7 tips for staying calm in the delivery room

When the time came I knew delivering my baby would be the greatest workout I ever endured. If you are planning on doing a drug free delivery, I am going to share with you 5 tips I took with me into the delivery room. 

 Set The Mood in the delivery room

I had this picture in my head how everything would play out. I am a very chill person and I feel like I can vibe off of people so I needed the mood to be set! I wanted my hospital room to be a chill, comfortable, and have that zen vibe to it. I started with diffusing some relaxing and energizing oils. I mixed a combination of lavender oil and orange oil. I love lavender oil. I used it to help me sleep at night throughout my pregnancy, and just smelling it relaxes me. I wanted to throw orange oil into the mix because orange is an uplifting scent. I knew I would need some energizing aromas to get this baby out. 

Labor & delivery playlist

Music is a must, every time you hear a song it always takes you to a time and place! I created a labor and delivery playlist that I can play in the room. I wanted songs that I can just close my eyes and “vibe out” to. I made a playlist of about 12 songs. Funny thing about this is my labor lasted longer than I intended and this play list played over and over about a hundred times. I will share with you below my picks. 

Keep your cool

I practiced yoga regularly. Prior to being pregnant I would do heated yoga and after every class they would come and place a cold lavender towel on your head. It was the most heavenly feeling ever! I took this into the delivery room with me. When my contractions started at home, I got wash cloths and I mixed some water and lavender oil. I dipped the towels in the mixture and I froze them. When we left to the hospital I took a cooler with me and I brought those along!  

Hydrate! 

Hydrating is so important! I read if your hydrated the baby will come out easier, who knows! All I know is delivering a baby is such an intense workout and hydration was key for me! I made a concoction with red raspberry leaf tea, coconut water, and a dash of lemon. Red raspberry leaf tea is known to shorten labor time, it tones and tightens all the muscles in your uterus which in turn can shorten delivery time. Coconut water is great for hydrating. It has a significant amount of potassium. Lemon is loaded with vitamin C, as well as other nutrients plus I love lemon! I made a couple large mason jars full of this mixture and I took this with me as well. I literally needed a drink of some sort of fluid between every contraction towards the end. 

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Calories! 

Food is key! You need some good snacks! Since I didn’t get an epidural I was allowed to eat. Another plus of going natural! My snacks of choice were dried mangos and peanut butter filled pretzels. I wanted snacks with sugar so I could have that immediate energy. Towards the end eating is the last thing you want to do, but leading up to the last stage of labor snack on!

The dream team

Of course have a great team beside you. You obviously want your baby daddy in the room with you. I had my mom and husband with me during the whole process. They literally rubbed my back, held my hand through every contraction, gave me water if needed. I did not want a large crowd in my room, in fact I didn’t even tell anyone I was going into labor. I was MIA for a couple days and of course when I wasn’t responding to text people ended up catching on.

Positive birth affirmations

Reading various positive birth affirmations was key. I had to say these things in my head and remember these through every contraction. I felt like they kept me strong through the entire process. My favorite one was “The power and intensity of my contraction cannot be stronger than me, because it is me!” When your mind is motivated the body acts accordingly. Remember your body was made for this! To find positive birth affirmations that resonate with you just search within google.