All pregnant women have at least once heard about the importance of proper breathing during labor and childbirth. There are rules recommended by obstetricians all over the world, and they are based on many years of medical experience and key techniques to facilitate labor. If a woman follows these rules, childbirth will proceed much easier, the baby's condition throughout the entire process of his birth will be more stable, the risk of complications for the woman in labor and the baby will be much lower. In this article, we will talk about how to breathe correctly during contractions and pushing.
What is it for?
The intensity of a person's breathing, the type of inhalation and exhalation are reflected in the state of health and internal processes in his body immediately. If you don’t believe, you can try right now to make a series of short and shallow breaths with your mouth (like a dog breathes), and in a minute you will notice that there is a slight dizziness.
Breathing can activate or slow down gas exchange in the body, saturate it with oxygen, and activate blood circulation. Calm and even breathing is excellent soothing even in a stressful situation.
At the first stage of labor, during contractions, even and calm breathing provides an opportunity to fully relax in the intervals between them. This relaxation may well replace pain medications. It is with relaxation that women usually have their biggest problems. Most often, fear of childbirth, of pain, about which a woman has heard and read so much, does not give relaxation.
If you rehearse correct breathing in advance, for example, during training contractions (although they themselves do not need proper breathing or drug pain relief), then with the onset of real contractions, it will be easier for a woman to tune in to the correct breathing rhythm.
The more she can relax at the initial latent stage, the less she physically experiences pain during contractions. This has been proven by doctors, verified by many women in labor and is beyond doubt.
During the expulsion of the fetus from the uterus, compliance with the rules of breathing makes each attempt more effective, which means that the baby will be able to be born at least a few attempts earlier. Compliance with the rules of breathing reduces the likelihood of maternal injury during pushing, it is not for nothing that experienced obstetricians urge women to breathe at random, not to scream, so that there are no ruptures of the cervix, vagina.
The child also benefits from correct inhalation and exhalation in the active stage of labor. With intensive gas exchange, a woman's blood is more easily saturated with oxygen, the baby receives it even after the water has passed, even when the mother's genital tract passes, if there is no premature placental abruption. "Children's place" to the last fulfills its functions to provide the baby with everything necessary.
The rhythmic breathing technique in childbirth allows a woman to better control herself, listen and hear all the commands of the medical team, and fulfill them in a timely manner. This allows you to reduce the likelihood of complications, birth trauma to the baby. It has been proven that childbirth against the background of correct breathing proceeds faster, the woman and the child after them feel much better, the head of the baby is born softly and non-traumatically.
The rules of breathing during the period of labor and during the attempts of women are taught completely free of charge at the courses of expectant mothers in any antenatal clinic. But in Russia, for some reason, these courses are neglected, only 15% of primiparous women attend such classes. Among multiparous, this percentage is even lower - no more than 2%. Classes at school for expectant mothers are not considered compulsory, women in Russia can attend them or not attend them at their discretion. In some European countries, such a choice is not given to pregnant women - in order to get to the maternity hospital to the chosen doctor, the expectant mother is simply obliged to take classes and provide an appropriate document about it.
Refusal to attend courses by Russian women does not seem too correct. Many questions and difficulties could be avoided if a woman by the last trimester of pregnancy knew well at least how she herself should act in the event of the onset of childbirth, discharge of water, the onset of labor pains.
Reasons for refusal can be different - being busy at work, at home, studying, feeling unwell, etc. But then you need to spare no personal time and still get acquainted with the key breathing techniques during labor. Starting from the second half of pregnancy, experts advise the expectant mother to train in breathing techniques for about 10 minutes a day.
Basic techniques
There are several techniques, but they are all based on specific types of breathing. In everyday life, we breathe first with our chest, then with our stomach (observe yourself right now, and you will understand that you are quite comfortable either way, besides, from time to time we breathe mixed - both on horseback and peritoneum at the same time). You will have to forget about such chaotic breathing at the crucial moment of the birth of a new life. To learn how to breathe the way you need to, you should start by mastering the key breathing patterns that will be useful to you. Master them in the order in which they are indicated, do not get ahead of yourself.
Abdominal, lower (belly breathing) - the chest remains immobile, while taking in air and exhaling, only the stomach rises and falls. Place one palm on your chest and the other on your stomach. During training, the hand that is on the chest should not rise, and the second, which is located on the stomach, should rise as high as possible. Inhales need to be done deep enough, exhales - smooth.
- Complete combined - when inhaling and exhaling, both the chest and the abdominal wall rise and fall. The difficulty (in any case, at the very beginning of classes) arises in order to do all this in a wave-like fashion - from the bottom up. Imagine breathing in your lower abdomen. First, the abdomen (an element of abdominal breathing) is filled with air, then the air smoothly flows from the abdomen into the chest, and then it goes back.
It will also be easier to learn by placing your palms on your chest and peritoneum. On inhalation, the palm on the abdomen rises smoothly, on the exhale it drops, the palm on the chest rises.
- Economical breathing - after breathing the combined type is obtained, you need to learn how to conserve oxygen. Continue breathing in combination, but now the inhalation remains the same in duration, and the exhalation becomes twice as long. Exhaling for a long time will help with pushing.
- Rapid breathing - a series of short inhalations and exhalations. This type of breathing will be especially helpful during contractions. The people call the main technique a "candle" - after a short breath, a woman makes a sharp and short exhalation, such as she would have done to extinguish the candle flame if it were in front of her face. Reception "Big Candle" implies stronger repeated exhalations, as if a woman needs to blow out several candles at the same time. Breathing like a dog, with an open mouth, may be useful.
- Pushing technique - this is a special breathing that should be trained with extreme caution during pregnancy. It will come in handy precisely in the process of expelling the fetus. As soon as the obstetrician gives the command to push, the woman draws as much air as possible into the chest with her mouth. Imagining how the air "cushion" begins to press on the uterus from above, helping the baby to be born, you need to hold your breath. Breathe out briefly after holding the breath becomes impossible. Immediately you need to draw air with your mouth again and push again. As soon as the obstetrician is asked to relax, you need to breathe in the full (combined) type that was mastered earlier.
Respiratory gymnastics should become the best "friend" of the expectant mother during the second and third trimester. You can practice in any position, but it is best to do the exercises with different body positions in space - standing, lying, sitting and even while walking. This will help bring the ability to breathe correctly to almost automaticity, in childbirth, even if it starts suddenly, there will be no particular problems in remembering the necessary techniques and reproducing them.
At different stages of labor, the basic techniques will be combined in different ways. Therefore, let's consider the process of giving birth to a child from the point of view of the rules of breathing from beginning to end.
Contractions
During labor pains, the muscle fibers of the cervix are shortened, it becomes shorter, opens and frees up the exit for the baby. This stage can last several hours, on average - from six to ten hours. Full disclosure of the cervix will automatically mean the beginning of the second stage of labor - the expulsion of the baby from the mother's womb, which has become too small for him.
Correct breathing at this stage can help relieve pain during contractions. But it all starts with a preliminary period, which smoothly turns into the development of contractions. The contractions intensify gradually, and therefore at the very beginning, when they are still rare and weak, a woman should breathe in a combined type, calmly and deeply enough. This will give her the opportunity to relax, relieve fear, tension, saturate the body with oxygen. If there is a lot of oxygen in the body, it works as a natural anesthetic, pain decreases. With an excess of oxygen in the body, endorphins begin to be produced, it is they who help to anesthetize the process of contractions.
At this stage, you do not need to use only abdominal breathing or rapid breathing, it will be quite enough to take a long slow breath and the same slow and long exhalation.
As the contractions increase, combined breathing will no longer bring relief, and you will need to add elements of rapid breathing to it. This is where the ability to "blow out the candle", extinguish the "big candle", and also breathe like a dog will come in handy.
Frequent breathing increases the concentration of oxygen in the body, endorphins begin to be produced with renewed vigor, the woman feels less painful contractions. At this stage, you can independently choose any of their techniques ("Candle" or "Big Candle"), focusing entirely on your own feelings. The main thing is to set the breathing rhythm so that the holding of the breath does not coincide with the peak of the contraction.
When the contractions become strong, around the end of the first phase, the woman needs to build a rhythm in such a way as to inhale through her nose and exhale through her mouth. At the beginning of the contraction, you need to breathe more calmly, at the peak - more often, and as soon as the contraction subsides, again to even out breathing until calm.
If a partner childbirth is planned, the woman can master the breathing tactics in the first part of the labor process with her husband. For the duration of the contractions, he will become her assistant, he will regulate breathing, the transitions from slow to fast, from deep to frequent and superficial.
Attempts
When trying, a lot depends on how attentive the woman is to the obstetrician's commands. It is not necessary to push without a command, this can cause the baby to receive a birth injury, as well as the cause of injury to the uterus and genital tract of the woman in labor. Attempts begin after the cervix is fully dilated.
At the start of this birth period, you cannot use the so-called forced breathing, which was described above. Breathing like a dog will help alleviate the condition. Then, when you have time to push in an organized manner, you need to start breathing with a deep breath and holding your breath for the duration of the push. Remember, if during the attempt to abruptly exhale the entire volume of air, then the effort will be in vain - the baby will move forward little or not at all. The exhalation should be smooth, otherwise the pressure of the diaphragm on the uterus will be insufficient.
No matter how strong the desire to push without a command, to scream instead of the correct inhalation with a breath holding, you need to clearly follow the given rhythm and fulfill the requirements of the obstetrician.
After the baby is born, you can relax and breathe as you like. This will not affect the process of birth of the placenta (placenta). In this process, little depends on the woman in labor.
The danger of screaming
If a woman screams, she does this on the exhale, thereby forcing it. The lower part of the uterus strains when crying, and the bottom of the uterus continues to contract. This is fraught with ruptures of the cervix, injuries to the baby's head. If a woman in labor is constantly screaming, the risk of fetal hypoxia increases tenfold.
No one claims that all childbirth a woman should be steadfastly silent, like a Spartan. A drawn-out pronunciation of the sound "and-and-and" with a closed mouth is allowed in attempts. Shouting out loud means wasting precious energy, interfering with the normal course of attempts and the work of obstetricians who are interested in the baby being born as soon as possible, and certainly being born healthy.
"Kobas-breath"
The training course of breathing at different stages of labor was compiled by obstetrician-gynecologist Alexander Kobas. In honor of him, the method was named "Kobas-breathing". The doctor recommended the following scheme.
- Initial stage of contractions - even calm breathing, through the mouth or nose - does not really matter, the main thing is that the inhalation is long and the exhalation is smooth. The doctor does not impose any particular restrictions on physical activity. A woman may well walk simultaneously with relaxing full-fledged combined breathing, check if all things are collected in the hospital, you can do an enema, remembering to inhale and exhale correctly. You can not cry, scream, sit or lie motionless during this period, drink a lot of liquid and eat.
- Active contractions - at the beginning of the contraction, you need to take slow and deep breaths, mentally counting from 1 to 4. Then even slower exhales from 1 to 6. At the peak stage of the contraction, short and rapid breathing is used (one of the types described above). At this stage, the doctor no longer recommends drinking liquid, only rinsing your mouth. You can walk, sing songs, you can’t scream and cry, eat, strain, trying to "hold back" the pain, tighten up - this prevents the neck from opening more quickly.
- The stage of transition from contractions to attempts - breathing is even, deep with "rounding" of the chest and diaphragm. You can't push.
- Attempts - deep breath, holding your breath and pushing down - into the perineum. Then a smooth exhalation. Three attempts are repeated in one fight. When the head is born, such breathing must be abandoned, and at the command of the obstetrician, breathe shallowly and superficially "like a dog." During this period, Dr. Kobas does not recommend straining the upper body to avoid hemorrhages, and it is also not recommended to bring your legs together and scream.
- The birth of a "childish" place can be accompanied by any type of breathing, says Kobas, and therefore permits everything. A woman can push if she wants to, she can cough.
Women who adhered to "Kobas-breath" during childbirth claim that the birth was easy enough, the pains were tolerable. Some even managed to do without screaming at all.
The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky
The well-known pediatrician and TV presenter Yevgeny Komarovsky has repeatedly emphasized that the health of a child largely depends on the behavior of his mother during childbirth.The best tactic is to listen to the doctor and obstetrician and strictly follow all the recommendations.
Correct breathing in this case will be an excellent helper, thanks to which a woman will be able to control herself, the situation, and her feelings. Therefore, it is worth starting to learn breathing techniques as early as possible.
It is important to remember that all the exercises that are prescribed as part of learning the basics of recommended labor breathing should be done half-heartedly while carrying a baby.
Breathing techniques during childbirth, exercise with a trainer and preparation for childbirth are shown in the following video.
