Pregnancy massage is a great way to ease labor pains and the best time to start is early, before you get to the hospital. Learn techniques you can use during labor, like "nerve strokes" and the "double hip squeeze".
Deep breathing
We're going to start with some nice deep breathing. We always do before we do any massage. This is great for the partner as well, to ground and relax yourself at the same time.
Nerve strokes
So partners and moms, take couple of nice deep breaths. Stephanie. Fully exhale. That's great. If you could just continue that, I'm just going to do some nice longer strokes down Stephanie's spine here. It always feels very nice, nice way to relax. Now of course, when she's laboring, I would be doing this between contractions. Often when mom's in labor and having the contractions, she may or may not want to be touched at that time, and you'll always be checking in with her to see what she wants.
Double hip squeeze
And then with the contractions, and in between the contractions also, I'm going to place my palms on either side of her hips with my fingertips pointing in. And Stephanie, go ahead and take a nice deep breath in, and as you release, I'm going to press in. I'm leaning in with my body weight, so it makes it much easier on my own back as well. So if you go ahead and keep breathing, nice and rhythmically, Stephanie, and I'll follow your lead. I'm going to just watch the rise and fall of her back here, so I know when she's breathing out. This is going to help the pelvis to relax so that the baby can drop farther down. So this helps Stephanie move into the final stage of labor.
Sacrum press (only during labor)
When mom's in labor, you can press directly on the sacrum, and even with your fingers directly down the sides of the sacrum. That's not something that we recommend during pregnancy, but when she is in labor, her partner will be pressing directly onto the sacrum and harder than we've ever pressed before, and holding it for 8 to 9 seconds and releasing.
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