Coaches/Support Team's Duties

During Contractions

• Breathe with her. This is very helpful for most women, but for some, this drives them crazy. In addition, never tell moms how to breathe. She’s getting oxygen to the baby and she needs to breathe in a way that feels good to her. If you’re doing the patterned breathing (he…he…he…ho…), hopefully you’ve practiced so you two are in synch.

• Massage her. Most moms enjoy a hand, foot, and head or back rub during contractions. It distracts her and keeps the tension from overwhelming her. Some women don’t like this though—so make sure you’ve cleared it with her first.

• Get her to release tension. If she tenses up during contraction, it’ll make the pain worse and it may lead to panic. Try to keep her as loose and relaxed as possible.

• Offer encouragement. She’s doing great, no matter what. If she just told you to go f#^k yourself, she’s still doing great.

Between Contractions

• Suggest comfort techniques and position changes. Coaches, you must be education about comfort techniques. It is your job to suggest them—she’s not capable of it during labor.
  

• Recovery time. Unless he’s having back pain, she shouldn’t be in pain in between contractions. This is the time to release any tension she’s holding onto a repair for the next contraction.

• Communicate. Coaches, you need to be asking if she liked how you helped her during that contraction. And moms, you need to be answering, otherwise the coaches keep on doing what they were doing, thinking they’re helping.

• Rewet cool compresses. Moms in labor are very hot and need cool compresses on their foreheads, chests or back of the neck. Cool compresses dry out very quickly and need to be rewetted every 3 or 4 contractions or they don’t do any good.

• Offer water to drink. Moms in labor who are breathing get very dry mouthed and need sips of water between contractions.

• Try something new. If that last contraction was horrible, coaches need to be ready to try something else. Before you go into labor, have moms make a list of the comfort techniques she wants to use so you have something to refer to.

Bottom line: If all this seems too much for you, consider asking another person to be in the room with the two of you to help you both get through this labor and birth.