats every time you move your body, in your legs, it changes the shape of your pelvis. So we have a hormone pumping through our body during Labor called or it's during pregnancy and Labor called relaxing. And it allows for lots of movement in the hips and in the pelvis to facilitate labor progress and to help baby descend into the pelvis and navigate the pelvis. So it's not a straight line. You know, the baby doesn't just like get on a path and come out like straight. It actually the baby turns in seven ways it makes seven different movements and rotations through the pelvis. And that is facilitated with movement. So when we move our legs and move our hips and change positions, it helps baby wiggle through the pelvis easier, or it helps them to get into the position necessary for it to make its way through the pelvis easily or more easily. And so having some positional you know things that you can try or that you're familiar with. You can learn these by going online and searching on spinning babies calm is a great resource. childbirth education is a great resource as well because in it that is where you can learn about some positional things to try. You know having a doula is also a great resource. They can help provide tips for positions to try. And so it's really important during early labor, it's important as labor progresses and gets more intense, as well as when you're pushing your baby out. changing positions during that time can be really effective in helping baby come out shorten the length of the pushing stage it can also help reduce the risk of and severity of tearing. So all of this is really important throughout the entire labor. And then if you decide to get an epidural, still keeping this healthy birth, birth practice in mind is really important. So some people think once they get an epidural they'll lie on the bed. And that's all they are able to do. But it's really cool because with epidurals, most epidurals you can still be active and change positions. So, you can do the sideline with a peanut ball and you can go from side to side. You can the bed the if especially okay if you're in a hospital, the bed that you are in because now you have an epidural and you are not able to get up and move around. Due to it. You're numb from the waist down. And now we're needing to monitor the baby closely and you're you've got IV fluids going.

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So there's you're hooked up to more things so it's not as easy to get up and move around. But with support and assistance, you can get in in some pretty cool positions to help facilitate labor progress and keep that movement going. Keep those hips moving and changing the shape of our pelvis. And so the hospital bed can get into all kinds can help you get into all kinds of positions. One of them as like a throne position. So imagine the back of the bed like straight up and then the lower part of the bed, like dropped down so you're kind of in a sitting position but upright, and then you can put like a peanut ball into your legs or you could just rest your legs on the lower part of the bed. You can like I said, use the peanut ball in a variety of positions to change the shape of the pelvis. You can you know make your hips open at the top of your of your pelvis or at the lower of the outlet of your pelvis like based on where your knees are, and so the close near opening position based on where the baby's at in the pelvis can be achieved with an epidural. You can lean over the back of the bed you can get into hands and knees. You can rotate side to side like I said with the peanut ball. There are all kinds of positional changes you can make that help maintain and protect this healthy birth. Practice of moving around and changing changing positions. So really cool to know if you end up getting an epidural that you know, this healthy birth practice can still be protected and used to help facilitate a healthy safe birth even with an epidural. And so you know I don't want anyone to ever be scared of getting an epidural. I want them to know they have options if that's what they choose or if it's determined that it might even be necessary. You know the epidural can be a great tool when used judiciously. But even if going into birth, you know you want an epidural being mindful and intentional when you think you might want to get that epidural you know there are certain points in labor where it can be you know where it is less likely to maybe slow labor down or cause other issues. So knowing that learning about that learning your options, and then having some tools to help you during early labor so you can cope and find comfort to help you get to that point of getting an epidural. So a little bit of a sidebar there about epidurals but I just don't want anyone to think that these birth practices don't apply. If you choose a Medicare birth or if in labor, you know, maybe that wasn't part of your plan, but in labor you decide to change gears for X y&z reason, which are completely valid, then you know, you still have options and you've learned learned about them during pregnancy, so that you can use them during your birth. Okay, so moving into healthy birth practice number four. So this is to avoid unnecessary interventions. And so the key word here is unnecessary. This is not to say avoid all intervention, because I like to always reinforce that sometimes, intervention is necessary. So learning about options learning how to achieve informed and shared decision making, learning about alternative alternative things to interventions that might be mentioned or might the two might come across during the course of your labor. This will help you avoid unnecessary interventions. So some examples of unnecessary interventions are the the interventions that are quote unquote, routine. And so oftentimes if you are birthing in a hospital and you arrive in labor and you are taken to triage, which is the first place they take you you know, they're going to put you and baby on the monitor. They want to kind of get a baseline, see how things are going. And they're going to want to check your cervix probably to see where you're at and labor you can accept or decline that and just know that cervical exams are also considered an intervention. And so once you are so determined, you're in labor and you're ready to be admitted to the hospital. Some things they might offer or say our like protocol or procedure would be hooking you up to IV fluids. So that's where they're going to put, you know, they're going to tap into your vein in your arm and hook you up to fluids and start giving you fluids right away. Regardless of whether or not it's determined that you're dehydrated. And so this is a good point to remember that in late pregnancy, make sure you're staying hydrated, drinking lots of water, and eating all that nutritious food so

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that you can avoid maybe the unnecessary intervention of IV fluids. So the IV fluids the you're tethered to a pole, an IV pole and that pole rolls. So as long as you don't like have an epidural, you can walk around with this pole. You can take it to the bathroom, you can go up and down the hall. You can move around the room, so it doesn't fully restrict you but it does limit mobility, which is important to know because it makes it a little bit harder and you've got like another like wire to fuss with. So if you don't need IV fluids, you can decline the routine IV fluids and you can opt for a port A hep lock where they kind of tap the tap the vein, but then they close it off. So you're not actually tethered to a pole that the vein is had there's access to the vein if it's needed later in labor, you can also decline the hip lock and not get that at all and say no to all of it. So there are options there. And again, with all of this, you want to be talking to your care provider asking about these routine interventions, learning about what's available at like what they do at your specific birth location and know about your options within all of that so that when you get there, it's not stressful, and you don't feel like you're in combat mode. So the next routine intervention that I'll mention is continuous fetal monitoring. So this is where they use the belly bands and they put a strap around kind of the top of your belly, which is where they're going to measure contractions and then they're going to use another strap for the baby's heart rate. And like I said, when you first get there, they're going to want to do you know, 20 to 45 minutes of monitoring to get a baseline to see where baby's at. And then if all goes well, you should be able to come off of those continuous fetal monitoring straps. And you can ask for intermittent fetal monitoring Doppler with a Doppler or with the EFM with this, the belly bands. So again, ask your provider how they handle monitoring and what are your options and then make a plan for what you want and what you're okay with and then know that so long as you know, maybe you're healthy you can advocate for you know, intermittent monitoring. But then if it is if maybe they're having a hard time getting a good reading, or baby's being inconsistent then they might need to do monitoring longer. So just being flexible there and then doing the best you can to stay mobile and active even if you do need the continuous monitoring. You can sit on a yoga ball next to the bed, you can get hands and knees in the bed, you can stand next to the bed, you could raise the bed and put like a yoga ball on top of it and lean over and kind of sway back and forth. So again there if like I said earlier is that if there are things that interfere with these healthy birth practices, what can you do to still protect them to the best you can within your situation, then that's really really important and something I continue to try and drive home is this element of flexibility. But also knowing your options, not being afraid to ask questions. So if there may be if they're offering if they're saying hey, we need to monitor continuously, but they don't really give you any more information that might make you feel like is this valid? What's going on is something wrong? And so exploring that more with your care provider and the hospital staff and you can ask, what are the benefits of continuous monitoring right now? What are the risks of me being strapped to this monitor continuously? Are there alternatives? Do you have wireless monitors? Can we do intermittent monitoring? What's your intuition tell you about whatever's being proposed and then do we have to do this now? Or what if we did nothing? And this is called the brain acronym, and it can help you through all interventions. So you don't have to know all the things but knowing this set of questions to ask can help you determine Okay, is this something that I'm okay with or not? And even if you agree to do it, at least you were able to gather all of that information to help you feel like you made the decision it was on your terms and with all the information available, and that just gives us a more sense of confidence no matter what we face. So just keeping that in mind.

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And so those are just a couple examples of routine interventions, and how you can try and avoid unnecessary routine interventions or even unnecessary interventions, so that you can because sometimes one, one intervention such as continuous fetal monitoring can lead to other intervention. So sometimes, with continuous fetal monitoring, it restricts our mobility, and not sometimes I mean, it definitely does restrict mobility. And so if you're more in the bed and not moving as much, then the pain and discomfort might increase significantly. Therefore you might end up wanting and needing an epidural, which can lead to other things down the line, which can lead to other things. So all these things can be a cascade of events. And I say that because it's important to know that choosing one sometimes might mean it's going to lead to other things down the road. So how can you protect that and how can you do you know even if you need to make a decision for one intervention, how can you protect it down the line to reduce the the need for other unnecessary interventions? And so I you know, I think it's good to know that sometimes intervention is necessary. So being able to decipher what's necessary, what's not, and then how to ask those questions that I just said, and then make a decision. That's on your terms, and then work with that intervention to protect the rest of the healthy birth practices right. So that you can continue on your path to giving birth in an empowered, confident, safe, healthy, satisfying way. Okay, so that is that was number four. That was talking about avoiding unnecessary interventions. And then, you know, I think I kind of want to go further with that. Because I think another good another good example of unnecessary interventions that I see a lot and I hear about a lot is the artificial rupture of your membranes. So that is when the provider will break your water. And I see this when I see this done unnecessarily in the birth setting is when the birthing person has labored to five or six, seven centimeters and they automatically offer to if the water hasn't already broken. So it's actually more common for the water to break later in labor. So let's say your 567 centimeters in your water has not broken the care provider might offer to or they might say, Hey, let's go ahead and break your water. It can really help speed things up. It'll help help you meet your baby sooner. That can be really tempting, right. And there's no harm in choosing that if that's what you want. But this is a great opportunity to seek informed and shared decision making. So they're offering an intervention. Maybe it was one that on your birth plan or when you thought about it beforehand, you weren't that interested in but now you're in labor, you're excited to meet your baby, anything to speed this thing up. You're here for it. So it might be tempting, right? And they usually offer it in a way of like, Yeah, this is what we normally do. This is going to help him you know, meet your baby faster. Sometimes it might be offered in a way where you're only hearing the positive sides of it. So using that brain acronym, you know, let's say the doctor has walked in. Ideally they are they're stating, This is what's going on. This is how long you've been at this dilation. These are your options. This is the risk like and they give you all the information and then they make the recommendation. And then they say how does that make you feel? Is this something you're okay with like that's an ideal situation. But sometimes the care provider might walk in and say it's time to break your water. Let's go and then share maybe some of the things that are good about it, and then leave it at that. So this is where it's your responsibility. It's your loved ones responsibility and and your doula can help facilitate this too is to ask those that brain acronym, those questions. Okay, what are the benefits of breaking my water right now? What are the risks of breaking my water right now? And there are risks there are benefits to but there are risks. What are the available alternatives to breaking my water right now? And sometimes it's just waiting, giving your body more time to do it on its own. What's your intuition tell you about this intervention right now? That's really important to tap into. And then what if what if we are the end is do we have to do it now? Or what if we do nothing? And gathering all that information and then asking for some time to think about it, and then have everyone leave and then you can sit with it and think about it and even if you decide to break your water, or to have that intervention, it's not it's on your terms, you're deciding and then when they come back, you say, Okay, I'm ready to have my water broken, versus them kind of telling you it's gonna happen and you're fully informed and you've had time to think about it outside of having the provider in your presence. So you don't feel pressure and that type of decision making that type of advocacy, that type of, okay, let's

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Number five is to avoid pushing on your back. And I always say like with a caveat avoid pushing on your back unless you want to be on your back. I think avoid pushing on your back is a good practice to keep in mind and to remember that you do not have to get birth on your back if you do not want to. It is your choice, your birth your body, no one has to or or should force you to give birth on your back if you don't want to now, you might find that position to work for you, and you might be perfectly fine in that. Position. Awesome, then I want you to be in that position. The reason this is listed as a healthy birth practice is because typically, most people find it to be more uncomfortable pushing on their back it closes the pelvis by 30%. So when you're lying on the back and lying on the back in the way that's putting pressure on the sacrum that closes the pelvis by 30%, which makes it harder for baby to make its way through the pelvis. And it can make it harder for pushing and pushing on your back can also increase the risk and severity of tearing. So being in a gravity friendly, upright or gravity neutral position where you are using gravity to help your baby come out most people when left when you know unmedicated and able to move freely and left to kind of give birth in their own way to birth to birth freely choose on their own organically to be in some kind of upright position whether it be standing squatting, sideline, hands and knees like this happens without anyone telling them to get in that position. So we know that that's like babies come out that in all kinds of different ways. But in the hospital setting, which is where 98% of people give birth, pushing and delivering on the back for the birthing person is what is considered like protocol or what the provider might recommend. And so this is a great point of conversation with your care provider early in pregnancy or as soon as you can with them asking how do you support the pushing stage. So I want you to pay attention to the wording I use there. How do you support the pushing stage versus do I have to push on my back? So ask an open ended question and ask how they support you because that's their job is to support you and the open ended nature of the question will usually lead to them sharing more than if you ask a yes or no question where they just have to say, sure that's fine or no we don't do that. So asking your provider that can help shed some light on to how they support active birth and how they support even with an epidural pushing in gravity friendly, non supine positions is is really important. So if you are planning on getting an epidural or you think that might be part of your your birth, asking your care provider, I know I want an epidural. How do you support the pushing stage because with an epidural, you do not have to push on your back if you don't want to you can do a sideline where someone supports your upper leg. You can use the squat bar in the hospital bed which helps you get in an upright position even with an epidural. You can push on hands and knees. So how do they support that and knowing the positions that are upright gravity friendly are helped to make the pushing stage shorter and less painful and can reduce the the risk and severity of tearing and are just overall more comfortable for the birthing person. So keeping that in mind. I think this is a great point of conversation with a care provider to learn more about how they support it and then talk to other people who have birth with that provider or at that hospital location and ask how do you support the pushing stage or how were you supported in the pushing stage. And sometimes what will happen is, you know, if you're thinking or feeling that urge to push, the care provider might offer to check you to make sure the cervix is completely out of the way and that you're fully dilated. And in that check they might say well let's go ahead and push. Let's see, you know, let's do a couple practice pushes. And so you're on your back because you've just gotten a cervical exam and now you're pushing on your back and then before you know it, that's where you end up staying.

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So, if moving around being in those different positions that we've talked about for pushing as important to you, then make sure you talk to your care provider about it. Make sure you talk to your loved one whomever you're going to have another birth space with you and if you have a doula that you've made them aware of your preferences to not stay on your back if at all possible for pushing so that they can help advocate for you in that time. And that you can remember Hey, okay, I didn't want to stay here for pushing so you know you've checked me we are good to go. cervix is out of the way it's time to push but I'm going to try some different positions first. And just be prepared to speak up and initiate that for yourself and have your birth team on board for that. And then talking to other birthing people who have birth in that specific birth location to see like okay, what's it like here to try and get some good perspective and then talking to your care provider again about how they support you. So that was number five, avoid pushing on your back. Number six, the six healthy birth practice and the last one we'll talk about today is to keep mom and baby together. So it is well researched and well document that skin to skin immediately found the birth is incredibly beneficial for both mom and baby. For the baby being skin to skin with the mom helps regulate their entire bodily function so their heart rate, their breathing, their temperature, as well as all the good bacteria that's on your skin is now on their skin. Your smell. You smelling the baby, the baby smelling you all of this is is beautifully designed by nature to work and protect the baby. So long as baby is is has responded well after the birth and that you're doing okay, staying skin to skin keeping mom and baby together for as long as possible after the birth and avoiding any sort of disruptions to that time is highly beneficial for the birthing person and for the mother. It helps stimulate oxytocin and prolactin so that you can get started with breastfeeding if that's what you're choosing or just to help your milk production. So if it's not breastfeeding or test feeding, it's pumping just to help get that going so you can nourish your baby as soon as possible. And then it really regulates all of your baby's bodily function. So sometimes all the baby needs is to just be skin to skin with you and might need a moment so advocating for that before the birth and during the birth or after the birth so that no one takes the baby away unless there's a true reason. And that if that is needed, that they have communicated that with you and explain that to you and that they return the baby to you as soon as possible. So in a hospital setting, the baby is sometimes taken to the warmer to be assessed for breathing, any sort of mucus that is stuck in their airways temperature the it's very it's a warmer it's very very warm. So if baby's temperatures too low, that can help with that. But all of that should only be done if there is true reason otherwise baby should be less can Diskin with mom so skin to skin like bare skin to bare skin wrapped in a blanket and then left there for the first several hours after the birth. I mean they can listen to baby's heart and lungs and check temperature and assess color and access muscle tone and all of that while baby is on your chest. So asking again care provider how this is handled at that particular birth location, making it part of your birth preferences plan talking to your birth support team about your preferences there. And then if there is something a baby Desi that attention that then baby's back to you as soon as possible. And that you can pick right up where you left off and protect that space as much as possible. So that was the sixth healthy birth practice, which is keep mom and baby together. Okay, so what I love about these practices is that you don't have to know all the things about every aspect of giving birth and I know I sort of dropped in a lot of different things throughout each healthy birth practice. But if you can route in these guiding principles, I know you will be able to achieve the safe and healthy birth experience you deserve. So the goals for learning more about these practices. So I've come up with 10 goals of why using these healthy birth practices is beneficial and helpful. Increase so the first one here is increased knowledge for the normal process of giving birth. So just working through each one of those and extracting out a little bit more information that I just shared with you is going to help you learn more about the normal process of giving birth and the more we normalize the process the physiological process of giving birth, the more confident we feel the more prepared we feel, the more like safe and trusting we feel and that has an amazing, beneficial downline ripple effect. Okay,

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the second goal is to learn options. So if you don't know your options, you don't have any and that's a great birthday quote. That's been around for a long time. So know that you have options know the pros, the cons, the alternatives, and if you don't know at all, be prepared to ask the questions that will help give you that information. And it's also important to know the options available at your particular birth location. So having conversations with your care provider, and also evaluating or learning more about what's available at your specific birth location is really important. So the third goal is to fill your tool bag for navigating the twists and turns along your unique and non linear path to giving birth. So filling your tool bag with tips, tricks, resources, knowledge, all of that is going to help you as things arise that you weren't planning so you got to be ready to tap. You know, where are you going to tap into when you're facing something that you weren't planning? And the thing is, is birth is unpredictable. It is non linear. So we have to prepare the best we can and then know that things are going to come up and we're going to tap into that tool bag or you know reach in and say okay, this is what I need now, but I've spent my whole pregnancy filling it up so I know I'm prepared so it feels less scary when you face something that you weren't prepared for. The fourth goal is to achieve active participation and maximum self determination. So those are some of my most favorite words that I want to imprint on birthing people is active participation. And maximum self determination. Your birth doesn't have to just happen to you. And being active in the process leads to more confidence and empowerment. So it's not the unmedicated birth, or or doing X, Y and Z for your birth in a certain way. That gives you empowerment, it is this process of working through each of these things that helps give you confidence and empowerment to have the birth that you want and you deserve and that is on your terms. Okay, the fifth goal is to maintain flexibility be the bamboo I love this analogy. So, bamboo is firm, yet flexible, strong yet resilient. This approach leads to an increased feeling of satisfaction, even amidst an anticipated or unexpected challenges. So when you can visualize bamboo, strong, resilient, but yet flexible, okay, that is you. You are the bamboo. Number six. Trust your intuition first lesson and listening to your intuition occurs now, it's now before the birth it's happening during pregnancy. This takes practice to tune inward and tune out the distractions from the outside world and other people's perceptions or expectations for you and your birth. The more you practice listening to your intuition, the easier it will be and this will benefit you after the birth as you begin parenthood and navigate the many decisions you will make for the rest of your child's life. Okay, the seventh goal is transformation. Pregnancy birth and parenthood are all periods of great transformation. This is not always easy or beautiful or smooth, good or bad you will be transformed by the experience of giving birth, and these feelings have the potential to last a lifetime. My goal is to help you embrace this major transformation and to help guide you toward an experience that launches you into parenthood feeling your best. Think about the ripple effect of one positive, safe and empowered birth. It can last for generations to come the eighth goal is to have a safe, healthy and satisfying birth for you. A safe and healthy birth. Mom and baby should be the baseline. My goal is to help you not only achieve that but also help you achieve a birth that is satisfying, rewarding, affirming and empowering. This looks differently for each individual person. Don't compare yourself to others go for what feels best for you.

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The eighth goal leads nicely into our ninth goal which is to be to feel confident, empowered and happy as you begin parenthood. I want you to have a birth that leaves you feeling this way. As you begin parenthood, this type of beginning into parenthood benefits not only you but the entire family unit, your community and the world as a whole when we have parents who are left feeling this way after their birth. Okay, the 10th and final goal of using these six healthy birth practices is to change the world one birth at a time. I am on a mission to make a to make birth better and safer for every birthing person. Your willingness and commitment to be an active participant in your pregnancy and birth is a beautiful place to start. And I am honored and grateful you chose to listen to these words today. And I hope they leave you feeling confident and a little more prepared to navigate your unique path to giving birth. That my friends is the list of six of the llamas six healthy birth practices. And the benefits and the goals of of working to learn more about them. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for listening. If you like what you hear here, we would love if you would leave us a review reviews help boost us so where other people can can find us and learn from us. And it helps us be able to keep doing what we love doing which is creating this content and sharing it with you for free and and learning and growing together. So we would be so honored if you would leave us a little review and tell us what you think. About the show. Share it with friends. share it on social media. Wherever you feel like sharing it, please share it. We really appreciate it. And stay tuned next week for another new episode. Have a beautiful day.