What helped you?

[jannk]

Well I am now so over due I'm left wondering if I can still be in the June DDC! hope so!
For those who had a non-medicated delivery, can you tell me what you found most helpful? What got you through it? From the small stuff to the powerful ones.
Thanks!

[mosquitoswamp]

I had a very quick active labor, 1cm to 10cm to baby born in 1.5 hrs (versus 2 days my first time!) so I didn't have time to pull out all my tricks, but I found incredible relief standing in the shower swaying my hips when contractions were getting harder to breathe through. Sitting on my exercise ball in the shower was great too. If you don't already have an exercise ball, get one. It helped so much!
One thing I didn't so much care for was the baby pool; I didn't like not being able to move as much in there.
Early on holding an ice pack to my lower back was the best. During transition I needed tons of counterpressure; we used tennis balls pressed against my lower back til the contraction passed. (tennis balls stuffed in socks roll better).
Make sure you have everything handy in one place so whoever is helping you doesn't have to hunt. When active labor kicked in for me it came on like a freight train and my fiance didn't even have time to go down the hall for anything before we knew what was happening, I needed him RIGHT THERE
Mentally, I had made lots of notecards with affirmations to repeat in my mind. The shorter the better, as I didn't have time for long thoughts. One I kept repeating was, My baby is coming. It helped take the focus off the discomfort and reminded my of why I was going through all this work in the first place. And then I got into this mindless chant of "Ok, Ok, Ok..." through transition, and for some reason that helped too.
I don't know if reflexology worked for me or if it was just a good distraction, but I also held two small combs in my palm and squeezed the teeth into my palm (beneath the fingers where you get calluses). Easy to do and it seemed to take some of the edge off.
I asked my midwife to tell me something good when it was getting tough and she told me everything was going perfect, my body was big enough and there was plenty of room for my baby to come through. Of all the things she said, this one stuck the most and made me instantly relax. It reminded me that everything I was feeling was normal and necessary to bring my baby out, and it all started to feel so perfect.
I guess the most important thing is to have faith in yourself and your baby and keep all negative thoughts out and your muscles relaxed. Your body will do this, you just need to cooperate!

[Aka mommy]

My birth board, my affirmations (read through them with every ctx), the shower, swaying, sitting on the yoga ball & swaying thru each ctx, avknowledging my fear & then releasing the power it had over my body, accepting the energy as just that (instead of pain) and saying OPEN during every ctx once transition hit. NAK sorry so short

[GoBecGo]

I had this body pump instructor who used to stand at the front during the squat track with 30kilo's on her bar and if anyone paused or skipped a rep she'd say "what's the matter? It's only 4 minutes of your life!" and i thought to myself "it's only one minute of your life!" if i had complainy thoughts during a contraction.

I read Birthing From Within, and there was something in it, where they said there were 3 truths about birth which multips know and they are:
It's Really Hard
It Hurts
You Can Do It
I acknowledged the first two and celebrated the last when i was tired.

Ultimately i think not taking it very seriously got me through it so easily. It got very intense, but i refused to call it agony even in my head, i made sure to smile at DH and my dad between contractions and if anyone asked how i was i gave a positive response - "great!" "i've been worse" "excited to meet this kid!". I had no transition panic, and i think partly it was because i kept myself strictly upbeat and positive the whole time. Of course being at home, knowing my midwife very well and having large gaps between my contractions made that much easier

[texasfarmom]

The biggest thing that helped me was being able to "pet" something,usually my husband, during a contraction. Having a different sensation at my fingertips helped me to focus there and not on the contraction. If I wasn't petting DH it was the side of the tub or bed.