A lot goes down during labor. Some things you are completely prepared for thanks to birth classes and birth books you’ve read. Other things are either forgotten or unmentioned and stress you out - not to mention, worry your partner.

As a birth photographer, I get to see it all and I’ve learned a lot. Many things happen during your birth experience that are completely normal and happen in nearly every birth I’ve been able to photograph.

So I thought I’d share some of the “normal” things that come up unexpectedly.

1. Puking and Nausea

Not just for the early trimester! There are many factors at play that cause nausea and vomiting during childbirth. Just like during the first trimester, hormones play a big part.

During labor, your hormones are a crazy cocktail mix of raging doses of stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol, and epinephrine and rapidly shifting hormones that transition women through labor and past delivery, and mix with other dramatically fluctuating body chemicals. These same hormones slow digestion in order to conserve and divert energy to the uterus.

Additionally, both vomiting and nausea are automatic responses controlled by the nervous system. Labor pain has two components: visceral pain and somatic pain. Visceral pain triggers your sympathetic nervous to react, causing organs such as the adrenal glands to release hormones. (see “raging cocktail” above).

The body’s defense to this overload of the nervous system: vomiting.

Some women throw up once, others a few times, and some continuously hurl throughout childbirth. It’s normal

What to do about it:

Inhale Peppermint oil. Dab a little peppermint essential oil into the blue throw-up bag or on a washcloth. Peppermint oil is shown to relieve nausea/vomiting in research trials. Don’t put it on your skin just in case it’s too strong.

Your care provider can also give you some anti-nausea meds to help. Be sure to keep hydrated as best you can.

One of my favorite, simple tricks (and your grandmother’s too) - a cold washrag on the back of the neck.

You also need to make sure you keep your energy up with calories - which is hard to do when you’re puking. This is where the acronym BRAT comes in - useful for all nauseous and puking situations, even for when you’re sick. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast.

2. Stalling Contractions

Many women, partners, and their impatiently waiting family members worry about this but sometimes contractions stall out. You can have your water break, have a full day of regular contractions and they will just stop. A number of factors can cause this: lack of energy, stress & anxiety, past trauma, hormone levels, etc. It’s normal.

What you can do about it:

Many midwives and doulas recommend keeping your birth attendees to just you, your partner, and your birth team, and for good reason. To quote midwife Amanda Prouty of DFW Midwife Collective “A watched pot never boils.”

Turn the phones off and don’t respond to requests for “updates”. By limiting the outside disturbances, you can remove some of the stressors that slow labor, including feeling rushed, others’ anxiety and worry, the responsibility of having to do anything but have a baby.

Doulas and midwives are full of tricks to get contractions up and going again, from walking to holistic options, chiropractic care, massage, and even just taking a nap. Oh yeah, and sex (if your water hasn’t broken).

Sometimes though, there may come a time for medical intervention depending on your’s and baby’s vitals or time that has passed since your water has broken (since too long can result in infection).

I write this to prepare you and your partner. Often, mothers and partners worry and want to jump to a hospital transfer or induction immediately upon the stalling of contractions simply out of fear. It’s important to know stalling is normal but when you’ve received medical recommendations for interventions, give them consideration.

3. Back and Hip pain

Back labor! It’s a witch with a capital B - but completely normal. A 2018 study found that about 33% of women experience back labor. What is it? It’s not feeling your contractions in your abdomen but as intense pain in your back or hips.

Back labor can be caused by a variety of factors including how your baby is sitting, your torso length, back shape, pelvis position, or just for some unidentifiable reason.

What you can do about it:

You can sometimes prevent back labor with pelvic-tilt exercises, yoga with the cat-cow pose, and leaning over objects when standing.

During labor, change up your position and avoid laying down or on your back (you won’t want to anyway). Try walking, sitting on a birthing ball, leaning over the side of the bed, or on hands and knees.

You can also take a shower on your hands and knees with the warm water hitting your lower back.

Your birth partner and/or doula can assist with hip squeezes, counter pressure, or both on the affected area.

Doula’s and some L&D nurses have a “magical” trick to “spin” your baby into a better position off your back during labor using a rebozo or certain positions.

4. Shaking

This is one childbirth experience that throws a lot of people. Shaking is totally normal during and after childbirth and usually caused by, you guessed it! Hormones! Yes, those pesky hormones can make a laboring mother shiver and shake like they are sitting on the front porch during the ice apocalypse of 2021.

You might also experience this same shaking after receiving an epidural, a normal reaction to the medication. This side effect will eventually subside and has no effect on your baby in any way.

In either situation, this shaking is only physical and does not mean the laboring parent is cold. Although all of us, even myself, will ask you if you’re cold and want a blanket.

What you can do about it:

Not a darn thing, other than vocalizing that you aren’t cold. Just patiently wait for the symptoms to subside. You can also prepare your partner as they are the ones who worry about this experience most.

No matter what occurs during your laboring experience, never be afraid to vocalize your concern. Never! You are your best advocate and you know when something doesn’t feel right. Some things that happen are totally normal, and even those normal things can be caused by something not-normal. As always, advocating for yourself is the best resource for a positive birth experience.