I definitely think the stairs will help you with your delivery. Just take them really slow and steady as you get bigger. I lived on the 25th floor when I was pregnant with my first child and took the stairs just for fun sometimes. : ) If you do have stitches you will want to take it easy afterwards for a couple of weeks.

As for what helped me in labour; assuming an animal-like pose on all fours. It opened up my pelvis naturally, made it easy for the midwife to push down on my back (where I was feeling most of the pain) and made the delivery very quick and stitch-free! (The second time anyways.) I pushed my baby out in three minutes and had no swelling. Between the position I assumed and the midwife asking me to give quick little pulses instead of gigantic pushes, I really believed this made a difference.

If you can cope with the pain, do it without meds. That's easier said than done, I know, but if you can your birth will be quicker and so will your recovery.

Best of luck to you!

I REALLY liked climbing stairs while I was in labour... it felt good and kept my mind off the pain. Unfortuantely once I got to the hospital they didn't want me to leave the delivery ward, which was all on one floor... so no stairs :(.

A big part of how you cope with pain has to do with the people around you. If you can find a good doula or labour coach (friends are great but someone who really knows about birth and distracting/coping with pain is a big asset) that will help. Also pushing a little slower when the head is being born can help prevent tearing... some doctors know this but others just want you to push as hard as you can, another reason why it can be good to have a doula/midwife around even if you don't go for a home birth. Also it's good to have someone to advocate for you in the hospital, because when you're in labour, your mental state is pretty altered and you may not be able to ask for the things you wanted... certainly I wasn't.

My midwife friend's biggest piece of advice to me: when you first go into labour, REST... because later on, when things get intense, you won't be able to. Did I take her advice? of course not. But it would definitely have been a good idea. It's much harder to cope with intense labour pains when you've been up all night with them.

Make a birth-plan, consult your doctor, have them sign it too... include the things you'd like to try in labour (balls, jacuzzi, walking, squatting... whatever) that you don't want drugs (if you don't), that you'd really like to avoid a caesarian unless conditions become life-threatening (ask your doctor what their definition of "life-threatening" is). (Assuming you're having a hospital birth... if you're hoping for minimal intervention you may want to look into a home-birth with a midwife).

For me... I didn't want drugs, but when the time came I was screaming for them (I let them break my water for the first baby, which moved things from intense to excruciating VERY quickly... in hindsight probably not a good idea, but I was bored and tired and just wanted the baby to ARRIVE. Second baby was just a very fast, intense delivery in general). Anyway, both times they weren't available, and it's amazing what you can get through when you don't have the option. Looking back from the other side, I'm glad I had no drugs, if only for the "macho" factor (Yay me, I'm so tough). At the time I didn't think I could cope with it, but because I had to, I did.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I didn't really incorporate bellydance into my labour or labour prep; lots of walking, pressure on the hips, climbing stairs, but not dancing. Maybe dancing would've been good, but it doesn't really fit with my husband, so I didn't. This was mostly for the first labour... the second one was too quick to do much but try and not fall over screaming (and yes, I did my share of screaming both times).

Ooops, that got kinda long... sorry :)

Emily,
I had my first baby in the UK too so I'm familiar with the NHS and their angle on child birth. I've known a lot of women, myelf included, who were pressured into having as little pain control as possible in lieu of natural births and methods. I planned to have a natural birth as well but no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Every woman is different and if you feel like you can do it then go for it girl! But be prepared to tell your midwives what you want when you want it. I was in so much pain that I couldn't voice my opinion to anyone, they didn't give me anything until my third day of labour. What happened to me was criminal and I never want to see anything like that happen to anyone ever again. I learned a couple hard lessons about childbirth in the UK. 1) The NHS doesn't want to pay for your comfort, they want you to tough it out as much as possible. 2) You're in a Christian nation that in many places still has the stigma that women were mean't to suffer during labour.

Sorry about the bad stuff but I had to get through it before I got to the good stuff. When I was laboring (2nd time around) I found it really beneficial to use a CD of drum rhythms to focus me. As dancers we're hypnotically predisposed towards those rhythms anyway so it worked out great! I used Solace's "Rhythm of the Dance" and Gypsy Caravan's "Caravan Rhythms." The beat really helps you form a rhythm to breath and focus through contractions. It also guides you during pushing. As for pushing itself... I had the best luck in a semi seated position (with lots of pillows!) with my arms under my knees and my knees pulled towards my chest. I just rolled my belly when I pushed and that baby popped out in 30 minutes! The second time around was a dream for me because I stayed more active, I ordered an epidural as soon as I got there and was prepared to relax and wait for the pushing to start. There's no reason to stress about labour unecessarily in my opinion and staying active and healthy is just awesome. ;-)

I once asked myself how the hell did our ancestors go through childbirth? Well the mortality rates were higher in the past aaaaaaand before Christian views on labor dominated medicine... they used drugs! I really hope that wasn't offensive, I'm still pretty bitter about my first experience so please forgive me.

Best Wishes!
~Gen~

Great replies in here - I am due to have my little Anson any day now - and I am freaking out!! lol.

It realy sounds like you're on the ball, and are taking good care of yourself and keeping active in all the good ways. Keep moving and your body will do better & recover better because you did.
My husband and I did the Bradley Method. we had two lovely & natural homebirths that way (one in 2005, and one just last week). It was great labor prep, but it also gave us a lot of confidence and knowledge about pregnancy and hoe the birtth process (and after) works.

I posted some stuff on the bradley vs hypnobirthing tread too but wanted to add-


Get a friend to have a food tree started for you. A food tree is when friends sign up to bring by a full meal for you and your partner each day for the first 7. It is amazing, you will have lots of left overs that you can just heat and eat when ever you need. This is a must, otherwise you really do neglect your nutrition while you learn how to take care of that person. You really need to build your reserves back up after labor, that's why animals eat placentas... ready, nutritious food that you don't have to even move to get....eh...I'll pick a food tree over that!

Also a breastfeeding doula/coach for the third day and third week....someone that will come over and calm you down and help you with the latch to avoid pain. Labor pain is NOTHING compared to the third day of breastfeeding. I never cried during my 41 hour labor, I was incoherently bawling my third day of breastfeeding.