Curriculum Topic: Group Activity, Student Demonstration, Practice, Learning Station
Activity Type: Labor & Birth, Labor Support, Healthy Birth Practice 2
Purpose: Practice upright, forward and open (UFO) labor positions.
Supplies: 13 different laboring positions, each on its own sheet of paper. I have used illustrations for many of the positions from an old PDF from the Royal College of Midwives ‘Campaign For Normal Birth’. The document encouraged sharing of the positions. You may have your own favorite resources for images. Just remember to follow the copyright guidelines for the images you choose.
Here are the 13 suggested stations:
1. Kitchen Counter Position – leaning forward with elbows on the counter while gently swaying hips.
2. Backward against partner against the wall – resting the back of the laboring person's head on the support person's chest or shoulder.
3. ‘Under Arrest’ – with arms at ear level and leaning against wall gently swaying hips.
4. Kneeling against the bed – both knees on floor; basically a ‘kneeling kitchen counter’.
5. The Dangle – aka deep supported squat
6. 'Fifth Grade' Slow Dance
7. ‘Dyson Ball’ – while kneeling, put your head and arms on the birth ball and gently roll like a Dyson vacuum ball.
8. Side Lunge – aka the ‘Captain Morgan’ (pirate positions on a bottle of rum) either standing with one foot on a chair or kneeling with one foot out to the side.
9. Dining Room Chair – sit backward on the chair with a pillow between the bump and the back of the chair
10. ‘The Proposal’ – Seated on a birth ball, the partner is on one knee in front of the laboring person embracing them.
11. ‘Dilation Station’ – sitting on the toilet (and possibly using a ‘squatty potty’).
12. ‘Wag The Tail’ – on hands and knees gently rocking their bottom side to side.
13. The Abdominal Lift – to help turn an OP baby. I usually talk them through this one since it is used only with back labor.
Instructions:
Assign a number verbally (1-13) to each family and then ask them to “find their station.” Let them try it for about 30 seconds and then yell ‘rotate’ up to the next station. Everyone rotates to the next station and the last family moves to the first station. Aways provide a caveat that if a pregnant person has any kind of bodily complications (like knee weakness for example), feels uncomfortable or just doesn’t want to try that position, that’s okay. When possible, ask the partners to also try out the position so they can understand how to help and also put the pregnant person at ease when practicing in a less than flattering position.
Always be sensitive to the pregnant person who is without a partner or with a partner that they would not feel comfortable slow dancing with or dangling from. You may want to walk around the room helping out or giving positive feedback. For homework, ask them to have a look around their home and, based on the positions they liked the most in class, start trying out the different places they may labor and use those positions.
Set-Up:
Two birth balls, five chairs (one without arms), a kitchen counter or table, and a bit of wall space.
Talking Points:
-Being in a good upright, forward and open (UFO) labor position knocks an average of 82 minutes off the first stage (Lawrence A, Lewis L, Hofmeyr GJ, Styles C., 2013) AND makes approximately 28% more room in the pelvis.
-Focus on how these can be used at home, in the parking lot, waiting for a table at a restaurant, in the hospital or wherever one finds themselves in labor.
-After some research Mindy conducted on deep squats, Not All Squats Are Created Equal for Science & Sensibility, she does suggest that people who have hemorrhoids, vasa previa, placenta previa, a breech lie or have experienced lightening (when the baby descends into the upper pelvis normally around the 34-38 week mark in primips) should avoid the dangle.
-Getting families up and out of their seats develops muscle memory for the positions they might want to try in labor.
-Seeing an image of the position helps them understand how they should practice.
-Active learning is always best and builds confidence for when labor does start.
Modifications:
This activity is easy to adapt to your own teaching space and class size – just change numbers on the stations to personalize to your environment and reduce the stations if you don’t have a birth ball or countertop. It is often pretty simple to use a chair and pretend (with a good visual on the paper) it’s a kitchen countertop or the side of a bed. You can also do the activity on a smaller scale where you demonstrate the position and then ask everyone to do the same in their confined space but unless you have enough armless chairs and balls, you will need to skip or improvise some of the stations.
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