Labor for a Lifetime
LeAnn Thieman, LPN

There were 100 little babies laying three and four to a cardboard box, strapped in the belly of a gutted cargo jet. It was 1975, Saigon was falling to the Communists, and I was accidentally caught up in the Vietnam Orphan Airlift.

As our plane took off, I was haunted by an image from three days before when I’d stood on the runway and watched as a planeload of orphans crashed after take-off, killing half the adults and children aboard. I clutched our newly adopted baby boy to my chest. Would this plane be blown out of the sky, too? I trembled so hard I could barely hold our son. To cope, I started slow, deep easy breathing — the kind I’d learned in Lamaze classes before the birth of our daughters. I used the same breathing to bring our son into the family.

Since then, my many years as a childbirth educator have convinced me that birthing techniques are more than labor skills — they’re life skills.

Breathing

Rhythmic breathing releases endorphins, our bodies’ own pain medication. We can tap into them every day, but we forget to do activities that release them!

When laboring moms are afraid, adrenaline production increases, which inhibits the release of oxytocin and results in poorer contractions and longer labor. Rhythmic breathing decreases stress, thereby lowering adrenaline production and facilitating a better, shorter labor. And if stress and adrenaline do that to laboring moms, what do they do to us in our everyday lives?

We need to breathe like laboring moms — in 2,3,4 and out 2,3,4. As we breathe in, think “I am,” and as we breathe out, think “relaxed.” It works. When I was en route to Vietnam, the national officers of our organization met me at the airport with $10,000 to smuggle into Vietnam for war orphens. So with the most expensive padded bra in history, I headed through customs. An angry looking Vietnamese guard with a gun barked at me, and I feared he’d take one look at my chest and know it wasn’t an act of God. Trembling with fright, I knew I’d give myself away. So I started breathing deeply — in $1,000, $2,000, $3000, out $4,000, $5,000, $6,000!

Relaxation

It’s said relaxation is 90% of a good labor, and that applies to life, too. Keeping our bodies relaxed keeps our emotions under control. We’re only as relaxed as our hands and our face. We can’t relax if we’re making a fist — or clenching our teeth or the steering wheel.

We schedule so many activities into our days, yet we seldom schedule relaxation. We should allocate at least 15 minutes every day for relaxation, meditation, or prayer.

Ideally, we should set up a “relaxation” place at home where we can listen to guided relaxation exercises or soothing music while doing our slow, rhythmic breathing. Involving all five senses is best, so lighting a scented candle or gently swaying in a rocker are also good ideas. Once we’ve mastered this relaxation technique, we can use it in the break room, the ballpark, or the bedside.

Positive Thinking

I’m an absolute believer in the power of positive thinking. We get what we expect from life. When we expect positive things, we act accordingly and get good results in return. When we expect success, we usually succeed; when we expect failure, we usually fail. When we expect health, we make healthy choices; when we expect illness, we’re often sick.

Research shows that emotion — positive or negative — affects human health. There is mounting scientific evidence that hope, faith, love, purpose, laughter, and the will to live can actually help control disease. These aren’t just mental states; they have electromechanical connections that play a large part in the working of immune system.

Positive thinking also affects our performance. Years ago, the Texas Rangers baseball team lost 21 straight games. The manager knew an evangelist was in town and made the team wait in the dugout while he went to have their bats blessed. He came back an hour later with “blessed bats.” The team won nearly every game after that — and the pennant! Were the bats blessed? It doesn’t matter; the team got what they expected.

We can take positive thinking one step farther by incorporating positive imaging. Positive visualization is a powerful and mysterious force that’s capable of bringing about dramatic improvement in our lives.

I’ve instructed laboring moms to visualize the baby moving down the birth canal, the cervix opening, and the baby in their arms. I’ve literally watched their bodies respond. We’ve seen the same kinds of responses from patients using biofeedback: Blood pressure and pulse rates are reduced with imaging techniques.

Patients with cancer say they have less nausea and vomiting when they visualize a serene white beach, a cascading waterfall, or a peaceful sunset. But it seems that can work in reverse. One cancer patient saw her doctor in the grocery store and it brought back such intense images of nausea with her chemo, she vomited on the spot!

Breathing, relaxation, positive thinking, and positive visualization work for sick people and mothers in labor, and they’ll work for you. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever be asked to rescue babies in cardboard boxes in war-torn countries, but as a nurse, you rescue people every day. Remember to use your labor tools to affect not only your happiness, but also your health.

LeAnn Thieman, LPN, is a motivational speaker and co-author of Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman’s Soul, and the upcoming Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul. To learn about her presentations or to get a signed copy of her books, go to www.LeAnnThieman.com.