You may or may not be aware that movement in labor is hugely beneficial. Perhaps it can be blamed on movies or the fact that there is an abundance of wheel chairs around the maternity wards, but 3 out of 5 women say they didn’t walk at all during labor. Movement from mama is what is going to help get the baby out; faster, easier, and safer.
As a baby drops down into the pelvis, he is gloved down onto the cervix with consistent contractions and then moves through the birth canal and past the perineum to be born. There is a lot of adjusting and conforming of the baby into the space given him. Sometimes babies, as they move down, get in less desirable positions, if that should happen, the baby might need a little nudge or shift to help keep things going. A mama can help the baby change position by changing positions herself. She should try walking around, slow dancing from side to side, or swirling her hips.
Do you remember that old toy that had a monkey suspended between two ropes and as you alternate pulling one rope then the other the monkey climbs upward?
A woman’s pelvis works much the same way in labor by helping the baby move down instead of up. I knew a care provider who, once her patients were fully dilated to 10cm, to help the baby drop down into the birth path, she would have the mama walk up and down the stairs because it mimicked this monkey movement and would help the baby squirrel his way down and usually shift the baby into the best position for birthing.
Studies have shown that movement in labor will shorten labor up to an hour or more and reduce the need for a cesarean by 30%.
This is one of the births I attended, this mama was already dilated to a 6 and having a full blown dance party.
Walking, rocking, swirling, dancing, standing, kneeling, lunging, etc. etc. all help. So get up ladies and get that body moving!
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With the main reason people develop hemorrhoids is from pressure in the bottom, it seems unlikely many women will experience pregnancy and birth unscathed.
