Episode 29: Hormones of Labor Part II

Welcome to Part II! Last week, we discussed the primary hormones of labor and their effect on your labor. This week, in Part II, we're discussing how to set up your space and birth team to ensure your helpful hormones take the lead and your less helpful hormones take a back seat.

In summary:

• Set up a safe space to birth in (you can find a birth bag packing list and tips for how to do so here)
• Limit interruptions
• Build a birth team you can be completely impolite in front of
• Prepare yourself and build knowledge in order to reduce fear

Full Transcript

Hello, and welcome to your next episode of the free weekly, Brave Journey Birth Preparation videos, where I pick a topic related to birth and postpartum and I talk about it. Today we're talking part two on the hormones of labor. So last class. That's not true that wasn't a class last video, part one, we talked through the three main hormones of labor, and those are oxytocin, endorphins and adrenaline. Oxytocin and endorphins are helpful. They create feelings of joy and coziness and feel- good feelings. Additionally, feelings of euphoria and natural pain relief in the brain. Adrenaline is less helpful. Adrenaline will slow or stop your labor. And adrenaline comes about with extreme fear or extreme pain.

So, today we're going to talk about in part two, how to encourage the helpful hormones and invite less helpful hormones to take a back seat. I'm Cara Lee, I'm a birth doula and a childbirth educator, and let's get started.

So how do we create an environment where we encourage helpful hormones to take the lead and discourage the less helpful hormones? The number one thing we can do is curate our birth environment and make a birth environment where we feel calm, connected, cozy, and like we own the space that it's a safe space.

You know that feeling versus you walk into somebody else's house and how it doesn't feel like your own. And it doesn't feel like home and your body is less relaxed. You want to create a space, whether it's a hospital room, a birth center room, or your own home, if you're doing the home or having a home birth, you want to create a space where your body feels at ease. And like it owns the space sort of like when you move into a hotel room and you put your stuff everywhere and it becomes your space. Or even when you to get a booth at a, at a restaurant. And that restaurant booth becomes your space. You want to create that same feeling that this is your safe space by creating a safe space, a calm, environment. An environment that allows you to feel confident and less interrupted. You're more likely to have these helpful hormones emerge and rise. So feelings of, of, of euphoria and joy and confidence are going to come from being in an environment that feels calm and comforting to you. And I have a whole free video on this and a handout on my website. If you go to my website, bravejourney.com, you can cause, I, this is so important and it can have a big impact on your labor. So I made a free handout, a birth back packing list and what to bring, to set the tone in your space. And then also a little, a free video where I go through all the items and talk through the positive.

But another thing that you can do besides creating a calm and peaceful environment, or at least, not necessarily peaceful, like quiet, but where your it's your space. But it's the important thing is to also create an environment with less distractions and interrupt. So where you don't have people constantly coming in and asking you questions: how are you, what do you need?

You just have people really responding to you as a birthing person and offering you things and no more than yes or no answers. That's all you want to have to be giving. You don't want to be giving long, complicated answers. So you want people who are in tune with you. People who really can read your body language, are there to support you through contractions and offer you things in the between, but are really trying to help you descend deeply into your body.

We'll talk about labor land in a second. Cause that's what we're looking for is descending into labor land, that altered mind, state of labor.

Another thing you can do to increase the helpful hormones of labor, but decrease the less helpful ones is to limit the people in your labor to people who are safe to you. Ensure that the only people who are present in your birth room are people who you can completely let loose in front of.

You only want people in the room who you are comfortable seeing you just become completely in your body. You, the people in the room where you're not going to be afraid to moan or groan or roar, or make all sorts of weird animal sounds as you descend into the animal body that you have, that is birthing this baby.

You want people in the room who are not going to be intimidated or afraid if they hear you making sounds or saying things that, that you wouldn't normally say in a polite society. Birth rooms are not a polite space. They're a very body and animalistic. I hate that term animalistic, but you, you know, your animal body, the sounds you make and the things that you do - the squats and rocking and moaning and groaning.

You only want people in the room who you are comfortable seeing you in that position because you have to be, feel free, to be that way in your birth room. You have to feel free to just totally express yourself without feeling self-conscious or like you're being watched. You have to have people in the room who are just going to come alongside you and support you through that with no judgment.

Another thing that you can do to decrease fear and anxiety, and extreme fear and anxiety is prepare. So by preparing, by watching these videos, take a birth education class, there are courses available on my website or find one in your community. Read books. Talk to people who've given birth before. The more that you can learn about labor and birth and the less nervous you are, and the less fearful you are, the more that will increase your helpful hormones and decrease adrenaline.

You also want to make sure that if you're birthing in an environment that you are afraid, how can you make that an environment where you feel more confident. Talk to your medical care providers? If you find you're coming up with a lot of fear. Work with local birth workers in your community to try to diminish any fear that you feel around labor and birth.

And I know this is so much easier said than done. Dealing with fear is really complex. I'm of a mindset where I really believe that looking things that you're afraid of in the eye. Looking at it, learning about it, not being afraid to learn and, and, and really stare at something that scares you, can help decrease your fear. Avoiding not learning about something of hurting your eyes. I think it gives things more power over us. That's just my 2 cents. Everybody has a different way of looking at this and even lots of different spiritual philosophies, look at this different ways, but that's just my 2 cents. The more that you can learn about something, the more you can decrease your fear and anxiety around it, the more you're going to increase the helpful hormones of labor.

And last, a bit on labor land. I mentioned this a few times. Labor land, is a Birthing From Within term. At least that's where I learned it. And I like to give Birthing From Within all the credit and Pam England, but it's a term that lots of birth work. Labor land is that altered mind state of labor.

So when you combine the euphoria and pain relief and elation of endorphins with the feel-good cozy rockstar feelings of oxytocin, and you blend those while you really descend into your body and are just moving and reaction to sensations and finding things that feel good in your body. Or help make labor feel more manageable at the very least, that's labor land.

And that's when you're giving one or two word answers only you're leaving your analytical brain behind. You're not thinking about time, time, ceases to mean anything. You are descending so deeply into just, is this a contraction or not a contraction? Sometimes you're sleeping in between contractions you're you're actively moving flowing in a contraction and then you can sleep in between.

It is just a very, very strong, fantastic mind state to be in. And it's a wonderful, protective and helpful mind-state. Labor land helps you manage your labor, labor land and makes labor feel less intense and more manageable. Labor land also encourages you to move more and have less inhibitions about how you're moving your body and this sounds you're making.

So as a birth doula, I am always trying to help encourage birthing people to descend deeply into labor land, and to leave their analytical thinking brain behind. And come into their body and be very, very body focused and really just responsive.

So that's it for part two, on the hormones of labor, we talked about ways to encourage healthful hormones of labor, which to put it quite simply create a safe space. Only includes safe people, and set up a calm environment where you're not going to be constantly interrupted.

And then also to encourage these feelings of labor land, to not be afraid, to just descend and let your brain go.

And I know this is kind of woo and squishy. It's hard. It's hard to it's, it's less black and white, this element of labor land, but it's really protective. It's really beautiful. And it's this gorgeous blend of these hormones in your body.

So that's it for part two on the hormones of labor. Thanks for sticking around. I will see you next week.