There are places in this valley where, when the nurses have their shift change, the new nurses know whether or not their patient had me as their doula during delivery. The telltale sign? My twinkle lights. They are such a great addition to a birth space. But did you know I don’t just bring them along because I think it looks ‘cute’? There is indeed a method to my madness.
If you’ve read anything about birth, odds are you’ve been reading about oxytocin. It’s the main driver in a labor, as far as causing contractions goes. Coincidentally it is also known as the ‘love hormone’ and the ‘bonding hormone’. As I like to put it, the hormone that made baby happen, will also help bring baby into your arms. Oxytocin during labor makes different processes happen during labor than it does during intercourse, but some of the basic principles apply no matter the circumstances. It likes dim lights, soft music and no unfamiliar people. Oxytocin likes to feel safe.
Now picture this: you have decided you want to birth your baby in a hospital, because that’s where you feel safest. Great! When you get there, however, there are bright overhead lights. Sounds of machines beeping, smells and the whole environment is new. People you’ve never met before are taking your blood pressure and asking to examine your cervix. Despite everyone’s best intentions, you can see where this is not an optimal environment for oxytocin to thrive.
Ok. So let’s try this instead: you have decided you want to birth your baby in a hospital, because that’s where you feel safest. Great! When you get there, your doula turns down all the bright overhead lights. Twinkle lights make the room bright enough to see, but dim enough to feel cozy. The sounds of your birthing playlist gently play in the background. You lightly smell the scents of the essential oils you picked out and the whole environment is almost homey. People you’ve never met before are speaking quietly, taking their time to get through their checks as they too notice the stage has been set.
Now that, my friend, is conducive to your oxytocin production.
Back to the twinkle lights. They are a tool to tap into your body’s need for space, quiet and almost a cave-like environment when it labors. Even in the animal kingdom, animals find a quiet place away from others when they prepare to birth. Dimming the lights and putting little strings of twinkle lights throughout the room encourages our body -in a primal way- to continue the process of labor. It sends signals to your nervous system ensuring it you are in a safe space. Compared to bright lights and unfamiliar noises and smells, which have the potential to space out your contractions as your body tries to ascertain whether it is indeed safe to continue to labor. The twinkle lights, and all the little tricks I mentioned, are almost a little way to hack your labor, ever so gently.
After your baby is in your arms, the twinkle light have the added bonus of letting you see in the middle of the night without having to turn on lights that are so bright that they wake your baby unnecessarily. A great perk!
I like to tell myself that I am the main twinkle light consumer of the PNW. The twinkle lights I bring to your birth are yours to keep. (Mainly because I don’t feel I can sanitize them well enough to reuse them.)
I hope you try this during your next labor. And if you are working with me for labor support, don’t worry- I’ll bring the twinkle.
