Going through labor is always a journey, but Penny Simkin’s Road Map of Labor is a great way to offer guidance to expectant parents as they travel the road to parenthood together. Available as a recently updated, two-sided, 100-sheet Tear Pad, the Road Map is also available as an Interactive Display (laminated 30" x 23" chart with presentation guide) or Package (tear pad and laminated chart with presentation guide).

With bright, easy-to-follow graphics, the Road Map shows normal labor as a journey that begins with early labor and ends with the baby’s birth. The journey includes three paths: a winding yellow brick road with twists, turns, and no fixed timeline; a detour for back pain, represented by a longer, rougher road that eventually rejoins the yellow brick road; and the epidural highway, which represents the choice to have an epidural for pain relief.

Throughout each path, the Road Map features illustrations of a variety of comfort measures to use as labor progresses. For example, images for early labor on the winding yellow brick road include depictions of the woman eating and drinking, resting, timing contractions, slow dancing with her birth partner, swaying on a birth ball with partner support, and more. Illustrations on the rocky detour for back pain include movements and comfort measures to help rotate an occiput posterior baby and alleviate pain, such as standing or leaning forward over a birth ball or table, the lunge, heat or cold to the lower back, and shower to the lower back. More drawings provide comfort measures through active labor and transition. Images on the epidural highway include administration of the epidural, side-lying with a peanut ball between the legs, “pull-to-push” position, and more.

While the Interactive Display is ideal for childbirth education classes and birthing rooms as a great visual reminder of comfort measures, the Tear Pad offers invaluable take-home information that is perfect for practice of comfort measures. It also serves as an informative educational tool to build confidence with knowledge of what happens during labor and how to cope throughout the entire process of giving birth.

The Tear Pad is also available as a part of our Deluxe Mini-Model Set With Flexible Pelvis. This miniature childbirth model set facilitates childbirth education on the go and helps educators provide laboring couples with easy visuals to help them understand what to do as labor progresses.

Whether you are looking for more great childbirth education materials from Penny Simkin or innovative childbirth teaching tools to explain a full range of labor and birth topics, Childbirth Graphics has you covered! Visit our website section devoted to labor and birth resources, products, and models to find the perfect childbirth teaching materials for every audience, from midwifery students to expectant parents.

The information contained in this article is not intended to replace the advice of a healthcare professional.

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