Birth is just like going for a poo!
How to make birth easier
‘I’ve been suffering with awful constipation..’ ‘oh, you know what will help? Lie down on your back and I’ll watch and shout at you a bit until you’ve finished..’ said nobody. Ever.
I was teaching this weekend and we just KEPT coming back to the parallels between birth and pooing! (Okay, you’re probably going to love what comes out quite a bit more when it’s a baby but there’s a lot to take from the analogy I promise!).
Birth is just like going for a poo
Picture this, if you will, it’s been a day, maybe two, since you last went for a poo, and suddenly you feel the urge! (Don’t cringe, it’s pregnancy, we’ve all been there 🤣) What exactly is going to make this experience easier for you? Where do you picture yourself? In what position? Who’s with you? How do you feel?
The perfect environment for a positive birth
You’re probably picturing yourself somewhere private, probably enclosed, there’s probably no one else in the room, so you’re feeling uninhibited- if you need to pull a face or make a noise, you don’t mind, because no one else will know! You’re seated or squatting- you’ve got gravity on your side, maybe you have a little wriggle, change position slightly, just to make it a little easier.. you don’t question it, you just do what feels helpful in the moment..
How not to give birth
Imagine instead I asked you to lay on your back in a bed whilst I watched and told you exactly what you needed to do. Try for your poo now. Easier? Harder? You think I’m totally mental don’t you. 🤣 I promise I’ll never ask you to do this 🤣 but question for a minute then, what birth looks like on the tv.. why are women always on their backs? It doesn’t make sense physically.. why are women always in bright rooms surrounded by people? It doesn’t make sense hormonally!.. why are we taught that anyone else can understand what’s going on in our bodies better than US? The person FEELING it? It doesn’t make sense physiologically!
So just for a moment, think about birth as if you were doing a poo! It could change everything!