I firmly believe there is no one perfect method to cope with labor and birth.  Women choosing homebirths can (and probably should) look into different methods to investigate how other “experts” have instructed women to cope.  In years past, before the movement of birth into institutions, women most likely had watched women in their community giving birth.  Maybe they shared tips and back rubs to help each other through what is often a momentous task.  Now that most births occur outside of our community and homes, perhaps we are less equipped to cope when the time comes for labor.  

Some methods are complicated and suggest you take many classes in order to learn how to do birth in the best way possible.  Sadly, taking copious childbirth classes does not guarantee that you will, in fact, reach your goal of a natural, physiologic birth.  How disappointing!  When I came across Penny Simkin’s Three R’s I immediately liked her simple approach (follow the link and look in Penny’s file library).  I often teach it to my clients as a way of labor coping.  I recently attended a birth during which a woman coped with her labor in a wonderful depiction of Penny Simkin’s Rhythm and Ritual.  The third R is Relaxation, and if I am being honest not all women are able to harness that piece.  Labor and birth are not about perfection, its okay to do things your own way!

During her multiple contractions that happened to be very close together she both used rhythmic vocalizations and movements to cope with her contractions.  Sometimes she repeated encouraging words that we had said, and sometimes she just made the same sounds over and over.  Swaying her body back and forth in the birth pool she met each contraction as it came and moved through it with grace.  Rhea Dempsey says that birth works best “quiet, safe, and unobserved.”  This laboring woman did not feel observed, but instead safe and supported to work through her contractions the way that felt right to her.  Her labor was not easy, but it was beautiful and successful.

Are you planning your own labor or attending a woman?  Rest assured she already has many of the skills that she already needs to cope innately imbedded in her mind and body.  She may not need taught a specific method, but instead encouraged to use her voice and body to move through labor in a rhythmic way.  Repeating these things with each contraction will help her focus her mind as she gets closer to meeting her baby.  Women are designed to birth their babies, and they are well equipped to be successful when interventions are minimized and instinct takes over.