Slow pace breathing or any type of focused breathing during labor can help a pregnant woman attune herself to what her body needs, and can also help with pain management. Learn how to breathe during labor in this pregnancy video.
Mantain slow-paced breathing
Breathe in nose for 4 seconds
Breathe out mouth for 8 seconds
Stefany Mills is the owner of Touched by an Angle Childbirth Services. She is based out of Central Florida.
STEFANY MILLS: Hi, my name is Stefany Mills. I'm with Touched By An Angel Childbirth Services here in Central Florida. We are a birth doula and postpartum doula services company, and I am here today to show you how to breathe in labor. Obviously, breathing is very important. We don't ever want to stop breathing. But believe it or not, some people do do exactly that during a contraction or some people refer to them surges. So it's important to keep breathing and there are some really good ways to remember to do it. Often, we hear about different ways to breathe or pattern breathing. What I'm going to show you today is called slow-paced breathing. It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a slow pace. You're going to breathe in through your nose and you're going to breathe out through your mouth. Your intake of breath or your inhale is going to last for approximately four seconds or a count of four. Your exhale is going to last for approximately eight seconds or a count of eight. So it will look something like this. It's a very relaxing breath. Taking this breath all the way into your baby and exhaling completely helps relax your entire body, which is very important. When you hold your breath in labor, you're cutting off the oxygen supply to your baby as well as to your uterus. Continuing to get good oxygen helps reduce the discomfort of the contraction and helps your baby's heart rate to keep steady and strong. So again, you want it to be a slow, controlled breath. You want to make sure that it's nice and slow coming out, and nice and slow going in and all the way down to your baby. And again, make sure that you keep it very, very controlled, and you'll keep very relaxed. Thank you.
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