"You are giving birth with 350,000 other women today!"
Because that's how many give birth around the world in any given day.
A comforting thought for labor: "You are giving birth with 350,000 other women today!" Because that's how many give birth around the world in any given day.
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I love the book Childbirth Without Fear. Realizing through reading it, that it may be possible for some women to have nearly painless births is one of the motivating factors that influenced me to become a doula. Since I first read the book, I have wanted to share the information with many others, but not everyone has time to read the whole book. My summary distills the key liberating concepts without having to read all 350 pages. It is some pretty exciting stuff! Free download below.
If you haven't discovered it yet, there is an easy "check the boxes" birth plan generator over at Earth Mama Angel Baby. Birth plans (though not set in stone, because every birth is a different journey) can be really helpful in clarifying what your wishes are. Then your doula, partner, and health care provider can best stand alongside you in achieving your dreams. Make yours today!
According to a Washington Post article, a study has been done that shows how women respond to the scent of a newborn baby. Among other things, the study showed that the scent of a new baby (even one who is not her own) gives women a mood boost similar to that of eating chocolate. That's one proof that women were made to be mothers! Read the brief article here: "The scent of a newborn baby: for moms it's as uplifting as chocolate, study says."
The key to reducing pain in labor is relaxing into the pain rather than tensing up and resisting it. How could relaxing reduce pain? Well, the uterus is built of two opposing types of muscles: longitudinal muscles, which run vertically down the top of the uterus; and horizontal circular muscles, which form the lower half of the uterus. During labor, the longitudinal muscles contract to move the baby down and out, but if a woman tenses up, the circular muscles lower down "close the outlet, maintaining the uterus in its unemptied state. ... Then the muscles that empty the uterus and the muscles that hold it closed are working against each other" (Childbirth Without Fear, Grantly Dick-Read, M.D., p. 67) and pain results. Just as it can become painful when the bladder needs to be emptied but the timing isn't convenient, so there is unnecessary pain when half of the muscles of the womb are trying to clear out the uterus but the other half are tense and constricted. Therefore, the key to greatly reducing labor pain is to learn to relax the whole body deeply. It is good to begin practicing this as early in pregnancy as possible. Find a quiet spot, and lie down. Get in a comfortable position where you don't feel like you have to use any muscles to support yourself and you can completely let go. Then, methodically and very slowly tense and release your muscles one at a time, from your toes all the way up to your face, consciously noting the difference between tensed muscles and relaxed ones. The face is a key area to relax because "if your mouth is tense, you will be tensing the pelvic area, too" (Ibid., p. 73). As you enter this relaxed state, take deep breaths to allow extra oxygen to reach the uterus. It is a good idea to practice this deep relaxation on a regular day before going into labor. Then your body will be used to how to relax when the time comes. Ina May Gaskin, in her book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, recommends blowing "raspberries" or "horse lips" to effectively relax the mouth (and therefore the cervix as well). To do this, completely relax your lips and blow a good amount of air through, letting your lips flap lips together. Relaxing into the pain instead of resisting it will allow your body to do what it is designed to, with the least discomfort possible. When immersed in the intensity of labor it can be challenging to get back to that place of relaxation. This is one reason why a doula can be vital as a labor coach and even help you have a less painful birth. Labor pain is "pain with a purpose and different from the pain of injury." It is a functional pain, akin to that which athletes experience. "If the athlete only thought of pain instead of about winning the race, she would give up. If the mountaineer thought that her aching muscles were the sign of some dreadful physical injury instead of the natural result of working them so hard, she would forget all about her goal and lose the feeling of triumph when she reaches the summit. "Contractions are not pains. They are tightenings that may be painful, especially when they are being most effective. There is an art in approaching each new contraction, in thinking, 'Splendid! Here's another one!' and later, as you approach the end of the first stage, when they are at their strongest, 'Oh, this is a really good one!' " (The New Pregnancy & Childbirth, Kitzinger, p. 308) "Did you ever think, when you hear your baby rouse at 2:00am, that they are actually giving you the gift of MORE sleep, lowering your postpartum depression risk, building and developing their brains, possibly reducing their risk for long-term mood disorders, developing their own circadian cycles, getting more milk when your supply is highest, ensuring your long-term breastmilk supply, AND giving you an opportunity to pump less at work?" To read more about why these encouraging facts are possible, check out 5 Cool Things No One Ever Told You About NIghttime Breastfeeding.
Pregnancy can have positive affects on women for years afterwards. The miraculous phenomenon that this picture depicts is called "fetomaternal microchimerism." Here's how it works, from From: "Astounding: Your Baby Can Heal You!" "The main study that supports this claim was done using mice.2 In the study, the researchers took female mice that had never mated before and mated them with male mice that had been genetically engineered to make a green, fluorescing protein in their cells. As a result, half of the offspring produced by this mating process also had the ability to make that protein. Since the females did not have that ability, any cells in the mother that produced the green, fluorescing protein must have come from the fetus developing inside her. |
Melanie Ellison, Durango COChildbirth fascinates me, and I always love learning more tidbits about it and sharing them with you. I also post photo galleries here from my photoshoots. Sign up for the RSS feed below so you don't miss a post! Categories
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