Birth has taught me some of my greatest lessons in life. My others, not surprisingly, have been learned through love and parenting. But today, today I want to talk about birth. And you can expect some brutal honesty. Just know I love you. :)
Since I started birth work in 2002, I have come to view all naturally occuring things in the world through the eyes of birth. I look at butterflies and think of birth, I look at trees and think of birth. Everything has a beginning, and all beginnings are a birth. Something I figured out almost instantly doing birth work is that we live the way we are born. And why wouldn't we? Our entrance into this world is the first imprint on our consciousness. As hokey as it may sound, we spend the entire rest of our lives trying to recreate this first imprint in some way or another.
Because I am adopted, I didn't know anything about my own birth until a little over 5 years ago. Then I found out that my biological mother had to push a long time with me and I just wouldn't be born. Then I decided to come and came all in one fell swoop, so quickly that the doctor almost didn't catch me. Now, ask anyone who knows me well and you'll find out I'm eternally late, and I am incapable of making a quiet entrance. I always arrive with a gust of energy surrounding me. Likewise, I go through life in much the same way. I procrastinate to the point of it being scary, then at the last minute, I frenzy it done.
Some things about birth simply cannot be changed. Some babies will make whatever entrance they are going to make, we cannot control that in any way (nor should we want to). But why on earth do we feel the need to control so much about welcoming a tiny soul into our lives? When did birth become so unnatural that we feel the need to rush into the gloved hands of the doctor and the monotonous sound of the machines that go beep at the first sign of a contraction? (For my earthy birthy women, that's rhetorical...I know the answer.)
Here are some things I wish EVERY woman knew about birth. Whether she's having a baby or will never have a baby. Birth comes with the innate quality of the feminine, and I am of the belief that anyone who possess the feminine should take a responsibility for birth.
1. Almost EVERY woman is capable of having their baby 100% without intervention. Now I don't mean 3 our of every 4 women here, I'm talking about more than 9 out of every 10. More than 90 - 95% of women, if left alone in labor, require absolutely no outside intervention.
2. Most of the time when you hear (or say as the case may be), "Well if i hadn't been at the hospital, me or my baby would have died" it isn't true. More often than not, when an intervention is required in a birth, it is in response to another intervention that has been used. For example, a baby's heart rate plummets and fails to recover during a contraction and mom is rushed in for an "emergency" cesarean. Good thing the good ole' doctor was there...right? We won't mention that the mother had been given pitocin, had her water broken, and was confined to bed for nine hours before this happened. Oh, and she had an epidural.
3. Having a natural birth has absolutely nothing in the world to do with your ability or inability to tolerate pain. Birth is a different kind of "pain". It has a distinct purpose and is not constant. The powers that be were smart enough to design it that way because the dura mater of the spinal cord wasn't created as a pin cushion.
4. If you have been so unlucky to have experienced a birth in which your epidural did not take or didn't work completely, let me first say I am so very sorry for you. That is not intended with any hint of sarcasm either. But please, please do not think what you experienced is anything comparable to a birth where no medications have been used. You have experienced far worse. Let me explain why. In a natural labor your body creates endorphines which act as natural pain relievers. These wonderful little substances increase in production with each rise in the intensity of labor. The harder and faster the contractions, the more endorphines you get. But the minute outside pain relievers of any kind enter your body, endorphine production halts. So any pain your feel from that point on is magnified. Again, I'm so very sorry for you.
5. In a natural birth everything works perfectly. It takes a very important and very delicate coctail of hormones for birth and bonding to happen exactly as it was designed. Here's my favorite instance of that: immediately following birth mom's body releases HUGE amounts of oxytocin (the love hormone) and even greater amounts once she begins breastfeeding. This hormone induces a state of euphoria. I promise no drug in the world feels better than this hormone. At the exact same time, baby's body releases catecholomines (stress hormones). The end effect of this hormone coctail is a baby who needs and wants its mother desperately and a mother who is completely in love with her infant and has eyes for no other human being on Earth. How amazingly simple and yet beautiful at the same time.
6. Here's a few things that make contractions tolerable: moving around in labor, education in pregnancy, relaxation and calm in labor, knowing and remembering that you have HIRED your birth attendants (doctor, nurse, midwife, doula) and YOU are the one in control, low interference from outside sources (procedures, hands, lights, noises), belief in your body and ability by everyone around you (including the professionals). Remember, that's only a few.
7. You have complete right, protected under law, to refuse any and all procedures for you and your baby.
8. Don't automatically assume your birth professional is recommending an intervention or procedure because they truly believe it to be best. Sometimes it is simply the way they were trained and they are not comfortable stepping outside their comfort zone. A great example of this is inducing women before 40 weeks pregnancy. Doctors and midwives alike have made this a terrible practice, and I'd be willing to put money down that most of them have never experienced a postdates pregnancy. They were trained that something terrible happens after 40 weeks and therefore baby MUST come out before. With that, on to 9.
9. Due dates are anybody's best guess, EVEN with ultrasound. Babies decide when to initiate labor, that is their job. There isn't a switch in there that goes off at 40 weeks of pregnancy and all of a sudden everything stops working. Nutritionally sound mothers can continue to be pregnant for as long as necessary, until baby decides it's time. No baby ever stayed in forever.
10. Nutrition is hands down the most important part of pregnancy AND birth. Be realistic and be honest about what you're putting into your body. Protein is super important, it is the foundation of a healthy, well-formed, and well-attached placenta. So eat lots, as in 70-100 grams daily. Eat salt, but not table salt. Use sea salt or kosher salt and eat it daily in your food to your taste. Consume enough water, 64 oz. daily is minimal. The optimal amount is 1/2 of your body weight in ounces. (Ex.: a 165 lb woman needs roughly 82 oz. a day). And spread your water out through the day. Otherwise you will simply pee out what you're taking in. Include a good serving of leafy green veggies daily. Eat a salad if nothing else. The last thing is eat a colorful variety of fruits and veggies: blue, orange, red, yellow.
Now I don't expect this to convince everyone to have a natural birth. Life just doesn't work that way, no matter how capable I completely believe and know each woman to be. These are just things I wish I could make into a pamphlet and distribute to women the world over. Honestly, there's so much more, but you guys would be reading for days.
Also, women who choose to have a medicated birth need some tips too. Labor at home for as long as possible. Remember that saying yes to one intervention doesn't have to mean saying yes to all of them. Demand you hold your baby immediately. Everything they have to do right after birth can be done with you holding the baby. Send your partner with your baby for all nursery time, tests, or procedures. Most importantly, don't use the absense of pain as a excuse to not participate in labor. Remember you have a baby in your body making the most important journey possible, his or her entrance into the world. Likewise, you are experiencing one of the three times in your life as a woman that literally changes who you are. After birth your chemical makeup is never the same. So, don't be a passenger in your birth even if you are numb from the waist down. Find ways to be present and experience the experience.
We must protect birth. Because we live how we are born. Because peace on birth begins with birth. Because babies are incapable of protecting themselves. Because it's time we took our power back. Because birth is the most powerful healer in our realm. Because She-Ra woman power really does exist. But mostly...
Because birth is sacred...
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