There are a lot of factors that affect how delivering your baby will go. But if you’re leading a healthy, low-risk pregnancy, then it’s a good idea to prepare your body for labour and delivery as much as you can. Especially if this is your first pregnancy because your body has not yet been through labour before. 

Now, we’re going to talk about preparing your body for labour, but we’re also going to talk about how to induce labour naturally at the end of this article. So keep reading. 

preparing your body for labour 

As someone who has been through labour twice, I can confirm that preparation is key to a safe and straightforward delivery. You can read my birth stories here.

I’ve done a lot of research myself and I’ve tried the things that other mamas in my family swear by. These are all women who have had successful and positive birth stories and they all say the same thing. Prepare your body! 

So first things first, 

Why is it essential to prepare your body for labour?

It’s quite simple, think about it as swimming for example. You can’t hold your breath underwater for so long if you don’t prepare your lungs for doing so in advance. You need to practice breathing techniques that will allow your lungs to adapt to holding your breath for longer. It’s the same for everything that requires preparation. 

it’s no different with pregnancy. Of course, every pregnancy is different and as we said earlier, it depends on how your pregnancy is going and whether or not you have a low-risk pregnancy. But for the most part. Doing the necessary steps will help you immensely during labour. 

Start with the basics

It’s important that every pregnant woman should be doing some sort of body preparation long before labour. Things like having a good sleep, eating your pregnancy vitamins and eating a healthy balanced diet are crucial for maintaining a healthy pregnancy. Your body needs these basics to function healthily overall. Adding pregnancy to the equation makes it even more important to get your body into a healthy regime. 

Exercise

I understand that not everyone is used to exercising prior to getting pregnant and that’s totally okay, I wasn’t either. In fact, specialists don’t recommend starting exercising during pregnancy as this can have bad outcomes. What I mean by exercising here is,

• Walking
• Doing some pregnancy-safe yoga
• Squatting 

These three things will help prepare and stretch your pelvis and move your baby down into the right position. Walk for at least half an hour a day once you enter the third trimester of pregnancy. Sit in a squatting position whenever you get the chance. I did this while eating or cleaning the floor or when I sit on the toilet I would use a stepping stool to put my feet on it, which will create a squat position which can also help with constipation.

There are a lot of pregnancy-safe yoga exercises for beginners on youtube, one that I recommend is Pregnancy and Yoga exercises, by pregnancy and postpartum tv

Foods and drinks

Believe it or not, there are several foods and drinks that have been used for many centuries in many different cultures to soften the cervix and help prepare the body for labour. Although they’re not scientifically proven, I personally have tried them and I have seen a positive result. Now, of course, these are not magic pills that you swallow and wait for the magic to happen. It’s all a combination of all of these elements that will help you get those results I’m talking about. 

• Dates

Dates have been known for their power to ease labour and soften the cervix. I personally used to eat at least 7 dates a day consistently during the last month of pregnancy. It doesn’t really matter what type of dates you eat. Any type will do the job just fine, Trust me. Bear in mind that dates can be very sweet, so you might divide your portions throughout your day or mix them with your smoothies or protein balls. Dates are also full of nutrients and they will help with your milk supply later when you give birth and start breastfeeding. 

• Pineapples

Pineapples are also known for their ability to ripen the cervix and even kick start labour. But you’ll need to eat a lot of pineapples to be able to see the result. And you’ll also need to eat the core of the fruit because that’s where all the magic is hidden. I haven’t personally gone crazy with eating pineapples but I did eat them regularly during the last month of pregnancy. As I said, it’s a combination of so many things that made this work. 

• Rosemary tea

You need to be careful with this one. Rosemary is well known for its ability to stimulate menstrual flow. It’s not recommended during the first and second trimester of pregnancy but once you hit the 37 weeks mark, start drinking rosemary tea every night. 

• Red raspberry leaf tea

I haven’t tried this one personally but I thought I would mention it since so many women swear by it. I did my research and it appears that may help strengthen your uterine wall. Be careful when consuming this tea as it might distress your baby. It’s recommended that you only drink one cup a day. 

Relaxing your body

To remove the pressure and relax your body in preparation for labour, you need to start some new rituals. Relaxing your muscles will improve your ability to push and will also remove the tension in your pelvic floor and help with back pain. 

• Hot shower baths

In the last month of pregnancy, try to lay in a hot bath for a while each night, this will help relax the muscle in your body and ripen the cervix by increasing the blood flow into your cervix. If you don’t have a bath then don’t be alarmed. A nice hot shower will do just fine. 

• Hot water bottle or stone. 

Place a hot water bottle or a hot stone under your feet. This will relax your muscles and increase the blood flow into your body. That’s what women who get period cramps use therefore this is gonna help with contractions too. 

How to induce labour naturally?

Before I proceed with this, I just want to mention that it’s your responsibility whether or not you choose to induce your labour using this method. I have personally used it after I hit the 40 weeks mark. This means that I was full term and let me tell you that my water broke within 2 hours after using this method! 

It’s an acupuncture acupressure points method that has been used for centuries. Apparently, there are pressure points in your body that help stimulate and kick start labour. Nothing harmful but they can be so effective that you only need to use this technique when you’re ready to go into labour. 

The first pressure point is at the top centre of your head. With your finger draw a line from the tip of your nose all the way to the top centre of your head and look for the most sensitive points and message for a few minutes. 

The second acupressure point is located at the knuckle joint of your first finger, draw a line from there to your wrist and locate the centre. Using your hand, message underneath the bone for a few minutes. Repeat the process on both hands.

The third point is located at the inner ankle of your leg. Find the bone that sticks out of your ankle and measure four fingers above it, if it’s someone else doing it for you and you notice that their fingers are bigger than yours then they need to count 3 fingers instead. Locate the tender points just behind the tibia and massage firmly for a few minutes on both legs.

The fourth point is underneath your kneecap. measure 4 fingers down and locate the sensitive points outside the tibia and massage firmly for a few minutes.

If you notice that you’re having contractions while doing this technique, stop and proceed when the contraction is gone. See the attached video for reference. 

The takeaway

Before you try any of these methods, you should always consult with your health provider first. Anything you do or eat should be monitored. And avoid doing excessive amounts of exercise or consuming a lot of foods and drinks that are well known for their direct impact on your uterus. You should always be responsible and know that your baby will come when it’s finished cooking. These methods are helpful to avoid artificial induction and lengthy labour.