Using your sensations to navigate labor is one of the easiest ways to prepare for labor but is often overlooked entirely or left until the last minute. Let this be your guide toward delving more deeply into using your personal sensory system as your best pain reducing resource in labor.
An essential concept to understand with this is what is called the gate theory of pain. Essentially our brain can only process so much sensory input, including pain sensations, at any one moment. By providing pleasant or even neutral sensory information to your brain, fewer of the pain signals can get through. This decreases your overall perception of pain.
Now don’t get me wrong there are A LOT of unfamiliar, uncomfortable, intense and painful sensations during birth. However, with so much information flowing into your brain, distracting yourself with even a small amount of pleasant input can be enough to turn the tide in your favor and decrease your overall discomfort and empower you to push forward through labor per your birth desires/plan.
Now let’s get into these sensations…
Vision- looking at or visualizing something that brings you feelings of peace, calm, confidence, and power! Having a favorite photograph in your hospital bag or simply visualizing a favorite place can do the trick!
Sound- when under stress or in pain what type of sounds are you drawn to? silence? nature? white noise? or some Whitney Houston ballads? It’s your body and what brings peace and comfort to you is what will work the best!
For me the simple sound of my breath was the number one sensory experience that guided me through my natural hospital based births.
Oh, and you should never have to ask to turn on music in your birthing room, just do it!
Scent- you have probably heard that smell has the most direct route to our brain and memory centers of any sense. I highly recommend identifying a scent or two that helps you completely melt yet brings a little zip of energy. A friend of mine swears by the DoTerra combination of Balance and Sweet Orange! Essential oils are a wonderful way to access impactful scents during your labor but it could be as simple as keeping your favorite perfume or cologne on hand as well! Anything to overpower the “hospital” scent will do you good!
Taste- this one is a fabulous distractor because it is often a mint or something of that nature that moms are drawn to and the act of sucking on a mint adds another layer of comfort. Sucking activates your calming system!! So pack those mints and honey sticks for a double dose of calming input in the height of contractions!
Touch- what type of touch soothes you the best? Where do you love to be touched? Are there any specific spots? If you have an answer to any of these questions, share this with your birth partner TODAY! If you’re not too sure, think about pressure. Do you tend to prefer light or deep when feeling unwell? Applying pressure, heat, or vibration to areas of discomfort during labor can reduce the pain signals arriving in your brain from that area. When I attended births as a doula I would always have a hot pack, TENS, and vibrating massage tool on hand and they were often used with great success!
I hope this gets you thinking and planning for your labor in a way you might not have before!
