To push or not to push. Do you really have to push in labour?
The pushing in labour that we see so liberally on television, film, documentaries… That part of birth where the baby is imminent. Displayed for the viewer with a sweaty, chin-to-chest mum being shouted at by her caregivers.
‘Push’
‘Push harder’
‘Push properly’
‘Get angry with your baby’
‘Hold your breath...stop breathing out!’
But is there another way? Simply put, yes. The Foetus Ejection Reflex, more commonly referred to as FER.
This reflex is the body’s own ability to smoothly bring the baby into the world. It is a surge of adrenaline that washes into the woman, waking her from the trance-like state in which she has been labouring or resting. A series of intense and involuntary surges (contractions, waves, rushes) occur moving the baby out of the uterus and into the birth canal, nerves in the pelvis are stimulated and this feedback to the brain releases more oxytocin, resulting in 2 or 3 big, all encompassing surges where the baby is born easily and swiftly without voluntary pushing from mum.
However, there is a catch. FER seems to happen more readily without intervention. In dark, calm spaces, where the mother is left to labour or rest without interruption or question.
As Midwife Marianne Littlejohn states “Physiological birth is an involuntary process, related to activity in the primitive brain and body structures. It occurs best when a woman’s parasympathetic nervous system is operational and she is in a state of trust. A dark, calm, quiet, and almost solitary surrounding serves the mother best for labour and birth. Birth is not a voluntary action” (Littlejohn 2014).
We as mammals require exactly what every other mammal requires to give birth.
Calm, dim lighting, no distractions, no unwanted observers and no questions. Nothing in fact that requests the thinking brain joins the party.
We also need to be mindful of our own fear. This intense pressure against the rectum leaves women feeling vulnerable that they may lose control of their bowels and this can increase the fear of being watched and observed. Thus a holding on and halting can occur.
Of course there will be times when some women and babies need more support and assistance. But birth can and does regularly happen without it being told to.
Without it being cajoled, requested or monitored.
You could in fact say that birth happens in spite of us, if we’re just willing to give it the opportunity.
Want to prepare for your birth with us? We teach hypnobirthing in three wonderful ways:
Our in-person hypnobirthing classes held in London