This is a universal marker of transition that everyone from all ages experiences. When we begin to experience puberty, we move from being a child to being an adult. Though the time different for females and males, this is the age when a woman’s uterus becomes active and can again conceive a fetus. As for boys, at the onset of puberty he ejaculates sperm able to impregnate a female ovum (or egg) which happens when certain parts in his body become more mature. These are monumental passages often feared by many because they symbolize an ending point yet also represent new beginnings.
Think of pregnancy and childbirth as a road trip. It’s true that you can’t go on the journey without this one pretty important ingredient – a driver . It’s undeniable that creating a child gives expecting parents physical, mental and emotional changes to consider. It is also not wrong to say that becoming a parent causes sympathetic feelings in men, who are oftentimes honored by many cultures for their part in procreation. This has been termed Couvade symptom. The Pink Kit Method for birthing better resources has been a favourite among fathers for many years for its approach of creating progress rather than just talking about it. Men like taking a practical and hands-on approach to their work as well as learning what they can on the go rather than being given packets of instructions. The beauty of giving a man instructions is that he’s been born through a woman’s body, making him an expert in understanding a woman’s perspective while coaching her through labor! Once men learn to manage pain in a positive way – like knowing that it’s the body working naturally (unless otherwise instructed) they will bring the skills they learned while experiencing childbirth to your team and these skills will relieve you of some pressure because you now have constant reassurance!
As recently as the past 30 years, the role of a father in childbirth has become quite different than it used to be.
Up until the 1970s, fathers were excluded from the labour and delivery process. In many cultures throughout history, this exclusion was either accepted or perceived as a way of life that couldn’t be broken. Therefore, women were left to deliver their babies in a hospital room or ward all by their lonesome while staff would come in periodically to check up on them. However, since males are usually more hands-on than females so much so that it’s part of their genetic makeup as pointed out by evolutionary theorists like Steve Pinker’s book Blank Slate , since the 1970s fathers have beein encouraged to support their partners’ labour and birth experience.
As an aside, there are many healthcare terms that people throw around but few take the time to define or clarify. For instance, ask 20 people what a natural birth means or what a c-section actually is and you’ll realize that not only do different people have different understandings of these terms, they’ve volunteered their own unsolicited opinions while expecting their own in return!
The Pink Kit Method has been used by many women and men, and we have found that there are certain things that people don’t really understand about giving birth. It’s not something you can plan for because it is a natural process. Also, pain and labouring come naturally. You may be expecting them so they don’t come as a surprise, but the experience itself can still feel overwhelming in some cases. People often ask what is more difficult to deal with: death or birth? Birth obviously isn’t life-threatening but it is an amazing process, and one of the most monumental moments a mother will ever experience, so it is definitely worth taking note of some interesting facts about the human birthing process! Childbirth can be an exciting yet scary time – especially when there are pain relief options involved. Options include taking a shower to help you relax, breathing exercises, castor oil and other methods to encourage labour along with all the medical assessments and monitoring parents (and friends) will undergo. While many mothers will want their partners to be present during childbirth, it’s understood that some women might not have many support systems around her which may make her feel alone and unsupported going into this life-changing experience.
Variability is the name of the game in childbirth.
Although every woman’s birth is unique, it is not abnormal. Childbirth is a normal process that our body has been designed to endure. In fact, it’s much like the process of using a public restroom. The same bodily functions had to be developed earlier in life before childbirth can occur without problems. During childbirth, the object you are working with is a baby. The opening up phase of childbirth is when the cervix begins to open. Once your cervix is open and the baby has moved through your pelvis and birthing canal (cervix), the contractions will begin closing off your pelvis and vagina to eject the baby from your uterus.
Scientists and researchers in fields of human origin agree that humans were not delivered by storks, but rather came into being via a crossing over of DNA between the great ape family and some sort of yet-to-be identified prehuman life form. This is supported by the fossil record, genetic data, chromosome numbers and so on. There are people who do not hold this view because it goes against what they have always believed their whole lives; however when we look to broaden our horizons and avoid limiting our beliefs based on common knowledge or pre-existing notions about how babies are/were delivered into this world we may find evolution to be a more accurate representation of our own emergence.
Childbirth preparation is essential to getting through pregnancy, labour and birthing with the least amount of pain possible. Birthing behaviours are easy to learn and help with labouring – even if we don’t like it. Effective coaching skills ensure that you stay focused, open, relaxed and willing to meet childbirth head on!
Pregnant women and expectant dads are about to enter a whirlwind in the coming months. The pregnant body is continuing to be prepared for childbirth, but so too is the soon-to-be newborn. The mom’s body is hard at work preparing hormones that will help make labour easier, while the baby is preparing to adapt to his or her own new life in no time flat. As if that’s not enough, there are other duties as well like attending prenatal classes and figuring out how much of what items you’ll need once your little one arrives.
The Pink Kit Method includes a kit for preparing both you and your baby’s birthing body. It contains four foundations: The Pink Kit: Essential Preparations for your birthing body – mostly about the body preparation necessary to be able to give birth, as well as two other kits that follow in order to prepare for birth. As father of one explains , ‘Before the family used The Pink Kit: Essential Preparations for your birthing body kit, I thought giving birth was about having strong muscles to push the baby out. Now I understand its more like creating space! Space creation can be done in 3 dimensions , not 2 dimensions ‘.
That being said, we have to understand the “parts” of our body that are most involved during birth. Anyone with a physical body will naturally sense how it is to experience pain and attempt to minimize it. We do not believe that birth suddenly becomes free from pain simply because one believes in something (in our case, holistic maternal care during pregnancy) – even though we must be aware of the power of thought when it comes to working toward healing, as well as knowing our own bodies! Birth is an event created by nature and although science can help us learn about childbirth, we need to trust our bodies.
Humans are gifted with an amazing mind.
We have the ability to remember the past and even alter our perceptual responses to what happened before. At will, we can plan for the future just like athletes mentally rehearse the event again and again, go over it in their mind. When moms-to-be are preparing their birthing space they use their mind as a container. The baby is going to come out and we want our muscles to be full, soft, open and relaxed so that baby can move through us with ease. We already know babies come out of a woman’s vaginas as big things!
When we connect our minds to our bodies then we have more control over them. For example, all at some point in their life athletes learn to reconnect with their body and develop a better connection between mind and body by doing a lot of practice, practice, and more practice. Although the ability to run or jump is something that humans can do naturally, these athletes don’t go into their events just intuitively or instinctively doing those things. In fact they get trained beforehand so as not make mistakes and do it right during the game.
Unfortunately you don’t get to practice the pain of labouring as much as you’d like to before having your baby. There’s nothing quite like it even when you’re an expert laborer. Once your labor begins, there’s no stopping it, so it’s imperative that you trust what it tells you. Because of this, childbirth is very demanding and difficult for new parents. If a woman hasn’t had proper training in her pre-natal lessons then she often runs out of energy and power when pain starts striking or if things go wrong during middle of labour which is already a traumatic experience in itself. It’s very important to make sure that any mother-to-be has the right midwife who will guide her through the process – because if she isn’t guided then there’s a high chance she will lose all faith and hope!
We will still breathe in labour whether we breathe positively or scream.
Labor can be a difficult thing no matter whether it’s your first time or not. Nobody really knows what natural labor feels like and so their opinions really don’t mean anything at all because they’ve never been through that experience themselves. It’s important to remember that regardless of the method you use (medical assistance, birth center, or at home) only you know the best way for you to do things… Keep in mind that nobody can tell you how labor is going to go. You do not need to feel rushed into making a decision about anything.
Too often, when a birth goes wrong we slap all the blame on external factors rather than looking inwards. Shouldn’t we hold ourselves responsible for contributing factors that affect the course of our birthing process? I was partly at fault for my horrendous first birth experience because I insisted on having medical doctors intervene that didn’t know what they were doing. Thinking back, they made me do a lot of things I should never have to endure. Going through the same thing with my second child and realising I had to take charge of my own techniques made such a difference…
True power comes from personal skills. Childbirth is one experience that we will all have in life, and it’s easy to feel powerful when you can depend on your own skills to make that experience go exactly as you want. There may be some things about delivering a child that are similar for everyone, but there are many things that are unique to each woman or each couple, so it only makes sense to make an informed decision about the birth of your child rather than trusting your intuition alone because childbirth is such a significant event. When we get hungry, we might choose to eat a piece of fruit or a sandwich. When we feel like having a snack while watching TV, we might just choose to open the bag of chips on the table instead of reaching for the cookies. We all empty our bladders and bowels at least once a day, but not every single time that we find ourselves by a bush or within view of public bathrooms. It’s common sense that people know how to use toilets even though they are in their own homes – because some things are just too inappropriate and gross to do in front of other humans! In short, free will comes with responsibility – including when it comes to birthing your baby into the world!
Discussions of birth revolve around women taking responsibility for making choices about where or with whom they will birth. Any woman in her right mind would choose an easy birth, not to tear, to heal well and naturally and not have unnecessary procedures such as episiotomies unless necessary. Pain relief is very important during the birthing process, especially when a woman wants a natural birth. But sometimes it’s more helpful than others, like if there are complications or when a person feels uncomfortable with the labor pains. However this decision is up to whatever one feels comfortable with for themselves and their baby. All women can have skills, but sometimes these skills come in handy during certain situations.
For example, if you’ve decided to approach an event like going through childbirth without using pain relief, it’s important to possess the skills to manage that experience because it can still be a very painful moment. In fact, you might even decide in the end that you’re not okay with your chosen method after all but if you have no way of coping with what’s happening then there’s a good chance you’ll feel disappointed and guilty about your decision. Putting shame into someone else’s hands is never okay! Going home and choosing to birth at home or somewhere outside of the hospital puts a lot of pressure on someone who doesn’t have much experience at managing anguish linked specifically when we’re speaking about birthing babies. With proper skill set training and preparation, one can still achieve an empowering moment with birth for both mother and child as long as time and care are putting into such a momentous occasion from beginning all the way up until the very end.
For the past 30 years birth discussions have revolved around discussing the issue of choice and to ensure that each woman is fully informed with information.
Common knowledge is better than purely learned knowledge. Learning how to give a child birth without formal counseling (which has hundreds of documented complications) can be hazardous if you don’t understand that this process requires the use of certain skills and not just learning certain theories. The Pink Kit Method is common knowledge because it focuses on teaching people what they need to know rather than just learned opinions, which are often stated as facts without supporting evidence. Everyone needs to learn common sense about childbirth in order for it to move from being purely intellectual or theoretical to actually having common knowledge based on practical experiences shared between expectant parents.