Labor and birth are unpredictable. Let’s start with that. However, there are things you can do to significantly affect your birth experience. Choosing your birth team is the first thing you can control. Many women think they should stay under the care of their gynecologist who they’ve had a relationship with for years. This may not be the best medical professional to care for you during your pregnancy and birth however. Once you develop a birth plan, a thoughtful guide to how you’d prefer your birth to go, you might find that your obstetrician is not in accord with your desires or regularly attends the type of birth you want. If that is the case, change! It is challenging to micro-manage a medical provider’s approach and makes for an uncomfortable relationship when that occurs. Consulting your doula for who in your area might be a better fit is a good place to start. It may be an obstetrician in a hospital, it could be a midwife in or out of hospital, or it could be in a stand alone birth center with a midwife. You have many choices and it is important to take the time to ask your medical provider questions during your visits to make sure they are the right person for you.

The next thing that you have control over is when to leave home for the hospital or birth center. Laboring at home for as long as possible is ideal. You will labor easier, faster, and more comfortably in your own home surrounded by your smells, food, pets, bed, etc. Feeling safe and secure is important for your body to open and release your baby and that feeling is best experienced in your own home. Typically, we suggest you leave for the hospital when you are 4-1-1. Your contractions are four minutes apart, lasting one minute long, and this has continued for one hour. This would put you in active labor and chances of the transition to the hospital slowing your labor at this point is less likely. You will avoid unnecessary interventions if you are closer to active labor when you arrive.

Lastly, know your options and what is normal. Work with your doula to learn skills that help labor progress and you be more comfortable. Your doula will provide some childbirth education during your prenatal visits. She’ll practice comfort measures and labor positions with you so you will be comfortable with these techniques when labor begins. She’ll offer you referrals to local bodyworkers including pelvic floor physical therapists, chiropractors, and acupuncturists if needed. She’ll support your partner, in addition, so s/he can give the birthing person effective comfort measures.

Take advantage of the things you can control to influence the type of birth you will experience. Birth is a transformational experience in your life unlike any other, take charge and use the tools available to you to have the best experience possible. Find your doula today to help you control what you can.

Labor and birth are unpredictable. Let’s start with that. However, there are several things you can do