Transition is the end of active labor. During this phase, your cervix will dilate from 8 to 10 inches. At the end of transition, you will begin to deliver your baby. This is the most intense part of labor and it is the one that pregnant women tend to fear the most. You can prepare for this phase of labor to reduce fear and add a few coping strategies to your repertoire.
During transition, the contractions are much stronger than earlier in the labor. The contractions come about every two minutes and last one minute, so you don’t get the break in between contractions that you had in early labor. Often women in transition will shiver during contractions.
Each woman handles the transition phase in her own way. It’s a matter of finding what will work for you at that time. The difficult part is that you won’t really know until it happens, if this is your first baby. Some women experience increased lower back pain at this time. Massage and counter pressure can help relieve the pain, or at least make it a bit easier to deal with.
Some women don’t want to be touched in transition. Just because you liked massage in early labor doesn’t mean you’ll want it to continue in transition. This is sometimes frustrating for the partner or labor coach. If you are the coach, just follow her lead and don’t take it personal if she requests that you not touch her.
Some women turn inward when preparing to birth a baby. You may find that creative visualization, hypnosis for child birth CDs or soft music will help you through the contractions. If you will be using visualization, you can ask your coach and medical staff to use hushed tones and keep the room as quiet as possible.
Vocalizations can help women cope with transition. Women tend to try not to make noise in labor. They may not want to bother other people or have the impression that noise is always bad. While yelling won’t help you cope, making some noise can be an excellent coping strategy. For this method to be effective, you need to make the right kind of noises.
What are the right kinds of noises? The sound is low, not high pitched, as with a scream. The sound comes from low in the chest and is a moan or sighing sound. The key is to have your throat, neck and mouth completely relaxed. This helps relax all the muscles in your body. Since tension impedes progress in labor, this is a very effective coping strategy.
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