Ok mamas, I’m planning on having an all natural birth. No pain meds. What tips can you give me to…

Breathing exercises, meditation, walking

Keep your eye on the prize and remember the pain will be gone as soon as the baby comes out!

It was all about breathing and concentrating on relaxing my body. I had my eyes closed as I breathed through the contractions. I did some walking through contractions as well.

Drinking raspberry leaf tea during labor if aloud I started drinking a cup a day at 36 weeks and it helps tone your uterus

Walking eased my contractions

Do not lay flat on you back. Sit up, walk, but do not lay down on your back. Gravity is your friend. I had two natural births. It was hard for me to breath through my contractions but don’t tense up. Try to relax and remember it’s only temporary pain.

Water (tub or shower).

@bitchcraft, Same! I wanted to go natural with my first but ended up with an epidural. I’m determined this time to stay away from any pain meds. Hopefully we both can make it through!

Like everyone else said, it's all about breathing. If they let you out of bed, walk.

I would say walking and breathing through contractions as much as you can instead of tensing up. I have had 5 natural births such an empowering experience! But that being said I also think if it gets to be too overwhelming don’t be afraid to speak up or change your plan. Good luck with everything!

I got an epidural and it only lasted maybe an hour and a half at max. So when that wore off I was at like almost 6cm and they said they could try to fix it and do it again but they were busy with a line of moms waiting to get their first epidural. So I just said I would try to do it and I did. Being on your back in bed is what I think makes it hurt worse. The yoga ball was my friend. My husband was rubbing a tennis ball around my lower back and that also helped. Unfortunately in my case though I had a catheter in already and they didn’t want to take it out so I couldn’t walk. You will find your groove once your in the moment and just stick to it. I know this sounds weird but if you look at the contraction monitor and see what it’s doing helped me also.

It just depends. Different things helped at different stages of my labor. I have had 2 successful natural births. One 25 hours long and the other 4 hours long.

With my daughter I got in and out of the shower 5 or more times, bounced on the yoga ball, and then at the end I was up on the bed on all fours because it’s the only position that was comfortable. Also I made more noise with contractions with her lol whatever came out came out. My family likes to make fun of me saying I sounded like a cow mooing but that long groan just helped. Also lots of massage and light touch on my back.

For my son I bounced on the yoga ball and needed counter pressure on my hips a lot. But the biggest help was breathing. I would take a deep breath in and blow out like I was trying to blow a candle out. It helped sooooooo much then towards the end it was more of blowing the candle out with short puffs if that makes sense. Next thing I knew it was time to push. Before it’s time to push your body will naturally start pushing try to let your body do its thing. Because you don’t want to tense up. Because with my son the dr wasn’t in there and my body was pushing that baby out and they were like don’t push don’t push I said I can’t help it. It was my body just doing it and I said screw it and pushed with it and he was out with one push lol