One thing that the entertainment industry truly excels in is perpetuating certain myths about pregnancy, childbirth and the whole labor and delivery process. When a baby is born in a movie or on television, a woman’s water breaks and she goes immediately into quick and intense contractions. (If Hollywood is to be believed, a disproportionate [...]
It’s normal and natural for a woman who’s been waiting for months to be on the lookout for labor signs. After all, you want to be where you need to be when the time comes, whether that’s at a hospital, a birthing center or, if you’ve planned a home birth, in your own home with [...]
Generally speaking, a baby will be born when he or she is just good and ready to be born. While we speak about pregnancy being exactly 40 weeks, and while we talk about a “due date”, the fact remains that babies can be born within a week or two either direction of a due date. [...]
It’s not uncommon for a woman to want to experience childbirth without pain medications that can dull both the body and the mind. Today especially, women are recognizing that pain medications can take away from the experience of birth, rather than enhancing it. Pain medications can prolong labor, and in some rare cases they can [...]
Herbs are an all-natural alternative treatment for a variety of conditions. In addition, using certain herbs is also thought to help enhance a person’s life in a variety of ways. Herbs have been used during pregnancy for a number of purposes. For example, a woman might use an herbal tea to help with the nausea [...]
Perineal massage is, simply put, the process of massaging the perineum, generally using some sort of essential oil or herbal oil. A perineal massage is typically used by a woman who is pregnant. Specifically, a perineal massage is generally used in the last days of pregnancy, around the time that the woman’s baby is due [...]
While a woman’s anatomy is specifically designed to be able to give birth, the fact of the matter is that childbirth can be a relatively traumatic experience for the body. The sheer logistics of fitting a baby through the birth canal means that labor is going to be downright painful. In addition, there is the [...]
From the start, it is important to remember that labor especially is the part of pregnancy during which there is the highest risk that something can go wrong. It is imperative that you have the advice of a health care professional during labor, and during the critical weeks leading up to labor. Before you think [...]
A due date is not a precise measurement. When we talk about pregnancy being 180 days, or about it being nine months, those are just guesses based on statistical averages. Most women will not go into labor on their due date. Many will go before, and many will go after. Really, any time after the [...]
Generally speaking, your baby will know when it is time to be born. However, it is not uncommon for a woman to go past her 40 weeks of pregnancy. At that point, she may find herself plagued by an anxious anticipation. If labor does not start within two weeks following her due date, a woman’s [...]
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