I’ll preface this post by saying that I am not a mother. I have not had my own birth nor have I attended one personally…yet. I realize some of you might be rolling your eyes but this is super exciting to me so, roll them quietly. Please and thank you!
(Though if childbirth and what not aren’t your bag – I won’t be offended if you don’t read this post. It’s super okay to check out now. I won’t look! It’s cool. I’m just excited.)
Today was my first day of my Birth Doula Workshop that I registered for and told you guys about here! This course counts for two of the course requirements for certification by DONA International and is a three day, all-freaking-day intensive. Today was the Introduction to Childbirth for Doulas part of the workshop, tomorrow and Monday will be the Birth Doula Workshop. Truthfully, I was not thrilled to go this morning. As you all know, I’ve been having a super rough go of it lately. I was exhausted, hadn’t finished a super dry birth partner book and just…ugh. I wasn’t into it. I ran out of the house this morning, forgetting my lovely water bottle, armed with pillows and food and and and. Frazzled much? Well…
It was fabulous.
I have never really had much of a close group of friends, let alone women. I’ve had a few here and there but never have had a true community. Twitter is the closest I have come in the last year. Sad as it may be, I just tend to struggle with maintaining friendships, expectations and the like. Well, it was SO immensely powerful to be in a room with women, all being honest and open, supportive and non-judgemental. We talked about birth and placentas and blood and hormones and it was awesome. The Doula conducting the workshop talked about the oxytocin that we’d be creating during the workshop and to be careful if you didn’t want a baby in the next week, and I laughed. By the time I walked out, I really understood what she was talking about.
It was the best day that I have had in a very, VERY long time. I did this for no one but myself. I was not taking care of someone else (yet), I was not cooking for others or planning a day for others. I was there, sitting, absorbing, learning, sharing…for ME. Just Sarah. Lots of thinking about what I do for ME vs. Others today. Lots of it.
Anyway, I learned a ton. I knew a lot more than I think most non-pregnant women might already, but I learned so many cool things. Really guys, our bodies are AMAZING things. I mean it’s already pretty cool that we carry babies for months, birth them, bond with them and so forth right? Well it just keeps getting cooler once they are born. By far the coolest thing I learned about today?
The gist of this is that if you put a newborn baby on the center of a Mom’s chest or belly, they will crawl up to their breasts and find the nipple and start to suckle on their own, provided you just make sure they don’t fall! I just find it pretty amazing. The pushing that they do with their feet as they ‘crawl’ up, puts pressure on the mother’s uterus, encouraging it to contract and firm up too. Did you know that this instinct is also tied to the baby’s sense of smell? It’s one of the reasons you may want to wait to have your baby bathed after birth. It’s just all so amazing to me. Our bodies, we are just crazy complex and so cool to me. Maybe I’ll say amazing, one more time*.
If you’re into it, go check the video out. It’s kind of amazing.
*See? I told you I could make it happen.
Feelings? I ate them all. 