Preparing to Push

Most of my close friends have had babies recently, and it always amazes me to watch the pregnancy process. It’s fascinating the way a baby grows from a tiny cluster of cells into a fully functional, miniature human being with organs and hair and finger nails…. all while living in a fluid filled sack inside its mother. (It sounds a little science fiction, doesn’t it?) Our bodies are so cool!

Pregnancy and childbirth are natural functions that our bodies are designed to do when everything is working properly. You may have noticed, however, that many women have a very difficult pregnancy full of aches and pains, high blood pressure, and swelling and a labor/delivery where interventions (induction, cesarean section, etc) were necessary. In our modern society, we don’t use our bodies naturally on a daily basis. We tend to spend large chunks of time sitting and wearing high heels. We suck in our stomach to look thinner or tuck our pelvis under to make our butt look smaller. These things all cause muscle tension, which interferes with our bodies’ ability to perform natural functions. There are many factors that affect the health of mom and baby during pregnancy and child birth. Some of these we have no control over, but mechanical factors are completely within our control and easy to change once we understand how!

So who wants to learn how?