Dear Lactnetters, I was just reading and interesting article by Dr. Northrup
on Childbirth that may interest the Midwifes and CBE's on Lactnet. The
purpose of Labor is to "force" if you will the woman to go deep within
herself and allow the process to happen, to learn to trust her deep feminine
inner knowing and come out empowered and once again trusting herself and her
body to get the job done. She also mentions that Women labor as they live. If
a woman is split intellectually and physically and over relies on her
intellect she wont be able to trust her body unless she makes a conscious
effort to bridge this gap. She tells the story of one woman who had a history
of long second stage labors and her response was intially to push on her
posterior vagina to encourage pushing as she is a traditionally trained
OB/GYN and when she did this the pt grimaced and pulled away and Dr. Northrup
felt at that moment that she was violating her space so she stopped and
instead put the pt in a comfortable position and did some guided imagery work
with her. Telling her to go down deep inside herself , find her baby and tell
him  that everything is ok. She then says, " Many of us women have not owned
all the parts of our bodies, We have not allowed ourselves to feel our
vaginas and perineums. They have seemed separate and not within our control.
They have negative connotations, dirty or pornographic. But the truth is they
are ours. They belong to us like our lips, our hands our minds. This part of
your body is yours and you can reclaim it. Right now take it back as the
sensual, enjoyable part of you that it is. Since it is yours you are totally
in control. You can allow your baby to move through this part of you as fast
or as slowly as you like. It does not have to hurt you but you will feel very
strong signals from this part of your body that you are not used to feeling.
Allow those feelings and celebrate them as the return of a long lost friend"
Within 30 minutes and very little effort later the baby was born to a calm
and relaxed and involved mother. I thought this meditation was beautiful and
wanted to share it. Lisa Mooney RN BSN IBCLC

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