NaturalChildbirth.org

[Alison]

"Privacy is as essential to birth as it is to sex."

— Laura Shanley

Sometimes labor doesn't follow the textbook discription. What's up when that happens?

Physical reasons:
There may be a physical reason that labor isn't moving as quickly as expected. Some women just labor more slowly than others. For instance, I tend to have labors that go very, very quickly. My sister, who is roughly the same height, weight, etc. as me, had a 31.5 hour labor. The different make up of women's bodies, chemistry, and alignment can be responsible for the difference in speed of labor. No matter where you find yourself on the quick/slow labor continum, there's no problem letting labor go at it's natural pace for you. Your body knows how quickly or slowly it needs to go to birth your baby.

I had a doula client a couple of years ago who was extremely committed to laboring naturally. The nurses kept looking at the monitor, and commenting that the contractions just weren't strong enough and "You're never gonna have a baby THAT way." She still refused pitocin. Sure enough, without her contractions EVER becoming what the staff thought
they'd have to be, she birthed her baby under her own power and on her own terms.

Consider:
When is the last time you ate? You need nourishment to have good contractions.
When did you last have water/juice/sport drink? Oral hydration is far more effective than IV fluid
When did you last sleep?
How long were your mother's/aunt's/grandmothers'/ sister's labors?Genetics play a role.
Are you moving around, walking, standing, leaning, climbing stairs, stomping, rocking, dancing, lunge, kneeling, to help
bring the baby down?
You may consider the following to speed birth:
Nipple stimulation with your or your partner's hands, breast pump, or foreplay
Foreplay/masterbation itself (if you don't feel okay doing this in your birth place, you may feel inhibited about birthing there, too.)
Herbs such as black and blue cohosh, red raspberry leaf, etc. (talk to a qualified herbalist!)
After 5 cm of dilation, a warm bath or shower
Acupressure or acupuncture



Psychological reasons:
There may also be a psychological reason for the speed of labor. Anybody who's ever tried to watch an animal birth can attest to the fact that when the mother is being watched, her labor slows or stops. During my labor with one of my children, I experienced this phenomenon. I'd start good, strong contractions, but as soon as my midwives--whom I
love dearly!-- would show up, my labor stopped dead cold. I'd go from 5 minutes apart to 8, 10, 15 minutes, and then they'd disappear altogether.

Being moved or disturbed can often be enough to slow or stop labor altogether. Labor is a lot like sex. To be able to complete it, a woman needs privacy, she needs to feel safe, and she needs to believe that she CAN complete it. The environment that is necessary for love-making is the same atmosphere necessary for birthing. People walking in and out,
lights being switched on quickly, loud talking, and checking to be sure that she is "progressing" are all things that would probably stop the progression of sex, and can have the same effect on labor. Imagine lying on a bed and having a nurse walk in and check on the progress of an orgasm, telling you if you don't have it by a certain time, you're going to have to have surgery. How successful would you be?

To finish my story about my labor stopping, finally after a certain point, my body kicked into high gear, and I gave birth to that baby before I could be interrupted again.

Consider:
Do you feel truly safe with your choice of birth place? You have to be where you feel safe!
Do you truly trust your care providers to give you good information and not push an agenda on you?
Do you feel safe trusting your support people? Do they support you and your desires or are they truly afraid of birth?
Do you have a history of abuse and the sights and sounds of birth cause you to re-live that abuse?
Do you have a history of loss and are afraid of re-living that experience, literally or emotionally?
Do you feel safe in your relationship with your significant other?
Do you harbor fears about birth that may have been handed down to you from family or friends? Hearing your whole life how your
mother nearly died having you might color your thinking about birth! (I know this one well!) Hearing your friends say,
"Sure I'd like another baby but I can't do THAT again!" might influence your feelings.

If you have emotional issues with labor/birth/parenting, make your peace with them before labor starts and save yourself that trouble.

One anecdote to close:
In Ina May Gaskin's book, Spiritual Midwifery, she tells of a woman who labored far longer than anyone expected. Finally, after a long time, Ina May asked her if something was bothering her. The mother seemed to feel a bit sheepish, but said that when she and her husband had married, in an effort to not mention death at their wedding, had not included the part of the vows "until death do us part." She felt unsure that her husband was going to stay with her always and forever, and she was concerned about bringing this baby into the world not knowing if her husband was going to stick around. They brought in the religious leader for their group who renewed their vows, including the phrase "so long as we both shall live." Shortly thereafter, her labor accelerated and she was soon holding her baby in her arms.

Mental issues can provide a physical blockade to birth. Do the best work you can do to clear the emotional field--prayer, meditation, journaling, counseling, classes in "Birthing From Within" or "hypnobirthing"-- and trust the process that's sustained us for
millenia past.
_________________
"The truth shall set you free, but first it will make you mad."

"And the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom"