Getting ready for Labour, Birth and After
- Ms Winny Tang
- Dec 12, 2024
- 5 min read
Hi, my name is Winny. I am a teacher and Assistant Principal and I love making ready-to-use resources for other teachers, parents and kids to use! This year, I am excited to announce that I'm pregnant!!! I am looking forward to this new adventure 💖
To be prepared for labour I wanted to know:
what do I need to prioritise?
how will I know I am at this stage of labour?
what is happening and why?
After going to multiple childbirth and parenting education classes, listening to podcasts and watching videos from doulas and midwives, I decided to collate and summarise this information into one page overviews. This would then give me some thing to work towards and also provide my labour and birth support team easy-to-use and access to information required to support me in my journey to giving birth!
The three main priorities during different stages of labour included:
Resting
Eating, drinking and going to the bathroom
Gentle movements
This is when I started to put together a Guide for Early Labour.
Some other questions I had were:
how would the strategies differ in each stage of labour?
what strategies can I use if labour slows down?
what breathing exercises can I use during surges/contractions?
what active labour positions can I use to help my baby move down?
what do I do during the pushing stage? What positions can I birth in?
when do I go to hospital?
I also wanted to know what happens after giving birth, how to recover and tips for if I needed to have a caesarean, e.g. what should I do during, how to recover and when to seek additional advice.
In addition, I wanted to prepare my labour and birth team and provide them with information on how to support me during different stages of the process.
For example:
how to help when having contractions/surges at home
strategies to use before heading to the hospital
what to request for when calling the hospital
what to do when at the hospital
tips for before, during and after the pushing stage
This way, they are ready to provide the best assistance and emotional support throughout the birthing journey. I have found that this has strengthened my support system and ensured everyone is equally prepared for this beautiful journey.
With all this information in mind, I started to put together my Birth Preferences (a.k.a birth plan, intentions etc) so my partner, support person/doula, midwives, obstetrician etc would know what my preferences were.
To support me in my preparation for labour and birth, I created a Labour Prep Habit Tracker so I could practise all the strategies I mentioned in the Early Labour, Active Labour, Transition/Pushing summaries/overviews. The reason I wanted to implement daily practice was so when labour started, I would be a bank of tools and strategies to lean on and use to support me through the surges/contractions.
From the Early Labour, Active Labour, Transition/Pushing summaries/overviews, I also put together all the items I would need for my hospital bag to cover all necessities.
With the affirmations in the summaries, I created cards I could display at home and at the hospital. They are also handy for support people to verbally remind me during labour.
With all this information and preparation for labour and birth, what about afterwards?
with everything going on in the hospital, what important paperwork did I need to remember to bring home? What did I need to do?
what was my life going to look like when my baby comes home with me?
what about the housework? What are all things we will need to do to look after a baby?
I didn't want to feel prepared for just the birth and labour, but for the moments after! Knowing about the necessary paperwork and post-birth administration would be essential for a smooth transition, minimising stress and allowing me to focus on bonding with our newborn.
I also wanted a resource to help anticipate what was coming ahead and gain a preview into the responsibilities that come with a newborn. I wanted to work together as a team with my partner, to delegate responsibilities, and prioritise what was going to be truly important. I also wanted a visual Baby Routine Poster as a strategy to establish predictable schedules and foster consistency.
This is where I put together:
A reminder overview of important paperwork and admin to do after giving birth
A baby routine with ideas of what life could look like (on repeat!)
Cards with household chores and what we need to do to look after baby
How we used the Household and Looking After Baby cards
With the cards, my partner and I identified what needed to be done daily, weekly and fortnight/monthly. Then we talked about what we would like to be responsible for individually and together. We discussed what it would look like. We also started to put them up on our fridge for reference! (using magnetic tape behind the cards) Putting together the Looking After Baby cards gave us both an idea of what was to come.
When I started putting all the information together, I did not anticipate how much the summaries and overviews would help me. This resource has helped me feel more confident and organised! It has also provided my partner and support person invaluable tips and advice on how they can best support me during this time. This is why I have decided to share the resources I created in this blog and in my store so that others can access them too if they wish!
You can download my completed Guide for Early Labour here:
If you would like to download the Ultimate Guide to Getting Ready for Labour, Birth and After to help you and your support team feel confident, ready and prepared, you can find it here.
Includes:
A summary of strategies for how to rest, what to eat and what to do during each stage of labour
A summary of strategies and tips for After Birth, Caesarean and your Support Team.
An example of my Birth Preferences (Birth Plan / Birth Intentions)
Labour Prep Habit Tracker
Packing list for Hospital Bag
Affirmation posters and cards
Overview of important paperwork
Example of a Baby Routine
Household Chores and Looking After Baby cards
Blank templates so you can customise and create your own!
If you have found this helpful, please share! Thank you for supporting the time and work I've put in creating these resources. I wish you all the best and good luck on your journey!!
Winny
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