Archive for the ‘labor’ tag
Visualizing birth
Check out this cool animation showing an anatomical cross-section of birth. It can really be hard to visualize just how the baby works itself out of there (and why it takes so long and why it hurts so much etc etc lol). This, however, is a fabulous illustration!
How to do pregnancy belly mapping
Baby position can make a HUGE difference in how labor progresses. In fact, a lot of “false” or prodromal labor is the result of contractions working to move baby into the proper position for birth. A baby that won’t budge into the proper position is like a key misaligned with a lock’s mechanism – the baby is unlikely to emerge efficiently. Just like that key is unlikely to unlock the door.
I discovered this site today, Spinning Babies, that helps moms identify their own baby’s position and label it appropriately.
The site also has lots of posture tips for getting/keeping baby into a good position, as well as tips for adjusting baby into a more optimal position when it is less than ideal (the ideal fetal position is one of the OA positions – head down, baby’s back against mom’s tummy or on mom’s right or left side). When baby’s back is facing inward towards mom’s spine, labor can be very difficult and painful.
The technique for figuring out baby’s position is called Belly Mapping:
Too often, the posterior (sunny-side up) baby isn’t identified until labor is troubled. Mothers ask, sometimes after the cesarean for a long, OP labor, “Why didn’t anybody know? Can’t the nurse or doctor tell when doing an exam?” Medical studies compare ultrasound imagining with vaginal exams by nurses and doctors. Trying to feel with the fingers which way a baby’s head was directed was not possible 60% of the time in the first stage of labor and 30% of the time in the second stage. Fortunately, other clues exist.
Belly Mapping is a three-step process for identifying baby’s position in the final months of pregnancy. Parents can use Belly Mapping for their own enjoyment. Medical care givers can enhance their skills by using the visual clues of Belly Mapping. Doulas will be able to suggest strategies for fetal repositioning when a posterior lie is suspected.
Not that it matters too much for me at this particular stage of pregnancy – Baby Jake is small enough that he has plenty of room still to flip about to his heart’s content (and he does!). But soon he will get too big for that. I think positioning has been an issue in my past labors, so I’m keen to do whatever I can to help this babe sit [on his head] properly. 
Now, for the past few days I’m pretty certain he’s been breech. Lots of hard, uncomfortable kicks to my bladder/cervix. Sometimes he does it with such authority that I nearly jump out of my own skin! Just when that gets frustrating, though, he flips around. Scott and the kids are far more likely to feel his movements when his head is down and the kicks are landing on the top part of my belly. 
Anyway, the pure physics of birth is really quite fascinating. Midwives get it. Unfortunately, it’s taking much longer to filter into the medical mainstream (where most women still labor and birth in positions that work AGAINST gravity and their body’s anatomy). In any case, Spinning Babies does a really good job diagramming and explaining how baby’s position is so critical.
Pregnancy progress: A labor affirmation
I just read a wonderful birth story and the mama voiced an affirmation I want to remember:
The contractions in labor cannot be stronger than me, because they ARE me.
Also, I got a call from an area doula today – she's affiliated with my backup OB. She was just letting me know that she's a resource for me and where I can find her. She told me about an upcoming childbirth class she's offering and I asked which method she taught.
Of course, she knew nothing about me at this point except my due date, so she described it as natural birth-oriented, but open-minded discussion about epidurals blah de blah. I asked her if she could point me in the direction of a Birthing From Within instructor and then she tells me that's actually the method she teaches. 
She did say, however, that her classes are more or less crunchy depending on the makeup of any given class. She offers private sessions, though, and I'm mulling over the idea of a couple private sessions with her. I'm really not all that interested in a class for this, unless the makeup is 100% natural birth-oriented. Been there, done that – THREE times. She also does hypnotherapy and – after hearing a little about my history – suggested I might benefit from that to work through some issues.
Anyway, I have her number. I'm glad she called – great timing!
Pregnancy progress: Thinking about labor
Oh, labor. I don't fear you, but I surely do dread you.
We had a midwife appointment last night – those are always enjoyable! I like to hear the exclamations about how well baby is growing and how healthy everything seems to be <knock wood>.
We talked a bit about birth expectations and my past labors.
:: HM's birth story (May 1997)
:: Mir's birth story (March 2000)
My past labors were long – both of them 17 hours of active labor, which had been preceded by weeks and weeks of ever intensifying prodromal labor and a couple false alarms. In talking through some of this last night I think I figured out where I went wrong in the past. When I think about those past labors, I remember that with HM (a hospital VBAC) I spent a lot of that laboring time in bed, exhausted. Certainly I didn't have any help there from gravity.
With the Stadol and a lot of gutteral moaning I was able to get through transition without an epidural. At 11:00 am, I was at nearly 10 cm and had been for over an hour. The doctor suggested amniotomy then to get me fully dilated and hopefully increase the frequency of my contractions (only 3-5 min. apart throughout transition, but VERY long and intense) without pitocin. I complied, but unfortunately this made no impact on the effectiveness of the contractions. What it DID do, I didn't even know could happen! I heard the nurse say uh-oh as she examined my cervix after the AROM and then she said, "you have 'go-back;' you're back at 7 cm." Those were the most devastating words I could possibly have heard. She felt so sorry for me. She said that the baby was so low that she knew that intensified the pain and she couldn't believe how strong and stoic I was for doing this without an epidural. I didn't feel very strong; I felt trapped. Believe me, I was not grace personified.
I howled, "NOOOO!" At this point I'd had less than four hours sleep in the past 72 hours, had labored all the way through with minimal pain relief and now was being told I had to transition AGAIN??!! I was at the end of my rope both physically and mentally. The nurse told me I should be back at 10 cm in less than an hour, so I gritted my teeth, determined not to give up (as if I had a choice). At this point, an epidural wouldn't even have time to work, so I asked for more Stadol, received a 1/2 dose that did NOTHING to relieve the pain and ground my way through THREE MORE HOURS. It was ugly. [THANK GOD I had a doula!!! (What is a doula?)]
With Mir, I was at home and did more sitting and pacing. But ultimately to get labor TRULY going and make any progress with cervical dilation, I had to be VERY active walking between contractions and squatting as much as I could during the contractions.
Man, that sucked. I mean, it SUCKED. (But it worked...)
Then, in the middle of the next contraction, I felt that wonderful, amazing pushing urge. The midwives all jumped into action, pulling on gloves and making final preparations. I looked at them kind of disbelievingly… it didn't seem to me that there was any need to rush. I still felt somewhat hopeless about whether this baby was going to come out or not. Looking back, I'm amazed at the bad attitude I had for most of my labor. After having such a long labor with HM, I thought I had paid my dues in that regard. I was not at all happy to be enduring the same thing all over again. I realize now that I had not prepared myself for this contingency at all. I guess I really expected an easier time this time and when I didn't, it put me in a pretty bad mood.
My tendency in labor is to retreat and cope with the pain in my own private way – even before the pain is truly transition-level overwhelming.
That's not necessarily a bad response for many women. But my issue seems to be putzy labors. They're doing lots of work to get baby into the proper position for birth, but in the meantime it takes a HUGE toll on me – wearing me out, draining my energy. I think I don't do myself any favors by being "lazy" during labor and that I need to prepare myself to handle the situation differently this time.
This time, I need to be more active. Walking, squatting, sitting on a birth ball – doing everything I can to facilitate this process by increasing the rate of contractions and simultaneously opening up my pelvis. It's not fair that it should be this way. That I have to WORK to make myself hurt MORE? But I've learned my lesson. I would rather actively help myself have a faster, more efficient labor than passively accept what is doled out to me, wondering <sobbing> "Is this ever going to end?!?!"
So, I confided all this to our midwives at the appointment last night and they, of course, agreed (it's kind of a duh – I should have known better with my last labor).
It's funny because I told them I am going to be PISSED if I do all that work and it all makes no nevermind. And our backup midwife laughed and said, "Yeah, I would never walk again!"
She made me laugh.
Anyway, I have a plan. Now I need to start preparing for it.
Mom to 4 kids and 2 stepkids, I am a writer writing in the heart of chaos. I am the co-founder and former editor of 
