Giving Birth Gets Easier When You Learn This

Hi Bridget, I'm Lora Collins. I'm 63 years old and I am a retired childbirth educator and doula. I am SO proud of the work you are doing. This information is needed to empower young mothers to own their childbirth experience. I showed this video to my husband who is a chiropractor and he was deeply impressed. He has a lot of young mothers coming through his practice and we have decided to send any pregnant mothers to your course and your Youtube channel. Thank you so much for this. The world needs your voice and your knowledge.

First kid did an epidural and the counting and pushing and it was a rough birth that resulted in an episiotomy and level 3B tear. Second birth went to a birth center and when I tell y’all it was 10000% easier! My body pushed and pushed it really wasn’t even painful just intense and ended up only having minor tearing which was so much better when it came to recovery. Trust the Lord in how you were made, trust your body and find a team you trust and you’ve got this!

Oh yeah I was wondering what on earth I could do to make labor easier, and I first hear you say don’t push, yeah. I gave birth naturally to 4 kids and I haven’t pushed any of them. I just breathe. I can attest to this video to be facts

WISH I could show this to the horrible nurse who was telling me not to push and trying to scare me and saying I would tear if I didn’t stop. She had clearly never been through birth her self nor did she have enough knowledge or sympathy to be a nurse. Luckily I quickly asked her to leave and the next nurse said “oh yeah you definitely cannot control the urge to push but try not to add to the push reflex until we’re ready”.

I ended up getting an epidural, but kept doing the breathwork I had been practicing during my pregnancy. I would watch the monitor for contractions, then breathe. It helped SO much even though I had an epidural, and I kept progressing along and only pushed a few times, maybe 3 or 4? I tore but since I was already numb I didn't feel it, so I'm thankful for that. So even if you do end up doing a medicated birth, breath work helps!!

Thank you so much for mentioning that this is largely only possible if going natural without epidural. Many videos online don’t add that key piece of information and then mamas wonder why their providers/nurses don’t practice this gentle method of waiting for the ejection reflex… it’s because so many people choose epidurals & then they don’t have or feel the reflex leading to more tearing, forcefully pushing, which is allll so stressful and so much more work! I understand their are times epidurals are desired & helpful but the facts around pushing with an epidural need to be more transparent 🙏🏾

Also, for my first VBAC birth I had the urge to push BEFORE I was fully 10 centimeters dilated. The fetal ejection reflex was so strong but I ended up swelling my cervix and had to wait until that went down and I was fully dilated to push baby out. For my next births I still listened to my body and pushing with the reflex felt great for me! Babes were out in 11 minutes and 15 minutes for my 3rd and 5th births 🤗! Such a great tip to wait until you feel the pressure in between contractions. Thanks for sharing ❤️🙏🏿!

I listened to your birth meditations during my labor, they helped me relax and breathe my baby out ❤

I had a successful VBAC - thanks to your videos and me believing you that I was built to birth!! However, as soon as I hit 10cm my midwife had me start pushing and I pushed for 2 hours - with no joy!! After 1.5 hours I did start to have the urge, but I was so exhausted (was a 36 hour labour). Ended up having a episiotomy and vacuum to help get baby out. Still so happy and proud of myself for having my VBAC, but with my next birth I don’t want to start pushing until I actually feel the urge to! Thank you so much for all this information Bridget!!

I also think having a good team helps. I just had my first a month ago and my doula made sure to keep me on track with contractions. I labored at home as long as I could. By the time I went to the hospital I was 6cm and 100% effaced. My doctor, nurses, and doula kept me going and even when I was tired and my hips hurt they reminded me it wasn't time yet. When I thought it was time to push and get the baby out they knew it wasn't time yet until I finally felt like the baby was coming and THAT'S when they were like oh okay now the baby is coming. My doula asked if I was pushing or my body was, I remember saying "I don't know but he's coming" then the doctor and nurses coached me on how to push and everyone kept me motivated. Yes it was painful, but somehow I expected it to be worse. And I felt okay after a nap when my baby was out. I 😆

I JUST listened to a podcast about this. So comforting to know that our bodies know what to do ❤

I had my son about 3 months ago at home and I let my contractions push him out. It was a wild feeling! It only took about 16 minutes once the pushing contractions started and I had no tearing and of course a lovely baby boy now!!

Good info. Sometimes you would need to push if your baby has shoulder dystocia and your baby is turning blue. Which was the case for my last home birth. She needed a little help breathing when she was born. And yes, I had a 3rd degree because of it. I had plan to breathe baby out.. but sometimes circumstances does not allow it.

I was looking forward to trying to breathe my baby out with my first birth. Unfortunately my baby was in distress due to nuchal cord and I had to "purple push" along with a vacuum assist to get him out quickly, which resulted in a third degree tear. I almost had to get a c-section, so I am glad that I was able to have my baby vaginally at all, and grateful the he was delivered safely. I hope I get a chance to try again with my second baby.

In the past I felt like bearing down and it was uncontrollable but with my most recent baby I felt like pushing but I felt like i was going to tear if I didn’t hold back a little bit. I was able to control my breath and pace my pushing a little bit to be more gentle and use some pressure to push his head down with my hand as well to help navigate him out and I had almost no tearing at all. Listening to your body is the way!

I am due next year but I am curious already how the whole birth thing goes. Thanks for all the info. I am scared the hospital might not listen to my wishes. I feel like everyone is doing a basic routine. Even the ultrasounds are like a random walk to the store and back. I am thankful for channels like yours otherwise I will learn absolutely nothing.

With my first, I got too excited and started pushing when I only sort of had an urge to push but I didn't have the FER yet which resulted in me becoming exhausted, having a hard time pushing with contractions, and being in a lot of pain. The FER was like a hail mary, it felt like I finally had help and I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Dare I say, it felt relieving.

OB wants to do induction at 41 weeks. I’m 40 weeks this Friday, just had a chiropractic adjustment to help open up the pelvis so baby can (hopefully) come soon. Praying for a natural, unmedicated, physiologic birth!

Your videos have been my favorite for preparing my mind and birth plan.

So good! Thank you for explaining this so well !!