An Avocado, a Pear and your Fist

An Avocado, a Pear and your Fist.. What in the world could these three things have in common?  They represent the average size of a non-pregnant uterus.  Amazing isn't it?  This small body part will stretch to provide a safe, secure womb for a baby, or two, or three, or even six if you're Kate Gosselin.  Whoa.....

Isn't nature grand?  Our bodies were made to make and grow babies.  Everything necessary is already there just waiting to provide food and shelter for your baby.

The uterus actually has another part to it, an important part, called the cervix.  This tiny wine cork sized part is especially important.  It keeps the door closed until everyone is ready.  When you're not pregnant it's the consistency of the tip of your nose.  As you morph into a baby growing debutante the cervix becomes the consistency of your ear lobe getting ready to gently flatten and open as your due date approaches.  The experts call that effacement and dilation.

Think of your turtle neck sweater, only upside down without out the arms and closed around the waist which is now on the top.  Got that?  :)  Maybe this picture will help.

When I taught childbirth classes I would grab one of my daughter's life like baby dolls and put it in the knitted uterus.  It was a great visual because I could show a posterior baby, face looking up towards your belly button, an anterior baby,the best position for vaginal delivery with the baby's face looking towards your lower back or a breech baby, little butt or feet first.

So make a fist right now and imagine a tiny baby growing in there.  

Yeah, the uterus is amazing. 

Labor is like Leaving on a Jet Plane

I taught Childbirth Education for five years and found it's easier and less threatening to just talk with someone who knows about what to expect as your due date approaches, especially if this is your first baby. 

It's hard to imagine how your labor will begin and progress until that magical moment when it actually does begin for you.  Here's one link to the details about what signs to look for indicating  labor is starting.  

There are some things you can count on happening and some things that might happen, and some things that have happened to your friends that will not happen to you. 

So let's just jump right into my metaphor for labor. Or as I like to call it, Leaving on a Jet Plane.  In most labors things progress like a first airplane ride.  Yes, I said like your first airplane ride.  Here's how:  Your bag is packed and you're ready to go......    Sorry, Peter, Paul and Mary! :)  

Let's start over in the plane.....
You are in your seat having done everything the flight attendants have told you to do.  Seat belt buckled, instructions listened to, seats in upright position, all electronics off and ready for take off. 

The plane begins to taxi down the runway, (early labor) and as you look out of the window you might think, "Okay, I've gone about this fast in the car."  You are doing fine and actually enjoying the ride at the moment knowing the trip is actually beginning.   

Early labor is like that.  You begin to experience contractions that aren't much different than some of the cramps you've had in the past during your period.  They may be intense but nothing you can't handle. 

Back to the plane.  As the plane gathers speed nearing lift off you glance out of the window and realize you are going faster than you've ever experienced before.  Wow, this is crazy fast.  

Labor progresses like that.  The contractions begin to come faster, harder and closer together and you begin to think, whoa....can I handle this? 

The plane lifts off and you grip the sides of the seat for a bit as you experience this new and wild part of the flight.

Labor sometimes takes you by surprise like this.  It keeps getting stronger and faster.  Of course it has to do this in order for your baby to be born, and you know that, but since it's so new, it can be scary.

As the plane levels off at cruising altitude, you are still apprehensive, a little scared and excited  but you  begin to manage and adjust to the new sensations.    

Again, labor is like that.  The contractions are intense but hopefully you  manage them with constant steady breathing and relaxation techniques (more about that later) and you cruise through each contraction.

After a while you begin your descent for arrival at your destination...Disneyworld!  In labor the goal is Stage Two where you can begin to push.  Not quite Disneyworld, but close to the end of your labor adventure. 

Everything changes when you begin to push and that's what we'll talk about in the next post.