Tag Archive for: pregnancy

Reason #1 The Due Date is Crap

Does anybody even know how due dates are come up with? (and I love how the mac keeps wanting to auto correct to DUDE DATE ahahahha) Lets Review: According to Wikipedia (and personal knowledge corroborates this)

The rule estimates the expected date of delivery (EDD) by adding one year, subtracting three months, and adding seven days to the first day of a woman’s last menstrual period (LMP). The result is approximately 280 days (40 weeks) from the start of the last menstrual period. Another method is by adding 9 months and 7 days to the first day of the last menstrual period.

And then look around at you Target or something and see if all the people with a uterus standing around you are wearing the same shoe size. Hmm, no. But they all are (probably) wearing shoes. Same sitch for due dates, all typically within the range of 37 -42 weeks, but its not like boom, have a box of contractions on your due date. Not even close.

blue present with Bow

Box of contractions for a magically short and awesome labor!

All pregnancies come to full term at times, and it can vary from pregnancy to pregnancy for the same person.  And I’m not even falling for the “Well, my mother did this, so I’ll probably do xyz.”

Preggers please, my mother birthed at an Army hospital in El Paso in the 70’s, I’m fairly certain that nothing flows the same. 

So its super important to realize that you are not broken, defective, or otherwise forked up if you aren’t in labor and sail way past your due date. Cause guess what? That can stop a labor, the anxiety and feelings of “I cant even go into labor right,” will keep the labor train form leaving the station. Need help getting people off your dress? Give ’em the bird. ‘Cause most people outside of birth workers have zero idea about the entire process. Make sure and tag your bird pic with #LaborWhispering so me and the Secret Society of Labor Whisperers can hard core troll the peeps giving you the Vag TV. xoxoxo my loves, Rowan Ps Local gal Cole gets all up in your dates right here.

Labor Whispering, How to Go About It

Labor Whispering is persuasive, not a choke hold. And thats what I see or hear most times, ” I just want to meet my baby, I’m impatient.” Let me clue you in here sister (or brother,) throwing your best tricks to early in the game gets you a tired crabby uterus and a crabby tired pregnant person.

um, calm down?

um, calm down?

Walk because its good for ya, dance cause its joy inducing and helps promote fetal positioning, but eating ALL THE FOODS and doing ALL THE MOVES and ALLL THE TRICKS and ALL THE SUPPLEMENTS and ALL THE ALL THE ALL THE will just exhaust you and largely render them ineffective for when the appropriate time would be for a little coaxing. WHAT DO WE WANT?!! A BABY!!! WHEN DO WE WANT IT?!! NOW!!! So instead, a better approach is to go through the Labor Whispering 4 steps, or rather review the four reasons people don’t go into labor, and see what you can do proactively to get body and mind and community ready. Approach it from a a peaceful and chill heart. Cause doing everything you can since 37 weeks makes you and everyone around you bananas, and many times when baby comes at 41 plus weeks you are exhausted and emotionally strung out, and thats BEFORE the intensity of the newborn time. Guess what thats a setup for? Post Partum depression. And that for sure affects bonding  and the foundation of your family. That shiz is no joke. So my love, calm down, settle your pants, practice your deep breathing, walking, yoga, Dancing for Birth, and Spinning Babies. Review the  reasons labor does not start, and work through the blocks, set the boundaries, stop the vag tv. All of it. A watched pot never boils, even when you are banging the crud out of it with a spatula.

Sierra Looking Down

Relaaaaaaaax.

I believe in you, Rowan

How to Improve Your Odds for a Successful VBAC

Well poop. For whatever reason your previous birth ended up in a surgical birth, otherwise known as a C section. And that may or may not have sucked for you. Some people are wrecked, and some are like “Whateves, I’m good.”  For those of you taking it in stride, you gotta start massaging your scar, like ASAP, before you get pregnant. LOOK,  I found a video for you, and that would be one I did BEFORE I took Share Ross’s Rockstar Video course. so its less, um, polished, but the general gist of what can happen if you don’t work on your scars is covered. And by work I  mean just “Get all up in there,” to quote one my client Angela. And get all up in there gently, like I demo~ed in this (low volume) video using silly putty. For those still reeling and processing, you might need more support. There might be more to it than searching around for a youtube video on scar work. Sometimes healing is a rougher road, a labyrinth, which I think is eloquently described in this post.  Healing is intense and winding, but its important work my loves. Let’s really think about this through, its crazy important to do whatever you can to increase the odds for a successful VBAC.  Local Houston doctor Christina Davidson was asked what’s the biggest downfall  of VBACS, and she said ADHESIONS. That’s right loves, scar tissue and connective tissue thats gotten bananas. That scar tissue can pull your uterus out of allignment, and tuck it to your bladder, or stick it to something (like an organ) so that it isn’t allowed to perform its function. Go outside and step on the hose, and now turn the water on. That would be a uterus with adhesions. Decreased capacity for getting the job done.

Try and do your job now you contorted and adhered uterus!

Try and do your job now you contorted and adhered uterus!

Massage can loosen them up, so there is less crimping, more flow. And for sure much adhesions get remediated by the subsequent pregnant belly, but for reals maybe some proactive massage might 1) not give you the ripping adhesion sensation during pregnancy and 2) prevent or clear some of that up before baby is on board. So to clarify, more massage and scar reduction now equals less pain and tenderness in pregnancy, and increases odds for a successful VBAC. So what to do if you aren’t feeling all good about a DIY? I created this incredibly tender hearted step by step scar reduction course. Its hosted on Udemy for now, and soon to be moved over to here. I’d love it if you gave it a try. Remember, IMO the first step to a VBAC is scar massage. Ready to give it a go? Got a question for me? Leave a comment and I’ll tell you want I think. xoxoxo, Rowan ps thank you to my foot model Sam!