Shortness of breath, headaches, joint instability, heartburn, pelvic, back, or rib pain? All of these symptoms are commonly associated with pregnancy. Osteopathic treatment can play a major role in allowing the body to adapt to these changes while being as comfortable as possible.
Birth Geekery is a new blog series designed to put interesting, fun, USEFUL, and occasionally nerdy resources at your disposal.
Each post will feature two to three resources that I love and frequently share with our clients so that you can check them out too!
How?
How are we supposed to do this?
There use to be clear and defined spaces in our schedules. When I was working, I could compartmentalize my brain and turn off family for a hot minute.
Now, we’re home and our work space is our home space.
Our family time is bled right into our work time.
Five years ago, I was pregnant with my first daughter.
I was a birth doula, attending births in my 33rd week of pregnancy.
Round and ripening, I supported other birthing families as their babies made their way earthside.
I knew my time was coming soon.
Duality: an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something.
There is a tug of war at times within.
I want to return to work. I don’t want to leave my kids.
I want to leave my kids to pursue my passion. I feel like staying at home in our cocoon.
Does one feeling negate the other? Do they have to be in opposition, or can both be true at the same time?
A few months ago, I read the book Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You by Jerome Groopman, MD and Pamela Hartzband, MD. The book covers both internal and external factors that influence our medical decision making while also diving into some of the cognitive shortcuts humans use to make those decisions (SPOILER ALERT: while cognitive shortcuts often help us make quick decisions, they don’t always help us make good decisions).
“Here’s the thing – emotion and cognition undefined and unexplored drive every decision you make. I mean, you either develop self-awareness or these things control you.” ~ Brené Brown
I love this quote! First, because it’s true. But also because it explains why it’s so important to look for the reason behind the reason of our behaviour.
What I mean by that is that all of our behaviour is driven by deeply held beliefs about ourselves, about our world, and about how we fit into that world. Most of the time we’re unaware of what those beliefs are and unless we consciously choose to go digging, they’ll likely remain unexamined (and in control).
Pregnancy is a time of rapid growth and adjustment for your body. Your posture changes daily to create balance as the uterus grows and grows. Your ligaments start to stretch, joints become strained, muscles become sore and achy and your body can become quite uncomfortable!
If you spend any time at all in "natural" birthing communities someone will inevitably tell you that you can "trust birth".
Usually, what they're saying is that you can trust the process, the physiology of birth; you can trust that all of human evolution has brought us to a place where birth actually works quite well.
So you don't need to be afraid. You can just trust birth.
Do you know what you need? Most of us would say we do.
But have you ever had those moments where you are looking around at your life and you KNOW you have everything you could possibly need and yet, somehow, you still feel a bit off, a little dissatisfied, certain there MUST be something more?
(And because we LOVE to have feelings about our feelings, you of course immediately feel bad for feeling dissatisfied because - LOOK! - you have everything you need)
PART THREE: This one’s for you dads and partners!
When we talk about birth preparation, a lot of the focus goes to the birthing person: how will they cope? how will they get through? what do they need to know?
Which makes perfect sense. Labour is an intense and transformative experience that takes a person to their edges and then asks for a little bit more.
PART TWO: This one’s for you dads and partners!
When we talk about birth preparation, a lot of the focus goes to the birthing person: how will they cope? how will they get through? what do they need to know?
Which makes perfect sense. Labour is an intense and transformative experience that takes a person to their edges and then asks for a little bit more.
