Breathing techniques for birth

Breathing techniques are usually a very important part of traditional childbirth education. A very well known technique is of course the Lamaze technique. When you say Lamaze, most people automatically think about breathing.
Although Lamaze is much more than just breathing nowadays, the breathing exercises are part of the course curriculum.

So here's the deal about breathing techniques:
What's most important to remember is to keep breathing, and not to hold your breath. And you should make sure that you're breathing at a slow pace and that you won't start hyperventilating. And for the rest, it's important that you keep your body as relaxed as possible.

If you think that a structured breathing pattern could be beneficial for you, I will try to write down the Lamaze breathing technique.

• In the beginning, the contractions aren't very strong yet. You can easily keep walking and talking through them, and it's fairly easy to 'ignore' them.

• When the contractions get a bit stronger, there will come a point where it will be hard or even impossible to walk or talk through them, and you will have to concentrate a bit harder on your breathing. Here is what you do:

Inhale through your nose 2-3-4, exhale through your mouth 2-3-4.
Make sure that you don't do it too fast.

• When the contractions become stronger again, and this technique doesn't seem to cut it anymore, this is what you do:

Hee-hee, hee-hee, hee-hee, hee-hee
This is actually a bit hard to explain, but I'll give it a try anyway. The hee's are very short, and you sort of lead the air along your upper palate. With the first hee you inhale, with the second you exhale.
So what you actually do is: in-out, in-out, in-out, in-out. Keep them in groups of 4, that way they're easy to keep track of. And again, make sure that you don't do this too fast or you'll start to hyperventilate.

• When this also doesn't help anymore, move on to the next step:

Hee-hee, hee-hee, hee-hee, hee-huuuuuuu
It is exactly the same as the one before, only the fourth hee-hee is replaced by a hee-huu. Make sure to make the huuuuuu nice and long, and keep your voice low.

• Now for pushing this is what you do:

Take a full breath, take out a little air, hold and push down
Don't hold your breath too much, this should be more or less instinctive. You should be able to get 2-3 pushes out of 1 contraction.

• If the midwife or doctor tells you not to push, blow out a candle. It is physically not possible to blow and push at the same time.

It is best to practice these breathing techniques a few times a day so that they'll become second nature. The better your body knows how to do this, the more beneficial it will be.
By the way, this technique is not only helpful during birth. It's good for any stressful or painful situation you come across in life.

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