Spending most of your time in bed, especially lying on your back, or sitting up at a small angle, interferes with labor progress: Gravity works against you, and the baby might be more likely to settle into a posterior position. Pain might increase, especially back pain.
Side-lying release
Not only can this position be used to help engage the baby into the pelvis and to encourage cervical dilation, but it can also be used during labor to help ease discomfort.
Spending most of your time in bed, especially lying on your back, or sitting up at a small angle, interferes with labor progress: Gravity works against you, and the baby might be more likely to settle into a posterior position.
Side-lying with upper knee bent
Lie down on one side, with your lower leg straight, and bend your upper knee as much as possible. Rest it on a pillow. This is another position to open your pelvis and encourage your baby to rotate and descend.
Walking around the room, doing simple movements in bed or chair, or even changing positions may encourage dilation. This is because the weight of the baby applies pressure to the cervix. People may also find swaying or dancing to calming music effective.
Walking and exercise often make it to the top of the list of things to try. While there's no research that says it will induce labor, 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five times a week can be helpful in any stage of pregnancy.
Researchers now believe that when a baby is ready for life outside his mother's uterus, his body releases a tiny amount of a substance that signals the mother's hormones to begin labor (Condon, Jeyasuria, Faust, & Mendelson, 2004). In most cases, your labor will begin only when both your body and your baby are ready.
Squats, asymmetrical movements and low impact cardio can all help induce labor naturally. You'll find all three in today's workout below. Bouncing and performing pelvic tilts on a birthing ball or exercise ball was helpful for me too.
Squats open the pelvis and can encourage baby to put added pressure on the cervix, which helps with dilation. It's important to have good support when in a squatted position during labor, and to keep your feet as parallel as possible instead of in a "V" shape.
In some women, the foetal head is not in the right position and doesn t apply aptly to the cervix, which is why the cervix doesn t open. This can lead to difficulty in dilation.
This is perfectly normal. The duration of the latent phase of labour can be variable. It may last for 24 hours or more and can be tiring for you. It helps if you can stay as relaxed as possible during this part of your labour and remain at home in comfortable surroundings as long as you can.
Pelvic pressure is a common sign during the later stages of labor. You may feel pressure in your rectum too. Moreno describes it as a feeling “similar to needing to have a bowel movement.” Get ready, because this means that baby's really on the way!
The Butterfly Pose
Sit on a flat surface on the ground and keep knees folded and wide open with the sole of your feet together. This is a very common pose for exercises to induce labour even during pregnancy, and you might already be doing this. For additional support, you can place your palms under your knees.
When we sit on the toilet, we naturally let our pelvic floor relax. When we allow these muscles to soften, all of the hard work our uterus is doing pays off by allowing our cervix to thin, dilate, and get us closer to meeting our baby.
Gently bouncing on an exercise ball to induce labor not only encourages baby to move down and in turn assist with cervix dilation, but it can also soothe baby, Green says. Sit on the exercise ball, with your legs wide apart, and move your hips up and down.
On the flip side, it's also normal for the cervix not to be dilated at all before labor. So don't worry if you're 40 weeks along and still measuring at 0 centimeters; your body could still be preparing for labor and delivery in other ways. Dilation is just one piece of the puzzle in the laboring process.
The cervix can be dilated to 1 centimeter for weeks before the beginning of labor. This extent of dilation only signals that the cervix is starting to prepare for labor. Most pregnant women spend some time wondering when they will go into labor, especially as the due date draws near.
In the days before labour starts, you might notice some subtle signs. It can be hard to tell them apart from your normal pregnancy discomforts. You might notice a change in the discharge from your vagina or a few cramps in your abdomen. You may have a low, dull ache in your back that can come and go.
Losing your mucus plug simply means that your cervix is starting to dilate, and your body is preparing for labor. You may notice a thick, jelly-like discharge that's either clear, off-white, or slightly bloody with a pink, red, or brown hue.