After reading Ina May's book, Birth Matters, I found that this was a theme throughout. Sphincter Law, as she calls it, is the idea that we have openings into and out of our body. Two of those of course are the birth canal and the anus. Birthing and pushing out your baby is very much like pooping-- as you use the same muscles to birth your baby. It helps to be able to relax and open your perineal area while you are bearing down (doing an anti-kegel of sorts), which decreases your risk of tearing. It is important to be comfortable with your environment, and care team, and your partner, in order to be effective. When you get to this pushing stage, you will have your partner and your doula right at your side-- whispering to you through the whole time, "You can do this. You ARE doing this. You are incredibly strong." And they will tell you this, because you are.
Women ALL over the world do this, every single day. And you can do it too. You WILL do it. You can become aware of how comfortable you are with this now, by thinging about how comfortable you are using the different sphincter muscles with the presence of your partner. Granted, it seems strange to have a goal of doing this in most circumstances, but it is important that you can feel comfortable with it, in some sense, so that when your birthing time approaches, you will be okay with opening yourself to the process. This helps your oxytocin, or labor progressing hormones, continue to come. And THIS will help your baby to come.
Another thing that can greatly help you to relax during pushing is practicing perineal massage with your partner in the weeks leading up to the birth. For another blog post....
For your reading enjoyment:
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