What is Labour Hopscotch?
Designed and created by a community midwife, Labour Hopscotch offers options to assist women in achieving a physiological birth and remaining as active as possible in labour. The stations in Labour Hopscotch are aimed at Optional Fetal Positioning, which is getting your baby into the correct position for the birth.
Labour Hopscotch is based on the premise that you have to prepare for the physicality of labour, just like training for a marathon, as it requires stamina and strength. The programme includes various activities, such as using a birthing ball, kneeling on all fours, using alternative therapies, and more. These activities help you prepare your mind and body for the birth of your baby and help you achieve a positive experience.
You can start using Labour Hopscotch once you have had your 20-week scan and are informed there are no risks of doing so. Our staff will provide you with the antenatal information you need, and you can watch our exercise videos.
Mobilise
The bottom square of Labour Hopscotch, called Mobilise, is aimed at helping you achieve Optional Fetal Positioning.
Four activities for 20 minutes per activity, and you should aim to do as many as possible, if not all, daily. 20 mins is a guide but you should try and go for as long as possible.
- Sideways on the stairs or walk on the kerb and the road
- Lunges
- Pelvic tilts
- Deep squats.
When can you start this?
Once your scan is over and you have been told all is well here, you should start training. Our staff will provide you with the antenatal information you need, and you can watch the video, which shows you all the positions you should be doing daily as part of Labour Hopscotch.
Stick to the diet plans, the calorie intakes, and the ways of preventing gestational diabetes and anaemia. These will help with your training.
If you are sitting at a desk or commuting, you should have your pelvis tilted, such as your pelvis tilted on a sloped cushion. Imagine sitting on a half-blown-up football or a kneeling stool, if preferable, at desk jobs. If it is feasible, you could sit on your birthing ball at your desk and make sure it has the correct amount of pressure in it for holding you while pregnant.
When following Labour Hopscotch, the squares that follow from the mobilise square are aimed at keeping you mobile and moving towards baby feet at the top. You can move up and down as you wish or stay on a square you feel is working for you.
Your partner should be involved in the process with you, and they should be the timekeeper and have the next station ready for you before you have time to think. They are your trainer and motivator. At home, they should initiate activities to keep you engaged and distracted.
Labour will start spontaneously if your baby’s head is in the pelvis, firstly low enough, then if it is in the correct position and finally if it hits off the cervix. These triggers help initiate labour spontaneously without intervention or induction. So it is important you do these positions to help yourself get into labour on time.
Stool
If you don’t have a birthing stool, use a low-set seat (child’s seat or a three-legged stool).
With your partner sitting behind you with their knees around you, lean backwards and use a pillow folded up at your lower back if necessary. While in the supported position, lift one leg and raise it on a step or on a few large thick books. This tilts your pelvis and aids the baby’s descent into your pelvis.
Toilet
This position helps you to empty your bladder so as not to block the baby’s head descending into the pelvis.
It also helps you relax your pelvic floor muscles. As your baby descends into your pelvis, you will feel pressure on your back passage muscles, and you can be tempted to clench your muscles instead of relaxing them. It is important not to clench these important muscles as we rely on them to relax, and you will use them to push your baby out into the world.
Water
Water therapy is well-proven to relax muscles and aid the birthing process through relaxation and movement in the water, and most of all, it is proven to relieve pain.
Pools, baths, showers, whatever you have, use as much as you like. Make sure the temperature is not too hot, take lots of breaks to cool down and drink lots of water.
Lunge and squat if in a shower, or sit on your birthing ball in the shower. You could also go on all fours in the bath or the shower.
Use Entonox if it’s available to you during a water birth for pain relieve during labour.
Birthing ball
While resting on your birthing ball or sitting on your ball, make sure you move in a figure of 8 all the time, as this encourages your baby's head to rotate into the pelvis.
Use this time to use your hypnobirthing and visualisation techniques from your classes if you have done some preparation with trained professionals or if you have done some yourself.
Mat
Kneeling on all fours on the mat is a great position.
Lean over your birthing ball.
Place a pillow on your birthing ball and lean over.
Your partner could sit on the birthing ball, and you can kneel down and rest your head on a pillow on their knees.
Robozo technique may be used by your midwife to aid babies' descent at some stage of the birth if they are happy to show you.
Alternative therapy
Use your alternative therapies as directed by trained professionals. Follow their guides safely and always ensure your midwife knows what you plan to use in labour.
Examples:
- Aromatherapy
- Homeopathy
- Acupressure
- Massage
