How is Labor like Valentines day? No this isn’t one of those horrible jokes. The childbirth process and the hallmark holiday are both centered around one key emotion that guides the whole process: Love.

Or more specifically for labor, the love hormone of Oxytocin.

Ask someone the first thought they associate with childbirth, and they usually say pain. This idea has been reinforced for years. Story after story mentions the pain, sometimes focusing on it almost exclusively. Certainly there can be pain during the labor process, but the key to this cornerstone of working with your labor is this: Your experience isn’t about the pain. It's about your mental attitude towards it.

As a doula I assisted at nearly 300 births before I stepped back from active practice. Certainly not all of these were unmedicated labors. In fact there were numerous labors I attended which made use of an epidural to help mom rest, relax, and ultimately release into the process of birth. I loved attending these births every bit as much as the natural ones. Every birth was truly magical. But I began to notice an occurrence in the immediate postpartum hour that seemed more common with the epidural and cesarean births. Shaking.

First time babies don’t usually fall out of their mother’s body. That you have some warning that they are coming, and usually that warning is soon enough that you will be able to arrive at your birthing facility in plenty of time to receive your baby. But of course there are those exceptions…And sometimes those births are exactly what you were hoping for.

The last post also talked about some of the simple things we can do to avoid and reduce the chances for having a Diastasis Recti (DR).

But what if we already have one and we still want to create deeper strength, or regain stability through the whole core body? Should we just be popping back into crunches and planks? (A hint the answer is NO!)

A 2016 study found that as many as 60% of women in the US have some form of Diastasis recti during pregnancy or postpartum. Nearly all pregnant people will have some widening of the linea alba- the connective tissue line that links the surface abdominal fibers of the rectus abdominus. (Think of the “six pack” muscle. That indent in the middle? That’s the linea alba. This dense fascia is meant to stretch during pregnancy to accommodate the growing uterus and baby, but if stretched too much, or loaded too heavily the tissue can separate, leaving a space in the top layer of the abdominal wall. This can then result in challenges such as back and hip pain, organ prolapse, incontinence, and general reconnecting to the core postpartum.