Ever wondered what you could do to make labour easier on yourself and your little one?
Times are changing for expectant mothers in Ireland with now having more information available to them via tv, internet and social media on natural birth. Education has improved and parents are more confident and willing to take an active roll in how their pregnancy and labour goes.
Gone are the days of simply lying on your back and purple pushing as they call it. Hypnobirthing has changed our preconceptions of labour and the associations with “purple pushing”, it and yoga also advocate active birth positions for mothers to ease the birth process. Women are finally stepping away from the tradition of lying on their backs on a hospital bed to have a natural birth.
We now know that when lying on your back to give birth the size of the pelvis is at its narrowest, due to the angle of the sacrum and tailbone. You lose the vital effect of gravity as now you will have to pass your baby over these structures and ultimately up hill.
Below are some Active Birthing Positions which can encourage the pelvic outlet to widen to at least 30% and with the aid of gravity help the descent of the baby through the birth canal. Therefore potentially making things easier.
Supported squat– using your birthing partner/ mid wife or bar as a prop can make you more comfortable during surges.
Kneeling– can be against a birthing ball or on the bed. It helps widen the pelvic outlet and can allow you to rest easier between surges.
Hands and knees – will also help relieve pressure on the low back and may help the baby reposition itself for delivery.
Sidelying– with one leg elevated or held by the birth partner allows the pressure of the baby to be redistributed within the pelvis and making things more manageable.
Birth pool– the effect of the warm water can lessen low back discomfort and can let the mother adopt the squatting or kneeling position much easier.
If you are due to have a little one please take the time to educate yourself in how you and your little one can have a smoother and more pleasurable experience. We hope this helps you in your journey to motherhood.
One of the most common complaints we hear from pregnant women is, pelvis pain. The reason? In short, increased maternal hormones and the growing belly can put more stress on the joints and ligaments of the pelvis. That doesn’t explain why some women get pain and others don’t. But there are some ways to help the situation and keep it from progressing. One of those is getting early checks, before it gets too bad, from someone who knows how to help fix the dysfunction. But how do you know that you need to get checked? Here are some obvious and maybe not so obvious signs of dysfunction in the pelvis during pregnancy.
1. Back, hip, or pelvis pain– PAIN, the most obvious sign that something is wrong. But the problem with it? It is usually the last sign of dysfunction!
2. Clicking or grinding in the pubic area– having this with or without pain is a sign that your symphysis pubis joint may be misaligned.
3. Round ligament tightness– feeling a pulling sensation at the front of the belly? Worse when walking or with rotational movements? That could be a sign that one or both of your round ligaments are too stressed. The round ligaments connect to and help support the uterus. In some cases when they start to tighten up, it can be an early warning for pelvis dysfunction.
4. Sitting or standing unevenly– do you sit more on one side of your bum than the other? Or stand more on one leg or the other, rather than on both? This is a subtle early indicator that your pelvis might be out of alignment, again with or without any other symptoms.
5. General feeling of discomfort or tightness in the pelvis– have a feeling that something is not quite right or maybe out of balance? Feeling some tightness when your walking around the pelvis area, but can’t figure out exactly where it is coming from? We know our own bodies better than anyone else, and most of the time if you feel like something is off, it probably is.
Our suggestion, if you are experiencing any of the above, and have a clear bill of health from your doctor, make an appointment to come see us for a thorough check and treatment. Prevention is always better than trying to fix something after it is broken!
