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Labor - Walking, Sitting, Standing Better Than Bed
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What's interesting to me is that this isn't a new concept; pregnant moms in the U.S. have been told this for years. Seven years ago, in fact, was the first time I heard it, in my first birthing class (and it was old news then). And I tried ... oh how I tried ... to follow it. I was up on my feet, in the shower, on the birthing ball. But the minute a health provider walked in the room, I was back on my bed, strapped to that fetal monitor. "Try to keep this on," they'd say.
The research review suggests that it's more convenient for health practitioners to keep an eye on both the mom and the baby if she's lying in bed and on the monitor. But laying flat can decrease blood flow to the area and slow contractions, while be up and moving may help the cervix dilate and distract a laboring mom from her pain. (Go ahead and have a good laugh about that last one. I know I did.)
My nurses eventually let me stay on my feet, though they shooed me back to bed now and then for a quick peek. But I'll admit it added another level of stress being told not to do what came naturally to me. Monitoring is important, I know. For us, it let us know our baby was safe, and warned us at one point when she wasn't, so that we could change our course of action. But there has to be balance between keeping an eye on things and letting a laboring mom do what she has to do. Hopefully, this research review will help parents and practitioners find that balance.
Share your labor story with us: Were you on your feet? Or did you labor in bed? And either way, would you have done it differently if you could do it over again?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-21-2009 @ 12:06PM
Becca Seitz said...It seems like it would be an easy-ish fix to change the way monitoring is currently done. Make it wireless? Make it stay in place while Momma is moving around? Current monitoring systems were designed with the bed-ridden laborer in mind, not the moving-about laborer. So it's time for a new design! Mommas want it, the industry had better keep up!
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4-21-2009 @ 12:12PM
Jamie said...I had a similar experience. I took the birthing class where they teach you how to give birth with our without drugs. I did not create a birth plan nor talk to my doctor about expectations because I expected to be consulted on choices before procedures were considered. Well, I was in for a big surprise and boy was I surprised. My doctor wanted my water broke at 4 cm and therefore I was in bed for my labor. The pain was easy to manage while I was able to be on my feet. Once I laid down my paid went from 2 to a 6. When the doctor broke my water then the pain jumped closer to a 10. Maybe they need wireless baby monitors or something. I would have loved to have had options like walking around and managing the pain myself my own way.
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4-22-2009 @ 11:09AM
Mary Sullivan said...My experiences were similar to yours: The pain was *much* worse in bed than walking or standing, but hospital staff (kind as they were) allowed almost no mobility. It was all about wires and monitoring. The second time I was higher risk because of twins, so I can kind of understand it, but I would have welcomed the chance to move. We learned that in childbirth class but didn't get to implement it. Too late for me now, but I hope wireless technology will be here to help laboring moms in the near future!
Mary
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4-21-2009 @ 1:51PM
mel said...I was only dialated to a 3 when I first went in with my first child so they monitored me for a few minutes and then let me do anything I wanted. I did the ball, walked the halls, paced the room but found I was more comfortable lying on my side and then pulling my knees up with each contraction. This made the medical staff happy! The philosophy at the hospital was to try to let the mom do what they want for the majority of the time but they had to put the fetal monitor on for a few minutes every so often. So with me being more comfortable in bed, things were much easier!
My second child, I labored most of the time at home, walking up and down the hall. When I got to the hospital things went really fast! So it looks like all the walking at home may have worked!
And I agree...wireless monitors would make like much easier!!
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4-21-2009 @ 2:30PM
Karen said...My water broke before going to the hospital. I was encouraged to walk around and told that once I got in bed that they would hook me up to all kinds of monitors and that I wouldn't be able to get back up so to make sure I stayed up as long as I felt comfortable.
I was given pitocin once I got hooked up, but I also had the epidural. I slept through the night waking only when they came to check in on me. I had an absolutely well rested and virtually pain free delivery. Two pushes and we were done!
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4-21-2009 @ 8:45PM
Karen said...For a normal, low-risk woman, intermittent auscultation (listening) to the baby's heart rate is proven in studies to be just as effective as continuous electronic fetal monitoring. Too bad hospital staff would rather use a "hands off" machine which is very annoying to most moms than to do the "hands on" listening required.
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