Labor Mantras/Sayings « Back to Group Discussions

[cadybh]

I am planning a home birth and therefore am keen on avoiding pain medications.  This will be a little different for me, as last time I was induced (overdue).  

At any rate, in preparation I'm starting to gather a little list of positive and affirming birth and labor support sayings and quick little one-sentence strategies.  I thought others might have great suggestions of what to add, and/or benefit from the list, so why not make a new thread about it!

I don't have much yet, but off the top of my head:

Sayings:

-open, open, open/I'm opening for baby

-every contraction brings baby closer

-surrender

-calm

-I trust my body, I listen to my body

-I am doing this

-I am a strong and powerful woman

-welcome baby

Strategies:

-horse lips/blow raspberries

-breathe in through nose, out through mouth

-keep mouth and jaw loose

-walk

-move around

-make noises!

[pastormama]

Oh this is great!

The two things I relied on most in my first labor were:

Picturing/envisioning my body, especially my uterus and cervix, opening and softening.  I just kept thinking about getting softer and softer.

Once labor got pretty intense, I made a very low, controlled moan with each contraction - almost like a Buddhist monk doing his chanting prayers.  More like a drone.  I started the moan when the pain started, and tried to control my breathing, keep my face and jaw very loose and forehead/brow unwrinkled, and then ended the moan when it stopped. The moaning was really really helpful for communicating with DH about where I was at in terms of pain and intensity.  

I was not able to walk around because of blood pressure issues, but these two worked very well for me and allowed me to avoid the epidural with induction.  

[amlikam]

I am actually making a CD to listen to during labor with a circle of women I know. We will sing chants and songs (some I wrote) and put affirmations on it as well. I very much enjoy the "I am" to the "I can" statements most people have given me.

I will find my list and share here.

[CoBabyMaker]

The contraction cannot be stronger than me because the contraction IS me.

[eepeepee]

Ooh, I love that one, CoBabyMaker.

[Quinalla]

These are great! Some that I used last time, they are pretty simple:

Mantras:
I'm opening so big
Relax, then sink down further
Pain/Intensity with a purpose (this one is not for everyone, but it helps me to remember that it isn't scary pain/intensity, but marathon-like pain/intensity, ie good pain/intensity)
I know I can
I can do it

Strategies:
I only have to relax through one contraction at a time
Focus on now
Get out of the way and let my body do its work
Don't think, do what feels right
Don't worry about others, focus on my body
When I start thinking I can't handle it, that means I'm almost ready to push (it helps to have someone else remind you of this as it is easy to forget)


Can you tell I'm usually way too brain-oriented, I have to practice letting go of all the thinking a lot to prepare for labor!

[MarieWalter]

I love this thread! Great idea, cadybh!

I have been thinking about how, although labor is 'work' in some sense, it's also something that my body will do if I can just relax and let it do its magic. The phrase I think of is

All I have to do is pass through time

I really still need to do some reading about labor coping mechanisms. While I don't feel afraid of the pain, I also don't want to be caught off guard if it's a lot harder to cope than I expect. I'm also hoping to frame pushing in the same way - not as something I have to do as physical work, but to let that phase be a continuation of the idea that my body will do what it needs to in order to get baby out.

Is that hopelessly naïve?! :p

I am definitely going to watch this thread and keep a list of the mantras that I like. Maybe I'll print some up to hang on the walls around my house for when I'm actually giving birth.

[Quinalla]

My experience with pushing is I had to help some (though that may just have been OB/nurses assuming it has to be that way, I never felt an urge to push, but my body certainly was pushing), but for the rest, for me it was best to relax and get out of the way and let my body do it for sure, sometimes that meant getting into certain positions, sometimes it meant total relaxation. I think regardless it is good to read about birth/labor/etc. some (in a positive way) just to get you in the right frame of mind and I found practicing relaxation techniques extremely helpful as it made it really easy to slip into them during contractions.

[amlikam]

Like all the mothers before I am birthing life forward

I am incredibly powerful

I am this sensation it is not me

I am love

When I breathe in I breathe in love when I breathe out I breathe out peace (actual a chant someone taught me)

May I be wise
May I be fearless
May I be joyful
May I be love (another chat)

My list will be mostly chants/songs :-)

[eepeepee]

One of the affirmations that my husband and I came up with for birth class was "your body was made to do this" (he'll say that to me), which I particularly like.  

...of course, when we I wrote it down for him to read to me, I must have made the b in "body" look like an o.  When it came time to practice in class, as we sat there in the dim room with soothing new-agey music playing, he leaned in tenderly and whispered, "your oody was made to do this."

So, we'll see if we can use that one without giggling.

[pastormama]

Omgosh EPP that is hilarious! I laughed aloud.

[zjande]

Such a good thread.  I love hearing your ideas.

I too have a list of birth mantras (affirmations?) that are my favorites. I use them in the weeks leading up to labor, when I begin feeling the fear and nervousness of the impending pain and work that labor is. They include several things you guys have listed, about softening & opening and my body being made for this. All sorts of sweet things that remind me how natural and good labor is. However, I've learned that during labor, all those sweet "open, soft, gentle mouth, etc." sort of mantras do nothing for me! LOL In my experience I do not find hard labor in any way to be soft and gentle and I am FAR from being able to relax my mouth. I had one labor in which a bit down on a pillow so hard for so long I could barely chew for the next day. LOL

There just happen to be 2 things that have appeared in my brain over my years of baby having that have really worked for me and stuck with me during the hardest part of labor. They are "the only way out is through", and "it's okay...it's good.....it's okay......it's good". I chant & chant these things in my mind over & over.  The first one came to me years ago during transition or the early pushing stage, when I was right on that cliff of panic. I was feeling those creeping negative thoughts starting to come to me, such as "I can't do this, I'm scared to death" etc. Then I remembered- I'd done this before. I knew, "the only way out is through!! JUST PUSH!" And I did, chanting that thought the whole time. And it's true,  the only way OUT of all that pain IS through. Ya just push through it and before you know it, that warm tiny perfect baby is in your arms.

The 2nd chant is just a reminder to me, that all of this pain & work IS good, it IS okay. Those words help keep the negative words away. I can't be chanting "it hurts, I can't stand it" when my brain is full to the brim with "it's good, it's good, it's good". It IS good! The baby is coming!