Empowering Your Birth - How movement avoided a C-Section!

If you can’t move the baby, move the mom. 

Kimberly Oen, Birth and Postpartum Doula

This is a mantra I have lived by since I started supporting mothers as a birth doula over six years ago.

Once in a while, my clients have really great L & D nurses that understand this concept.  And this makes my job just a tad easier.  But unfortunately, the greater part of the time, it is a battle between what I see my client needs and the doctor who just wants to get the baby out, no matter the trauma to mothers’ body or spirit.

Many mothers want a natural physiological birth. 

But intervention after intervention “the hospital way”, creates a cascade of issues along with fear, tension and pain in the mother.

Yes, birth is a natural process.  Women are built to birth.  But just like a marathon, you need to prepare.  You need to know what is happening in the body, so that fear is not in the birth room.  Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.  But it is also Failure To Progress in a hospital setting due to FEAR = TENSION = PAIN.  Failure to progress eventually results in a Cesarean section.

If you don’t know that the uterus contraction is just a muscle trying to do its job – you fight against it, which causes tension, which causes pain. 

Women put more thought and money into planning a wedding than planning a baby!

Want to avoid a C-section?  Hire a doula that understands physiological birth. And offers you evidenced based information so YOU can make the choices that are best for your body, your baby and your family.

At a recent birth, babies heart rate kept decelerating with each contraction.  Momma’s movement was restricted due to an epidural which numbed her from the waist down.  The doctor gave her ultimatum.  She would return in 30 minutes at which time if baby continued to struggle, she recommended a C-section.  This was at 2:30 pm.

My strong, brave momma looked at me and said, “I do not want a C-section.  What can we do?”

Note for parents: Take everything into consideration that your care provider suggests, then use your BRAINS – Ask:

What are the Benefits

What are the Risks

What are the Alternatives

What does YOUR Intuition tell you

What if we do Nothing

Give us Space to discuss it

My first thought was if we can’t move the baby, move the mom.

But mom was restricted to the bed due to the epidural.  So, we elevated the head of the bed, flipped mom over onto her hands and knees (which was AMAZING since her legs were numbed – but she was determined and she dug deep), I crawled on the bed behind her kneeling between her legs, used my rebozo and for almost an hour I shook the apple tree!  This is a technique which jiggles moms’ bottom to activate the stretch sensors of the pelvic muscles to create room for baby to move.  Our theory was that the cord was tied around his neck or around his thigh and each contraction was “squeezing” him and lowering his heart rate.

Shake the apple tree - Spinning babies technique

Then dad took over when I could no longer feel my feet! Then the sister.  For 2 hours we shook her apples at every contraction!  And baby LOVED it!  His heart rate stayed steady and even increased slightly with every contraction! And mom found it relaxing. 

And the doctors left us alone.

When we were finished I saw her red and raw knees, and I soothed them with lavender oil.  She was so focused and intense that she did not even notice the pain.

And then mom rested for an hour and ½ later until she was complete and baby arrived . . . with the cord wrapped lightly around his neck.

And boy was he mad!  He talked about that journey for a good 20 minutes and the only thing that would calm him was his momma lightly jiggling him on her chest.  And then he breastfed.  It was so powerful and so inspiring! And it could have turned out so different.  But it didn’t.  Because we moved the mom, to move the baby! ❤️