Birth Story Part 3 - Natural Methods

This is the final of my three part birth story series. Here I'm talking about all the natural methods we used in the lead up to and during my labour, to help the process along. See also the previous two posts in this series - Birth Story Part 1 - As It Happened and Birth Story Part 2 - A Natural Childbirth.

Part 3: Natural Methods

It should come as no surprise when I tell you that I'm a big believer in 'natural' methods - modern medicine takes very mechanical view of the body and holds little regard for the interconnections that exist or for the life force itself. My biggest fears during my pregnancy were not anything to to with the natural process of giving birth; rather, they were fears based around what might happen to me in a hospital situation when I was in a weakened and vulnerable state. But because I had these fears, Charles and I spent a lot of time considering what we wanted to achieve in the birth situation, and learning how we could help ourselves obtain that outcome. Part of that was learning what natural means we could employ for different situations that might come up during and in the lead up to the labour and birth. These are some of the things we used and found effective.

Raspberry Leaf Tea
My midwife suggested this to me at my last anti natal appointment at 38 weeks [I never made my 39 week appointment, I had a baby instead!]. So I hopped into the local health shop and got some straight away. Apparently it can be used during the latter half of the third trimester, and according to the label, it helps to 'tone' the uterus. I'm not sure exactly what that does. I drank a few cups some days, it tasted ok and was a nice change. Did it make baby come along when he did? I have no idea. I can't tell whether my uterus was any more toned or not either. I would say it didn't do me any harm.

Moxibustion
This is a method used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which we used extensively throughout my pregnancy, mainly around the sacral area to loosen up and release any blockages in that area [kinda important for that whole area to be loose and able to open up during childbirth]. From about 37.5 weeks, we used the moxa on a point on my little toes, which helps baby into a good birthing position, head down. Baby was most inclined to lie transverse across my belly, so we gave him a helping hand to get his head down. After the first time we tried this method, I felt him move the very next day into a lower head position. We did this every couple of days, no rocket science involved, just gut feel. And baby was in a great position for birth.

Acupressure
Also from the TCM school, we used acupressure points with fantastic results. Partly throughout my pregnancy, similar to the moxa, but most significantly as a form of pain management during labour. Charles used points on my backside, with a lot of pressure when contractions were strong, and I have to say, it was amazing. As in, if a contraction came and he wasn't there, I would be shouting for him to get there. On a scale of 1 to 5, for me, I would say these points took the intensity from a 5 out of 5, down to a 4 out of 5. That may not sound like much, but it went from being 'way too intense' to 'I can deal with this'. Another acupressure point Charles tried on me was on the soles of my feet, to help the labour along. At one point I became aware that he had my feet in his hands, and realising what he was up to, promptly told him to stop it [those contractions were hard enough without adding any extra intensity!]. Anyway on both counts, for me, acupressure worked brilliantly.

Clary Sage
This essential oil has a reputation for bringing on contractions/making labour more intense etc. In my experience, this was the case, and it was very effective. Charles first lit the oil burner with clary sage when I was about 3 hours into labour at home, and although I wasn't so much aware of what he was doing at the time, I was very much aware of the instant increase in the intensity of my contractions. Only then did I realise that the clary sage was being used. Again at the hospital, once I was in the bath, Charles lit the oil burner, and after a short time I had to ask him to put it out, such was the increase in intensity. Anyway it definitely got things going again after labour stalled a little bit with the hospital commotions. Don't use it unless you're prepared for the consequences! We also used lavender essential oil to help relax and calm.

Hypnobirthing
I'd heard a bit about hypnobirthing, but hadn't paid much attention, until I was a month or so out from my due date. Then I started googling, read up on it, and ended up buying a couple of hypnobirthing soundtracks. I listened to them most days [actually, I would lie down with the tracks playing, hear the first few minutes, then wake up some time later]. I have to say it worked for me, in terms of putting me in a good, positive head space for being in labour and giving birth. I played one of the tracks on repeat during the first couple of hours of labour [birthing affirmations] and found it wonderfully calming. Hypnobirthing helped me to be aware of what my body was doing, so I could accept it and help, rather than resist it [therefore making labour harder and longer]. And all without having to do anything much other than have a sleep most days!

Birthing Environment
My preference would have been to have a home birth, but for a number of reasons it just wasn't an option. Home is a very 'safe' environment, which is conducive to labour and birthing. Being in an unfamiliar environment, with unfamiliar faces, bright lights, loud noises, medical equipment everywhere and potential for cold were all things we wanted to avoid. We were lucky that the hospital we attended had only two midwives, both of whom were present for my labour, and no-one else entering the room. We double and triple checked that this would be the case during my anti natal appointments. We dimmed the lights in the bathroom and created the most welcoming environment that we could. After all, this was going to be our baby's first taste of the world! We wanted it to be calm, warm, welcoming; not cold, hard or harsh in any way. I still would have preferred to be at home, but I'm satisfied with the environment we had created in the end.

Magnesium
This wonderful element is really effective at relaxing muscles, which is pretty important [read: critical] during labour and childbirth. We used it also throughout my pregnancy, as it totally solved leg cramps and twitches. We bought it in a powdered form from the health shop, and apart from drinking it every night before bed [except for the odd night when I was just too tired to be bothered, and then suffered twitchy leg for my laziness], I drank it throughout the day when I was labouring. Charles was the one who kept up my supply, routinely handing me some to sip on throughout the day. I can only assume it was effective during labour, based on how effective it was during my pregnancy.

So that essentially covers the natural methods we used to help in various ways during my labour and in the lead up to the big day. We had faith that these methods would work for us, but at the same time it's hard to know until it actually happens. If you're thinking of using natural methods for yourself, do your research and make your own decisions about what you think will work. Listed below are links to some of the resources we used and which we found effective. I'm very happy with how these methods worked for us and I'm very happy that I didn't have to resort to medical assistance. Basically, using these methods allowed us to be in control of how the labour and birth unfolded, rather than being at the whim of medical professionals who often see things differently to us.

Moxibustion, Acupressure, TCM during pregnancy [link to a book by Heather Bruce]

Birthing workshop by Rhea Dempsey [general birthing education]

Hypnobirthing soundtracks

Read Part 1 of my birth story - As It Happened
Read Part 2 of my birth story - A Natural Childbirth?

Birth Story Part 1 - As It Happened

I have been thinking about how I want to write this birth story, and the fact is, I have three different stories to tell. So it's being written in three parts. The first part is, plain and simple, how the day unfolded for me. What happened, what I experienced, and how I ended up with my baby in my arms. The second, will look at birthing my baby in terms of a natural childbirth - I was very adamant that I wanted an intervention-free birth for my child, so I'm going to talk about the issues that came up surrounding that aspect specifically. And finally in the third instalment, I want to acknowledge our use of natural methods for birthing outcomes - with some surprising results surrounding what worked for us. I hope you'll enjoy this series and maybe even take something useful away from it. In any case, I need to write this for me. Thanks for reading.

Part 1: As It Happened

I woke up at 3:20am on Monday morning, with discomfort in my belly. I didn't think anything of it, just baby moving and making me a bit uncomfortable, a trip to the bathroom and back to bed. But back in bed only a few minutes, and the same thing happened - uncomfortable belly sensation. Not something I could just lie in bed for, I hopped out of bed and stood, bent over, until it passed. Back into bed. Repeat, only this time I don't get out of bed, just get on hands and knees on the bed and wait for it to be over, and lie down again. And repeat again twice more, once out of bed, once on hands and knees. You would think by this time I might have suspected contractions - and it crossed my mind, but I really didn't think it was.

Anyway, by 3.40am I had given up on staying in bed and hopped up. I took my favourite blanket and some warm clothes and went to my laptop in search of answers. I was trying to work out whether the pains I was feeling were in fact labour pains, or not, or just a false alarm, so I googled 'what do contractions feel like'. I didn't really become any further enlightened, and the pains kept coming, such that I was standing at my desk bent over as I was reading. I flicked through some notes I had made at a birthing course we had attended back at the start of February. Reading these made me suspect that I was actually in labour, but I still wasn't sure. It was probably around 4.30 at this stage. I also made myself something to eat - a few rice cakes with vegemite to keep me going.

The situation continued - basically my contractions were coming pretty standard 5 minutes apart, and lasting for about 1 minute. I played a 20 minute track of hypnobirthing affirmations that I had bought a couple of weeks earlier, a couple of times, which helped me through those early contractions. I found that I was able to breath into them, and relax my body enough, that I could actually feel the muscular sensation of what was happening - the pulling up of my uterus, at this stage quite low down but moving up higher. This calmed me - knowing and feeling what was actually happening in my body, accepting the movement without fighting it, really just getting my head out of the way and letting my body get on with it. I could do this.

Around 5.30 I decided it was time to wake Charles. He hopped up and got straight into action, watching me for a contraction or two, talking with me about how far apart the contractions were coming, bringing me magnesium drinks and at some point setting up an oil burner with some clary sage and lavender. That actually made things a bit more intense for me, the clary sage, and I ended up calling for a bucket as I started to feel nauseous. No sooner was the bucket delivered than I put it to good use, and poor old Charles had the job of emptying it and bring it back for me. This happened a few times. Purging - getting any last 'stuff' out of my body, clearing the way for labour to progress. It really didn't bother me at all. 

All this time I had been stationed in our office/library, but around 8am I went back to our bedroom. All I wanted in the world was to climb back into bed and go to sleep. I just wanted it all to stop, because I was feeling sleepy, and start again some other time. After a sleep. So I went back to this business of lying in bed, then hopping up for a contraction, then crawling back into bed for those few minutes of rest. Complete with a cat snoozing on the bed and everything. I'm glad we had seen a few dvd's of births in the birthing workshop we attended because I knew that Charles was ok with seeing a woman in labour - as in, he wasn't freaking out. And the cat didn't flinch, she probably didn't even notice.

Sometime next, I decided that I wanted to be in the bath. Or a shower. So we moved to the bathroom, where I sat on a chair in front of the bathroom mirror, being flooded with endorphins between contractions, and standing up holding onto the bathroom vanity for dear life and swaying my way through contractions. They were definitely getting stronger and closer together. During this, Charles was cleaning the bath [as you do] so that it would be nice for me to hop in. I was so very aware, being able to see myself in the mirror, of just how effective those endorphins the body releases are - I could have been fully drugged up, I was so out of it. But at the same time so focused on the task at hand. I'm in awe of what the female body does to assist in childbirth.

Anyway by the time the bath was clean, I knew that I really shouldn't get into it. It was about 10am by this stage, and there was a great big bath at the hospital birthing suite - much more appealing than our poky little bathtub. Around this time Charles spoke to our midwife, and I remember asking Charles to ask if we should go in yet. To which the answer was yes. So I continued to labour in the bathroom, while Charles calmly set about gathering all our bits and pieces together [I had half-heartedly packed a bag some time earlier] and preparing to go. Packing the car, remembering to take baby clothes, feeding the animals. And off we went - me on the back seat of the car, on hands and knees, for the faster than usual trip into town. Thankfully it is one long straight road into town.

At the hospital, I remember trying to walk really quickly down the hallway to the birthing suite, not wanting to have a contraction in the hallway. I almost made it, but then it came, so I had to stop and hang on to the wall til it passed. There were people standing nearby too. Oh well. Anyway we made it into the birthing suite, and I promptly had a contraction and was desperately trying to find something comfortable to hang on to. Then a quick look to see how far I had progressed and we found I was about 6cm dilated at this stage. I would have preferred to be 7cm, but hey, a lot of the hard work had been done. I desperately wanted to be in that bath, so one of the midwives started filling it and Charles set up our station in the bathroom. During this time, I was dealing with the other midwife - who was trying to attach a foetal heartrate monitor to me. This was one of my 'not required' items - at first I didn't even realise what she was doing, but as soon as I did, and being on my back as a contraction hit, I had ripped those straps off in seconds.

I hopped in the bath, which was slightly on the too warm side, but which I was happy with. Between the heat of the bath, the issue of the heart rate monitoring and the car ride in, the contractions had slowed off a bit, and I had a few minutes to just lie in the warm water and rest. I was almost sleeping! Bliss. But Charles, seeing the slow down in progress, lit the clary sage to burn again and there we were, straight back into it with renewed intensity. The bath was amazing, and I stayed in there for some hours, Charles and I working through the contractions. By now, he was using some acupressure points on my backside to help keep the contractions under control. At one point, I realised he had my feet and was working on points to help the contractions along - and pretty much said 'don't you dare!'. I also had to get him to blow out the clary sage burner, I couldn't take the increase in intensity that it brought about.

Somewhere around 1.30pm I was starting to get tired I think, and I was keen to see how far I had progressed. My waters still hadn't broken either. A quick look showed that I was 9cm dilated, but was starting to get the urge to push down. I was struggling by that point - I think the knowledge that I still had 1cm to go and feeling the urge to push was all a bit much for me. The midwife had been offering me nitrous oxide and oxygen since we had arrived, and I had to this point adamantly refused [despite telling Charles on the car ride in that I wanted the gas right now!], but my determination wavered. We asked whether the gas would cross the placenta, and the midwife said no. The final straw, and what saw me end up taking the gas, was that the midwife actually helped to dilate the last 1cm - not an altogether comfortable experience, and pretty much my breaking point. I didn't use it for long, but for that hour or so that I had the gas in my hand, it was a brave person would have tried to take it off me.

So then we were pushing down. This was the strangest sensation ever, and not made any easier by the fact that I couldn't see or really get a feel for the baby moving down as I pushed. My waters eventually broke, which was a relief, as that ended the pressure to have them artificially ruptured. I was up on the bed at this stage, half sitting, half lying, and despite knowing that it wasn't the best position for me to be in [there was no assistance from gravity], I felt too tired to move. I was utterly exhausted, and between each surge I was resting, completely spent. This went on, and on, and on. Actually it was about 1.5 hours all up, but I wanted it to be over so badly, and it just kept on going. As it turns out, the baby had a hand up at his face when he appeared, which would have been making life a bit more difficult for me. I cannot complain though - the time taken allowed my body to stretch perfectly, and shortly after 4pm, baby William was born. Not a nick or a tear on my body. And a surprised midwife who had been suggesting an episiotomy for the past hour. I had to be happy with that. 

The most amazing thing in my life had just happened. My baby boy was passed up onto my belly, and Charles had laughed when my first words to him were 'hey little dude'. What are you supposed to say when you first greet your son? He was slippery and pink and absolutely perfect. We were left to bond, as mammals do, skin to skin, and within a short space of time he was looking to breastfeed. I was also pressured to have the injection to speed up delivery of the placenta. It had actually almost come out, then just stopped, so I knew it was just sitting there. The midwife kept suggestion the injection, I repeatedly said 'it's there, if I stand up it will come out'. Eventually I had to push it out, about 40 minutes after the birth. We also waited until the cord had completely stopped pulsing and was empty of blood before clamping. At this point we let the midwives weigh and measure our baby, and then he was back in my arms, where we stayed for about the next 2 hours, bonding and being a family together.  Charles put a pair of socks on my feet, I was so focused on other things, but he looked after me so well, taking care of the little details. He was absolutely amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better birth partner.

And that, in a very short summary, is how baby William came into our world. It was a total surprise, as I was 39 weeks, and had been saying to Charles the previous evening 'I think it's at least another week off'. Still, he was ready, and weighed in at a healthy 3.41kg. We had said frequently throughout the pregnancy that we thought he might come a little early. Not that there is really any such thing as 'early' or 'late', we have such a tendency to put our own timeframes on babies when in reality, they put theirs on us [and birthing is just the start, as I'm now discovering]. I have to say, this was by far and away the most amazing, best ever day of my life. It all feels a bit surreal now, but I want to hang on to the day forever. Those first moments bonding with my new baby, with Charles at my side, made me happier than I could have ever imagined being.

Read Part 2 of my birth story - A Natural Childbirth?
Read Part 3 of my birth story - Natural Methods

Dealing with 'Stuff'

I admire the people who go through life, and aren't bothered by things. You know, stuff rolls off their shoulders like water off the duck's back. They don't hang on to stuff, or think about things for days, weeks, years after they've happened. They just let go and move on. I would very much like to be one of those people. 

Part of my pregnancy experience has involved dealing with 'stuff' - stuff from my past, stuff from my family, things that happened 5 years ago, things that happened 25 years ago. Charles and I have been working pretty hard to release any 'stuff' that I may be storing in my body. Essentially, this is to aid a smooth and obstruction free childbirth. But even more than that, is the feeling I have of wanting to have  sorted out any old, unresolved issues that I have hanging about, before I become a mother. I want to go into motherhood being able to focus entirely on the job of caring for my baby and creating a loving home and family environment with Charles. I don't want any negative influences on me inadvertently appearing for my own child. They're mine, I own them and they're all in the past. Dealt with.

We have been reading some particularly useful information about this subject, mostly here [and we bought the book called 'What Dads Can Do', written like a car manual, seriously, and it's brilliant]. But essentially, I have been doing reiki on myself, which is so beneficial in releasing any stuck energies, and on top of that, Charles has been giving me a moxa treatment on lots of evenings before bed. If you have had much to do with Chinese medicine, you'll probably know what a moxa is. It's this stick that you light and hold over certain areas of the body, so the heat goes into the body and works it's magic on whatever point you're working on. And apparently we, as women [hi to any guys reading this blog!] tend to store a lot of 'stuff' in our bodies, around our backside area. Yep, I've been getting the heat treatment on my backside. I love my man so much.

But seriously, my 'stuff' has been coming up! To be dealt with, and released, and not stored in my body any more. It's not always nice to experience it either. I have at times, during the moxa session itself, had to call a halt to it because it's making me nauseous; I have, on mornings following a moxa session, literally purged my body; and I have woken up with tears and anger in my body from incidents that happened when I was 10 years old. Dear, patient Charles has put up with a lot during this process. But we both think it is worth it. And will be worth it, if it helps us to create better conditions for a natural childbirth. And it's definitely worth it, if I can be a better mother because of it. And the other side of it is making sure I'm not still storing new 'stuff' now. Being able to communicate better, to relate to others better, to express my views and concerns, rather than squashing them away and pretending that everything is fine, when it isn't. This is so very important.

Anyway, dealing with 'stuff'. There's a couple of things that I've found really beneficial in helping to release and deal with stuff. In no particular order:

- Rescue remedy. You can get it from most health food shops. A few drops in a glass of water, and I find it just calms, soothes, levels out my emotions. It's almost cheating, it's that good.

- Lavender essential oil. Just having an oil burner going with some lavender scents filling the room leaves me feeling calm, and like everything is ok in my world [and lavender is ok when you're pregnant].

- Meditation. This one is a bit of a no-brainer, but I still don't do it as consistently as I would like to. But any time spent going within, sitting in quiet, letting the body just be, is amazingly beneficial.

- Affirmations. I know these don't work for everybody, but they do work for me. Just a simple one liner, that I can repeat over and over in my head when my body is screaming at me that things aren't ok.  

- Someone to talk to. Thankfully Charles doesn't seem to mind when I start talking, and delving into me, and why and how things are as they are. But just talking it out makes all the difference for me.

So now we're entering the home stretch of this pregnancy, and we're going to be ramping up the sessions to remove any stored 'stuff' from my body. I think we're both a little apprehensive about this, as I seem to have released a lot of 'stuff' already - seriously, how much more can there be?? I guess we're going to find out. Still, I'd rather find out in the next few weeks, than during the hours when I'm in labour, when I'm sure there will be plenty of other things going on for me to deal with. And I must become more disciplined with my meditation and my reiki. Any tips for improving self discipline? 

Planning a Natural Childbirth

One of the things I find so challenging about living in this modern world, is how to live my life by my terms, how I want, rather than how society tells me I should. Most of the time, I'm pretty happy with the balance I strike. But every now and then, I am confronted with societal norms. The Status Quo. How things are done. And that's when I realise how out of step I am. Wanting to have a normal, physiological childbirth puts me well and truly out of step with the norms of this country.

Before I fell pregnant, I had never given a second thought to the birthing process. I just assumed that giving birth is a natural process, women have been doing it since the beginning, and it just takes care of itself. I'm sure in some parts of the world that is very much the case. The dominant view in Australia is generally that doctors know best, childbirth is something to fear, all pain is to be avoided, and with the drugs and procedures available, why would anyone want to experience a natural childbirth?

I can tell you why.

Because I want my baby to have the best, most natural, most loving start to life in this world. I don't want my baby to be born sluggish, or having trouble breathing, or with it's own natural instincts diminished due to the effects of pain relieving drugs. Because I do want my own natural hormones pumping through my body. I do want my own birthing instincts to kick in and guide me through the process. I do want to be in my own power and birth my baby as my body is perfectly designed to do. I don't want this sacred process hurried, or for my body to be cut in anyway, or for my baby to be unnaturally pulled from my body.

Obviously I am aware that there are absolutely times when medical intervention is necessary during childbirth to save the life of either the mother or the baby, or both. But in most births, medical intervention is not a necessity. It is a convenience, and it has seeped into everyday birthing. Epidurals are the norm, so you can update your Facebook page while you're in labour. Caesarian sections are scheduled to fit in with other plans. Labour is induced after having gone 2 days past 'due date', when the baby is still well and truly within normal gestation periods. Drugs to relieve and block the pain are the norm, because we, as a society, hold so much fear over pain, and don't see why we should have to experience it.

What ever happened to allowing life forces to guide such a profound experience?

Which leads me to the question of just how, in this medical model world, is one to achieve a natural, physiological childbirth? Thankfully there are people who can help. There are midwives, and doulas, who want to support women in childbirth. They want to help women work with the natural, functional pain of childbirth, rather than block it out with medication. There are wonderful people who can guide you in how to manage and negotiate the hospital system to create the outcome you want. There are people who will assist you in your own home to birth your baby in your own space. But you have to go looking for these people. I am entirely grateful that I have stumbled upon such people, and face a minimalist hospital system that simply cannot offer many of the interventions of the modern world.

It is up to me to follow through with what I want. I'm not under any illusions, I know that I can't yet comprehend the pain that I will experience. I have set my intention. And I trust in myself, my body and my baby. But I still think I need to find one tough doula who can keep me on the straight and narrow when I start begging for pain relief...