Give birth like a cow!
You may not know this about me, but back in 2015 I moved to Northumberland to become the first female Warden of the Chillingham Wild Cattle. These are a herd of cattle that roam wild in 400 acres with no human intervention. In the eight years that I have been working with them, I have never once witnessed a birth. Literally never. I’ve tried really hard. I even put up motion cameras and stayed out after dark. But nope. Those cows like their privacy when they give birth.
“Where are you going with this?” I hear you ask.
Well, mammals all require more or less the same conditions for their birth environment. And they will instinctually seek them out. If these conditions aren’t available or something interrupts, then it can sometimes slow labour down.
“So what are the best conditions for birth?” I now hear you ask.
Well, there are four things that mammals need in their birth environment for labour to progress effectively.
Darkness
The majority of the Chillingham Wild Cows give birth at night. And this is when a lot of human labours start too. And labour progresses best when the lights are kept dimmed. If you are planning to home birth, you have full control over your lights and can decorate your space ahead of time with some lovely twinkly fairy lights. If you are planning a hospital birth, have some battery powered fairy lights and tea lights to take in with you and request that the blinds be kept shut and the lights dimmed. This is your birth and you have every right to make requests, wherever that may be.
Quiet
Yes! Quiet! Think about how you can make your birth environment quiet. Ear buds are a great way to drown out unwanted noise and help you focus. Download your relaxation MP3’s or your favourite relaxing music onto your phone and have your ear buds in. Get in the zone and ignore anything else around you.
Private
So where do the Chillingham Wild Cattle go to give birth? The woods of course! Now I’m not suggesting you go and give birth in the woods (although if you wanted to, this is a perfectly valid birth choice and personally something I dream of!) but have a think about why a wild animal may want to disappear into the woods to give birth. They’re hidden and protected. This is pure instinct, and the instinct is in us too. Our labours often slow down when we are out in the open and then speed up again once we get somewhere small and enclosed. Many a woman has given birth in the toilet cubicle on a labour ward! So think about how you can keep your birth environment private.
Undisturbed
This is a really important one particularly if giving birth in hospital. You only have a matter of hours to build a rapport with the midwife on shift as it is. You don’t want other random strangers coming in and out of the room when you’re giving birth. This is something you should make very clear. When I was giving birth to my first baby in hospital, I had other members of staff that were nothing to do with me coming in and out of the room to borrow equipment and chat to my midwife about other matters. I didn’t know I could speak up then. But if ever I were to give birth in a hospital again, I would not tolerate that and would even go so far as to get a “do not disturb” door hanger.
So why are these conditions so important? It’s because they have a huge effect on our hormones which have a big part to play in our labour. We want to encourage lots of oxytocin. This is the hormone that starts labour and keeps it going. We get lots of oxytocin through feeling happy, loved and safe.
When we feel unsafe or scared, we release a hormone called adrenaline which triggers our fight or flight response. Ideally we want all our blood and oxygen to go to our womb during labour, but adrenaline causes our heart to pump faster and direct blood out towards our hands and feet, preparing for fight or flight. This not only stalls labour but can actually make it painful. (Now don’t get me wrong, adrenaline does have a small part to play in labour when going through transition but that’s a chat for another day.)
So in conclusion
DARK QUIET PRIVATE UNDISTURBED = FEEL SAFE = OXYTOCIN = GOOD
BRIGHT NOISY ON-DISPLAY DISTURBED = FEEL UNSAFE = ADRENALINE = BA
Want to get prepared for birth? Hit the link below to get started!
