This is my first in series of posts about childbirth education methods. This is my favourite since it is teach yourself and common sense. Both of which I am a big fan of.
If you’re pregnant, then you will give birth. Take a moment to think about your own life: your beliefs, religion, available choices for childbirth, health issues, what you’ve been taught about childbirth from your mother or father, your previous birth experiences and what you want for this birth. Then take a moment to look around you at your neighbours, work colleagues, or other women you pass on the street. What do you share in common with ALL these other women?
Can you blink or cough? Can ALL those other women do the same? Of course! That’s what we have in common…our human body. Using that ‘of course’ as a basis of thinking, know that there is a way for any woman to prepare for childbirth that teaches us about our birthing body. It’s such common knowledge that you’ll wonder way you didn’t know it before. That’s why Common Knowledge Trust has produced The Pink Kit Method for birthing better™ resources.
Have a think about your choices about childbirth. The assessments, monitoring and procedures your birth professional is speaking with you about, your concerns about ‘pain’, possible pain relief options and even possibly having a non-labouring birth. Take a moment to think about any health issues that might affect your birth choices and think about your Birth Plan.
Even when you write a birth plan, they very rarely go exactly according to plan. When you learn the skills in The Pink Kit, you can take those skills with you into whatever birth you find yourself having. Regardless of where or with whom you will birth or whatever is happening to you or around you. Even if you find yourself having a non-labouring caesarean then you can use these resources to prepare for the birth of your child anyway , thus giving you a deep sense of connection to the process of childbirth.
If you are going to labour and give birth, you can learn how to use your body’s natural responses to help. You’ll still have to breathe, so why not learn the Directed Breathing to help you breathe through intense contractions. You’ll still either be sitting, lying, standing or walking, so why not learn how to relax your pelvic muscles to give baby plenty of room to do what needs to be done. Use ‘ The Pelvic Clock ‘ as a focus to keep relaxed inside and learn how to Map Your Pelvis so you can find the positions that really keep you open, even if you have to stay in bed… or even if you choose to stay in bed.
Consider your partner. Men and women are very different but they still have a human body. Using The Pink Kit Method for birthing better™, your partner can experience the same awareness of his body as you do in preparing for birth. This helps fathers become the exceptional coaches at birth, you want them to be. At it’s simplest, birth is moving an object (baby) through a tube (pelvis), opening a diaphragm (cervix) and opening an aperture (vagina). You are the container and you can use your mind to prepare those areas, keep them relaxed and mentally accept the sensations by using these skills; then your baby will come out of your body into your arms more easily. Fathers love this kind of information. It’s practical mechanics and it works.
Have a bit of a think about labour. It’s like driving on an unknown journey. The journey is unknown, even if you’ve taken it before… this one will be different. However, if you’ve already learned to drive the car, the journey will be easier. The Pink Kit is your driving manual. You can learn how to drive your vehicle (your body) through this unknown journey. Your partner can help you throughout as he learns the skills to keep you focused, relaxed and able to meet the challenge of the experience. He can help you reduce back labour with The Sacral Manoeuvre or relax tension in your hips and create space for your baby with The Hip Lift. He can help you prepare your ‘aperture’ so that it opens easily and heals rapidly.
Many women who do a lot of the Internal Work, will tell you that they ‘didn’t feel like I had a baby’ several hours after birth. I can personally atest to this. I have been up and about less than hour after the birth of all three of my children, I know it is because I prepared my body for the birthing process, I wasn’t just lucky to avoid stitches and birth easily, I worked hard to give myself the best chance at doing so. My husband worked hard at understanding how help me do so. We managed a ‘natural’, drug free birth even though some interventions were necessary due to pre-eclampsia. It wasn’t luck as I was told by the attending midwife, it was preparation.
I will get around to posting my birth stories sometime soon, but I can tell you now that each one had bought its own challenges, some of them major, some not so major. Each one would have been a completely different experience if my husband and I went into it without the knowledge and skills we learnt in preparation for the big event. I love the Pink Kit method because it helps you to teach yourself about the process of birth and how to use your body to make it work for you, whatever birthing situation you may find yourself in.
