Picture of Caitlin Dyer

Caitlin Dyer

Picture of Caitlin Dyer

Caitlin Dyer

Also known as Mother Down Under, Caitlin Dyer is a Registered Nurse, Hypnobirthing Practitioner, and Postpartum Doula.

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Your Birth Environment – At Home and At Hospital

If a physiological birth is your aim, two things really help you achieve that goal…feeling safe and relaxed.
And in order to feel safe and relaxed, you need to be in an environment that feels safe and relaxed.
Your home is generally place where you feel safe and relaxed…but even still there are things you can do to help promote physiological labour at home.
And hospitals are not generally places where we feel safe and relaxed.  Hospital gowns, machines that go beep, caregivers coming and going…none of these make us feel comfortable enough to let go.

The perfect birth environment is one that meets these five criteria
– warm
– private
– quiet
– dark
– safe

These five elements will help you to feel relaxed and secure. Your body can then release the hormone you need for labour to progress (oxytocin), and the hormones that will help you through labour (endorphins).
So you want to think about how you are going to create these five elements first at home and then at the hospital.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR HOME ENVIRONMENT
Our homes usually already meet most of the criteria…they are private and we feel safe there plus it is easy to make them warm, quiet, and dark.
But you can still do more to prepare your home and to make the most of what you have around you to make your labour easier.
I recommend setting up birth stations.  These are spots that encourage active labour.  You can set them up once you realise you are in labour and then as you labour you work your way through the stations

 

The birth environment can support or hinder physiologic birth. Although most births occur in hospitals, there has been an increase in requests for home and birth center births. Nurses can support physiologic birth in different environments by ensuring a calm environment that helps reduce stress hormones known to slow labor. In any birth setting, nurses can encourage the use of facilities and equipment that support a physiologic labor and birth and aid the transition of the newborn.

As Michele Odent (1987. P. 105) so eloquently says; birth “is an involuntary process and an involuntary process cannot be helped.  The point is not to disturb it.”

 

A comfortable environment is going to help you stay relaxed and this is crucial in allowing the physiologic process of labor to occur. An intricate blend of hormones is released during labor – some are helpful, but others can be destructive and even slow things down. Fear and stress may “stall” labor and create a need for medical interventions. If you do choose a birth environment other than your home, consider laboring at home as long as possible, and explore ways in which you can make the transition to the birth center or hospital as seamless as possible. Music, eye masks, and continuous labor support – such as a doula, family member, or friend – can be a great help.

 

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