how to pack your hospital bag - the Ayurvedic way
You may be thinking, “There’s even an Ayurvedic way to pack my hospital bag?” Well, not exactly. But there are items you can bring with you to incorporate Ayurvedic principles and recommendations for your birthing environment. Whether you are giving birth in the hospital, a birth center, or having a home birth, you can use these tips to create a birthing room that is aligned with supporting the natural rhythms of your body while you birth your babe.
Let’s look at some of the essential recommendations Ayurveda has for the birthing environment. These tips are not only recommended by Ayurvedic Doulas and Practitioners, but some of these tips are also recommended by renowned Midwives such as Ina May Gaskin. Adding these elements to your birthing room will help your body drop into the deep, inwardly focused, and
Elements of your birthing room
no bright or blue lights - only use warm, dim, low lighting.
Have you ever noticed how more babies are born in the middle of the night? This is partially attributed to the way our bodies relax during the dark hours. Bright, artificial light stimulates the neocortex in the brain, causing an increase in the release of adrenaline and inhibiting the natural birthing process. Although adrenaline is an important hormone involved in triggering certain functions of labor, and can give you the strength you need to power through labor, too much adrenaline (such as the levels that would be produced if you were in fear, or feeling you were in an unsafe environment), could slow down or even put a stop to labor. According to Ina May Gaskin in her book, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, oxytocin is the accelerator of birth, and adrenaline is the brakes. She says, “I believe that high adrenaline levels are the reason that so many women in labor find themselves no longer in labor when they check in to a hospital” (148).
Bright lighting is often associated with a clinical environment. Many hospitals, clinics, and doctors offices have an environment with bright, white lights. This can be counterintuitive to supporting the birthing process. When packing your hospital bag before your due date, consider bringing some alternative lighting options that are dim, warm, or even have adjustable brightness levels so that you can control the lighting in your birthing room. Some options that pack fairly easily are Christmas lights, candles (or electric candles), and pink Himalayan salt lamps with dimmable switches. You can also bring an eye cover to block out unwanted light during or after your labor.
warm room, warm body, warm food.
According to Ayurveda, if a woman eats anything cold during labor, immediately the connection between her and her womb space is severed. Unfortunately, many hospitals only serve packaged cold food, frozen food that has been reheated, cold ice water, or ice chips to mother’s in labor. As a general rule of thumb, from the moment you are in labor, everything in your environment should keep you warm, and this principle continues for 6 weeks following the birth of your baby. The quality of “cold” increases vata dosha in the body. Ayurveda calls for the opposite qualities in labor, birth, and postpartum as well: the qualities of warmth, grounding energy. Hospital rooms are known to be cold, as they are kept that way to keep virus and bacteria from spreading. However, while you are in your birthing room, you can support your bodies natural birthing process by incorporating warmth in many different ways.
For environment:
If the hospital or birthing center allows, use the remote in your room to adjust the temperature to 72-75 degrees F as soon as you arrive. Throughout your labor, do not be afraid to adjust the temperature to your comfort. Keep in mind that while you may be fully dressed when you arrive, you will likely remove most layers of clothes (if not all) by the time you are deep in your labor, so you want the room to be warm enough that you are still comfortable throughout your whole labor. If your hospital does not allow you to adjust the temperatures in the room, or if you know you get chilled easily and like your environment warmer than most, consider bringing a plug in electric space heater to heat up the room. These heat the room up very quickly and can be easily shut off if you want to cool down. A common way to bring warmth in the environment is to have access to a hot shower, or a birthing tub filled with warm water, to access throughout your labor as well. Many hospitals and birthing centers offer showers and even birthing tubs by request.
For body:
Bring layers of warm, comfortable clothing. Pack your favorite warm fluffy socks or slippers. I recommend bringing several pairs of warm fluffy socks, so that you have fresh ones to put on after birth. When I gave birth, I actually got in the birthing tub with my socks on! It was essential to have a clean, dry pair to change into after I got out of the tub. Bring extra blankets from your house that are warm and cozy, you will be happy to have these immediately after birth when many women experience chills and shakey-ness. You can bring towels for for this purpose as well, and keep them warm with a plug in heating pad so that they are warm when you need them. You can also use the heating pad to warm the hospital bed before you lay on it. Make sure to bring comfortable lounge wear like nursing pajamas and robes that are easily removable yet keep you warm when they are on.
Another supportive item to bring would be a couple hot water bottles, or a Fomentek bag. You will also need an electric hot water kettle for filling your hot water bottles, but the Fomentek bags can be filled with warm water straight from the bathroom tap. You can place these hot water bottles under your blankets near your feet, shoulders, or place them on your back during and after labor, and on your belly after giving birth.
Finally, Ayurveda recommends warm oil massages for the birthing mother between contractions. You can bring an herbal abhyanga oil, or plain sesame oil, and a small crockpot. Use the small crockpot to keep warm water in, and place the bottle of oil into the warm water. This will keep the oil warm and ready to be used to massage mama between contractions.
For food:
Unfortunately, many hospitals only serve ice chips to birthing mothers, as it is their hospital policy that there is no eating or drinking during labor. If you choose, you can decline to follow this policy and offer to sign any documents required to do so. Some hospitals may require you to sign a release that you are choosing to go against their medical advice. It is highly recommended in Ayurveda to continue eating and drinking throughout labor in order to give you the energy you need to birth your babe. Ayurveda recommends warm, oily, soupy, easy to digest, nourishing foods during labor. Some foods that would support the birthing process may be soup broths, warm smoothies, herbal teas, organic or homemade ramen noodles, and traditional dishes like rice kanji, or watery, soupy kitchari. It is simple to pack the ingredients for these foods, along with a blender, some thermoses, an electric kettle, and a small instant pot. I also recommend bringing room temperature, bottled spring water for drinking, as most hospitals serve cold water.
bring in pleasing aromas, such as the smell of home, nourishing cooked foods, or scents you are drawn to.
According to BirthSpace: An evidence-based guide to birth environment design, “There is a strong link between emotion and smell, with pleasing aromas having the capacity to lower anxiety and pain perception and unpleasant aromas provoking anxiety, fear and stress. For many, ‘that hospital smell’ is a source of anxiety.” They recommend bringing items from home, such as blankets and pillows, that will bring familiar smells into the birthing room. Additionally, by making home-cooked food such as the soups and smoothies recommended above, it will make the birthing environment feel more homey and welcoming, especially if the soup is one of your favorite foods, or something you were fond of during pregnancy.
Ayurveda recommends smelling the scent of cardamom during labor. Smelling cardamom essential oil can curb the nausea many women experience with contractions. It can also be helpful to smell various essential oils before your due date, and identify which one brings a sense of peace and calm to your body. These are the oils you should bring with you in your hospital bag. You can place them in a metal bowl to put below your face and smell as needed, anoint your body with them, or bring an essential oil diffuser and diffuse them to smell in your birthing room. You can also bring scented candles that you are drawn to, if your hospital allows. If you do choose to bring candles, I recommend only bringing beeswax candles scented with pure essential oils, like the ones in this shop. Conventional candles and even soy wax candles pollute the air with harmful toxins and chemicals, which is not what you want for your birthing room.
By using these elements, you can think of what you need to feel comfortable, warm, nourished, grounded, and supported during your labor. Bringing these elements into your birthing room, whether at home, a birth center, or especially into a clinical hospital environment, can transform your labor experience and help to support the natural rhythms of your body, for a smoother labor and delivery.
