…is that you don’t even have to. You have a uterus just dying to push for you, and if you just shhhhhhhush. Shhhuuushhh your busy worried over-thinking brain. Be calm and allow your mind to work with the incredible uterine pressure it will push your baby all the way to their first breath, while you slowly exhale your own.
“We are not suddenly abandoned at the end of our pregnancy. There is literally a birth “response” that propels our babies from womb to world with very little conscious effort on our part. The problem is, there is something even more powerful than the birth response, something that can override it entirely. That something is known as the fight/flight response.” Laura Shanley
What would your body do if your mind wasn’t even there, if it totally checked out? IT COULD ALLOW YOUR UTERUS TO PUSH YOUR BABY OUT PAINLESSLY.
Comatose pregnant women have spontaneously give birth to healthy live infants! Epileptic pregnant women have woken to find they have given birth! Some women even report birth to be pleasurable to the point of orgasm!
No need to try to be some warrior woman proving her power, or suffer in self-hate to follow Biblical command.
Just be soft, gentle, calm and allow your body to work. You may or may not have an orgasm but you will find yourself in a pretty great state of mind for successfully caring for a newborn. Nice coincidence!
What one woman can do, why can’t another?
I really had to hold back laughter when I was told ‘Birthing a breech baby vaginally without manual extraction by an obstetrician is impossible, at least…it’s never been done in Austin.’ LOL I mean, seriously??? Not only has it been done in Austin by mothers before me, it has been done in Utah, Australia, Georgia
“The birth process need not be a pushing affair. It can be a gentle unfolding in harmony with the natural rhythms of life.” Nancy Tatje-Broussard
There’s a LOT that’s possible and probable in birth, with a strong uterus in your corner you’re most likely set for success! Here’s how to aid your uterus’ strength and give your body support:
*The basics, the obvious of being healthy. Eat most of what grows organically in the ground, less of what’s synthetically derived and injected into slaughtered creatures and genetically altered plants. Move your body, sweat, take in sunshine and fresh air and get good sleep.
*Drink Red Raspberry Leaf Tea before conception, through pregnancy, especially during the weeks leading to birth, in labor and through postpartum. And during that menstruating time of the month . Just keep RRL permanently on your favorite Herb Bar shopping list.
*Take the herbal blend 5W five weeks prior to your estimated due date. I’m no herbalist, midwife or doctor but I have a group of posh girlfriends who have taken 5W after having it approved by their midwives and OB’s and gone on to have productive, quick, successful and manageable labors(some with epidurals) and feel the 5W played a role. I agree and would not have a baby without it! Ask your birth attendant about it and own thinking before taking it yourself.*Learn about your body, the role your uterus plays in the birth process and how the rest of yourself works naturally with it. The release of hormones, dilation of the cervix, and most importantly your willing heart and mind.
*Use your imagination to influence reality. In pregnancy, imagine your body opening effortlessly and with ease to make the perfect path for your baby. Call on that visual again in birth. We take it for granted that men’s bodies can drastically change size and shape with desire, ours does the same.
*When those waves of increasing intensity start to roll over you and you realize you’re baby’s about to be born, roll with it. Just let it be there. Let yourself be overwhelmed and amazed at the strength within, and react softly to it.
*Listen to your birth attendants when they say things like ‘Breathe your baby down, down down down.’ And conversely, if they are telling you to push and you don’t feel it, tune them out and turn up the volume on the voice in your head. Every mother and every birth is different but usually it’s only in those last few moments when a mother feels an urge to apply her own efforts to bear down and her baby is born. The only person who should tell you to push, is you.
*Realize there is another person on your team, a very tiny one with a heart, body and mind all their own but shares your same goal. Your body wants to birth and your baby wants to be born! They are not unconscious passengers and if they are unmedicated, unforced and unhindered they will be able to most effectively do their job of rotating down and out.
“The contractions cannot be stronger than me…because it IS me.” SageKelli from the Unassisted Birth Forums.
Love and learn your body! Birth doesn’t have to hurt!
Author: Mary Davis
Website: http://theguidingstarproject.com
Mary Davis is a wife and mother living in Austin Texas where she spends as much time as possible appreciating the gift of the great outdoors with her family. She facilitates breastfeeding classes and is working toward certifications in breastfeeding education and provides labor and birth support and postpartum care as a doula. Improving human health holistically is a passion, she sits on the board of directors at the Guiding Star Project which seeks to bring care providers and educators together to meet the needs of people in all ages and stages of life. Please find them at The Guiding Star Project on FaceBook and Instagram. She also explores holistic health, beauty and fitness on Instagram and FaceBook as NaturalFullCircleBeauty.