Here is an affirmation to remember and use in many labor situation: whether you have a sprint where your brain is running to catch up to your body, or a marathon where energy conservation is key, or anything in between.  There comes a point in most labors where the mother needs to focus on gathering energy so she can get past the tiredness and have energy to finish the labor and push in the second stage of labor.

In my mind, energy was vortex-shaped and I needed to center that vortex on our birth.  However it plays out in your mind, envision any tiredness in your body being exhaled out.  As you inhale, breathe in the energy around you - maybe it will help to imagine it as a bright yellow or white light filling your body and squeezing out all the tiredness.

This is how I start this affirmation:

Inhale "With each breath"

Exhale "I exhale tiredness"

Inhale "I breathe in energy"

then

and repeat until you are in a deep relaxation and/or it stops working.  You can start over with this one, or maybe it's time to try a new affirmation to center your intentions.  The whole goal of these affirmations is to build positive energy as you work through labor to have the birth you need for a Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby outcome.

Since it works in reverse of how we think of breathing (inhale-exhale) every time I start this centering process, I start with the first phrase to get on rhythm with the exhale-inhale pattern of the affirmation.