Gravity is your secret weapon!

Picture someone giving birth. What do you see?

For most people the first thing that comes to mind is someone lying back on a bed probably with their face screwed up or with various wires or tubes attached.

But is this a good place to be? For the majority of people, no it isn’t. There are all sorts of reasons why reclining or lying back are not beneficial for birth, but here we are focusing on the benefits of using gravity. Gravity can really make a huge difference in your birth and understanding the different ways it can influence your progress will help you make choices that maximise gravity.

Your cervix

When your baby’s head (or maybe bottom) puts pressure on your cervix it helps stimulate the flow of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a key hormone in your labour and is what keeps the contractions coming. Anything you can do to promote oxytocin is a positive for your birth.

To help keep your baby’s head in contact with your cervix can be really simple. Use upright positions and try and stay mobile. That might mean being on your feet; walking, rocking your hips, climbing stairs; or it might be sitting on a birthing ball or backwards on a dining chair. Anything that brings baby’s head directly to your cervix.

If you are moving, walking, rotating, rocking, swaying or whatever feels comfortable it will allow your baby to find the space they need to move around and keep descending to your cervix.

How hard your uterus works

Of course your uterus is going to be working pretty hard through your labour! But you can help it to be more efficient, making each contraction more effective and getting you to holding your baby a little bit sooner.

When your uterus contracts, the muscle moves up and out from your body (just like when you bend your arm and your biceps contract and relax), and when it relaxes it goes back down again. The hard work part of this is the contracting part, the relaxing is easy. If you lean forward a bit while you have a contraction, gravity can help with that and maximise the contraction stage. With gravity helping, your body will find it a little easier and your uterus will be more efficient and, hopefully, you won’t tire quite so quickly.  

But if you are leaning back, every contraction of the muscle is going against gravity and you will be working harder for every contraction.

Descent of your baby

Your baby needs to move down through your pelvis for birth and using gravity can help with this. Baby is moving downwards so being more upright will help them.

When it is time to push, using gravity can really make a difference to the baby descending. You will have gravity to help, you won’t be trying to push your baby against gravity. If you are on your back baby has to manoeuvre a bit more as they initially head to towards your bottom and then back up; round a bit of a curve. If you are upright the space is easier for baby to navigate as well as being helped by gravity.

Space in your pelvis

As your baby descends they push past your pubic bone and your tailbone. There isn’t a huge amount of space! As baby moves down the base of your spine can flare out to create more space. Up to 30% more space! That can make a real difference to your birth.

It might not be directly gravity related but if you are using positions which maximise gravity, it will be an extra benefit. If you are lying on your back your spine will not be able to move to create the extra space. And, of course, your baby will be taking advantage of gravity and the extra space, which will combine to help them move down more easily.

What positions should I think about?

The key is having freedom to move, there isn’t one perfect position because all bodies and baby positions are different so following your instincts is really important. Just because your friend found a position amazing doesn’t mean you will.

Having said that, walking or moving on your feet, being on a ball, upright kneeling positions or using a ‘throne’ type position on the bed can be good. Later on you might use a variation on a squat, either supported by a birthing stool or with a knee on the floor.

If you are getting tired you might struggle to maintain upright positions because you need a rest, listen to your body and take the rest! But keep the key principles in mind. Being able to rest on your side, maybe propped up, or leaning forward with the back of the bed elevated can be just as good for rest as lying back and you will still get some of the benefits of gravity.

If your birth has become a bit more medicalised, maybe you have an epidural or are hooked up to monitors or drugs, it might feel like this is all out of the question. Time to get creative!

You will need some help from your birth partner and midwife, but you can still move into better positions. If all the wires reach you on your back on the bed, they will reach you kneeling on the bed or standing next to it. If your epidural is a low dose you might still be able to be on your knees or, if not, the throne position can work really well.

If you feel restricted by monitoring speak to your midwife about whether you could take a break – have some time to move around and then back to the monitoring. Or make sure you are taking your regular toilet breaks and use that time to move your hips and use gravity.  

That is why understanding how birth works is so key. Things don’t always work out exactly the way you think so you need to be able to make changes along the way, but keep the key factors in mind so your choices can still help you work with your body and baby.

Need to know more? Come and join me in antenatal classes. As I often hear at the end of term ‘I didn’t realise how much I didn’t know’.

Beth x