Managing Labor
One of my favorite affirmations for birth is You can do anything for 60 seconds. (Or 90 seconds if we’re talking transition.) Part of what makes labor difficult is that the is no known end. Yes, we all know it will end, logically. But, during those seemingly endless contractions, the idea that you may have many hours ahead can seem overwhelming. (Many people say that if they knew how long labor would be, they would be better prepared and could manage more.)
My little family (I call it our little family after our big kids left for college. When they are with us, it is our big family.) and i are on our way home from Europe, having visited our former exchange student in Germany, My husband and I were discussing how long this flight feels (it is 9.5 hours) but our flights from Thailand and New Zealand, which were almost, or were, twice as long didn’t feel that much worse.
We came to the conclusion that it has to do with expectations and anticipation. On a 17 hour flight, you anticipate that you will be uncomfortable, you expect to get up frequently, htat you may not sleep well since the flight is overnight, etc. You almost expect the flight to be BE MISERABLE. On a 8 hour flight, my mind automatically thought, “it won’t be that bad since it isn’t nearly as long as the flight to Thailand.” Except, it still is a LONG time. (Like, future vacation planning Tracy- this is for you. IT IS STILL A LONG FLIGHT.)
As with a long-haul flight, labor is well, laborious. If it is 12 hours or 24, it can be difficult to think about the hours of work ahead.
Part of the reason I like the affirmation I shared above is that it breaks the work down into THIS moment. This contraction. This minute. Not the next contraction or the next two hours. You just have to get through this one minute.
While I don’t think it would be beneficial to break down my flight into minutes, I do like the idea of time blocking. I just have to get through this time block I’ve set aside for “work”, or movie, or whatever. Focusing on the small portion of time versus the entire time ahead.
While I AM on the backend of this long flight (2.5 hours left) I have another long flight moving up next week to fly across the country. While one of the amazing things a Rocket City Doulas doula can do is help you focus on just the moment during your labor and postpartum period, they probably don’t want to take a flight with me.
