A contraction is coming. Are you bracing for impact?

You might find yourself tensing up, clenching your jaw, holding your breath and freezing in place. This response is so common, but it can actually make labour feel more intense and harder to manage.

Now imagine meeting that contraction and softening instead.

Relaxing your jaw.
Breathing through.
Swaying your hips.
Trusting your body.

This shift from tension to trust can make a big difference to how your labour feels and how it progresses.

In this blog, I'll walk you through six simple but powerful ways to respond to contractions that support your labour, ease pain and help it progress. Whether you're planning a hospital birth, a home birth or something in between, these tips will help you feel more grounded and prepared.

Why Your Response to Contractions Matters

During labour, your uterus is working hard. Its muscles tighten and release to open your cervix and move your baby down.

When you tense up, your body can end up resisting this natural process. Fear and tension can release adrenaline and adrenaline can work against oxytocin, the hormone that drives your contractions. More tension can mean more pain and more pain can mean more fear. This is often called the fear–tension–pain cycle and it can make labour feel harder and slow things down.

When you soften your face, your jaw, your breath and your pelvic floor, you help your body do what it's designed to do.

6 Calming, Supportive Things to Do During a Contraction

✔️ 1. Relax Your Face, Jaw and Shoulders

Tension in your face often mirrors tension in your pelvis.

Try this:

• Keep your mouth soft
• Let your jaw hang slightly open
• Drop your shoulders away from your ears

The phrase "loose lips = loose lips" might sound funny, but there's truth in it. When you relax your upper body, your pelvic floor is more likely to relax too, which supports your baby as they move down.

✔️ 2. Focus on Your Breath

Your breath can anchor you, even in the most intense moments.

Try slow, open-mouthed exhales (as if you're fogging up a mirror), or gentle patterned breathing like this:

• Breathe in for 4 counts
• Breathe out for 8 counts

Breathing doesn't just help you cope. It also keeps oxygen flowing to you and your baby, which can help your uterus work more efficiently.

Inside my Empowered Birth course, I teach breathing techniques for every stage of labour, so you'll know what to do and when.

✔️ 3. Keep Moving

Movement can help labour progress and help you stay more comfortable.

Try:

• Rocking your hips
• Swaying while leaning on a wall, the bed or your support person
• Using a birth ball
• Changing positions regularly

You don't need to move constantly or be doing crazy yoga positions. Using active birthing positions and just changing your position regularly is enough. Even small movements can help your baby rotate into a good position for birth.

✔️ 4. Stay in the Moment

One of the most common traps in labour? Watching the clock.

Labour often feels longer when you're counting the minutes and hours. Try to bring your focus in and stay present with just this contraction.

Between contractions, rest, breathe and reset.

Repeat after me: "One contraction at a time."

✔️ 5. Create a Safe and Calm Environment

Your surroundings have a big effect on how your body responds in labour.

To help you feel safe, supported and empowered, create an environment that's:

• Quiet and dimly lit
• Private, with as few interruptions as possible
• Full of familiar, calming things (like music, affirmations or essential oils)

A space like this helps oxytocin, your labour hormone, flow more freely.

✔️ 6. Get Informed Before Labour Begins

One of the most empowering things you can do is learn what to expect before labour starts.

When you understand the stages of labour, what contractions actually do and how to support your body through each phase, everything feels less overwhelming.

How Your Support Person Can Help

Your support person plays a big role in how you move through each contraction. They can:

• Gently remind you to soften your jaw and drop your shoulders
• Breathe with you, slow and low, so you have a rhythm to follow
• Offer counter-pressure, a hip squeeze or massage (and stop straight away if it's not helping)
• Protect your space by keeping the lights low, the room quiet and interruptions to a minimum
• Remind you, "One contraction at a time. You're doing it."

When your support person knows what to do, you can stay in your zone and they can feel confident too.

These Tools Work Alongside Any Pain Relief You Choose

Softening, breathing and moving aren't about "toughing it out." They work alongside other comfort measures, like warm water, a heat pack or a TENS machine and alongside any medical pain relief you choose, including gas, morphine, an epidural or anything in between.

There's no right or wrong way to birth. You do you and use what helps you feel supported. 💕

You Can Feel Calm, In Control and Confident in Labour

You may not be able to control labour, but you can absolutely control how you prepare for it.

When you take it one contraction at a time and focus on your breath, softening, movement and trust, your body has the space it needs to do the work it was made for.

These techniques aren't about perfection. They give you practical, powerful ways to stay grounded and supported through birth.

Want to Feel Even More Prepared?

If you're ready to move from anxious to empowered, I'd love to support you through your birth experience.

My course, Empowered Birth, is designed to help you feel calm, confident and supported going into labour, without the overwhelm, fear or pressure to do things a certain way.

It's for you if you're a soon-to-be parent who wants to feel prepared for birth, not blindsided by it. It's also for you if you've had a not-so-great birth experience and want to rewrite your story this time around.

Created by an Australian midwife and mum, this self-paced online course helps you birth your way. You'll understand your options, build your toolkit and make empowered decisions that feel right for you and your baby.

✨ Learn more about Empowered Birth

Want something quick to take into labour? My Labour Toolkit includes a fridge-ready labour cheat sheet and short audio tracks for breathing and mindset.

Final Thoughts: You Were Made for This

When a contraction comes, you don't have to freeze, panic or fight.

You can breathe.
You can move.
You can soften.
And you can trust that your body knows what to do.

You are capable. You are powerful. You are not alone.

I'm here for you,
Tam xx