Just a quick on from me today, I am in baby mode, which is lovely! And I wanted to hop on and share why your deep breathing might not work during labour.
I have been getting crazy mad Braxton Hicks during the end of this pregnancy, so much so that I’ve even called up my midwife and said “I’m not sure but…” and this is my third, and I do this for a living!
As I recommend, when I feel Braxton Hicks I practise my Wave breathing. But just now, when I was doing my breathing, I noticed that it took two or three breaths to realise that I wasn’t releasing tension from my body.
So I think that a lot of the tithe time when people say “the breathing went out of the window”, they are under the impression that just because they are breathing deeply, which helps, of course it does, they are missing this vital step of releasing the tension.
How to fix it
Bring conscious awareness to releasing tension from your shoulders, Once you release tension from your shoulders the rest of your body has to follow.
It is easy to do the deep breathing without releasing the tension from your body. Which is why when the labour progresses and the surges get more intense, even though you are breathing deeply you aren’t getting the same level of comfort which some of the hypnobirthing mums talk about when they birth.
It’s because although you are giving the body a little edge with the deep breathing you aren’t releasing the tension at the same time.
The easiest way to do that is to bring conscious awareness to the shoulders and you will really notice the difference. I promise.
So the next time you are having a BH and you’re practising your wave breathing or even if you’re just having sensations in your tummy or doing your 5 mins in the morning and evening release the tension with the breath and I think that will put you on to a winner.
