Does birth environment really matter?
You’re setting the stage for baby (ies) arrival and hearing all kinds of advice and stories from friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. You aren’t sure what you want your birth environment to look and feel like but does it really matter anyways?
The short answer is YES. It 100% matters.
Birth is driven by a hormone called oxytocin, or more commonly known as the love hormone. Think about this: if you were getting down and frisky with your partner but it wasn’t the usual scene. Instead it was a bright room, filled with people coming and going, the door is wide open, the lights on, the curtains open, people stand and watch you both for a few minutes, make some comments and then move along. You are loosing connection to your partner with all the noise and movement around you. You look at each other and think out loud, “this isn’t working!” Yikes!
Birth and sex are driven by the same hormone, oxytocin. The stage (environment) you set is key to allowing labor and birth to progress in the best possible way.
What do you want the lighting to be? What music / sounds do you want to hear in the background? How do you want to be talked to? How do you want to be touched? All of these things can contribute to the flow or lack there of of oxytocin and the progression of your labor.
Here are some suggestions to get you started on creating your birth space:
Dim lights (use fairy lights or flameless candles)
Soft music or nature sounds
Essential oils of choice
Soft / quiet voices
Limit the people present and only allow who you are comfortable with
Pillows and blankets with soft, comforting textures
Remember: Oxytocin flowin’ baby is a comin’!
Hammond, et. al.; Space, place and the midwife: Exploring the relationship between the birth environment, neurobiology and midwifery practice, 2013, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.09.001
Stark, et, al.: Importance of the Birth Environment to Support Physiologic Birth, 2016, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2015.12.008
Hofmeyer, et, al.: Companionship to modify the clinical birth environment: effects on progress and perceptions of labour, and breastfeeding, 1991, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1991.tb13479.x