To create both a need and desire for a Skills-based childbirth trend, we need to take time to decode and explain the Pink Kit birth stories you will read over the next few weeks.
As mentioned there are a number of skills-based resources and birth stories attached to those. Read them and learn. The more people begin to seek out the ‘skills’ the woman and partner/other used the clearer the need and desire for effective birth and coaching skills. We hope to bring you more father/other as coach birth stories because there is a HUGE lack of those and the role of the birth coach is so essential.
Let’s just recap this woman’s Pink Kit Birth Story:
‘Birth was rather intense- but reasonable. I had a small leak on the night of the 29th and was in early labor for about 6 hours (in hospital for some of it because of group b strep). Around 4:30 my membranes released and things got exciting, but not progressing the way the midwife (L) would have imagined. I had an anterior lip at 7cm. L then used the rebozo technique with me standing up, which ultimately corrected our situation. I then pushed 4 times- with A getting a little caught on my pubic bone- and he emerged into the world just befor 6:30. Just under 2 hours of active labor- it was pretty intense! He was almost 9 lb- and I’m not that big! Pink kit skills that helped were the internal work (very much so), and the skill of not anticipating the next contraction but staying in the moment- that actually helped quite a bit!’
What’s important to read is that her birth was intense but reasonable. Forget the Time factor. There’s a bit of confusion. You don’t have an ‘anterior lip’ at 7cm. You’re just 7 cm dilated. An anterior lip occurs sort of between 9-10cm with just a small section pinching between the baby’s head and inside pubic bone. Regardless of details, the birth got hung up and stalled. How that exhibited itself is not mentioned.
What’s important to read is that her midwife (what if she didn’t have a midwife?) used a rebozo clothe to manipulate the baby (what if the midwife didn’t have a rebozo?).
Pink Kit families way back in the early 1970s when this skills-based system started to evolved wanted to know what they could do. There were almost no midwives in the US and the rebozo was known in Mexico but not used in the US much.
The Pink Kit DVD of the multi-media resource goes through all aspects of creating space inside the birthing pelvis. From this woman’s birth story she (and perhaps partner didn’t seem to remember to use that information). When people self-learn they sometimes focus on certain skills. This family obviously focused on doing The Internal Work for 8 weeks with huge benefits. She obviously read at least one of the ebooks … Staying in the Now … and used that skill.
Is she at fault for not using more of the skills? Of course not! She and her partner are leading the way toward a skills-based approach to all pregnancies and every birth. As families learn more about birth and coaching skills (particularly the body oriented skills), the more families will put those in place. When we self-learn skills we don’t use every one. It’s always a great idea to make a list … The Big 10 … of skills you might remember to use. In this case the woman/partner might have remembered to keep the sacrum mobile with Kate’s Cat or the Sacral Manoeuvre. They might have done The Hip Lift to create side-to-side space. They might have evaluated the position/posture the woman was choosing.
We don’t know if the midwife promoted the rebozo so that the woman/partner just felt ‘she’ll do it’. That happens a lot with both midwives and doctors.
Preparing your pregnant body to become a birthing body is so essential. You need to know how to create softness inside, increase space and maintain mobility. Your baby can be hindered by your internal tension.
Is the tension in your head? No. In your feet? No. In your belly? No. In your knees? No. The tension is in your pelvis, right above and right below. Where is tension? Suck in your belly. That’s tension. Doing a pelvic floor exercise/kegel … that’s tension. Tighten up your rectum. That’s tension. And all those tensions are consciously created. Another Pink Kit skill you’ll learn is about unconscious, stretching and structural tensions. You can positively reduce all of these.
For the next few Skills-based Birth Stories we’ll decode them. This way more people will begin to do so themselves and read all Birth Stories differently. That’s how we grow a Skills-based Movement working toward a Skills-based Childbirth trend.
Here’s a link. This link will be put on all the posts. Kristen has 6 kids, the last 3 are PK babies. She KNOWS about birth and is one of our affiliates. That means if you purchase The Pink Kit through her she gets a commission. Her husband Scott’s first baby was a Pink Kit experience. He’ll explain how The Pink Kit made certain he was able to become a skilled birth coach to a woman who had previously had three great births.!
Kristen’s written a time-line calendar for use of The Pink Kit. You just need to sign up to her mail list (we don’t keep a mail list) and she’ll send you the Time Line. She’s worked through both Edition #2 and #3 of The PInk Kit so she knows all it’s imperfections and la-dee-dahs past them to the skills she wants to improve for each birth. Can women and men have better births each time? Sure can! The more skilled, the more we master the experience.
http://blog.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/pink-kit-timeline-from-natural-birth-and-baby-care-com/
Please join the Movement to grow a Skills-based childbirth trend. Don’t’ let another birth go by without that family being skilled.