Emotional release for 'inducing' labour

Approaching your due date can bring about a whole host of emotions: excitement, panic, calmness, frustrations… and you can feel them all in a short space of time. It seems that the solution is to encourage labour to start to bring baby here so the rollercoaster can stop. When the end goal for 9 months has been the birth, it’s hard to see beyond that. We have all heard the classics of spicy foods, long walks, castor oil, raspberry leaf tea to ‘induce labour’ but the truth is that babies arrive when they are ready and any attempt to bring baby out before this time is inducting labour. To give yourself and your baby the chance of your best birth, you should feel emotionally ready. This can remove any barriers that are preventing the feeling of safeness. When we don’t feel safe, we hold on to tension and this holds the body in a state of protection, high adrenaline and less favourable for labour to start. Chasing your labour can create more stress, frustration or anxiety. We allow labour to start, rather than force it.

As we discuss in hypnobirthing, the labour process is a process which includes physiology and psychology. Our bodies and our hormones influence each other to allow labour and birth to work as they should. When adrenaline is high, our bodies tense, blood flow to muscles increases and we prepare to ‘fight or flee’. Our brains are primitive and don’t know the difference between fear of the unknown and fear of a predator. Not giving birth when fear is high is survival and evolutionary. Being able to calm our nervous system can let our bodies feel safe enough to let go, let oxytocin flow and allow labour to start. Remember that adrenaline and oxytocin can’t exist at the same time.

Of course, the end of pregnancy can feel like everything all at once and holding on to emotion is common. There are so many reasons why this may be happening for you: Anticipation of the next chapter, fear of pain/loss of control, previous birth trauma, concerns about birth environments, worries about your baby, feeding or relationships. Having thoughts or concerns about any of these things is expected, common and protective. You may not feel these things intensely all of the time, but letting these things rule without addressing them can create tensions or emotional blockages which prevent your body from feeling ready for birth. Sometimes, it can feel like opening Pandora’s Box at a late stage of pregnancy which in itself can feel daunting.

But what does emotional release really mean? It means permission. What are you holding on to and why? It isn’t about putting on Titanic and having a good cry or intentionally smashing some plates. It is not performative. It’s far deeper than that. Being honest with yourself and whoever your supporter is and allowing your emotions to be felt, expressed, witnessed and acknowledged. In engaging in emotional release, you are practicing activating your parasympathetic nervous system and reducing stress and cortisol. In turn, this increases your feeling of safety, trust and readiness, making space for oxytocin to flow and signalling to your body ‘we are safe now’. Now this isn’t to suggest that labour will begin imminently. Perhaps you are ready, but your baby needs a little more time and this is okay. But the skill of calming your nervous system is essential for birth and parenting and the practice of doing this can support your wellbeing long after the start of your labour. Whether or not labour begins after emotional release is not a measure of its success or failures.

So practically, what does emotional release look like? It will look and feel different for everyone, depending what they feel they are holding at the time and what works for them. The practice itself, the environment and the tools you use afterwards are all equally important. Name your fears or concerns out loud, talk openly and let it go without shame in a space that is judgement free. Express the emotion in its rawest form, not to ‘fix’ it or force positivity, but just sit with it. For many of us, this may sit uncomfortably but doing this in a safe space with someone you trust or writing it only for yourself may help. Allow time to do this where you can do something compassionate for yourself afterwards and have the tools to regulate yourself handy too.

Your body is wise and you can learn to trust it. If you are experiencing an emotional blockage or intensity of emotions, you can thank your mind and body for bringing this to your attention and acknowledge the message. Get curious about it and ask yourself ‘what does my body need to feel safer?’. I am often asked how to get labour going as I support clients in the final stages of pregnancy and the only suggestion I will ever give is to acknowledge any uncomfortable feelings, anxieties or concerns. I offer a safe space to explore this if needed and welcome any sharing of experiences, supporting this in a trauma informed way. For those who have completed a hypnobirthing course with me, I can be confident that they have the tools to support them and encourage regular practice for effectiveness. When we allow emotions to move, the body has space to follow in it’s own time.

For more support through your pregnancy, birth and beyond, I offer doula support, hypnobirthing sessions and postnatal wellbeing support in Chester and Wirral. Explore more here