7 steps to help you prepare for a positive birth from the EMP founders

 Birth. What do you think of when you hear that word? Is it a vision of one of the most empowering and beautiful days of your life? Or does it bring up feelings of fear and disappointment? 

We’ve birthed 6 babies between us (in almost every way possible) and we know that birth rarely goes to plan. One-third of Aussie women will describe their birth as traumatic and more than half will walk away with some form of pelvic floor dysfunction. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t share these stats to scare you - we share them because there is SO much you can do in pregnancy to help prepare your body and your pelvic floor for birth.  

Through the Empowered Motherhood Program, we’ve supported thousands of women to prepare for, and heal from, their births. And there is one thing we’d love you to know. The preparation you do physically, emotionally, and mentally can go a long way to ensuring that you look back on your birth positively. 

Here are the 7 essential steps we take our members through to help them to prepare for their births in the best way possible. 

1.Going with the Flow is Not a Birth Plan 

Whilst going with the flow can work really well for many women, unfortunately one of the most common phrases we hear from our members is  “I wish I had known”. 

Too few women understand the realities of birth before heading into birth. When diving into the harsher realities of birth, it is important to remember the female body at its most primal function it’s designed to birth, and for every negative experience, there are at least three positive experiences.

Whilst many pregnant women may enter childbirth, knowing an episiotomy may be a possibility, there would be very few knowing there is a 12% chance that instruments such as forceps or vacuum may be used to birth their baby. Or that there is a 15% chance that an emergency caesarean will be required.  

Few would know that there is an 81% chance of a perineal tear, or that a ‘drug-free’ birth only occurs in 20% of women. 

And even fewer would realise the impacts run far beyond the birthing suite, with 30% of women experiencing lifelong urinary incontinence, 20-30% experiencing pelvic organ prolapse and many others suffering vaginal pain years later. 

We are big believers in helping you to be informed of all the options surrounding your birth. These statistics may be confronting, but understanding the statistics around birth will help you to understand why it is so important to prepare for your birth both physically and mentally. So now you understand some statistics surrounding birth in Australia - what can you do about it? 

2.The right support is crucial 

Your personal preferences surrounding your birth are the MOST important consideration when making the choice about how you would like to bring your baby into the world.

As you prepare to bring your baby into this world, your mind turns inwards. As your labour progresses and becomes more intense, your ability to reason and make logical decisions is impaired. 

We know that when you are deep in your primal birthing power, it is difficult to make informed decisions. All your instincts are to protect and save your baby, even if that means sacrificing your long-term health. 

This is why it is SO important to have a birthing partner who is not only your birthing cheerleader,  but who understands your birthing preferences, can advocate for you on your behalf and who has prepared for this birth alongside you. 

For some people, this is their co-parent, husband or wife, but for others, this may be a doula or private midwife they choose to support through the birthing process. And the research shows just how important this continuous support person really is for your birth outcomes.  this up. Clinical trials have shown that women who received continuity of care were less likely to have an epidural or have an episiotomy or instrumental birth. Their chances of a spontaneous vaginal birth were also increased, and they were less likely to experience preterm birth.

3.Perineal Massage 

To most women the thought of doing Perineal massage sends a feeling of “ eeeek” through their body. Its not exactly the relaxing type we all know and love, however it is likely to make a far bigger impact on your birth and long term pelvic floor outcomes than the relaxing type will.

In fact, we know that those women who participate in regular perineal release from week 35 of pregnancy are likely to experience reduced rates or third and fourth degree tears, reduction in the chance of an episiotomy, reduced length of labour AND reduced rates of perineal pain post birth. If that not enough to get you to prioritise releasing your perineum we are not sure what is!

So what exactly is perineal massage?

The goal of perineal massage is to lengthen and release the pelvic floor muscles to allow them to stretch more easily as the baby's head passes through the pelvic outlet. It involves some sustained pressure, breathing, activation and release of the muscles around the perineum, and can be done by yourself, your Pelvic Health Physiotherapist or your partner. It should be commenced from 35 weeks pregnant, and we recommend ensuring you are guided through the process to start, which we do with our women in the EMP App.

4.Do regular pelvic floor exercises…. both Up and Down!

Just as you wouldn’t dive straight into a marathon without preparing your body, women shouldn’t be going into labour without preparation, especially the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor needs to stretch beyond 3 times its normal length, and giving the body adequare time to prepare to do this, will give you the best chance of a labour that progresses well.

We know from other research that a prolonged second stage of labour is more likely to result in pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, nerve denervation, fetal distress and pelvic organ prolapse in the longer term. If you have a higher resting tone in your pelvic floor then it is likely to make the second stage of labour more difficult. This makes sense as there is a more difficult barrier for the baby to have to overcome to pop its little head out into the world!

It is therefore important that women not only learn to activate their pelvic floor and perform regular pelvic floor exercises through pregnancy, but they also learn to fully relax and open the muscles. A healthy happy muscle is one that can move through full range, and third trimester is the time to really ensure those pelvic floor muscle fibres have good length in preparation for the birth. This can be done in combination with some breathwork, gentle yoga poses and visualisations. 

A pelvic floor Physio or the EMP app is a great first way to help to ensure your pelvic floor is birth ready!

5.Pushing Techniques 

Learning to push in a biomechanically optimal way is one of the most valuable tools you can take into your birth, unfortunately however you may be suprsed to hear that 1/3 of women are entering birth with a pushing technique that actually hinders the descent of the babies head. 

Understanding how to push in the right way, how to ensure your pelvic floor is helping not hindering, how to use your voice and breath can make a huge difference to the length of your second stage of labour and your birth outcomes. 

5. Find your self a Pelvic floor Bestie ( Aka Pelvic Health Physio ) and see them at least once during your pregnancy. 

Do not under estimate the power of having a pelvic floor bestie as you prepare for birth!
There are 1000’s of Pelvic Floor Physios around the country that feel just as passionate about preparing you well for birth as you do. They will assess your pelvic floor for risk factors, tone, strength and mobility, and then help you to prepare your pelvic floor adequately for the labour ahead, including pushing techniques, perineal and pelvic floor release. 

6. Plan C. Understand what happens in a C-Section Birth 

The focus of birth education in the current system is based on vaginal birth, with very little or no focus if the birth doesn’t go to plan. No matter what birth you are planning, understanding the process of an emergency C-Section can help you to feel in control of your birth, even if your Plan A and B went out the window, as 10 -15% of births will shift to an unexpected CS birth.

There are so many ways to make your birth as calm, empowering and positive as possible - regardless of whether you are having a home birth, having a vaginal birth in a hospital or are giving birth via Caesarean section. Understanding your options and being clear about your choices through each stage of the birthing process will significantly impact how you view your birth. 

In the EMP Birth Preparation program, we teach women to prepare for both a vaginal and caesarean birth for this very reason, and have not only specific CS preparation videos but a guided week by week C-Section recovery program that starts from birth to 14 weeks postpartum. 

7.Birthing with previous complications - know the stats 

If you are birthing with a previous birth injury or prolapse, we understand that you might have a lot of concerns. When it comes to birthing with prolapse, the good news is that subsequent births (second or third births) do not tend to have a clinically significantly increased impact on prolapse in terms of rates and severity.  When it comes to birthing with previous severe tears, we know that there is a slight increased rate of reoccurrence in a subsequent birth.

Regardless of the stats, we know however that for women living with previous pelvic floor injuries, they don’t feel confident that they could undergo a vaginal birth again. A lot of this is due to the fear of pushing or bearing down, or simply having no threshold to cope with any degree of worsening. And this is ok.

This is why we believe that your personal preference for your mode of delivery and strong preparation for your birth is so important. In the EMP we have a specific video that provides our key steps to help you better prepare for birth in subsequent births.

And Remember….

Birth can be incredible, empowering and life-changing. There is incredible intuition in your body, and if you can trust your body and the team around you, birth can be pure magic.  So please put yourself in the best position possible to have the birth you are hoping for by taking the time to  equip yourself with the most up to date information so you can truly prepare yourself physically, mentally and emotionally, ensuring you have an empowered birth.

At the Empowered Motherhood Program we have made it our mission to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes for women so are here to help.

Birthing Statistics in Australia 

In Australia today:

•  Only 19% of women will have an intact perineum after birth;
• Around 31% of women will experience a second-degree tear; 
•  Around 12% of women will need the help of an instrument (vacuum or forceps) to birth their baby.
•  Around 34% of women will have an induction.
•  Around 80% of women receive medically prescribed pain relief. 
• 38% will have a caesarean section birth. 

*Statistics from Mothers and Babies Report - updated 29 Jun 2023 from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mothers-babies/australias-mothers-babies/contents/summary