If you would like to have a natural birth without intervention there are some things you can do to help increase your chances of this occurring. One of these things appears to be regular chiropractic adjustments throughout your pregnancy.
Research by Dr Heidi Haavik showed that:
Pregnant women who received chiropractic care had a greater ability to relax their pelvic floor muscles.
Don't you want the birth process to be as easy as possible?
A report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Australia’s Mothers and Babies in 2013 stated that 33% of women giving birth in 2013 did so via a caesarean, compared with 25.4% in 2001. This contrasts with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendations that the caesarean section rate should not be higher than 10% to 15% (2015). The WHO states that this is because a rate higher than 10% is not associated with any improvement in infant mortality rates and the risks of long and short term complications following surgery are high.
If you are interested in seeing if Chiropractic adjustments may help better prepare you for a natural birth, give us a call now.
1. Prepare your mind. Know your why and make it big. Be prepared to trust in your body and your baby. An unconscious person can give birth naturally without intervention. Your job is to allow the natural pain response to shut down the reasoning part of your brain and your innate brain to take over. You were born to give birth. Learn relaxation techniques to help you bypass any reasoning and fear related brain patterns that may kick in.
2. Prepare your body. The more fit and healthy you are prior to the birth the more stamina you are likely to have if the labour draws out. Core strengthening, yoga, stretching and walking are all fantastic ways to keep your body supple and strong. Eat plenty of fresh healthy vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds taking particular care to include plenty of high quality oils for the babies brain. This also keeps your tissues more supple and elastic which is likely to improve the birth process as well as your recovery. Making sure you have enough magnesium in your diet is also important to allow for optimal relaxation of muscles. This is also important as a deficiency in magnesium makes you much more sensitive to pain.
3. Have great support. Make sure the people you will have around you during the birth understand your wishes. It is also important that they believe in your strength and will not fall apart out of love or fear when they see you in pain. Pain is a natural part of child birth that actually plays a role in and of itself in a natural birth by way of its effects on the brain and hormones you produce.
4. Be prepared. Some times things do not go according to plan. Plan for the unexpected by using this fantastic acronym from child birthing educator and counsellor and big time natural birthing proponent Rhea Dempsey. BRAIND What are the Benefits (of this being done?) What are the Risks (of this being done?) Are there Alternatives (to this being done?) What is my Intuition saying? Does it need to be done Now? Can I have 10 minutes to make a Decision? Chances are, if they give you 10 minutes, its not that urgent.
(Check out her website - she is based in Melbourne but well worth looking up, particularly if you would like a support person with heaps of experience. http://www.birthingwisdom.com.au/ )
5. Get adjusted! Even looking at an x-ray of a misaligned pelvis you can see how much it changes the shape of the birth canal. This is likely to impact the smooth passage of your baby. As mentioned above, research shows that being adjusted affects the ability of a pregnant person's pelvic floor to relax. In case it isn't obvious - more relaxed pelvic floor muscles are likely to help with optimal and even dilation, optimal opening for the baby and also less tearing for the mother. Many people consider sciatica, lower back pain, headaches, leg pain and even swelling to be just "normal because I'm pregnant". This is not the case and many of these issues may be reduced or rectified by chiropractic adjustments. Pregnancy is not a disease, it is a normal part of the lifecycle of women. Why suffer through it when there may be a chance you can be comfortable and possibly even enjoy it at the same time you are helping to prepare yourself even better for a natural birth in the long run.