In classes, I often suggest that when couples enter their hospital room in labor they pile all of their belongings onto the bed rather than the laboring woman hopping into it. I encourage people to start seeing the bed as a tool they can actively use during labor, rather than a place for labor and birth to passively happen to you. To that end, I’ve made a little handout called “helpful ways to use a hospital bed without lying down.” I’m uploading it here in hopes that others may find it useful as well.
For more about the importance of freedom of movement during labor, make sure to check out Lamaze’s Healthy Birth Practice paper: Walk, Move Around, and Change Positions Throughout Labor or this video clip from Mother’s Advocate.
Talk Birth 
Very nice reminder of options for a bed during birth. 🙂
Great, thanks for sharing! I just saved it to my documents to use for classes.
BTW, where do you get your drawings or do you do them yourself?
I am putting together a pregnancy notebook for early pregnancy classes I’m starting up and would love to have drawings of women doing exercises, relaxation, positions, etc. and I’m certainly not an artist. 🙂
You’re welcome! The drawing on the recent posts are from the Transition to Parenthood site, http://www.transitiontoparenthood.com. She has a very generous copyright policy described there that permits you to use portions of her work on your own materials without attribution (like if it is one picture), or materials in full with full attribution. I find that several of the handouts/activities on the site are really helpful and I love her little drawings and use them on handouts frequently. 🙂
Molly
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What a wonderful resource! I will definitely refer doula clients here–especially those who are anticipating a (hopefully necessary) induction and whose mobility may be limited during labor.
Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful.
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