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#64 | November Q&A: Comfort Foods & Breast Milk; Water-Birthing Temperatures; Struggling with Asking For Help; Antenatal Colostrum; Labor Breathing Techniques; Pubis Symphysis Dysfunction; Combating Nausea

November 25, 2020 Cynthia Overgard & Trisha Ludwig Season 1 Episode 64
#64 | November Q&A: Comfort Foods & Breast Milk; Water-Birthing Temperatures; Struggling with Asking For Help; Antenatal Colostrum; Labor Breathing Techniques; Pubis Symphysis Dysfunction; Combating Nausea
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#64 | November Q&A: Comfort Foods & Breast Milk; Water-Birthing Temperatures; Struggling with Asking For Help; Antenatal Colostrum; Labor Breathing Techniques; Pubis Symphysis Dysfunction; Combating Nausea
Nov 25, 2020 Season 1 Episode 64
Cynthia Overgard & Trisha Ludwig

Send us a Text Message.

We are back with our monthly Q&A! This week we discuss the just right temp for laboring in the water, understanding why it is so hard to ask for help postpartum, how to best breathe in labor, what to do about morning sickness and nausea in early pregnancy; and finally, we bring in physical therapist, Tara Gibson, to help us better understand the impact of pubic symphysis dysfunction during labor.   

PS: What's the ultimate comfort food: hint, it's drinkable! Tune in to find out. 
* * * * * * * * * *

If you enjoyed this episode of the Down To Birth Show, please subscribe and share with your pregnant and postpartum friends.

Between episodes, connect with us on Instagram @DownToBirthShow to see behind-the-scenes production clips and join the conversation by responding to our questions and polls related to pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. You can reach us at Contact@DownToBirthShow.com or call (802) 438-3696 (802-GET-DOWN). We are always happy to hear from our listeners and appreciate questions for our monthly Q&A episodes. To join our monthly newsletter, text "downtobirth" to 22828.

You can sign up for Cynthia's HypnoBirthing classes as well as online breastfeeding classes and weekly postpartum support groups run by Cynthia & Trisha at HypnoBirthing of Connecticut

Please remember we don’t provide medical advice, and to speak with your licensed medical provider related to all your healthcare matters. Thanks so much for joining in the conversation, and call us at 802-GET-DOWN to submit your own question.

Connect with us on Patreon for our exclusive content.
Email Contact@DownToBirthShow.com
Instagram @downtobirthshow
Call us at 802-GET-DOWN

Work with Cynthia:
203-952-7299
HypnoBirthingCT.com

Work with Trisha:
734-649-6294

Please remember we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed medical provider for all your healthcare matters.

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Send us a Text Message.

We are back with our monthly Q&A! This week we discuss the just right temp for laboring in the water, understanding why it is so hard to ask for help postpartum, how to best breathe in labor, what to do about morning sickness and nausea in early pregnancy; and finally, we bring in physical therapist, Tara Gibson, to help us better understand the impact of pubic symphysis dysfunction during labor.   

PS: What's the ultimate comfort food: hint, it's drinkable! Tune in to find out. 
* * * * * * * * * *

If you enjoyed this episode of the Down To Birth Show, please subscribe and share with your pregnant and postpartum friends.

Between episodes, connect with us on Instagram @DownToBirthShow to see behind-the-scenes production clips and join the conversation by responding to our questions and polls related to pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. You can reach us at Contact@DownToBirthShow.com or call (802) 438-3696 (802-GET-DOWN). We are always happy to hear from our listeners and appreciate questions for our monthly Q&A episodes. To join our monthly newsletter, text "downtobirth" to 22828.

You can sign up for Cynthia's HypnoBirthing classes as well as online breastfeeding classes and weekly postpartum support groups run by Cynthia & Trisha at HypnoBirthing of Connecticut

Please remember we don’t provide medical advice, and to speak with your licensed medical provider related to all your healthcare matters. Thanks so much for joining in the conversation, and call us at 802-GET-DOWN to submit your own question.

Connect with us on Patreon for our exclusive content.
Email Contact@DownToBirthShow.com
Instagram @downtobirthshow
Call us at 802-GET-DOWN

Work with Cynthia:
203-952-7299
HypnoBirthingCT.com

Work with Trisha:
734-649-6294

Please remember we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed medical provider for all your healthcare matters.

I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, childbirth advocate and postpartum support specialist. And I'm Trisha Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and international board certified lactation consultant. And this is the Down To Birth Podcast. Childbirth is something we're made to do. But how do we have our safest and most satisfying experience in today's medical culture? Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.

I mean, I'm ready. Am I starting over? No, you're asking me right now in front of the world. what your question is, and I'm prepared to answer it. There's something I don't know about you that I feel I need to know. Oh, boy.

I know everything about you. I don't know if you know this about me either. Though. This is something we might have to disclose to each other right here right now on the top debrief show. What is your all time favorite comfort food?

My favorite comfort food salad. Yeah.

We can't be friends anymore. Salad with sliced cabbage and grilled salmon. Hmm. Okay. Our friendship is over. Okay. I know. I knew a long time coming. Yeah, I knew I knew Trisha. I knew it would be over food when it was over. I know.

Alright, okay. Not your favorite food. Not the healthiest food. It was a joke. The comfort food. I got it. I got her food. Yeah, I'm just kind of a hard question. I want to say ravioli because every year growing up, my mom would make our favorite dinners on our birthday. And every single year my favorite dinner was cheese ravioli? I think that's a perfect one. It's got to be that for a lot of people. It's like Thanksgiving dinners. That's not my thing. It's ravioli. Oh, am I kidding? wanting a little comfort? It's never Yeah, like good. Yeah, um, says the woman who's been gluten free forthree years gluten free. No, I would not. You just got to do it or do it right.

I mean, I'm Italian. I have some self respect. Okay, okay. Gone. Okay, cool.

Let me let me guess. You're just gonna be something like antelope.

I'm a vegetarian. And you're gonna say something like antelope? Never eat? I'm antelope.

I have eaten bear though. You've eaten bear. I have to say, I don't want to hear about it. It was all setting to me. That's gonna end our friendship now. It was it was it was like a life or death situation. I had to do it but it doesn't it's not worth it. Not worth it. No. Poor little thing. Please. Your favorite comfort food is meat. Yes or no? Okay. Okay. I mean, your favorite comfort food is pasta. Nope. French fries. Those are good. But now it's actually Wait, wait, let me take us again.

I give up. I don't know you at all. Chocolate milk. Chocolate milk. That's chocolate. That doesn't.

That is I was thinking of something you chew. We need the listeners to speak up and vote on this Chuck about this like a meal. But if I had to if you're going to make me pick something that I choose, not drink, then it's got to be hot wings. And that's the Michigan talking right now. Right? I never saw I never saw a wing until I went to undergrad in Pennsylvania. You have you ever people would be like do you like wings? And I'd be like, what is like like Thanksgiving? What are you talking about? Like wings?

Have you ever had one back in college? I'm sure I did. I were you poke a little tiny, tiny sliver of little meat out of between all that cartilage and bone. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

It's not my thing. It wasn't even when I ate meat. Hmm. Okay, so that's your favorite food exists. Okay. Anyway, the whole reason this question even came up in my mind today is because, as I do, I sometimes like to read the latest news and breastfeeding and a Oh wait, Trisha, we have to just say that is the penultimate comfort food. Exactly. Now you know where I'm going. Now you are proven right now chocolate milk can qualify. Oh my God, you are right. Heck yeah. Oh my god. That's the that's the nail in the coffin on that argument. All right, go ahead. I mean, seriously, there is no situation where chocolate milk can't make me feel better, I concede. How's that for the week of recording it right after the election? I can see Trisha. Okay.

Yeah, amazing. Okay, well, you you spoiler alert, you gave away the study. But I don't know, the study will basically it concludes, as we already kind of know, but it's just a further evidence that breast milk is the ultimate comfort foods so much for infants that it actually has demonstrated that just the smell, just the smell, not the taste, not the sucking, not the nurse act of nursing, actually can reduce the stress hormone cortisol in a baby and their experience of pain. Alright, my question for you is, do you think that's exactly equivalent to how a baby can be comforted by smelling let's say, a sweater their mother was wearing all day, you know how they sometimes say like, give the baby something that you were wearing? Do you think that's the exact same effect? Or do you think breast milk is really, above and beyond that? I think breast milk is above and beyond that, based on the fact that they've done these calculated studies? I don't I don't know. Actually. I mean, I mean, is it really the same as just an old sweatshirt in the I don't think so? No.

And where this becomes relevant is, you know, newborn babies have to have sometimes painful procedures like the heel stick the PKU test. And if they can actually just have the smell of breast milk near them, you can make it a lot less painful for them. Very interesting. Pretty cool. Yeah, that is cool. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. I mean, I think it's something we instinctively already knew. But it's nice to see that there's more research going on, and that there's real evidence to prove it.

I still can't get over our last interview with Zainab yet where she said there have been more studies done on tomatoes than on breastfeeding. Not shocking. I mean, come on.

Well, because you can make money on tomatoes not on breastfeeding.

I mean, that's nothing against the painful truth.

So let's start. Okay, I think you have some questions that you've pulled. So I'm going to jump in without having seen these yet. But I see that I'm asking the first one, right? Yes, that's okay. All right. Here's what it says. When I was laboring in the bathtub, my midwife said the water shouldn't be too hot, it was freezing and ended up getting out because I was too cold. Is that how it should be? No, definitely not. Not too hot, not too cold, just right, as we're looking for, you should be comfortable in the water. The reason you don't want the water to be too hot. And some people are only comfortable in really hot water. But I like it one shade shy of scalding and the winter months. That's how I like it. You want the temperature to be comfortable for you, and I'm with you, I like it to be extra hot, especially in the winter. But that's not great for pregnant women or laboring women, because once you raise your own internal core body temperature, you're going to raise your heart rate, which then can raise the baby's heart rate. So you don't want to feel flushed, you don't want to feel thirsty, you definitely don't want to be sweating. So somewhere between like 92 and 100 degrees is about right, the hot tub is usually around 104. So we're talking, you know, four degrees or more cooler than that, but you definitely shouldn't be cold. I mean, if you're cold, and you're trying to relax into labor, that's not going to work very well. The other thing that people often say is that the water temperature needs to be exactly your body temperature when the baby's born. So the baby transitions from the internal environment of 98 degrees to an external environment of 98 degrees. And that's actually not really true. You don't have to be that strict about it. Anywhere between 92 and 100 degrees comfortable for the mother is fine. Cool. Sounds good. Next question is for you. If there were anything I could know about being pregnant and having a baby, it would be to know how to ask for help when I need it. Why is this so hard? And do you have any advice on how to become better at it? Is this the one where you said we got two questions from two women asking the same exact thing this week on Instagram? Someone says yes. Okay. This is the one. What sometimes she said, Why is it so hard? Why it's so hard? How to know how to know how to do it and why is it so hard? I mean, all I have is my opinion here in my my own perspective, but when I did start to get trained in postpartum support, years ago, there definitely is a phenomenon out there where women have difficulty asking for help. And I do have my own theories on it. I don't know if there have been studies on this. But I'll start with this. There are a whole host of risk factors associated with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. And I know the question is not about that, but just bear with me. One of those is women at the high end of the socio economic scale, women who are overachievers, women who have their careers under control their education completed their houses in order, they might be independent, they might travel, they might be free to go out to nice dinners with their friends when they feel like it. The point is, when this category of women has babies, it's an experience of being just sideswiped. And it's almost as though you can feel like you've been a fake all these years that you made things look easy, because now nothing is easy. And it's really hard. When you suddenly ask for help with everything from Can you please go get me a glass of water, and hold the baby to even daring to say to people, would you bring me a meal. So I personally think that one part of this is just, frankly, the ego, how we viewed ourselves all these years, and how we believe we've shown others how to view us. And then we feel we kind of have to live up to that. And the other side, is that I think I talked about this when we had a amazing husband syndrome episode. Because I think there is a phenomenon in society where we're looking for the woman who has it all, or the woman who does it all. And I think that's just obviously a standard we can't live up to. So I think all of these things are what makes it difficult. That's the first half of the question. Trisha, do you want to comment before I get into the other half? I think I couldn't have said it any better than that.

I think the other half of this is like, what can I do about it? I tell my couples on the last day of their class with me and I just finished a zoom class about a week ago. And I'm starting another class in a couple weeks. And this is something that everyone usually hears from me when I talk about preparing for postpartum. I say start now, by having conversations with each other as a couple and with the family or friends who are closest to you, supporting you. And I hope you have some because some people move to new state and they have no support system. So the first thing is make it your job to start seeking and building a like minded support system, tell them in pregnancy. Agree Now, on the best ways for everyone to support you so that you don't feel like you're asking when you're desperate and emotional, but that it's all been part of the plan. come at it from an objective perspective if you can, so that you don't feel like you broke. And you finally got to this point where you just had to ask that those are my thoughts on this. I hope that's helpful. I think it's really helpful. And it reminds me of the conversation that we just had in our last episode with Maggie, who talks about the unspoken contracts that are in place in a relationship. And those unspoken contracts are basically the things that we just sort of go into having a new baby, and we just expect things are going to be done a certain way. But if we can talk about those things beforehand and modify those contracts, we will have an easier time asking for help. And we're gonna feel a lot more supported along the way. Yeah, I think you're right, Trisha. And because there's another thing that happens a lot. And that's where women are sometimes afraid their partner is going to say to them, but you wanted to have a baby. And it's like, Was that supposed to mean that I was, first of all, we're both responsible, if we both ended up having a baby one way or another whether this baby was planned or not, we're both equally responsible. So that argument that should never come up. For many women, they're afraid to ask because they're afraid it'll somehow be used against them. But this is not a job. Anyone can take in stride. This is literally a 24 hour job. So obviously, you're going to need help. And another thing that I tell couples is just whatever, whoever does all the things to keep the house going, whoever does the laundry, or the dishes after dinner, or the cooking or keeping food in the refrigerator, or running the errands or getting the next birthday present for the next relative who has a birthday, whoever does those things, whoever does each of those things, you have to wipe that slate totally clean when you have a baby, because now one person basically has no time at all. And you just have to say, look for the next year of our lives. Let's completely change how we're going to handle all this additional workload. So I hope those strategies are helpful. And I think the best thing I can say is starting these conversations in pregnancy is definitely the way to go so that people are not in an emotional state when they're trying to figure these things out later. Perfect. Very well. So thank you Trisha. This one says Do you have any tips for antenatal colostrum collection and what are the benefits of

Doing so I don't think I've heard of that. It's that common. I feel like it's becoming a thing. Okay. Is there that much colostrum coming from pregnant women's breasts that this is an option? Oh, yeah, well, I mean, colostrum production can start as early as like, you know, have 16 weeks, 20 weeks of pregnancy, you can, you can start having those changes. But I figured that it's just like a little tiny, glistening droplet, not that they can actually, that's our app, even store it. It is we do produce very small amounts of colostrum in pregnancy. And so if you are thinking about collecting it, it isn't going to need to be much. And the only benefit really, of collecting it is that you might need it if your baby isn't able to nurse right away, for whatever reason.

So that you have that colostrum on hand, so that you can immediately give it to your baby. If for some reason, you aren't able to put your baby to the breast, there's actually one other benefit of doing it. And that is by doing it. prenatally, you learn the skill of hand expression. And hand expression is a really helpful skill. So why would you say it's a helpful skill, and expression is a helpful skill because it really helps mothers who need to increase their milk supply, or if they have a plugged ducts.

Or again, if for some reason their baby is refusing the breast or can't breastfeed, being able to use your hand instead of a pump is more effective at removing milk.

So in short, you would say, I think it's personal choice. Like, like I said, I think this is becoming a little bit more of a thing. And I do think it's really actually very helpful to have if for some reason, your baby can't go to the breast. So if you want to extract a few tablespoons of it in late pregnancy and save and store that just in case, I think that's totally fine. Do I think you need to do this? No.

But learning how to hand Express is a great skill. So I don't see any harm in doing it either. I see potential harm in it looks that that potential harm that I'm thinking? You know, we talked in our last q&a about how one of the most common sources of anxiety around breastfeeding is women fearing in pregnancy that they won't have enough milk postpartum? And what if women start comparing? I had no colostrum in pregnancy that I observed. And if I had heard, like, you know, if you see some grabit, get the I know, my next question would have been oh my gosh, does this mean, I'm not likely to have sufficient milk later, because I'm not seeing quote sufficient colostrum now. So can you just take that head on? Yes. So the answer to that would be that there's no correlation. If you weren't able to really extract colostrum. Unlike pregnancy, that means nothing about your ability to produce it after your baby is born. Or about whether or not you're going to have a full milk supply. Good for women to know that.

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Okay, moving on to the next question. Cynthia, do you need to learn any special breathing techniques for giving birth? Or will you just know what to do instinctively?

Hmm. I like the way that's phrased. Well, all the other mammals know what to do instinctively. So I would love to say you'll know what to do instinctively. However, I don't think any of us understands that after nature, the most powerful force on earth is culture. And your culture has probably not shown you how to tap into your instinct when it comes to breathing when you're in labor. So all the other mammals don't have this obstacle. So when they go into labor, they naturally go into a state of trust. They relax, their breathing naturally deepens. And that oxytocin is flowing and allows them to dilate very easily and we know how that typically goes. You have probably seen somewhere in a movie or in a TV show.

That old fashioned technique that really can cut off oxygen supply and build stress in the mom, I even read a wonderful book. That was frustrating because it took place in India a couple hundred years ago and a woman went into labor and all the women surrounding her were supporting her and sit, okay, now breathe in very short, rapid breaths. And I thought, Oh, come on, I don't believe anyone was telling any woman that hundreds of years ago, I just think the author didn't know better. And she just took it for granted that she thought that was probably the optimal breeding technique. And there she is spreading it. Now missing misinformation spreads that easily. So here's what I'll say. We'll keep it simple, because in the childbirth class, obviously, that I teach, there are deep breathing techniques, there are three of them, one for calming your physiology at any point in pregnancy or early labor. One is specifically for when you are birthing your baby out after your 10 centimeters. And the one in the middle is a deep breathing technique as well, to keep you at your calmest during your most intense moments of that labor. And what they all have in common is deep breathing. And I will just summarize it like this, the longer and slower and more deeply you breathe, the better. When in doubt, breathe more deeply, because that will better oxygenate your blood, and breathe more slowly. Because that will relax your physiology, which then allows the oxytocin to keep pumping through you and creating more comfortable labor.

My experience in in giving birth myself and helping many women give birth simply just to remind people to breathe. Yeah, just really, yeah, don't hold your breath. And that's the other thing. I always say that there. I don't like any talk of rights and wrongs and labor. Yeah. But if we had to come up with a wrong like a don't do this, then it's don't hold your breath, whatever you do. And if it is available to you breathe longer, slower, deeper, without distressing yourself without going beyond your edge. Because that's true Trisha, there are nurses in our hospitals all over the country that are telling women particularly when they're 10 centimeters. Okay, what I'm gonna need you to do is hold your breath and push and just don't ever hold your breath. That's it just don't. That's the first step one is don't hold your breath, and breathe. And step two is try to create a relaxing physiology around that with deep breath.

So you'd learn this in a hypnobirthing class, you'd learn this in any good childbirth class, you've learned in any prenatal yoga class, it's another excellent way to prepare for any of this. These are life skills. By the way. These just skills you can teach your toddlers when they have stress in their systems, you teach them the control they have over their physiology by simply controlling their breath. When they get older, you can teach them to control their mind. Their focus, ultimately, may be meditation. But it begins with the breath. This is a tool we all have available to us our entire lives. Most of us live our whole lives. And we never use this incredibly powerful tool. We actually don't ever pay any awareness to breathing. I mean, think of you go throughout the day, like how many times do you actually take notice of how you're breathing. And like you said that simple. That simple step and just becoming aware, just 20 breaths a day you become aware can can really alter your your ability to be present. Just back to the breathing and labor real fast though. Sometimes it is the right thing to do and is instinctual for a woman to briefly hold her breath during pushing. As you're bearing down. You can hold your breath but what's not good is a prolonged breath holding or a coached forced breath holding if it's not instinctually happening for you. It's the law. It's the prolonged coaching now hold your breath for five more seconds when you really wanted to let your breath go three seconds ago. Right. Would you agree? Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, now we're back to instinctual. Yes, that would be against a woman's instinct. And you're right. Many women will choose the coaching over their own instinct. Right. Okay, for this next question, we brought in our good friend Tara Gibson, women's health physical therapist expert to answer this question with you, Trisha. Hi, Tara. Hi, Cynthia. Hi, Trisha. Alright, so let me jump in with the question now. And it says:

I'm 30 weeks pregnant. And I recently found out I have pubic symphysis dysfunction, which has been causing me a lot of discomfort and planning to see a chiropractor to do exercises and get a support belt. I know it'll be manageable, the rest of my pregnancy, but I don't know what this means for the birth and planning a natural birth. And I'm starting to wonder if this could make labor more difficult or harder to move around and change positions. Are there some things I can do to prepare or is there anything I need to know? Thanks so much for your show and everything you do. Alright, Tricia, why don't you go first?

Okay, well, I guess I would begin by saying that.

You know, pubic symphysis dysfunction is something that about a third of pregnant women experienced - but it really is a spectrum of, you know, there's a degree of severity. And the things that she is working on right now in pregnancy are certainly the right things to be doing. And they're going to be helpful to help her get through the rest of the pregnancy and also to help her recover more quickly postpartum. As far as labor goes.

It's not something that gets worse in labor. It's really just about avoiding positions that aggravate it. So really, the main position that you want to avoid, which we want to avoid in labor in general is being on your back with your knees spread wide apart. So the more the further apart, you pull your knees, the more stretch you're putting on the pubic symphysis. And just to be clear, the pubic symphysis is that little joint right on your pubic bone in the middle that during pregnancy is meant to relax. But sometimes the effect of the hormone relaxing can be too much too soon in pregnancy. And as that joint gets to relax, it can cause women to experience pain directly in the area or sometimes shooting pain in their legs. chiropractors are helpful. physical therapists are helpful. Epsom salt bows are helpful support belts are helpful. Movement is helpful. And avoiding movement that causes the pain is helpful. Women can find that if they're sitting for too long, it really aggravates it. But as far as the labor goes back to that, it's just you want to choose either a hands and knees position or an upright position squatting might work or it might not, but definitely being off your back. And it The good news is it usually results pretty quickly postpartum.

Alright, great. And Tara, thanks, again for being here. What would you want to add to that? I'm so glad to be here. So regarding the question, I first would just want to say everything that Trisha said is very meaningful. And I completely agree with I'll add a few points and kind of elaborate on that, from my experiences that pelvic floor physical therapist, yes, I, between a quarter and a third of women going through pregnancy will suffer from pubic symphysis dysfunction at some point during their pregnancy. So much of the reason it's there has to do with the pressure of the baby being on an uneven and overly lacks system. So the relaxing hormone has created more stretch to the connective tissue. And so if the pelvis is already prone to be a little bit, there are two sides to the pelvis. And sometimes it can get a little twisted. And that can cause a shearing on the pubic symphysis there can be unevenness in the pelvic floor muscles in the vagina and anal region as well as in the abdomen, the deep abdominal core. And that can affect the pubic symphysis. So this unevenness, combined with the pressure of carrying this baby makes it you know, incredibly painful for people that go through this. And that fear I think is very scary, even though I think the fear of what that pain is doing is worse than what the actual damages most of the time it's the symptom is worse than the damage. I guess it's a way another way of putting that. So oftentimes after that baby is delivered, you're going to feel a lot better anyway. And if not immediately, within a few months, you should still welcome the chiropractic or physical therapy help postpartum to help balance your system and help you recover more fully. But just keep that in mind and labor itself.

The position is important. I think there are a few points I'll make about that. It until you're actually delivering that baby when your pelvis is designed to open in all aspects not just around the pubic bone. But the sacrum is meant to drop back out into the sit bones ischial tuberosities will open and there's this space that's created, that it's not putting the pressure directly on the pubic symphysis. During that actual birthing experience, it's more the labor itself, potentially being uncomfortable. In my experience, and what most women have reported is that the sensations that they're going through with labor are superseding any of the pubic symphysis pain they're feeling. But here are a few keys that may help you in addition to what Trisha said. So being on your back or being in a position that is drawing your knees very tightly to your chest or out very wide, is pulling on the adductors the inner thigh muscles and the groin muscles that are directly attached to the pubic symphysis and that's going to be your biggest risk for the pain increasing. So minimizing that spread through the majority of the labor and then through the actual birthing process is actually key. So an ideal position is hands and knees, with the knees staying relatively close together.

Maybe opening the feet up a little bit, which opens the pelvic floor some, but not trying to spread your knees wide. If your knees are staying under your hips, and not bending forward into a deep squat, that's going to be potentially a very more comfortable position for you. If you have to be reclined on your back, here's some things I'll add to that. Try not to go all the way down on your back number one, number two, instead of drawing your knees in tightly, let them rest down so your feet are staying on the bed and support your knees with some comfortable pillows, something that may allow your sacrum to open up a little bit more and really support the full spread of the pelvic floor, if you are reclined in some way, is to put a pillow under your low back to kind of not not to tuck your pelvis, but to actually add a little bit more spinal extension. So your belly can go forward and drop down into the pelvic floor and give you a little more space for that. For that, that lower part of your sacrum to open. If you're on your side, it's not a position I highly recommend, especially if someone's holding your leg because they could yank on your pelvis. Just place a nice thick pillow between your knees and just rest there for your labor. Avoid pulling the knees and tight to your chest on your back as as Tricia was saying, and avoid a deep squat. Those are the major keys that I would say in terms of positioning. And just make sure that you have seen your pelvic floor physical therapists and or chiropractor, I recommend both during pregnancy, because that will potentially realign the pelvis and the muscles that are in fascia that are pulling on your pelvic floor and on that pubic symphysis. And you may actually get to be symptom free before you even go into labor. So definitely take advantage of that care because not only avoiding certain positions and movements, but actually balancing the system is often doable with the correct care, the correct manual therapy and exercise based therapy and postural training. So you're on the right track. And I hope that these answers kind of help you feel more comfortable with the the natural labor process. And I and for the specific woman who asked this question, I would not let this shake your confidence in her ability to have a natural birth. Not at all. Awesome. Thank you. And thanks to Tara Gibson for jumping on the phone with us as well. Thank you so much for having me. It was wonderful to be here. Excellent. All right. So one more question for today. I'm 10 weeks pregnant with my first child and have nausea and morning sickness. I know how important it is to eat well and pregnancy, but I just can't stomach the thought of most foods. Do you have any recommendations on foods or things I could take to reduce the nausea? My doctor has offered medication but I'd rather try natural things first. Any help would be awesome. And thank you for your outstanding podcast.

Well, thank you.

Tricia, what do you have? There are many things. First of all, I just want to give this mother reassurance that if you aren't able to eat very well in early pregnancy, you are going to be okay and your baby is going to be okay. Remember that our babies draw on our nutritional stores. So it's really your pre pregnancy nutritional status that's, that's most important for your baby's development in early pregnancy. And so there are some things that you can try before taking medication and you really again don't need medication unless you're having significant amounts of nausea and vomiting that are truly interfering with your ability to eat food and gain weight. The nausea is caused by the hormone HCG, which builds up overnight and when we have a lot of that hormone in our stomach in the morning, and we stand up it can really trigger a wave of nausea. So if you keep some dry crackers or something by your bed and you can put a little something in your stomach before you get up, that can be very helpful. So that's also the exact same reason that we tell pregnant women to eat small frequent meals so you don't have time for your stomach to empty and for that HCG to to contribute to making you feel nauseous. Ginger is also really helpful. A ginger lemon combination first thing in the morning is great a tea with some fresh lemon. extremely healthy. Yeah, it's extremely healthy and helps a lot with the nausea. Even just in hot water, honey, ginger and lemon. Yes, and delicious. So pretty. Another trigger for a lot of women is prenatal vitamins. So I always tell women to not take their prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach or if you need to take a liquid vitamin or a gummy vitamin even if you need to.

See bands are you familiar with C bands or acupressure can also be really helpful. C bands are something that people who get motion sickness and seasickness using they actually go on your wrist and they plaque they push on the acupressure point that helps reduce nausea and pregnant women have had a lot of success with that.

So, that's another thing you could try. Trisha. I have a really close friend in Minneapolis. Her name is Suzanne. And she's had three children three natural births. She suffered from severe nausea during her pregnancies. I think the first two of which lasted until she was seven months. And she had a family living with her just to help her take care of her toddler when she was pregnant because she couldn't function. And acupuncture was just like, resolved it. Really just like that. Yep, she never tried it until the second pregnancy. She was like seven months in. She was in the fetal position one day when I was speaking with her and she is this is not a dramatic woman. She can handle things in stride. Like incredibly, she has an incredible sense of humor about life. She just got completely knocked down with nausea and her pregnancies. And I'll never forget, she was just like, Oh, my God, Cynthia, acupuncture it That was it. Well, and resolve that immediately for her. So it's definitely worth I thought we were just talking to foods, but I think that's such an important modality. Yeah, no, I mean, that's how I always give the food recommendations to mothers first, and then if, if those aren't effective, the acupuncture the C bands, which you can get very easily, you know, at a pharmacy. And the other thing too, is just to be aware of your triggers. And you'll learn those pretty quickly and avoid them. So bland foods, but if you know that there are certain foods that are going to make you feel nauseous, obviously, you're going to stay away from eating those.

Guess what we just did? What? We just came full circle. We didn't we started off talking about comfort food. Thanks for the article you brought in we finished and we wrapped up talking about bland foods. Clearly food is the theme of the day. And if nothing else works, try breast milk. I don't know.

When all else fails, we have one more QA for the year that is going to be coming out, I guess right between Christmas and New Year's. Hmm, my goodness. Let's run Christmas. That's right. Let's remind everyone check out down to birth show comm we are hearing from people now. If you want to be on the show, if you have a question for the show. That's how we got a few of these questions. And of course, catch us over on Instagram at down to birth show and don't forget to subscribe please on Apple podcasts and Spotify. Spread the word Spread the Love. Eat some comfort food eat some bland food. Thanks everyone.

If you enjoy our podcast please take a moment to leave us a review on Apple podcasts and share a favorite episode or two. You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter @downtobirthshow or contact us and review show notes at downtobirthshow.com. Please remember this information is made available to you for educational and informational purposes only. It is in no way a substitute for medical advice. For our full disclaimer visit downtobirthshow.com/disclaimer. Thanks for tuning in, and  as always, hear everyone and listen to yourself.

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Outtake