(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
Welcome to the birth prep podcast. I'm Taylor, your birth bestie, who's here to support you as you plan and prepare for the unmedicated birth of your dreams. If you're ready to ditch the fear, conquer the hospital hustle, support that bump and bod, and walk into the delivery room like the HGIC you were born to be, then buckle up, babe.
This is where it all goes down. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the birth prep podcast. Today's episode is for those mamas that want those cozy, calm, empowered home birth vibes, but you're birthing in a hospital, and maybe it's because it's your only option, or maybe it's because you just feel more comfortable knowing that medical help is nearby if and when you need it.
Because let's be real, hospitals aren't exactly known for their peaceful, low intervention home birth vibes. So how do you bring home birth vibes into a place that thrives on policies and bright lights and beeping machines? So that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. I have a step-by-step strategy for you to help turn that hospital room into a literal sanctuary, one that supports the kind of birth that you want.
So let's get into it. First step, you need to shift your mindset because it's your room, not theirs. There's no, well, this is how we do things here.
Nope. This is your birth, your space, and your experience. The hospital is just where it's happening.
And the second you step into that room, it belongs to you, not the nurses, not the doctors, and definitely not the policy. So I need you to get in that HGIC energy, head girly in charge, own that space from the start. When you walk in, have your birth partner or your doula say, hey, we're so excited to be here.
So excited to have you as support today. We've got some things to set up to make this space our own today. This makes it very clear that you are in charge of the energy in that room.
So some homework, I want you to visualize yourself walking into that hospital room and immediately making yours. What does that look like? How does it look? How does it feel? Who's there supporting you? This is your birth and you deserve to feel at home. The next thing you're going to do is you're going to set the sensory scene.
We're talking lights. We're talking sounds. We're talking smells.
We're talking tastes. We're talking all the things, right? We're going to be looking at things from a sensory standpoint. So think about all of your senses and how you want those to be engaged that day.
The number one thing in the hospital is the lights. Hospitals love to keep those lights bright, but you don't have to do that. You can pack some battery operated candles.
You can pack some little twinkly fairy lights, a little lamp, soft homey glow vibe. You do not have to have those lights on full blast. And a lot of hospitals are starting to implement more dim lights and less interactions with you during your labor experience and just trying to like stay out of your way and keep things like more homey and stuff like that.
But not all of them are on that train yet, okay? If you didn't know, on average, places are 17 years behind current evidence-based information. So if they're not doing it for you, just step in and do it for yourself. Next, sound.
Silence can make a hospital feel very sterile, but you know what makes it feel like home? Your own music, white noise, lullabies, worship music, instrumentals, whatever you want to do, like some lo-fi vibes, birth affirmations, whatever's going to keep you grounded, whatever's going to give you what you need. I've heard some women make this like get hype playlist. I'm like, I like to feel cool, calm, and collected.
But if that's how you want to feel that day, energized, upbeat, all the things, you can create that environment with sound. Smell. This is a big one because hospitals have a distinct smell and not in a good way.
I have a lot of women like to bring lavender, peppermint, essential oils to dab on a washcloth or something and diffuse in the room, whatever they want to do, just to change up the smell a little bit. I liked bringing my own pillow. It smelled like me and my own things, my blanket and all that stuff.
I liked having those things that didn't smell like the sterile hospital stuff. So just something to consider. It sounds silly.
Smell doesn't really matter that much, but it does. Everything in your environment is attributing to how you're going to feel that day, and your feelings are going to greatly contribute to how your birth plays out. When we understand the fear, tension, pain cycle, and oxytocin, and endorphins, and adrenaline, and stuff like that, all of this stuff is playing into that.
It's important to create an environment that's going to help create or help foster the feelings that we want to feel that day. Yes, even smell. One more thing I want to touch on because most birth educators don't touch on it is taste.
Tasting things is also a sensory experience, and when you are hungry and your body is needing fuel for your experience, I strongly suggest you have things to give your body. Hospital policy is probably going to tell you you're not allowed to do that, but evidence tells us that it's actually better to do that versus to deprive our body of the fuel that it is asking for. The risks that come with eating during your labor experience versus the risks that come with depriving your body of food, they just outweigh.
That's just the situation here. Again, 17 years behind current evidence-based information. Some things you might want to consider putting in your hospital bag are some soft lighting options, Bluetooth speaker, or some headphones, or even if you do want total silence, you don't want to hear the beeping, just bring some of those like, I don't know, go get yourself some shooting range little earmuff thingies that block out the sound.
Get those. Even like a blindfold, putting something over your eyes so you can be in some darkness for a little bit. There are totally things that you can do.
Bring your essential oils, definitely bring snacks, food options. What else? Oh, a fan. Bring a little fan.
I always got so hot when I was laboring in the hospital and my mom fanned me with the information packet at the first birth for hours and hours and hours. Now we just plug a fan into the wall because I'm at home. I can do whatever I want.
But when you're in the hospital, you don't have that option. So bring a little fan, little Disney fans, like little rechargeable babes. Those are great.
Because again, it's all about the sensory experience here. The more comfortable you can make your body and your brain, the easier this experience. Number three, you're going to cut the disruptions.
Basically, we're going to be gatekeeping your birth space, okay? They always are like, oh, we just need to pop in and check on a few things. The hospitals love to interrupt your experience with unnecessary questions, loud chatter, and constant monitoring. But at home, you wouldn't have random people walking in and out of your birth space while you're in the zone, right? So here's some tips for this.
We're going to use a do not disturb sign. Tape it to the door with something like, we appreciate your support. Please, if you don't have to be in here, don't be.
And knock softly, keep your voices low. Thank you. We're in the zone.
This is the no talking zone. Tell your birth partner to be the gatekeeper. Their job is to redirect anyone who walks in and isn't absolutely necessary.
So they're intercepting. So it doesn't have to be your main birth partner, your hands-on birth partner, but it can be an additional birth partner. Like, I always had my husband and my mom in the room.
So my husband would be the one providing hands-on support, talking to me. My mom would have been the person being like, oh, hey, we didn't do this because we were not informed to do this. But I would have delegated this task to her so that my husband could be there with me.
And you might have just one person and that's totally fine. Or maybe you're hiring a doula and you can delegate that task to them. Whatever the case may be, set that up, have the conversation in advance, set the expectation.
Their job is to redirect anybody and chat with anybody for you so that they don't get to you and disrupt you and what you're doing. Everyone that talks to you is an intervention to your physiological process. So this might sound extra, but when you truly understand what's happening in your body and how easily you can be impacted and how easily things can shift on a dime, this is important work to do.
Last tip, opt for intermittent monitoring. Continuous fetal monitoring is standard in hospitals and most of the time it's not required. I can understand if there was like a very high-risk situation and they were really pushing for it, but you don't have to do that.
And honestly, evidence tells us that it doesn't change the outcomes and actually it puts you at risk for more interventions, more unnecessary interventions. So consider asking for intermittent monitoring so you can move freely and avoid those disruptions. I remember being so mad and I ripped it off my arm at one point and somebody yelled at me for it, but I was so over it.
Stupid blood pressure cuff sitting on your arm the entire time. The entire time I was there for hours and hours and hours, I had this thing just over my arm and it would just go off every like 20, 30 minutes. But it was there the whole time.
I wasn't allowed to take it off because I needed to have it on when it started to do it. And they would just get mad if they didn't get a reading on time. And like, I wish I knew what I know now because that would have been a totally different experience for me.
And I remember being so angry and that was totally impacting how I was feeling that day. And things like that can feel and seem so small and so minuscule and so unimportant, but they can really have a big impact. So make yourself a little do not disturb sign this week.
Add it to your hospital bag. A little simple handwritten note totally works. Print something out if you want to.
You can make it all pretty, whatever you want to do. Educate yourself on your monitoring options and have a conversation with your birth partner about being the gatekeeper of your space. Step four, you're going to advocate for your preferences before your labor begins.
Before you're in labor brain, labor land, whatever you want to call it. Before you get in that space, you want to make sure that you are communicating your desires for everything or having someone else communicate it for you. Because honestly, I hope most of you are getting there when you like can't even talk and you're like about to have a baby.
Evidence tells us if you can do your early labor experience at home, you have less risk of unnecessary intervention. And I know all y'all are trying to avoid unnecessary intervention because who wouldn't? I'm going to just tell you right now, many hospital routines, most hospital routines, like the constant IVs fluid and the cervical checks, pushing on your back and the continual monitoring and all that stuff, like those things are not medically necessary. If you do not speak up, they will assume you're just fine with it.
So have the conversation, say, hey, I will not be doing this, this, and this. I will be opting out of this. Here's what I'm expecting from you.
Here is how I want to be supported in this area. Whatever the case may be, have the conversation or again, delegate it. Here's my tips for this.
Write a very simple birth plan. I do not want to see you with a 10 page manifesto, girlfriend. Just very simple bullet points of what's important to you.
Go over it with your provider now, not when you are already in labor. Now at your very next appointment, if you have not already done this, I don't care how far along you are. If you know what you want for your birth experience, write it down, talk about it with your provider, say, hey, I want all this noted in my chart.
I am giving this to you recorded on video of you handing them the sheet of paper, whatever you need to do to make sure that they know, that you know, that they have this information. So they can't act like they never knew or they didn't have a clue on the day of, but have this conversation now and honestly see how they respond. If they hesitate or they push back or they tell you like, hey, we don't need to talk about that yet.
You're not far along enough yet. Red flags. Those are all red flags.
And I would honestly consider asking a lot more questions and seeing if this provider is actually going to support you in the birth that you're trying to pull off. Because if they're not, they're not going to be able to support you in the birth that you're trying to pull off. So I would like you to think about this before making a decision.
You almost always have time. Honestly, if you're not on an operating table in the back, you have time to think about it, at least for a few minutes. So if something comes up in the middle of your labor that you were not expecting to be asked about or faced with a decision that you were not expecting to be asked to make, say, hey, I need a few minutes.
Use your brains. What are the benefits? What are the risks? What are the alternatives? What does my intuition say? What if I do nothing or nothing yet? And ask the questions that you need in order to get the information that you need to make a at least semi-informed decision instead of just being like, oh, okay, A, B, or C, which one do you want? Hurry, hurry, hurry, decide right now. And then you just pick one, the one that they're probably telling you to do.
And then it's like, oh, did I actually make an decision or did somebody tell me what to do? I would encourage you at the very least to write down three non-negotiables. If you don't have your whole birth plan done, that's totally fine. Write down three things that you already know are non-negotiables.
Hey, I would like to labor in whatever position that I want to, or I don't want to be pushing on my back unless that's how I feel the most comfortable, or I am absolutely adabot about no epidural. Whatever the case may be, write down those things and share them, review them with your provider at your very next appointment. That's your homework.
You got to tell me how it went. If you don't know the decisions that need to be made surrounding a typical birth experience, check out the show notes. I have a free birth plan guide for you.
You guys need these decisions in advance so you can figure out the options for each decision, weigh the risks and benefits, and apply them to your situation and make the decision that you feel is best for yourself and for your baby. I know you guys have heard me say this a million times, hopefully. I say it a lot on the internet, like all day, every day.
So this is the work. Do this work, please. I've had three hospital births and I've had two home births.
The only ones that I was in charge of and in control of were my home births. And I really do feel like when you have the control that day, it doesn't matter where you birth, you can pull off your experience. So I need you to get in some HGIC vibes from now until that baby is in your arms.
And then also maybe while you're making said decisions for tiny little newborn, please and thank you, please. And then take a break, recover. Don't think about anything.
Don't make any decisions. You could take a break at that point. But listen, you don't have to choose between hospital safety and home birth vibes.
You can have both. You just have to be intentional about it and you have to prepare for it. So take ownership of your space, set the sensory vibe, minimize the interruptions and advocate for what you want.
That's how you create a hospital birth that feels like you. If you are serious about preparing for an empowered birth experience, the birth prep course is the perfect thing for you. It will take you from overwhelmed to HGIC level confident in your hospital birth plan, and you will know exactly how to walk things out the way you want to.
All that information will be in the show notes for you, along with that birth plan guide I told you about. Please grab it. It is free.
It is such valuable information to have. You will thank me later, I promise. Until next time, take awesome care of yourself.
Know that I am cheering you on every step of the way. And as always, happy prepping.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
