Preparing for Delivery: Practical Tips for Giving Birth

This blog is not intended to be medical advice. Always consult with a qualified medical professional for more individualized guidance. 

Giving birth is both an end and a beautiful beginning. On one hand, it’s the culmination of months of hard work caring for your fetus. It’s also the start of you and your baby’s new life together.

While birth is nothing short of miraculous, it’s also a time of stress and unknowns—no matter how many times you’ve done it before. Fortunately, you can prep for delivery by making a birth plan, practicing breathing techniques and birthing positions, and maybe even getting a little exercise.

From the first contraction to that final push, learn how to bring your little one into the world (and straight into your loving arms) with confidence and excitement.

Essential Tips for Childbirth Preparation

One of the best tips for giving birth, especially for new parents: have a plan.

A comprehensive birth plan will keep you and your care team on the same page for when the exciting day finally rolls around. Every parent’s birth plan will be unique, but here are a few essential things to think about:

• The type of pain management you want to use (if any)
• Who you want in the delivery room with you
• Your preferred birthing positions and labor progression methods
• Any forms of comfort you want during labor, like music or dimmed lights

Some other important aspects of your birth plan include:

• Travel plans – If you choose to give birth at the hospital, it’s good to know where it is and how you’ll get there. Have a few potential drivers on hand, and keep travel time in mind when you decide it’s time to go.
• Go-bag(s) – In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to forget to bring small comforts with you to the hospital, like your favorite pillow or your lucky pair of purple undies. So, pack them ahead of time, along with your IDs, phone chargers, comfy clothes, toiletries, and yummy snacks. To make sure you’re fully prepared when that first contraction hits, doctors recommend you pack your hospital bag around 37 or 38 weeks.
• A “plan B” (and a “plan C.” And maybe even a “plan D.”) – Childbirth can be unpredictable. Baby might decide to come a few days early, or in the middle of the night, or just as you’re reaching for that pint of Rocky Road at the grocery store. In the inevitable case that something doesn’t go exactly according to your birth plan, have a backup plan (or plans) on deck.

Physical Preparation Strategies

Labor is an unforgettable life event—it’s also an intense cardio workout.

Not only does labor put your muscles to the test, but the final stage of active pushing can last for 2 to 3 hours, making it a major feat of endurance. To ensure your body is prepared for this ultimate challenge, consider adding some of these physical activities into your daily routine:

• Walking – Walking is a healthy habit for non-pregnant and pregnant folks alike. It’s not just about the fresh air—when it’s time, walking is shown to induce labor and prevent the need for forceps or other delivery intervention tools.
• Butterfly stretching – This stretch—and stretching in general—is proven to improve your blood pressure during the second and third trimesters. It’s also a great release for tight muscles and joints. To do it, sit on the floor and bring the bottoms of your feet to touch, letting your knees splay out to the sides. Push your knees down gently for a few seconds, then repeat. You’ll feel a nice pull in the inner thighs and pelvic muscles.
• Pelvic tilts – This simple exercise helps strengthen your back and abdominal muscles, which will help with pesky back pain relief during labor. To do it, you’ll need to be on hands and knees, keeping in line with your shoulders and hips. Slowly round your back upwards and pull in your stomach muscles. Hold for a few moments, then return to a neutral spine. Repeat up to 10 times.

Before you get moving, remember to always check in with your OB to learn if certain exercise programs for pregnancy are right for you. Baby will thank you!

Mental Preparation for Birth

Giving birth is exciting, painful, overwhelming, joyful—needless to say, there are a lot of emotions involved. Mental health during pregnancy may be a difficult road to navigate.

As much as labor is a physical process, it’s also a mental one. It requires you to be in tune with your body’s internal cues, calm your anxieties, and prepare to nurture your little one.

To that end, here are a few elements of giving birth to keep in mind:

• There will be things that happen during the delivery that are out of your control
• You may say or do things in the moment that are normally out of character
• Your moods and feelings are valid, even if they swing back and forth

It’s one thing to know these things, but another to actually accept them. So, how can you manage your emotions and expectations before you go into labor? With practice.

Here are two activities you can do throughout your pregnancy to foster an open mindset during the delivery process:

1. Mindfulness meditation – You don’t need to be a baby delivery guru to benefit from a mindful pregnancy. Meditation practices like deep breathing and body scans are easy to pick up, and they can lead to greater body awareness and anxiety relief. Research shows that mindfulness-based childbirth can even reduce your need for pain medication during labor and prevent postpartum depression symptoms.
2. Journaling – Put your childbirth hopes and fears onto paper to understand and cope with them. Let your emotions flow stream-of-consciousness style, or respond to visualization prompts or other guiding questions if you need help getting started.

Techniques for a Smooth Delivery

After reading this article, you can get even more valuable and individualized birthing and labor tips by taking childbirth classes.

Here are a few of the most common birthing classes to choose from:

• Lamaze technique – One of the oldest natural birthing techniques, Lamaze teaches you breathing and relaxation techniques that reduce the need for medical pain relief or intervention.
• Bradley method – This course is a 12-week commitment, but it will prepare you for everything from birthing methods, to partner coaching, to infant care—perfect for Type-A expectant parents. The main goal is to have a medication-free delivery.
• Alexander technique – This technique was originally developed for performers, but was adapted to help soon-to-be parents manage delivery pain and anxiety through gentle stretching.

The wide variety of birthing methods proves that there’s no single “correct way” to give birth. In other words, you have the freedom to pick whichever methods align most with your ideal birth plan.

Breathing and Relaxation Techniques

Breathing techniques help you relax and push through contraction pain. Here are some to try that are as easy as, well, breathing:

• Cleansing breaths – This type of breath is different from a deep breath. Instead of lifting your chest, it fills your abdomen, allowing you to get more oxygen and slow your breathing down. Try taking a cleansing breath before and after each contraction, and whenever you need to let go of your delivery nerves.
• Patterned-paced breathing – This is a faster type of breathing that requires a bit of extra concentration, making it a good way to distract you from longer, more intense contractions. A common pattern to try is 3 to 5 short inhales followed by an exhale, but you can create your own, too.

Another powerful relaxation technique to add to your toolbox is visualization. One way to visualize is by using a focal point.

Focal points can be calming mental images, like a gentle creek or a cozy living room, or external objects, like a window or a button on your partner’s shirt. Really, it can be anything you’re able to easily focus on. The act of concentrating will help relax your body and slow your breathing.

Positions for Easing Labor Pain

People have a lot of opinions about the best birthing positions. Some moms prefer recumbent positions, like the classic supine position and feet stirrup combo, while others swear by upright positions or birth seats.

Though you may not know what position works for you until the big day, you can still familiarize yourself with your options and all their pros and cons:

• Recumbent positions – If you’re going off of delivery depictions in the media, these are the most common birth positions. While lying down can be more painful, it makes it easier for healthcare workers to assist with your delivery and monitor your baby’s heart rate. And, if you’re using an epidural, it’s best to lie down to avoid accidents.
• Upright positions – Upright positions, like standing and squatting, are favored during home births. These positions are proven to reduce pain and shrink the active pushing phase by minutes. Some other upright positions with similar benefits include kneeling, on hands and knees, or sitting on a birth seat.

Remember that giving birth is a long process; you should be as comfortable as possible while you do this incredibly important job.

Post-Delivery Recovery Tips

We’ve covered a lot of tips for childbirth, but what about advice for after all the delivery chaos quiets down?

You’ll probably be swept up in the excitement of it all—picking a name (if you haven’t already), nursing your new bundle of joy, and sending pics to every last friend and family member. However, it’s important that your own needs don’t get pushed aside.

In the hours and days after you give birth, remember to:

• Eat nutritious food and stay hydrated—a postpartum diet is important!
• Get rest any chance you get, especially when your baby is asleep
• Manage any pain and discomfort in coordination with your healthcare provider, and make sure to monitor your moods and emotions as well

Ultimately, to care for your baby as best as you can, you need to look after yourself, too!

SneakPeek® Gender Testing: A Part of Your Birth Plan

Before you rush to the hospital on the big day (and even before your 18-20-week ultrasound), learn the predicted sex of your little bun with the SneakPeek® DNA Test.

As early as six weeks into your pregnancy, this at-home test can tell you the sex of your baby with over 99% accuracy, making it the #1 test recommended by OBGYNs. SneakPeek is the only patented baby sex test, ensuring reliable and accurate results. Simply collect your DNA sample, send it to the SneakPeek lab, and expect next-day results and total privacy.

Over 1 million parents have experienced the joy of learning their baby’s gender sooner and more accurately with SneakPeek®—and so can you!

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At SneakPeek, our commitment is to provide accurate, up-to-date, and reliable information to empower our readers. Our content is thoroughly researched, reviewed by medical experts, and fact-checked to ensure its credibility. We prioritize the well-being and education of our readers, and our editorial policy adheres to the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in all our articles.

This post has been reviewed for accuracy by:

Haley Milot

Haley Milot, a highly skilled laboratory professional, currently serves as the Associate Director of Lab Operations at Gateway Genomics, the parent company of SneakPeek. Her extensive experience in laboratory management, spanning over seven years with Gateway Genomics, showcases her expertise in quality assurance, quality control, and the development of laboratory procedures. Haley's background includes pivotal roles in DNA extraction and purification, real-time qPCR, and specimen accessioning, underscoring her comprehensive understanding of laboratory operations and diagnostics. Her adeptness in managing complex laboratory functions and her deep knowledge of medical diagnostics make her a vital contributor to SneakPeek's innovative approach to prenatal testing.

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