The MamasteFit Podcast Episode 105 – Stages of Labor: Insights and Coping Techniques

[00:01:04] Gina: Welcome to the MamasteFit Podcast. We’re gonna be talking all about the stages of labor, so what to expect along the labor timeline- which is a free 30 minute class that we do offer if you are looking for like a tiptoe into childbirth education. But we’re also gonna be breaking down what our favorite coping techniques are for each phase based on our own personal experience in addition to our professional experience, what we tend to find folks like during each phase. Because it can be a little bit different, ‘and I find it can be a little disappointing for somebody when they were anticipating they were gonna use all of this counter pressure and then labor comes and they’re like, don’t touch me. So we’re gonna talk about different types of comfort measures that we find to be really helpful for folks at different phases of their birth.

[00:01:47] Gina: So let’s start with the labor timeline. So the first phase of labor is the first stage of labor- this is where all the contractions are happening. So your cervix is dilating from whatever it is when labor begins until 10 centimeters, when you begin pushing. So this is the first stage of labor. Within that, there are smaller little phases as well. So we have early labor, which can then be divided into two phases where we have early and then early active labor. We’re still early, but we’re like needing a little bit more support.

[00:02:16] Roxanne: Starting to transition.

[00:02:17] Gina: And then it goes into active labor, which is what most of us think about when we think of contractions. And then we have transition.

[00:02:24] Roxanne: Stress.

[00:02:25] Gina: Which is probably what in Hollywood movies. Just panic. And then we have, we move into the second stage of labor, which is pushing.

[00:02:32] Gina: So with the first stage of labor, it’s important to understand that this can take a long time. I was at a birth recently where the mom looked at me and she’s like, “This is really boring,” and I was like, “Yeah, labor can be super boring.” She’s like, “Why do you do this all the time?” I’m like, “‘Cause the very end is super fun.”

[00:02:50] Roxanne: Yeah. That makes, the very end makes you forget about the whole beginning portion.

[00:02:53] Gina: Yeah.

[00:02:54] Roxanne: That makes it all worth it.

[00:02:54] Gina: It’s all really fun, but sometimes it’s a little long. And you’re like…

[00:02:59] Roxanne: Well, ’cause early labor contractions, they can be every two minutes, but they can also be every 15, 30 minutes.

[00:03:06] Gina: They can take a long time.

[00:03:07] Roxanne: They have longer breaks in between the contractions, and then the contractions sometime aren’t even bad. Like you notice them, but you don’t really need support through them.

[00:03:17] Gina: In early labor, the things that I would recommend focusing on is balancing rest with movement. So if you, if it’s 2:00 AM. Go to sleep. If you just woke up from a full night of sleep, get up and move. Like you don’t have to just keep lying there still just ’cause you’re in early labor, ’cause I also see that sometimes where it’s like, “Don’t move, just rest and restore!” You can get up and move.

[00:03:41] Roxanne: I think it’s emphasizing rest. So like thinking about rest and how you’re feeling. If you feel slightly tired, go rest, go lay down. But if you feel like you’re ready to tackle the world, then don’t continue to lay there just ’cause somebody once told you, you must rest only in early labor.

[00:04:00] Gina: It is a balance though. So movement I think definitely progresses things and get things going, but you don’t wanna be so fatigued from early labor that you’re exhausted when active labor comes. ‘Cause our uterus is a muscle and it does need to rest in order to function.

[00:04:16] Gina: So if I was running an ultra marathon, or a marathon, or even just a 5K, I’m not gonna sprint at the beginning.

[00:04:24] Roxanne: What?

[00:04:24] Gina: Because then I’ll, and then I will be like shocked at the very end when I’m like, “I’m really tired.”

[00:04:29] Roxanne: Yeah, but also what else are you doing during that ultra marathon?

[00:04:33] Gina: Fueling myself.

[00:04:33] Roxanne: Fueling yourself. So whenever I educate on early labor, I’m always like, we want to try to rest as much as we can, while also if you feel rested, you can get up and move around. But we’re also wanting to emphasize fueling our body because as you progress through labor, you, don’t want to eat as much throughout the different phases of the first stage of labor. Like during transition. I’m not gonna be like, “Eat this banana.” During active labor, I’m not gonna be like, “I’m going to eat some burgers, like some higher protein things.” Emphasizing that in that early portion of labor, because as you progress through labor, you’re not gonna wanna be, you know, drinking a protein shake like that doesn’t sound good.

[00:05:13] Gina: You also don’t wanna be snacking.

[00:05:15] Roxanne: No, like you wanna think, you wanna like about a meal. Protein at this point, you wanna eat high protein meals during early labor because that is what’s gonna help sustain you through the rest of labor. And then you can eat again, like during active labor and transition, maybe some more carbohydrates, some simple carbohydrates to kind of give you those quick fuels because you have that protein from the early labor that you already consumed.

[00:05:36] Gina: So in early labor, it’s a balance of rest and movement. Like, move your body ’cause the movement is what’s gonna really help to progress things. But we don’t wanna exhaust ourselves from movement either. And so if it’s the middle of the night, try to sleep if you can. If you can’t get up and move, if you feel rested, get up and move. And then maybe take a nap and then get up and move and then take a nap. And then emphasizing nourishment during this phase can be super beneficial. So eating a meal, because we don’t know how long early labor is. And so you don’t wanna be like snacking and then two days later, active labor begins and you’re like, “Now I don’t want to eat.” So eat like meals as you can, like obviously, like within reason. Hydrate is gonna be really important as well. So move, rest, nourishment, hydration, are like the things. And just generally try to distract yourself as best you can. Early labor can be quick, more likely it’ll be long. It’ll take a long time to get things going.

[00:06:34] Gina: Even for us with our like third and fourth babies, early labor was like several hours long. Like it’s a, it can be a long period of time for your body to kind of ramp itself up. It also could depend on your environment, too. so for me, like early labor was not, I was not gonna move out of early labor until somebody was watching my kids and I didn’t have to focus on that anymore. And so it could be like your body’s just waiting for nighttime to come or…

[00:06:56] Roxanne: ‘Cause your body is smart.

[00:06:58] Gina: I don’t know if I would necessarily go and do errands and stuff in early labor, just ’cause I think that would distract me too much. But I guess, it depends on the person.

[00:07:05] Roxanne: I think it depends on the person. And different things that I’ve seen, like comfort-wise be helpful for early labor is distraction of some sort. So, like for me, I finished packing my hospital bag, took a shower, filmed reels to distract myself, and it’s also like things that I needed to do, like packing my hospital bag was important. Like I can can’t just show up with nothing! I mean, you can, but I felt it was important. So like you’re not gonna transition to active labor and then be like, “Oh shoot, I need to pack. I need to pack my hospital bag at this point.” So doing things that distracted me, like denial, was very, powerful for me. But I also, I start early labor in the middle of the night, so I found different labor comfort techniques to help distract me from the contraction so that I was able to just sleep through them to be helpful. So I really like the TENS unit. In the middle of the night because that helped distract me and like where the contractions didn’t even wake me up anymore. Some people will listen to their like Hypnobirthing tracks to distract themselves. I think you got a massage during your early labor.

[00:08:10] Gina: I did.

[00:08:10] Roxanne: That’s another technique.

[00:08:12] Gina: I did leave my house to go get a massage.

[00:08:14] Roxanne: So like different things that kind of help you relax enough to emphasize resting if needed during early labor or things that I find that a lot of people like. So taking a shower, taking a bath, the TENS unit, or just like going into seclusion. So like you, you’re just trying to be by yourself.

[00:08:31] Gina: I have heard folks say if you’re in early labor to not take a bath because it’ll slow everything down. And I think this is one of those things where we have to think about balancing rest with movement. So yes, if you go to sleep or you take a bath, it could slow things down ’cause your body is saying, “I would like to rest.” And I don’t think that’s bad. That’s not a bad thing to do. And so if you are having a hard time sleeping, but your contractions are still spaced out, like you’re not in active labor yet, but you’re having a hard time sleeping through your contractions, so we’re maybe at that cusp of transitioning into an early active labor timeframe, I find that taking a bath can be a really good place to go so you can still rest if you’re fatigued, and like it could potentially help you sleep a little bit through contractions or be more restorative during them.

[00:09:17] Roxanne: Yeah, and with that thought, there’s also the gravity portion of going in the bathtub. When you go into a bathtub, just like a pool, it’s decreasing the amount of gravitational pull that’s on your baby, which during that early portion of labor, like that gravitational pull pulling your baby down- which is why upright movements are so helpful during labor to help bring baby closer to being born, when you get into the pool, if baby’s too high, if you’re still in that early portion, that’s not helping pull your baby down. It’s decreasing the amount of gravity. So that can also just prolong that early portion of labor because gravity is not pulling your baby down as much. But again, if you’re really tired, it’s better to get into the tub to rest than for you to just continue doing other things. I do normally recommend if you want hydrotherapy, I say try the shower first. If you’re in that early, early active, to rest in the shower, because that’s still having the gravitational pull and it’s not taking it away like the tub does, but it’s, it becomes a balance of what you’re wanting.

[00:10:20] Gina: Like it’s not an all or a none.

[00:10:21] Roxanne: Like, yeah, like I’m not gonna be like, “No, you can’t get it in the tub.” But like just balancing, “Hey, let’s try the shower first. If that’s not enough for you, then we can get into the tub,” because then that can maybe give you enough time to actually transition to that active. But again, if at the end of labor you’re exhausted where your labor is gonna slow down versus like just getting a nap in the tub. Like just take a nap in the tub.

[00:10:45] Gina: I would totally take a nap.

[00:10:46] Gina: So there is no one solution. If there’s anything that you’re gonna take away from this episode, there’s no one perfect solution to navigating labor. Early labor is balancing that rest with movement or nourishment. If you are fatigued, take a nap. Sleep. If you’re having a hard time sleeping, try some hydrotherapy, try a TENS unit while you’re in bed, don’t try it together, but.

[00:11:10] Roxanne: Don’t do that.

[00:11:11] Gina: You take a shower, or get into the tub, lay down with the TENS unit. Implement some of these comfort measures to help you be more comfortable so that you can sleep as we transition into early active labor.

[00:11:21] Roxanne: And sometimes even like pharmaceuticals, so Tylenol, Benadryl, is sometimes something that a lot of, like even midwives will offer. If you have a very long early labor and you have not slept at all, like taking Tylenol and Benadryl or some sort of medication to help you fall asleep. You’ll either wake up no longer in labor or you’ll wake up in active labor.

[00:11:41] Gina: I have seen midwives or providers prescribe Ambien, like a sleep aid as well. If somebody was in that early labor for a really long time, or even IV pain relief.

[00:11:53] Roxanne: Yeah.

[00:11:53] Gina: If they like cannot rest, but like they’re not still very far in labor. That could be like another option as well that I have seen offered. It’s not, I would say that one’s not as common, but.

[00:12:03] Roxanne: It’s not as common ’cause they try to do less invasive things first. So IV pain relief is, you gotta be in the hospital or be monitored a little bit closer, ’cause it does cross that placenta to the baby. Whereas the Tylenol, Benadryl, or even like they can give Phenergan IM, those things will make you sleepy, but don’t necessarily have as much of an effect on baby.

[00:12:24] Gina: So early active labor is a tricky place to be because your contractions are more challenging, you’re needing some more support, but you’re probably still two centimeters. So you’re not, you’re still, you still probably got some time to go, potentially, we’ll see. Every labor is different.

[00:12:42] Roxanne: Yeah.

[00:12:42] Gina: So we’re needing some more support during contractions, but we’re still not quite in active labor yet. So you’re probably not gonna get admitted. I would say this is not the time to run to your birth location unless you have a history of precipitous labor.

[00:12:54] Gina: And so in early active labor, this is where a lot of those comfort measures are starting to be implemented. And so you have your contraction, your partner applies the comfort measure, and then the contraction’s over and you return to the space. So you’re mentally still present and engaging in your environment. That is like my key that somebody’s still in early labor is they are still engaging actively with their environment. So they might go into their little space where they’re like, contraction, but then after it’s done, they come back to the conversation, they’re still playing on their phone, they’re still like talking and engaging. Once they’re like no longer engaging with the environment in between contractions willingly- ’cause you could still ask them questions and stuff, which I would not recommend, but- that would be my sign that they’re in active labor.

[00:13:38] Gina: So in early active labor, we still need comfort measures, but we need more than we did in like the early phase. So we’re needing more hip squeezes. You may be vocalizing a little bit more with contractions. You may be needing to lean on your partner a little bit more. So this is why it starts to get confusing, ’cause if you’ve ever been in a Facebook group, they’ll be like, “If you can’t walk and talk through your contractions, you’re in active labor.” That happens in early active labor where you can’t walk and talk through them. That does not mean that you’re in active labor. It just means that you’re progressing. It just means that you’re progressing.

[00:14:06] Roxanne: It’s just a good sign.

[00:14:06] Gina: So for me, in early active labor, the things that I really like is firm pressure, so hip squeezes. And then also being able to lean on my partner, was really nice. The shower is another great option as well, so just your normal comfort measures I find to be really helpful. But at this phase of labor into active labor, I find like firm pressure to be like super helpful for me. You can start to use a TENS unit at this point as well. Some folks like to save comfort measures.

[00:14:33] Roxanne: Don’t save the TENS.

[00:14:34] Gina: They’re like, “I’m gonna save it for when I really need it, ’cause it’ll be even better later.”

[00:14:40] Roxanne: Just, do it. Just send it.

[00:14:41] Gina: Just use ’em.

[00:14:42] Roxanne: Just send it.

[00:14:42] Gina: Because I’ll have folks that are like, “I don’t wanna get in the shower until I really need it.” no, just get in it. Enjoy it. It’s not gonna hurt your labor process, I promise you. It’s not gonna make it less enjoyable later. So you don’t have to save comfort measures. You can even start exploring them a little bit more ’cause you’re like not quite in active labor yet, so you can figure out like what works for you at a point where you’re not quite as uncomfortable, too. So you can play around with counter pressure. You can play around with the TENS, you can figure out the shower. It’s kinda like experiment time potentially.

[00:15:12] Gina: And you also may realize that you don’t like to be touched during labor, which can totally happen. And so in those instances where you do not want to be touched, what I typically find to be really helpful is like quiet. There’s no like chit chatting, there’s not tons of talking around that person. You’re just like physically present, but you’re not like touching them. Maybe they just wanna squeeze your hand, but just knowing that you’re there is really helpful. And so as a partner, it can be confusing when somebody is in this early phase, going into active labor where they do not want physical support to like, “What do I do with my hands then? I don’t know the words of affirmation to say!” Hydration. Give them snacks. Make sure they pee. Like those would be good. “Okay, it’s been three contractions, here’s a sip of water. Okay, it’s been an hour. Take a bite of this banana. All right it’s been an hour, let’s go to the bathroom.” Or, “You wanna get in the shower?” So you can make recommendations for different labor positions. So this is combining active and early active labor, but those would be like my recommendations if someone does not want to be touched.

[00:16:17] Gina: What were your, like, faves during early active into active labor for comfort?

[00:16:21] Roxanne: Like personally? The TENS unit, number one, until I was at a place that I could get into the tub. The tub and the shower were my two favorites with the TENS unit. I love… I like hip squeezes, but I think that I like them more as I get into more active, ’cause that’s when my back pain’s a little bit worse. And I like emphasizing the TENS unit in early, early active labor because I know that it’ll like expound on each other and build and be beneficial in the long run. But I love hip squeezes, but I, just, that TENS unit was my favorite. I really like the TENS unit. And I really like just someone holding my hand.

[00:17:01] Gina: Yeah. For me, like holding hands is like that physical support.

[00:17:06] Roxanne: But it’s, yeah, but it’s like a firm hold.

[00:17:07] Gina: I need that, where I’m like, “I’m not gonna float away.”

[00:17:09] Roxanne: Yeah. It’s just like a firm handhold. Not, “Oh, I’m holding your hand, but I don’t really wanna touch you,” like a firm hold.

[00:17:16] Gina: As I move into active labor, definitely like hip squeezes, hands down, do not let go. Do not go. Like my husband could not be like more than arm’s length away from me.

[00:17:26] Roxanne: He tried to go to the bathroom and eat a snack.

[00:17:28] Gina: Once I shift into active labor, I’m like, “No sir. Every contraction, you gotta be here. You gotta be here.” So for partners, prenatal preparation, hip squeezes are fatiguing, physically fatiguing. Chest exercises. My whole like last trimester, my husband was like bench pressing every day ’cause he’s like, “Last time, the hip squeezes were a lot!” and so he was like training. Immediate to murder.

[00:17:58] Roxanne: We’ll murder you. Do not say that again.

[00:18:00] Gina: So for me, like the firm pressure was like super helpful, but then hydrotherapy, hands down, game changer. I’ve done it before, but it was really nice this last labor. So like I just alternated between the birth pool or the tub, and the shower. And I was just hopping back between the two. And then as I was doing that, I was like, how does anybody give birth without any sort of tub or shower? This is impossible to not do with these things.

[00:18:26] Gina: But for me, like the warmth of the tub just helped relieve so much like tension. But I needed to hold on to somebody, I couldn’t just be in the tub by myself, ’cause I felt like I was floating away. Like I had to like physically hold on to someone to feel like grounded in it. And then the shower was like nice. I would put it onto either my belly or my back and I would lift my belly up, or, I would shift into each hip as like the water was running on me. And I would just alternate between the two. And if I was not in either of those, hip squeezes. If I was in the tub, hip squeezes, too, so yeah.

[00:19:01] Roxanne: Yeah. I really liked jiggles, the jiggling, at all time.

[00:19:05] Gina: That was more for later for me, like towards the end.

[00:19:07] Roxanne: I just loved it the entire time. I felt like my butt was so tight and just clenching at all points that I wish I would’ve asked for jiggles earlier.

[00:19:15] Gina: Yeah, some folks want like very gentle pressure and jiggling. Some folks want more. I was like, “Vigorous! Firm pressure, vigorous jiggling!” And so communication can be key when it comes to counter pressure techniques, or massage techniques, or jiggling techniques is communicating, “I want more, I want less.”

[00:19:37] Gina: And this is where that early active labor experimenting can be really helpful too, to figure out what type of tension and stuff that I want. ‘Cause for some folks, if you jiggle too vigorously, they clench. They feel like unstable for some reason, and they’ll fight it. For other folks, the vigorous jiggling feels really good. And so yeah, it can, it really can vary from person to person, so explore it in that early active labor. For me, the jiggling I enjoyed much more when I was getting near transition.

[00:20:09] Gina: And so with transition, what is happening is we have a flood of stress hormones that are being released within our body. Think about it like a pushing pre-workout. We need to be a little bit amped up for the intensity of pushing, like it’s a very physically intense thing that we need to do. We push a human out of our body. This also is gonna hype our baby up too, who needs to transition from inside life to outside life? Like they have to…

[00:20:35] Roxanne: It’s a lot of things to do.

[00:20:36] Gina: …breathe on their own, manage their own body temperature, regulate their blood sugars, like…

[00:20:41] Roxanne: They’re gonna do a lot of important things. Their circulatory system is changing rapidly.

[00:20:46] Gina: There’s a lot of things that we want them to do in a very short period of time, like within a minute we want them to do all this stuff, and so we need them to be a little bit amped up as well. So it’s kind of like starting your workout with like a scoop of pre-workout, versus like slowly warming up for your workout to hype yourself up. We want you to be like dry scooping, pre-workout, like when you’re born kind of thing. So that’s what all these stress hormones are doing, they’re hyping you up and they’re hyping your baby up. But….

[00:21:16] Roxanne: Depending on how you respond…

[00:21:17] Gina: …it also can be very stressful, ’cause they’re stress hormones! So typically what I see during transition is folks will be like, “I don’t know. I don’t think I could do this anymore. This is never gonna end. Oh!” One of those.

[00:21:34] Roxanne: Very overwhelming.

[00:21:35] Gina: One of those things. I usually start sobbing.

[00:21:37] Roxanne: Confused, loss of confidence, asking for help, like you just want this to end.

[00:21:44] Gina: I’m usually like, “Help me!” as I like sob.

[00:21:47] Roxanne: Gina asks for help.

[00:21:49] Gina: Yeah. Every time. Every time. It’s a very vulnerable place to be.

[00:21:52] Roxanne: It’s very vulnerable. But there are, there’s a spectrum where there is the more chaotic side, so some people will be very chaotic. I

always reference the Knocked Up scene where she’s just screaming at everyone, like some people are more chaotic. And then there’s the other spectrum where you’re just like, “I’m gonna have my baby. Right now.”

[00:22:10] Gina: “My baby’s gonna be born soon. You should call the doctor.”

[00:22:12] Roxanne: “I’m gonna start pushing soon.” Like that! And people always are like, “No,” and that, “no one’s like that,” and I’m like, there are people. Like, literally had someone walk into triage, completely dilated plus two station, stare at me and be like, “You should get a room ready. I’m gonna have a baby soon.” And I was like, “Oh, I’m gonna believe you because you are so calm.

[00:22:30] Gina: I had a client that tried to leave. She was like, “I’m leaving,” and I’m like, “Where are you gonna go? You’re still gonna be in labor wherever you go.” She’s like, “I’m done. I’m leaving.” And I’m like, “You can’t. I mean, you could go. I’m gonna let you go, but you’re not gonna go anywhere.”

[00:22:45] Roxanne: You’re just gonna, they’re gonna bring you back.

[00:22:46] Gina: You’re gonna have your baby in the hallway instead. She’s like, “Fine.”

[00:22:49] Roxanne: Yeah. Like transition is a very, very wild time.

[00:22:52] Gina: But then I also had a client that just looked at me and was like, “I need a little bit more help,” and I was like, “All right, we need to go to the hospital!” So there is a spectrum. I would say most of us are in the middle, we’re just confused, a little disoriented.

[00:23:07] Roxanne: If during birth, like if I offer a labor technique, “Hey, do you wanna try the shower?” “I don’t know. I don’t know.” “Would you like to switch sides to the other side?” “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

[00:23:18] Gina: For me, I just get very emotional.

[00:23:20] Roxanne: Gina asks for help.

[00:23:22] Gina: Roxanne thinks something’s wrong with her baby and her labor.

[00:23:24] Roxanne: “Something’s wrong,” every time.

[00:23:26] Gina: Like, “She’s not gonna fit.” The last ones did, I think this one will too.

[00:23:30] Roxanne: Granted, this last one was really bigger, so maybe she didn’t.

[00:23:35] Gina: This is where I like the jiggling because for me during transition, I just feel more tension, and so the jiggling helps me to relax a lot more, especially like in my outer hip area. So that’s where I started to feel my contractions more is in like my outer hips. And so the jiggling…

[00:23:49] Roxanne: It’s still like a firm massage.

[00:23:50] Gina: A very firm, firm jiggle.

[00:23:53] Roxanne: You like the firm massage jiggle. Mine is like a light touch jiggle.

[00:23:59] Gina: Yeah. Mine is firm. So again, explore it. Communication.

[00:24:02] Roxanne: Yeah.

[00:24:03] Gina: And it’s okay if you do something and you don’t like it.

[00:24:05] Roxanne: Yeah.

[00:24:06] Gina: Just stop.

[00:24:06] Roxanne: They won’t remember it.

[00:24:07] Gina: They won’t.

[00:24:07] Roxanne: Like just try different things. And if you’re like, “Please never do that again,” they just won’t do it again. And it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world.

[00:24:16] Gina: Other things that can be helpful during transition is just like physically holding, like leaning onto your partner, hand squeezing, usually just like. physical touch and, “I got you. You’re not alone,” can be really helpful. And like words of affirmation.

[00:24:32] Roxanne: Words of affirmation are huge.

[00:24:33] Gina: Like, “You can do it.”

[00:24:34] Roxanne: It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, yeah.

[00:24:35] Gina: I’m proud of you.

[00:24:36] Roxanne: Some people are like getting real deep, like, “You are not the only person in the world that’s giving birth at this exact moment,” that’s a lot to say.

[00:24:42] Gina: That’s what I said in my head.

[00:24:44] Roxanne: But like you just have to be like, “I’m so proud of you.” Like just literally see them, what would you normally say to them in a daily conversation? You’re amazing.

[00:24:52] Gina: Some folks just need a little confidence boost where they’re like, “I’m doing a good job. Okay. I am coping well.” Like, “You’re coping so well.” Like, “Really?!”

[00:25:00] Roxanne: And it doesn’t need to be anything crazy.

[00:25:01] Gina: “I didn’t think I was!” Yeah. It can just, it can simply be,

[00:25:04] Roxanne: “You’re so relaxed.”

[00:25:05] Gina: “I love you.”

[00:25:06] Roxanne: Yeah. Don’t gotta be crazy here.

[00:25:09] Gina: Yeah. This is also where like cold I find is really helpful. So like a cold washcloth on the neck, the face or the neck, the forehead can be really nice as well. Because I find there’s a lot of like temperature shifts where you’re like, “I feel really hot. I feel very cold.” And so like the cold wash cloth, I feel, is really nice.

[00:25:28] Roxanne: Some people like to chew on ice during this time period, like just to chew something.

[00:25:33] Gina: And then, we make it to the second stage of labor.

[00:25:36] Gina: So let’s recap first stage of labor. We’ve got early labor: contractions are probably like 10 minutes apart, maybe up to 8 minutes. So 8 to 10 minutes plus apart, I would say is early labor. During this phase, we would’ve emphasized rest, movement, hydration, nourishment. So it’s is a balance. Now, the more moving we do, the faster things are gonna probably progress, but we don’t wanna completely burn ourselves out and not sleep for three days because we were trying to move during early labor. There is a balance of resting and movement that we wanna do, but we also don’t wanna just lay there for until labor begin.

[00:26:12] Gina: Then we’re gonna move into early active labor, and this is where we’re probably gonna start needing some of those comfort measures. So those hip squeezes, the TENS, the shower, the tub. Start exploring them, ’cause during this time the contractions are, I would say like 70%, 70, 80%. Like they’re, you need some help, but they’re not like full-blown contraction strength yet. And so you can explore and experiment with different comfort measures during this point to see what type of pressure that you like, what type of jiggling that you like. Do you like the shower? Do you like the tub? And so we explore to figure out what it is that you are enjoying.

[00:26:48] Gina: The key difference between early labor and active labor is your mindset. So are you mentally present and engaging within your space or are you in your own little world? If you are still actively engaging with your space, you are most likely still in an early labor phase. If you are in your own little world, vocalizing, like eyes are closed, like not speaking to anybody, you’re probably in active labor at that point. It’s a very distinct temperament shift that happens, but the transition to it can be very subtle. If you’re noticing that your partner is like eyes closed, like no longer speaking, they’re probably in active labor and if you need to get to your birth location, this can be a good time to go.

[00:27:26] Gina: As we move into active labor, this is where we’re definitely gonna need those comfort measures. So hydrotherapy, firm pressure, maybe softer pressure, the jiggling, like physical touch and comfort, can all be really beneficial to do and explore it. Learn what your options are, like practice during pregnancy. You don’t have to wait to implement a comfort measure until labor begins, you can explore them during pregnancy.

[00:27:51] Gina: When it comes to transition, this is usually where like firmer, like more constant pressure can be very helpful. So like physically holding your partner, maybe hip squeezes. I personally prefer very vigorous jiggling at this point, and lots of words of affirmation. This is usually a point where folks start doubting themselves feeling like more like anxious or like confused. And this can also happen with an epidural as well, you don’t have to be unmedicated to go through transition. I do find that it’s less likely for you to experience a very like overwhelming transition unless you’re progressing pretty quickly.

[00:28:24] Roxanne: But with transition, even with an epidural, you will still feel some physical sensations, where you’re still having that release in stress hormones, but it’s not as bad, like, mentally, I find. It’s more your body is uncontrollably shaking. You’re starting to feel nauseous, or you’re starting to feel that increased pressure.

[00:28:43] Gina: Now when it comes to the second stage of labor, this is pushing. And now pushing can be like two pushes, it can be like four hours, so there’s a range within pushing as well.

[00:28:54] Gina: Typically the things that I find to be helpful with coping during pushing is to just mentally tell yourself that it’s gonna take three hours, to say, “I’m gonna push for three hours,” and just mentally tell yourself that, and then just be pleasantly surprised when it’s less. ‘Cause it will most likely be less, but if you are already ready for it to be super long, mentally, it’s just you can cope with it so much better. And you have to remember that it’s not just three straight hours of pushing. It’s like you push for a minute, you rest for anywhere from two to five minutes, and then you push for a minute, and then you rest for two to five minutes. And so you might only push 10 times in an hour, and so that’s not that many times in an hour. So if you think about that over three hours, it’s 30 pushes. That’s not that bad. But hopefully it’s less than that. Hopefully we only push 10 times.

[00:29:40] Roxanne: Yeah.

[00:29:40] Gina: And your baby is born. Maybe even less than that!

[00:29:43] Gina: And so when it comes to pushing, like being able to physically support your partner’s legs, physically support them in comfort positions, like the cold washcloths, hydration can be really helpful at this point as well. You can give feedback based on like how they’re pushing. Do you see more of baby’s head when they push? Maybe you can ask for a mirror. You can help them like touch baby’s head. You could ask the nurse or the midwife to give feedback like either internally or externally so that your partner knows, like they’re doing a good job. Now if your partner’s just doing their own thing. So the person that is giving birth is just doing you, just say, “Good job, you’re doing amazing!” That’s it, just be physically there.

[00:30:21] Gina: So for me, I was just like clawing onto my husband’s arms and hands for the physical support of pushing, while Roxanne was actually very helpful with telling me to relax. She’s like, “Take a deep breath, let your shoulders drop.” And so that can also be very helpful ’cause you might get very tense while you’re pushing as well.

[00:30:41] Roxanne: It’s a very physically strenuous activity.

[00:30:44] Roxanne: Let’s take a break from this episode to hear about our sponsor, needed. Needed is a nutrition company that’s focused on the perinatal timeframe and one of their products, their sleep and relaxation support, was one of my husband’s favorite, my favorite, and Gina’s favorite during her pregnancy to just get some nice restful sleep.

[00:30:59] Gina: So I used their sleep relaxation support during this last pregnancy where I was having more issues with insomnia, so I was having a harder time getting a good night of sleep. And even postpartum, I’ve been utilizing it because I have a baby who impacts my sleep. And so I’ve been wearing like my fitness tracker and the nights that I drink the sleep and relaxation support, I have deeper, more restful sleep, which I think is really interesting. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence where Zoe is like, “Youtook your tea, you seem more relaxed, I’ll let you sleep,” or not. But I have found it to be really helpful to helping me get a deeper night of sleep, a more restful night of sleep. And it tastes pretty good. So I just heat up some hot water, I put the tea in it, and then I just sip on it like about an hour before bed. And yeah, so I highly recommend it. I really like the product. I did not like sleep insomnia.

[00:31:48] Roxanne: And we like sleeping relaxation support.

[00:31:51] Gina: This is the opposite. The opposite of that.

[00:31:52] Roxanne: We want support for our sleep! So if you wanna try out the sleep and relaxation support or any of the other products Needed offers, go to thisisneeded.com and use code MAMASTEPOD to get 20% off your first order.

[00:32:03] Roxanne: For the first, with pushing for me, the first time it was just like having somebody there to hold onto, was definitely helpful for pushing. But also like in the car ride, just having someone to be like, “Just take a deep breath. Don’t push, maybe. Just breathe through them until we arrive at the hospital,” was helpful. With Colin, I think just having like different movement ideas while I was pushing, was helpful from the midwives, but I really just, again, just needed somebody to hold my hand a lot of the time. I really just liked holding hands for all three births. With my last, my husband definitely held a hand, but he definitely held me up like physically held my body up with pushing a little bit more, as we did different- ’cause we had to do a lot more different maneuvers. And even when I was in the bed still, he was still holding my hand doing that. I do wish I asked for someone to push against my butt and like tailbone though ’cause that probably would’ve been really nice. But really just handholding and not telling me 49 things at once.

[00:33:07] Gina: That would be helpful. I also found the water birth to be very nice.

[00:33:10] Roxanne: The water birth was so nice. It was so nice.

[00:33:13] Gina: It was. It’s hard to beat. I was like, “Oh, that was nice.”

[00:33:16] Roxanne: It’s hard to go from the water birth to a non-water birth, too.

[00:33:19] Gina: My oldest likes to call them, “Land babies.” She’s like, “We’re all land babies, but Zoe is a water baby.”

[00:33:25] Roxanne: Yeah.

[00:33:26] Gina: She’s my mermaid.

[00:33:27] Roxanne: Colin’s my little shark.

[00:33:29] Gina: Yeah. But so those are the coping techniques that you can utilize during your labor, depending on the stage that you’re at. And obviously that’s a lot, there’s a lot of options with each one. Explore them though, have a list of different things that you wanna utilize. So during pregnancy, I actually had a bin that I created that was like my labor comfort bin. I had a TENS unit in it. I had a birth comb in it where you like squeeze those, I had like little massage tools, massage oil, I had a heating pad because that was really nice for early labor- I forgot to include that, heat. Heat was like super nice on my lower belly during early labor. I had washcloths in there. I had different, like, aromatherapy stuff. I didn’t use most of the stuff this last labor ’cause it went so fast, but it was there in case I wanted it.

[00:34:16] Roxanne: Yeah. But I think it’s also important with labor comfort techniques that are not an epidural, expectation management. ‘Cause that was one thing, Gina was really like, “The comb, it’s gonna be great. I’m gonna use this comb, everyone talks about this comb,” and the comb was the garbage for her because she had built it up so much in her head.

[00:34:32] Gina: I hyped it up too much.

[00:34:34] Roxanne: She thought it was gonna be an epidural in her head, almost. But knowing that every single labor comfort technique does not take away all of your pain, it is not an epidural.

[00:34:45] Gina: It should take away the intensity.

[00:34:47] Roxanne: It’s going to decrease the intensity. It’s gonna decrease the intensity so that you’re able to relax through the contraction, but you still feel it. And I think that by going into labor, an unmedicated labor, especially if that’s what you’re wanting, with different labor comfort techniques, knowing that it’s just there to help decrease the intensity but not take it away fully is helpful. Because there’s nothing worse than, people are like, “I wanna use a TENS unit because I heard like it’s really helpful for labor,” but then they’re like, “I still feel my contractions,” and I was like, “…it’s not an epidural.” Even nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide, IV pain relief. You’re still gonna feel the contractions, it just makes them less intense.

[00:35:31] Gina: So if you wanna learn more comfort techniques or you wanna learn how to do these different comforting techniques, we do have our online childbirth education course. We explain how to do counter pressure, how to utilize a TENS unit, what different options are available to you, and you can check them out on our website at mamastefit.com and use code STORY10 to get 10% off any of our online options. And you can bundle childbirth education with our pelvic floor prep for birth course, our prenatal fitness courses. And there’s also like “ultimate bundles” where you can bundle it with both prenatal preparation exercises, childbirth, and postpartum fitness programs. Because if you love what we offer you can just grab it all discount at a discounted price!

[00:36:12] Gina: And if you like this episode, be sure to like and subscribe to our channel so you get notified whenever we release new podcast episodes, which we do on every Wednesday, and Fridays we release birth stories and professional case studies.

[00:36:22] Roxanne: And this podcast is sponsored by Needed, a nutrition company focused on the perinatal timeframe that both Gina and I have utilized during our pregnancies, postpartums, and still right now. And even our mom uses them, our husband uses them, got every employee we have using them. So we really love them. And if you wanna check ’em out, go to thisisneeded.com and use code MAMASTEPOD to get 20% off your first order.