New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth. Janet Balaskas
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Название: New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth
Автор: Janet Balaskas
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Здоровье
isbn: 9780007388295
isbn:
The Pelvic Bones
Your pelvis is the part of your body most directly involved with giving birth. It is the bony passage through which your baby will pass as it is born. During pregnancy your body produces hormones which soften the joints in order to increase their flexibility and assist the birth of your child. By regularly practising the exercises recommended in the next chapter, you can make the most of this natural flexibility and be at your physical best for giving birth.
TRY THIS:
a. Kneel on the floor and explore your pelvis from the outside. Place your hands on your hips and find the illiac crests – two bony points at your sides – and follow their curved rim with your thumbs round to the back. Feel your pubic bone in front, your sacrum and coccyx at the back.
b. Sit on your hands and feel your two buttock bones.
c. Kneel, then lift up one foot so that you are half-kneeling and half-squatting. Explore your pubic arch. Feel its curve extending from your buttock bones under your pubic bone. Your baby’s head will pass under this arch as it is born.
Your pelvis is shaped internally like a curved funnel – exactly the right shape to accommodate your baby’s head as it passes through during labour. From above you can see the pelvic inlet in which your baby’s head will engage, ready to be born; and from underneath the outlet through which it passes at birth.
Your pelvis has 4 major joints
The pubic joint in front can open by as much as half an inch during labour to make room for your baby’s head.
The two sacro-illiac joints are at the back. These joints expand from side to side and also move in a pivot-like way to increase the area of the pelvic canal and adapt to the shape of the descending head of your baby, as it passes through the pelvic bones.
When you bend forward, as in squatting or kneeling, your sacrum and coccyx lift up and this opens and expands the pelvic outlet. When you bend backwards or recline, this has the effect of closing the pelvic outlet and narrowing the space by as much as 30 per cent. This is one of the reasons why reclining is the worst position to adopt for giving birth.
The sacro-coccygeal joint is between your coccyx and your sacrum. This joint loosens during pregnancy so that your coccyx moves out of the way as your baby is born.
The pelvic joints are held together by ligaments which are like strips of very strong elastic.
The sources of power of this part of your body are the muscles which are attached to the bones and bring about movement at the joints when they contract and relax. The pelvic muscles include the buttock muscles at the back which provide strength and support for your spine and upper body, and are especially important during pregnancy. At the base of your pelvis, attached to the area around the outlet, is a sling-like band of muscles which form the pelvic floor. These surround and form the base of the anus, vagina and urethra. These muscles support all the abdominal contents and your baby will pass through them as he is born.
The uterus is a powerful muscle shaped like a hollow bag within which your baby is growing. It is attached by strong ligaments to the pelvic bones.
Other muscles which are attached to your pelvis are the abdominal muscles, back and leg muscles. Your pelvis supports and distributes the weight of your upper body, and protects and supports your uterus and growing baby.
Correct flexion of the pelvis during pregnancy is crucial for good posture, for the safe carriage of your child and will help to ensure a good birth. The exercises for pregnancy concentrate on the pelvis and include all the major joints of the body.
Your Spine During Pregnancy
Your spine is made up of a column of bony vertebrae which extends from the coccyx or tailbone at the base, and includes the fused vertebrae which make up the sacrum (back wall of the pelvis), then the vertebral column which begins with the first lumbar vertebra in the lower back, and continues all the way up your back to the smaller vertebrae, which make up the neck and support your head. In the joints between the vertebrae there are spongey discs which act as shock absorbers and assist healthy movement of the spine.
The spine has natural curves and is capable of a range of versatile movements. A healthy spine can bend backwards or forwards, it can twist or go from side to side, or it can combine several of these movements at the same time. Your spine is the central shaft of your skeleton and supports your internal organs, your-ribs, and lungs, as well as your head. It contains your spinal cord and is the supportive structure of your autonomic nervous system. It controls movement and keeps your body weight balanced. Your spine is dynamic at all times – even when you are asleep.
During pregnancy your spine has the additional task of supporting the weight of your growing uterus and its contents. As your baby grows, the natural curves of your spine will adjust to the additional weight in the front of your body. After your baby is born your spine will regain its normal curves and will have to cope with the many hours of carrying your baby during infancy.
A healthy spine should adapt easily to the demands of pregnancy and mothering.
However, often we are unaware of underlying imbalances or stiffness in the spine, and the additional stress of pregnancy may result in poor posture and back pain. Practising the exercises in the next chapter regularly will help to relieve or minimise back pain and will strengthen your spine and help to maintain its flexibility.
Heart and Lungs
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