4 things that your uterus needs during labour to work efficiently

And how to make sure that your uterus has them

There are 4 things that your body and in particular your uterus needs during a vaginal birth to help labour progress as efficiently and effectively as possible.

DISCLAIMER - these 4 things are a bare minimum, at the very least, that we should be planning to give to our body during labour. There are so many other, additional ways to prepare your mind and body for giving birth to help stack the odds in your favour of having a positive birth. However, for now…

Let’s take a look at the basics that you will need to give birth to your baby:

But first, can you hazard a guess as to what the 4 things might be that your uterus needs during labour?

…

Ok, let’s start with the most obvious one

1/ Oxygen

Now, this might be really obvious and you might be thinking that it’s easy to give your body oxygen.

However, how often do we see people giving birth on TV and they are either holding their breath or panting? This is not providing your body or your baby with oxygen, this is doing the exact opposite and starving your body of oxygen.

Knowing how to breathe during labour is vital, but it’s not that easy, it takes time and practice for the hypnobirthing breathing technique to become second nature.

Practising hypnobirthing breathing techniques throughout pregnancy is so beneficial. The aim is to flood your body, your uterus and in turn your baby with oxygen. Never underestimate the power of a hypnobirthing breathing technique.

2/ Hydration

An interesting fact that you might not know about is – One of the biggest causes of labour slowing down and stalling is dehydration.

The uterus needs water in order to be able to work efficiently. Whilst you may not feel thirsty during labour, it is important to drink if you can. Even if you can just manage small sips of water, then that will be helping your body to do what it needs to do to birth your baby.

Top tip – Add a water bottle with a built-in straw to your hospital bag checklist, it’s easier to drink from a straw than to tip a bottle.

Even bigger top tip - Tell your birth partner to remind you to drink, just in case you do forget.

3/ Energy

There are two ways to make sure that your body has energy. This is a really simple one to understand, if we are exhausted then the body simply cannot give birth, all the muscles of the uterus are tired and can’t do their job. A tired uterus can even make contractions more painful.

How often do you hear women saying that during labour they were simply exhausted and couldn’t carry on?

Now, I cannot guarantee how long you will be in labour for, but what I can do is say that the following two things may just help you to conserve energy.

I have actually produced a whole blog post on 4 things to do in-between contractions to conserve energy, you can read it by clicking the image below, but for the sake of this blog, let’s keep it simple.

• - Sleep or rest - In the early stages of labour, before things get intense, sleep where you can or just rest. Even if it’s just chilling on the sofa watching a film, this is conserving energy. Even during the later stages of labour, if you do get a break between contractions - rest your head.

• - Eat or snack - Energy comes from food too. If you feel like you can eat or snack throughout labour, then do it. Food will give you energy.

Top tip - make sure your birth partner sleeps and eats too, it’s just as important for them to have energy to be able to support you.

4/ Blood

You might be thinking that you can’t influence this one, that your body will just provide blood to your uterus and you can’t control it? I mean we aren’t vampires so how do we give our bodies extra blood?

Here’s something important to understand about labour. If you feel worried, scared or anxious during labour, your body will automatically enter into what’s called the fight or flight mode.

The worry causes your body to believe that you are under attack, it makes sense really. If you are feeling worried or scared, it must be because there is something there to make you scared.

Our body responds to this by sending blood and oxygen to our arms and our legs so that we can either fight the threat or run away. In doing this, it takes away the vital oxygen and blood from our uterus, to provide it to our arms and legs.

This is why it is so important to understand how labour works and to feel confident about birth by taking a hypnobirthing course. You will have techniques to help you stay calm so that in turn the uterus gets to keep the blood and oxygen that it so desperately needs.

So, there we have it. Did you guess all 4 things?

Will you be making sure to prepare your mind and body for labour now that you know how important it is to at least have the bare minimum? All of my hypnobirthing courses will fully prepare you for the birth of your baby.

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Hannah x