20 Births Later: My Thoughts on Being a Doula →
Interesting perspective after 2 1/2 years of helping other women through a range of birth experiences.
Interesting perspective after 2 1/2 years of helping other women through a range of birth experiences.
As a plus-size woman who’s had two mostly intervention-free, healthy births, I wish that every birthing woman, no matter her size, could find a provider who’s supportive and reasonable. These are some helpful ways for birth professionals to provide optimal outcomes in women of size and could give women looking for a professional tips on what language and support to look for.
After years of having every bite nit-picked, pregnancy food diaries can be very triggering for women with long histories of dieting or eating disorders. In addition, many providers don’t believe women of size no matter what they say. As one mom shared, “[My midwife] refused to believe what I recorded. She flat-out accused me of lying, telling me that I ‘must be living on ice cream and donuts.’” This can be very disillusioning.
Yes. Sadly, this is true, and I experienced it last pregnancy, to the point that I was barely eating anything throughout my third trimester out of stress and guilt.
Further reading: Part 1 is on making childbirth education classes size-friendly.
On the process and effect of having an asynclitic baby.
Mikko’s head was tilted, since he had his arm wrapped around his (humongous) head (thanks, hon). With that and his size, my labor with him was quite long and irregular — lots of contractions that kept seeming to be leading to something, but then backing off with no seeming progress: 42 hours in all. Still, only 1.5 hours of pushing and no pitocin or pain meds needed, only minor tears, so it all worked out. The midwives told me afterward that having his head tilted for so long meant he wasn’t putting even pressure on the cervix to open it, and this article illuminates that he also was probably looking for the space he needed to maneuver through. It’s good to keep in mind that asynclitic can be just fine, only longer.
