week 7: labour support Flashcards
pain in labour
pain in birth is not pathological its functional - has purpose
Pharmaceuticals do have a place - that mindset can undermine the experience that some people want to have
We can have biases about pain in labour
Recognize this is functional pain, there is a value to it
Be aware what you may be bringing to the space - how can this affect someone’s labour process
How is labour pain different from physical trauma
Not fearing or resisting the pain
How are pain and suffering different:
- Pain: the physical sensation
- Suffering: interpretation of the event
You do not have to be experiencing pain, to be suffering and vice versa
Ex: tattoos or piercings is a functional pain
Pain does not have to be removed, to have a positive birthing experience
Comfort as a antidote is not necessarily true. Not always easy to discern.
Birthing is emotional, we do not want this to lead the birthing process into suffering.
what is our SNS used for
- Fight or flight
- Awake and aware
- Eyes wide open
- Rapid breathing
- Fast HR
- High O2 burn
- Blood flow to muscles
what is our PSNS used for
- Relax and digest
- Automated bodily functions: blood sugar reg, muscle repair, long term mem, etc.
- Eyes more constricted and small
- Slow RR
- Slow HR
- Don’t burn a lot of O2
- Blood flow to organs
- THIS IS BIRTH
Feed and breed!
what system releases oxytocin
PSNS
what system releases adrenaline and cortisol
SNS
how does our limbic system work during labour (can refer to the diagram in slides on limbic sys)
How our limbic system works in labour:
- Thalamus: intaking our stimulus taste, smell, etc
- Then sends message to amygdala: gaggle of emotions on the dash deciding how we feel about that stim
- Amy does not work alone, she works w ms hippo: emotional memory, any time we get a emotion on a stim hippo stores it - automatic hormonal reaction
- Together they decide how we feel about it
- Then they send this to DJ hype - this produces the hormones of how our body feels about this (sends hormones out)
DJ hype makes for ex cortisol or adrenaline when we are stress - say we see a bear AHHHHHH - its almost instant insanely fast to deal with that bear
Our prefrontal cortex is our ability to remember, logic, and reason
Panic attack: breathe - slow down your breathing - this decreases ur SNS response
Can tell our logic brain that tells our emotional brain we don’t need to freak out right now - breathing
Coaching - slowing the breathe to get into PSNS by slowing resp, and by increasing O2 in the body
what are some same q’s you would consider for if someone was giving birth
- where would you prepare the birth space
- what would the space look like
- what “feel” would that space have
what are the cardinal movements of labour
baby has to make a lot of rotation thru pelvic to fit thru
what is relaxin
produced in preg to loosen ligaments, and make pelvis more flexible, and move organs up to make room for baby
what is the rhombus of michaelis
very well known in midwife, but not medicine. Kite shaped structure of our sacral bone. Door of sacrum can open up to 17 degrees to make a widen door for baby to pass thru. We are typically birthing on our back, which opens the rhombus.
what is head molding
plates do not fuse into one skull into 2 yrs old (fontanelles and sutures allow for flexibility)
describe good positioning during labour
Standing labour: gravity helps, full range of movement helps
Sitting: don’t have to use ur legs for support, gravity, ROM (with birth ball)
Hands and knees: also a lot of pelvic movement, with a squat: 30% wider
Back labour: feeling pressure in back and spine, then hands and knees is good to get baby off your back to lessen that sensation
Stranded beetle (back w legs up): not good, no relief, no movement, no nothing don’t do this shit bc no micromovements
**any position they can tweak their pelvis is good
describe double hip squeeze
Find 2 little knobs on pelvis, move hands back, then put ur hands on the meaty bits at the top of hips then press top of hips together, which opens the bottom - can give even a mm of stretch which can be really helpful to teach partners to support the birthing person
describe counter and acupressure during labour
Bum dimples - dimples of venus
2 hollows in your sacrum, you can press into those dimples as an acupuncture point
Acu-pressure: same concept as accupuncture, but instead of puncturing we are pressuring
Shoulder grounding, bum dimples also good for labour
describe gate theory
Gate theory: our brain has a cap of how much our brain can process at one time: if we are having a contraction and that is all we can focus on then that is what they will feel. However gate control looks at more than 1 thing, but decreases the sensation of both slightly so you are not oversstim
