Guided Imagery For Labor

Have you heard of a vision board? A way to look at what you want your life to be and manifest your “dreams into reality?” A lot of people think of making a vision board for gym goals, life improvement, or mental health change. However, have you thought of using one for your birth?!

One of the first times I even heard about using visual imagery was when my mom told me she had used a picture of her favorite dog during the birth of my sister! She used it as something to ground and distract her during contractions, to give her a point of focus.

Guided imagery has been a long-proven tool to benefit those in labor. I remember learning about it in my nursing school textbooks years ago and thought, “That’s interesting” but didn’t really realize the power of guided imagery until I gave birth myself!

Guided imagery has proven to shorten labor, increase blood flow to baby, give the mother a sense of grounding and control. If you have images to focus on that give you positive feedback (whether that includes images that bring you joy or positive quotes) that decreases the release of stress hormones in labor that could negatively affect your baby or inhibit your ability to relax. 

As a mother-baby nurse, I have lots of friends ask me how to prepare for birth–whether they want to go unmedicated or medicated, c section or vaginal. One of the BIGGEST pieces of advice I give is to PREPARE. You wouldn’t run a marathon without any training–why would you give birth without training? Many people consider giving birth to be one of the most painful or difficult experiences of their lives–thus it only makes sense to practice grounding yourself, practice breathing exercises, and mentally preparing and researching beforehand.

During labor, the ability to still your mind is important. I tell my friends and patients that labor is 10% physical but 90% a mental game. If you can practice looking at your guided imagery/vision board before labor and practice your labor breathing, this is going to exponentially increase your sense of control and help your mind and body work as one. 

Now how to use your vision board: as you feel your contraction starting, I would focus on the vision board and the quotes/images that give you strength. Repeating things like, “I am going to meet my baby soon” and “The peak of my contraction pain will only last 10 seconds” gives your mind something to hold on to and motivate you.  With my 2nd baby I had my husband repeat to me “you can do this for 10 seconds, you got this.”  I know it sounds silly, but being reminded of those things REALLY does help.

Now you can use your vision board at your home if you want to try and labor at home before going to the hospital. But you can also bring a print or poster as well to put up in your labor room. As a hospital employee, we have people decorate or put things up in their room all the time, which is fine as long as you use a tape that will not leave a residue or a command strip that will easily come off.

I decided I wanted a nice vision board for my upcoming 3rd baby’s delivery. I looked on Etsy and other popular websites but couldn’t find many specifically for labor and delivery–which is why I decided to make my own for this birth as well as list it for purchase on my website if others want to use it! 

I hope you have the best birth experience (you deserve nothing less!) and you feel the utmost respect and love!

Xoxo, karathebabynurse

Research articles:

Nguyen J, Brymer E. Nature-Based Guided Imagery as an Intervention for State Anxiety. Front Psychol. 2018;9:1858. Published 2018 Oct 2. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.018584

Kaplan, Ece & çevik, Semra. (2021). The effect of guided imagery and reflexology on pain intensity, duration of labor and birth satisfaction in primiparas: randomized controlled trial. Health Care for Women International. 42. 1-19. 10.1080/07399332.2021.1880411.