Читать книгу Blooming Birth: How to get the pregnancy and birth you want - Lucy Atkins - Страница 75

Don’t assume you’re in labour just because you feel you should be. Sticking rigidly to a preconceived idea about when and how your labour will kick off may be hard to handle, emotionally. Julia had one client, Tia, who insisted (at just 37 weeks) that she was overdue.

‘Her doctor had ventured a guess months before that this small-boned woman would deliver early, and so Tia just moved her due date. By the time her real due date came, she was telling everyone she was two weeks overdue. Eventually her somewhat harassed doctor checked her: her cervix was tight and there was no effacement. Tia was absolutely devastated. Days later, her labour gently and normally began but she would not distract herself and went straight to the hospital, soon becoming frantic about her ‘failure to progress’ (she said this, not her doctor). She relied so much on a perceived timescale for her own labour, that she let it rule her birth.’

WAYS TO HANDLE LATENT LABOUR | Managing latent labour is a key part to managing the birth as a whole. Strangely, though, this crucial stage is often ignored in discussions about childbirth. When you feel the first intermittent contractions, or have a ‘show’, you might feel a rush of adrenalin, excitement or even fear. If you’re overcome with thrills or worries, and have a doula, she’ll be a good person to talk to now. Call your midwife, too, so that the maternity ward knows to expect you at some point. She’ll ask you a few questions and reassure you about when to come into hospital. Talking things through at this stage can be very calming.

This part of labour is all about distraction and rest. The last thing most of us should do, on feeling the first few mild, clenching contractions is fling our bags into the car and speed to A & E. But – especially if it’s your first baby – it’s virtually impossible to say to yourself ‘ho, hum my first contraction: I think I’ll wax the car’. When my contractions with my first baby started, I had my husband massaging my back in a flash, I took each twinge deeply seriously, switched off all the phones, refused to sleep and paced the house. I was convinced I’d meet my baby very soon (and terrified at what it was going to take to get to meet her). Twenty-four hours later I was still in labour. My back was rubbed raw. My cervix was still at 3 cm.

Of course, it can take a certain lack of imagination to put your feet up with a good book when labour arrives. But this is exactly what you should be doing. Your latent labour could go on for a very long time. It’s worth preparing yourself for this possibility: ‘My first was a long labour with regular painful contractions and no dilation at all for first 30 hours,’ says Astrid, 36, mother of Levi (5) and Lilly (3). ‘This was devastating psychologically. I was prepared for a long labour but not for such lack of progress.’ If you lose too much sleep at this stage, you could, if it does turn out to be a long haul (and many first labours are), end up with a sleep deficit of two or three nights. This can make you utterly exhausted when you most need energy (i.e. when you are in hard labour and then have to push that baby out).

One of Julia’s clients was scared that if she slept she’d ‘miss’ this part of her labour. Real, active labour, like a screaming newborn, will WAKE YOU UP. Your real labour contractions will not stop if you lie down or drink too much water (a worry bizarrely common to many first-time birthers). So, take this stage of labour seriously: it is your chance to gather your strength, which you will need as you are going to give birth. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon…. .