10 Tips For Normal Delivery

The only purpose is to make sure that the baby and the mother are both healthy, and if the circumstance calls for it, there is no shame in needing a caesarean. Don’t overthink, enjoy your journey to parenthood, and follow 10 Tips For Normal Delivery.

Ensure Your Normal Delivery With These Tips.

One out of five women has a caesarean section, even when it’s not medically necessary. That’s why you should follow the tips mentioned by your doctors, as normal delivery is still considered the safest and preferred option. So, here are some of the most effective prenatal care measures to enhance the chances of a normal delivery.

1. Educate Yourself:

Education never goes out of hand when it is needed, because knowledge is power. Read books, take classes, talk to new moms, and communicate with your doctor to fuel your knowledge. Make sure to avoid horror stories. If you start to feel overwhelmed with all the information, take a rest and calm down. Don’t exhaust yourself by burdening your mind.

2. Exercise:

Women are advised to exercise regularly until the third trimester or 28 weeks. However, high-intensity activities should be avoided after the second trimester. There are studies indicating that active women are less likely to experience labour pain and pregnancy issues than less active women. Additionally, the body changes throughout pregnancy and increase in weight. Becoming overweight can increase the chances of delivery complications and create difficulty in fetal monitoring. So, exercise will also help in weight management.

Important note: a woman’s body rapidly changes after the second trimester, and blood pressure also drops. So, don’t exhaust yourself with strenuous exercise. Make sure to follow a basic routine like yoga, walking, and minimal strength training.

3. Reduce Stress:

Understand this, stress can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, low birth weight of the baby, and risk to the baby while in the womb, and all these lead to health complications for the mother and the baby.

Meditation, deep breathing, proper rest, sleeping well, incorporating movements, eating healthy, and not worrying are the most effective tips that one can adopt. Hormonal fluctuations can also cause stress. But they support the development of the fetus, prepare the breast for lactation, support the growth of the uterine lining, and stimulate uterine contractions.

4. Healthy diet:

For the mother and the baby, proper intake of nutrients is essential. It prevents preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, lowers birth weight, and contributes to a smoother labour process till delivery. First of all, folic acid prevents neural tube defects and protects the child from brain and spine defects. Also, iron prevents anaemia, calcium builds strong bones, protein ensures growth and development, and omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for brain development.

Understand this, if your pregnancy is complication-free and healthy, the chances of normal delivery are high. However, Cradle Children’s Hospital can help you to make a proper plan for your diet.

5. Sleep well:

According to the Sleep Foundation, women with sleeping disorders tend to have worse pregnancies, leading to complications. Even, pregnant women should sleep more as they feel fatigued due to body changes. Find ways to cope with your sleeping pattern. Here are some of the examples-

• Put a pillow between your knees and abdomen, and sleep on the left side. It improves blood flow to the fetus, uterus, and placenta, and takes off pressure from internal organs.
• Avoid spicy meals to avoid having heartburn. Severe heartburns are associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease, and this increases the chances of a c-section.
• Don’t force yourself to sleep; instead, read meaningful books or take a warm bath. These will help you to get your beauty sleep.
• Avoid screentime for one hour before bed, and electronic rays can make it harder for you to sleep.

6. Keep Yourself Hydrated And Avoid Caffeine:

Proper water intake significantly enhances the chances of a normal delivery. It maintains the amniotic fluid level in the body, which is very important for the well-being of the baby during labor by cushioning the baby and making its movement smoother through the birth canal.

Caffeine acts just like a diuretic and makes you urinate more than usual. It can increase the chances of dehydration. Even, researchers of the National Institutes of Health revealed that babies whose mothers consumed caffeine during pregnancy have less size and lean body mass than babies whose mothers didn’t consume caffeine. And this can cause birth defects in your baby.

7. Perineal Massage

This might be new for you. Perineal massage is a form of technique that is used to stretch the perineum during pregnancy, and this reduces the risk of tears during delivery. This can be started around 35 weeks into pregnancy. In the beginning, you feel uncomfortable, but after practising, you will get comfortable with that. You can find several tutorials for this, but it is suggested to talk to your gynaecologist or obstetrician before practising, as they will let you know the benefits and proper technique.

8. Avoid Induction

It is an artificial stimulation of labour and is significantly planned before the delivery through medications. If you have planned to go for a normal delivery, then you should avoid induction. As per medical experts, this increases the need for a C-section during delivery.

Furthermore, labour is induced in women based on their medical condition, diseases, etc. If you are healthy, then there is no need to go for this. Enjoy your natural labour and the process of giving birth to a life.

9. Good Posture Matters A Lot

A mother’s posture throughout her pregnancy influences the position of the baby in the womb. It also facilitates aligning the pelvis, reducing back pain, optimising blood flow to the organs and the baby. Some examples of postures-

• Always lie down on the left side to optimise blood flow to the placenta.
• Pelvis tilts maintain a good alignment for the back.
• The curvature of the back can excessively affect the position of the baby.
• Make sure to talk to the doctor about the postures and how you can correct them because they know the best. 

10. Consult With A Doctor:

Visit your doctor the number of times as you want. They will monitor if there are any complications and let you know if there are things that need to change in your lifestyle. They are one of your support systems because a healthy mother and her child are their priority in every case.

9^th Month- Time For More Careful Steps

• Attend Prenatal Classes: You should know about the difficulties and problems that you may experience during and after delivery. Also, learn effective ways of recovery in the postpartum phase, as the classes also cover this.
• Exercise: practice, butterfly pose, prenatal yoga, squats, pelvic tilts, and kegel exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles.
• Breathing Techniques: You should know how to control breathing because during delivery, this will help you. Deep breathing, Lamaze, and alternate nostril breathing will help to manage contraction, provide slight relief in pain, and calm your mind and body.
• Spinning Baby Techniques: You should avoid sitting on a recliner for longer periods, and ensure that, while sitting, your knees are positioned lower than your hips. It will reduce the unnecessary pressure on the lower back muscles and spine.
• Monitor Baby’s Movements: Pay attention to the ways your baby is moving, and contact your doctor immediately if you feel any significant changes.
• Prepare Yourself: rather than others, you should prepare your mind, because you are going to face all the changes and pain.
• Pack Your Hospital Bag: add all the essentials for the hospital like clothes, medical records, snacks, nursing bra, toiletries, ID cards, and personal items like blankets and pillows. Make sure you are comfortable in the hospital, as your body will experience the new phase.

What to Do During Labour Pain?

Make sure your partner is there to share the emotional toll because of the pain. It would be incorrect to justify the pain because some relaxation techniques can ease your pain a little bit.

– Massage: A partner can massage feet and back, as it releases endorphins. These are the body’s natural pain relievers and work wonders to reduce anxiety and tension, and promote body relaxation by improving blood circulation.

– Moving Around: don’t sit in one place, because moving can help to improve blood flow to the baby, and allow your baby to shift to a better position. As your pelvis is in contraction mode, squatting, using birthing balls, lunging, and rocking simply soothe the contraction and help in opening the pelvis.

– Hot Bath- A warm bath increases the blood flow to the muscles and releases endorphins in the body. These slight help in contraction, as the sensation of warmth overtakes the signals of pain.

– Music: play your favourite music, because it might activate your sensory pathways, which help you fight against the labour pain. Also, it reduces cortisol hormones.

Benefits of normal delivery

• As it does not involve major surgery and causes less trauma to tissue, the recovery of a normal delivery is faster than a C-section.
• Through c-section, the risk of uterine rupture, preterm or stillbirth, and abnormal placentation increased, because the potential injury to nearby organs is higher.
• The pressure passing through the birth canal removes the excess fluid from the lungs of the baby, and this reduces the chances of respiratory distress syndrome.
• Emotional bonding is very important; that is why doctors prefer to establish a skin-to-skin connection between the mother and the baby just after delivering a baby. Also, hormonal changes help to promote this bonding, making it a seamless process for both the mother and the child.

Conclusion

Although the tips are simple, which you might have heard frequently, applying them to your schedule can bring effective outcomes. A healthy mother can birth a healthy baby, so it is also the responsibility of friends and family to support them throughout the process and join them in adopting good practices. Moreover, Cradle Children’s Hospital can guide you throughout your pregnancy phase, so you don’t have to worry about anything. It is a time for you to enjoy the journey, not stress about things.

For more information, contact Cradle Children’s Hospital!

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