Tag Archive for: spinning babies

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.

Reason #3 Its Physical

Lets get Physical!

Meggan with a be

Belly Map Belly Art by Gail Tully, creator of Spinning Babies.

Fetal Positioning~ Here is the deal, optimal fetal positioning is an actual physical thing, and not a bunch of horse hockey. (You like that? It’s cause I’m trying not to cuss.) Anywhoo, sitting, driving, computering etc all contribute to stiff and underutilized muscles, and in general keep our bodies not especially labor ready. Some type of prenatal fitness is helpful, with of course WALKING being awesome, along with yoga or whatever else you were into prepregnancy. And don’t hate me when I say chasing a toddler doesn’t count.

  1. One thing that I’ve seen work super well is this daily deal from Spinning Babies,  seriously loves, if you had any idea how positively this would affect your labor it would be THE EVENT of the day, top of the self care list. A mal~positioned baby creates a funky labor pattern, most times within a hospital setting that is not luxury a laboring person gets. I especially love that their site has an entire section dedicated to if you are in LABOR RIGHT NOW the best ways to get labor unstalled. This is gold y’all.
  2. 2nd up is the Dancing for Birth peeps. This is some legit moooooves here, and I use these all the time. Think about the pelvis, the more fluid and asymmetrical the hip moves are, the more the baby has an opportunity to reposition and settle down. So instead of clenching up and working against the contraction, how about moving with the body? To see Dancing For Birth in action, check out Instructor and trainer Heather Gream  showing her moves here, about an hour before baby was born. Pretty sure Christina Aguilera would hop up and dance right with her!
  3. Lastly, if you are unsure if your belly and uterus could use more support booking a session with an Arvigo Therapy Maya Abdominal Massage practitioner is a great idea!
  4. Need more help? Schedule a session with a Labor Whisperer, either in person or virtually. Not sure who fits you best? Give a shout in our FB group, and we will do our best to fix you up.

xoxoxo Rowan brainstorming up my next way to support your labor!

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