Secrets to a birth environment for an easier birth

When you are about to go to sleep, you adjust the room.

You make it more comfortable and quieter. You change the lighting and maybe even the temperature.

You understand that the environment is going to make a big difference to your ability to fall asleep and have a good sleep.

The same is true for birth.

Your birth environment matters.

Imagine your friend’s pet cat is pregnant. She tells you she’s had her kittens. Where are you picturing that she birthed them?

Are you imagining she took herself off to the under stairs cupboard, the old shed in the garden or even under the bed?

Most of us would expect other mammals to take themselves off somewhere dark, small, and familiar to them.

We are mammals too. We need similar conditions to birth more easily too.

I’m not suggesting that you take yourself to the old shed in the garden or squeeze yourself into the under stairs cupboard along with the vac. However, thinking about how to create a birth friendly environment helps you have a better birth.

For birth to work best we need:

·       A feeling of safety

·       A feeling of privacy

·       Familiarity

·       Dim lighting

These factors are so important for the release of the good hormones that make birth happen and encourage comfort too.

Wherever you choose to birth your baby, whether that’s home, a birth centre or hospital, know that planning your environment can actually help you have an easier birth.

Here are my practical tips:

·       Lighting- Oxytocin, the power behind your contractions/surges thrives in dimly lit environments. If you are birthing at a hospital or birth centre battery operated Tea lights are a birth bag essential.

Switch off bright lights and dot them around your room and you’ve created lighting perfect for the flow of Oxytocin.

If you are birthing at home you could even use the real deal.

·       Scent- Our sense of smell is said to be the closest sense linked to our memory. We relax more deeply when we feel things are familiar. Based on this, having a room spray or a couple of drops of essential oil on a tissue that you have been using at home when relaxing, will help your mind and body feel more at ease.

Every time you relax during pregnancy (e.g as you get into bed, when you have a bath etc) use your chosen scent and you are building a strong anchor for relaxation that you can use at your birth and creating that sense of familiarity.

·       Privacy- Birth is an intimate process. If you think of other intimate events in life, yes I’m talking sex, MOST of us would choose to do that without an audience.

Feeling watched whether this is sex, going to the loo or giving birth is highly likely to make it feel different. Where ever you are birthing, consider how much privacy you’d like.

Would you like the constant presence of a midwife in your environment? Or would you prefer them to pop in and out? How do you feel about student midwives?

Dim lighting and distraction techniques can also help create a feeling of privacy even if you do have other people within your environment.

·       Familiarity- When our surroundings are familiar, we are more likely to relax. A relaxed body births more easily and comfortably.

Consider taking with you items from home, perhaps your own pillow, photographs, and even your own blanket. Things that reminds you of your home surroundings.

Of course, if you are birthing at home this is already sorted.

·       Sounds- Sounds/music can impact our mood. You want to feel relaxed and at ease, music can help us feel this way. Plus, the bonus is it makes you less likely to hear distracting sounds from elsewhere.

·       Comfort- Most women feel most comfortable fairly upright in labour. Lying back is likely to be uncomfortable and let’s face it lacks the aid of gravity. Despite what TV and film would have us think, beds are pretty useless in labour and birth. So, get your birth partner to push the bed (if there is one) out of the way, empty your birth bag out onto it so you are less likely to be drawn to it and you get to make the most of the space.

·       Time- Remove the clock in your birth space. Oxytocin speeds up the sense of time, however constant clock watching is unlikely to mean this this is the case. Plus, the focus on time can create frustrations that might not be there if you were to distract yourself from the time.

Take time to plan your birth environment knowing that a relaxing environment is not just to look good in photos, it can actually help your lovely birth hormones work more optimally, giving you a calmer, better birth for you and your baby. Happy Birthing!

Curious about whether you could become a Hypnobirthing teacher and share valuable tools with expectant parents to help them have a better birth? Take our quiz to find out.

Abby x