The Rhythms of Childbirth
We tend to see childbirth as an event that happens in a single chunk of time, instead of as an activity that we do over time and that has specific rhythms. The reality is that not only will you participate in this activity, but you will also have to participate at every moment until it culminates in "the birth."
In order to accomplish your birth, you will go through a macro-timeframe, an overall experience that includes:
- the transitional time from being pregnant to knowing you are in labor
- the dilation of your cervix
- the birth of your baby
- the delivery of the placenta
You will also go through micro-timeframes:
- one contraction that follows another
Although most birth books or classes don’t speak about birth as a timeframe, that is what happens. At the same time, most Birth Stories focus on these two timeframes.
Big Picture:
- "Started labor at 6pm. Had the baby at 10am the next morning."
- "My labor was short."
- "My labor went on and on for days."
Small Picture:
- "My contractions were bearable."
- "I had terrible back labor even between contractions."
- "My contractions came every 20 seconds."
When the focus is on the Big Picture, we actually aren’t saying much, nor are you learning much. It’s sort of like saying, "I climbed Mt. Everest. The weather sucked and it was hard." For a person wanting to climb Mt. Everest, there must be another, more refined story: what do you do at every single step. Giving birth is your Mt. Everest. You need to know how to move through the Small Picture to get to the Big Picture by what you do at every moment. Whether it’s mountain climbing, singing, building a house, or giving birth, it’s the "how to" that is important and sorely lacking in childbirth preparation today.
Birthing Better with The Pink Kit Method® wants to introduce you to the timeframe where your work is really done: the micro-timeframe, composed of the discrete 5 Phases of every contraction. These 5 Phases are your guide for working through this incredible experience, helping you feel in control, and enabling you to work with your baby’s efforts to be born, personally, as a family, and with your birth providers.
This Birthing Better Pink Kit resource will help both of you to understand
- the rhythm of childbirth as experienced through the macro- and micro-timeframes.
- how you will see yourself and others during the timeframes of giving birth.
- how to work within the micro-timeframe of the 5 Phases and shape of each contraction.
Choose from the tabs above to work through this resource.
