Hi everyone. In our first Talking Tuesday, our topic is ‘Why wait for labor to begin? Welcome everyone, good afternoon. My name is Tanvi Sharma. I am one of the co-founders with My Child First and, thank you for joining us this afternoon for our Talking Tuesdays First topic. – Why wait for labor to begin? We have, Divya Deswal with us, a lot of you would have attended, you know, her webinars, her classes, her talks, Divya brings with her 20 years of experience in the childbirth education space.
And she’s also, a craniosacral therapist, she also practices somatic experiencing. So, this afternoon, we are going to speak to Divya on ‘Why we should be waiting for the labor to begin’. A few of you also had sent us some questions. So we are going to bring those questions up, during our discussion.
So over to you, Divya, welcome. Hi, good afternoon, Thank you for joining us. We are with My Child First. I’m also one of the co-founders of My Child First. And we had three questions that we had got, and we had posted them up on that latest poster. And the first one said, EDD and estimate and not have to cut off.
And so, you know, when people are going into labor, sorry in pregnancy and they go to their doctor, the first thing they find out is what is the expected date of delivery. And then it becomes due date and due dates, and then it becomes due day. And then it becomes a kind of fixed on your calendar as a date where you think that’s the heart where I will meet my baby.
And this sets up an expectation because very conveniently, nobody tells us what the ‘E’ stood for. So ‘E’ means estimated, which means there was a certain equation or a certain formula applied to say that if this was your last monthly period, then this is the 40th week and that’s where it is.
But where did it come from? So, totally, when you read, old tales, ancient wisdom, you hear lunar months. So firstly, it’s a 28-day cycle and then babies can be born in eight, nine, or 10 lunar months. So it could be that whole period of time. And then accordingly, they were treated because the testaments didn’t say that this was right or wrong, but it just said that some babies come at this time, some babies come at this time, and some come, even later when Nigel, the gentlemen on which the formula is based, took that information. This is how he broke it down. And he said that all women have their menstrual cycle for 28 days. And on the 14th day is the midpoint. And that’s when the ovulation happens and that’s when the conception has happened. And then there’ll be 266 days for the baby to get gestated. But even as I’m saying this, can you see the issue here?
That this is an estimate because of the three things in this formula. The first one that says the first one that says that the women have 28-day cycles is not true. Some women have less, some women have more. Not everybody will ovulate in the mid-part and not all conception will happen in that short window.
And the most important is that when we see each baby’s gestation, they’re not robots. There are human beings. And so that gestation is 266 days, which is just an estimate on an average, if you bring that to, to this baby, this particular human being that you are carrying, how many of those things are true for the baby?
And we can’t really say that actually obstructed textbooks also recognize it for, they have a window, which is, they say 40 weeks plus-minus two weeks. And that would make it a month because if my, my baby’s due date estimated was 15th of July. When I say minus two weeks, it makes it 1st of July and end would be the end of July.
So July becomes my birth month. Not truly, the 15th. So shouldn’t it be called ‘due month’ and not due date? I think if we get caught up with the words and semantics, we will stay arrive at the same place as we are, but if as mothers and parents and care providers, we embrace this understanding and in our language, in our association, we change it. It becomes great.
So it’s when we say that we say, okay, for some people that may be only 45% of babies come on their due date. And so that, that period will come there, which also tells us that we don’t have to treat that due date as a cut-off point and don’t have to do interventions just because that date is gone.
So a lot of, a lot of people, uh, you know, uh, actually go beyond their due date. But the argument given is that you don’t really hear women will be on 40 weeks. That is because in the last many, many years, we are not letting anybody go past their due date. So we’re looking at the due date as a cutoff and then immediately we’re doing an intervention.
So really we can’t say, you know when they would have ideally gone into labor because we didn’t give them a chance, but if we see other, health services around the world, or if we see midwifery care, nobody’s in a rush to think of it is best by date or cutoff date as the due date. And they’re always willing to wait.
Now I have a very interesting incident. I had a French client as a doula. And when she came back from France and she found us, the doctor asked her, or so you’ve checked everything. What is your due date? And she gave a particular number. And then towards the end, when there was talking and the doctor said, you know, you’re just 39 weeks because there’s still a week to your due date.
She said, no, no, in France, the due date or the estimated due date is at 41 weeks. So that also tells us that there is really no worry about that 40 weeks as a number and a bigger picture of health for the baby and mother should be considered. And also, I’m wondering that if he was not French, but an Indian family lived in France, they would also look at their last monthly period and then given them a due date or an estimated due date of 41 weeks.
But babies, you know, if you want to look at babies’ growth, you have to look at them individually. We look at, ethnicity, we look at, there, their social conditions, their education levels, their stress levels, their nutritional levels, genetics, so many different things. And then to top it all the Mysterium of birth, this baby has his own story or her own story to tell. So, that is what we make it really, really unique.
So that brings me to another point Divya, you said about the babies. So, you know, what about the development of the baby? You know, so we, we should wait it out. So how does the development of the baby gets affected if we, have an intervention, you know, before the normal or the natural labor begins?
So to understand that let’s say what initiates the natural labor. Right. Does the baby have a clock? Does the baby have a calendar? Does he say, whoops, I’m late to come out or, you know, my lease in the womb or this environment was only 40 weeks and now it’s up? I need to come out. I don’t think the baby things like that.
In fact, I know the baby doesn’t think like that. So most of our biology, not just babies, but us will follow a developmental process. Which means one thing will happen. It will make the foundation of the next step. Then the next step will happen, then that will become the foundation. So there are always these growths and integrations or movement inward and outward.
This is really remarked in babies because when you see that development, you take a video or an animation of fetus’s development in, in kind of a fast-forward motion. You’ll see them going this way and then coming out this way. And this is how we meet the world. This is our developmental Quint. So something is developing and then something else is developing.
But this development is dependent on this. What has happened before and what will happen as an environment? What is the input coming in? What resources I have., if you want to really simplify it. Think about, an education program. So you say if I take my 12th exam with these subjects, then on this, I can build this as my bachelor degree, then I can specialize in this.
Can I afford to go into master’s right now? Can I do a double degree right now? Do I have enough time to study two subjects? Don’t we evaluate that on a daily basis for everything to see how we can develop? And this is not just growth, but development as a person and our resources. So the baby’s doing exactly that inside and he’s saying, okay, but what did fundamentally needs to do is to finish its growth in terms of organs that are needed immediately outside lungs being the primary one.
And it’s interesting that when you look at the research on new data, on how the baby initiates labor, they just directly linked to them. The lungs are producing a substance that is actually offering pressure inside the lungs as it’s developing. So in the beginning, it can’t exchange gases. So we don’t worry because nothing is happening in that field.
But as the development of the lung takes place, this fluid or this certificate, Is an outward pressure so that no circulation happens, through the lungs? Because we are stealing water in the amniotic fluid in the mother’s belly. Not as that suffragan’s releases in the amniotic fluid to the placenta, the complex ways that the baby and mother’s communicating the mother’s body begins to prepare, but there’s a window of preparation.
It won’t happen before the lungs are ready. So by saying that it is 35 weeks or 37 weeks, and this is what is happening with your baby. That’s not the truth. That is actually a reflection of a collected data that for the majority of babies by 37 weeks, this is happening by 38 weeks, this is happening. But again, how are we counting that 37 or 38 weeks?
That is a very important question. So we’re still counting it from an assumption of gestation. Was the baby truly conceived at that moment that we had considered possibly or not? So instead of trying to conjecture so many things, why don’t we leave it to the wisdom of the baby, which says, as the lungs will prepare, it will signal to the mother.
There’s a massive mechanism of signaling between the baby and my mother, both inside and outside. That’s what biology has given us. When we say about this natural, these other natural processes are already put in place. So can we let the baby then signal to the mother and decide when it’s the right time to come and lungs are not the only thing? So, you know, when we say, when we go to doctors and they say, Oh, it’s your 40th week, what’s the point of keeping the baby inside? Well, here’s the point of keeping the baby inside that as the baby’s growing and say, we say 40 is your cut-off, but actually that is not the 38th week of is its gestation.
We don’t know, even though people say that the first-trimester ultrasound is a more accurate age, agreed. But it is the age of the baby, we still don’t know how much time he needs to cook. And I’m going to give a cookery example. So a cake which always has a, you know, instructions are given of how much sugar and ingredients, and also how much temperature, how much time each oven will cook it differently.
This is a human baby. So even while we can quite well, estimate his age from a first-trimester ultrasound, which is gestational age, But if I can see the lungs functioning, then it is beyond 22 weeks and I’m not seeing this thing function. So this is the window. We can’t say how much it took him to get ready for that we still have to defer to the baby, because maybe he knows best. And so we wait, but the lungs are not the only thing that is preparing the mother’s body is being prepared in different ways. So there’s Presto blending that is softening the cervix. There are receptors on the smooth muscles of the uterus that get more active and abundant over a period of time as oxytocin, gradually increases in her body, which means that two days earlier is the capacity to sustain or receive oxytocin was X.
It may be something more than that after two days. So even if we were negotiating two days, Before intervening, we’ve given the body that much better chance to receive, you know? Then that’s one of the things, but the mother’s body is producing antibodies for the baby. Now she knows that the baby’s coming.
So, the colostrum, the vagal fluid, all these different things are getting ready for the same process. And that is what majors and, you know, kind of already put into place. The other things that are going to the baby’s brain is growing quite phenomenally in the last few weeks. More importantly, the myelination of the nerves is happening.
What does that really mean? That means the information from the brain to the body will go more effectively if there’s myelination and for a particular interest, is that smell because that then perineal nerve, because that would then do heart-rate breathing digestion of the baby. These are ones of the few parameters we look at right in the beginning.
How’s the heart rate going on. And so, yes, that’s true. And one of the reasons why we want to offer this information in the sense of power to women, because they’re getting anxious, this cut-off date is making everybody anxious. Oh, don’t take that chance. But what is the chance we are taking? Right. If we want to bring the baby out, is that not a chance we are taking this way?
I just want to say it here and I just read it in one of the comments, but I want to reflect that back, which is really true that, the anxiety of the mother is a damper from the mother’s side on the labor process. So while the baby is now getting ready and he’s signaling something, the mother is saying, no, no, but I’m very anxious, which basically your nervous system saying it’s not safe to get the baby out yet. And it’s putting a damper.
So both of them are working together, but it’s really worthwhile to wait because so much is happening in these last few days.
So there’s one question by, Gaya Ramaswamy. And she’s saying that I’m pregnant with my second child. And yesterday when I discussed with my gynecologist regarding waiting, beyond my due date, so she said, no, we can’t wait beyond 40 weeks and that’s why the due date is given. But that’s an estimated due date. It also says, plus-minus, correct, due dates are not fixed. So, so maybe there are two things I can, I can suggest. One is first to see how you feel about waiting or not waiting. What is important to you because if you’re going to choose the ideal or the perfect path and get anxious about it, that’s gone non-productive.
So what do you want to really do is to first tune into yourself and saying that my doctor is saying this she’s my care-providing team, but I strongly feel this. And this is what I am most comfortable with. So it may not be an ideal situation since you are in a situation like this, but it would be, this feels better for me than this.
And then take the next step on that, which means, which could mean discussing with your doctor, if she’s open to it or getting a second opinion. But it starts with you because more than anything that your baby feels about the world, in the reality of what’s happening outside is your perception of it.
So it’s really important that even when you’re making these decisions, which may be not what evidence she is, would not be ideal, but this is where you’re at. And these are my options, which one feels the most simpler for me to do. Because finding that place of saying, Oh, I can be with, this is also a signal to the baby saying, Oh, the world is safe for them.
So I wish I had a more, let’s say ideal or a more practical or a more definitive answer, but there isn’t because doctors are people, but when she says that, Oh, that’s why it is a due date. You’re not penalized, for not paying your bill on the due date. It’s not like that. So ask her what the E in the EDD stands for.
And then when we take an estimate, there’s always a 10 to 15% up or down for anybody. That’s why we say, oh, just give me an estimate. And you don’t want the person to that number, but we know that it can go up by 10% or 15%. So you also mean that, because of you know, the mother’s anxiety, that could be a psychological disadvantage.
Yeah. Not just like logical all psychologies in the body as well. Right. It is a body expression, which is, there are neurochemistries, there’s muscular tightness. There’s so much to do with fear. Okay. So I’m just going to read a couple of more questions before, you know, we go to the third point.
I actually was about to start the third point. Nits.RK is asking how much of a risk is involved, with the baby and the mother, when the due date goes beyond 41 weeks, even at natural birthing centers, they are ready to induce in some natural ways. True. That is true. Again, when we do risk evaluation, there is never a hundred percent answer for that.
So there are many other things that we’re looking at. So what does that work that we are looking at? There are ways to look at how the baby is doing right now. Some of the fundamental things, like what is the blood flow? How is the amniotic fluid may be considered, how is the mother feeling? What is the general well-being of the mother?
It conversation about what’s going on with them. So it’s not really, we say that if you look at the numbers, we say, okay, the risk increases gradually for 41 weeks. And then definitely after 42 weeks. And therefore everybody does have a sign for an outside boundary, but think of societies where there are no numbers or people are not evaluating, or people don’t remember their date or fourth time, and they didn’t remember so many due dates, how did we evaluate it?
Sometimes you have to think that the number is actually probably the one that is making us anxious. So risk does increase our performing two weeks. That is what research, but I will try, like to say that when we do research, there are set parameters in which we are researching, therefore for the same object, we might find research that says one way, and then the other way.
So, ultimately it comes back to you because no matter what decision you take, this is your baby and your risk and no time is anybody else taking the risk? So let’s say that you’re past your 41 weeks. The same conversation holds true even then with your care provider. The only difference in our, in our relationship with a care provider who is supportive, is that they are listening to your feelings and they might give you options.
And they may not be ideal options because the idea would be that the baby will initiate labor, but you would still be able to say, How do I feel? What do I do next? And then a part of this knowing is also understanding that if I have intervened, for whatever reasons, whether my anxiety, whether some issue with the baby, whether medical reason or fear, whatever it is, if I have, and this is not the ideal time for the baby, then my baby may need a little bit more consideration because, from the baby’s perspective, he just got yanked out or evicted before he was ready.
So the whole process of this conversation is not really about identifying right and wrong, but more to give skills to parents, to make decisions, get a little bit of risk tolerance and support themselves and their babies to come out of this back to what would be a more regulated way of life rather than getting caught or you know, not being able to release what has been done.
Okay, great. We have another question from Lakshmi Priya Mohan, and she’s asking that, so we wait up to a maximum of 42nd week, and if still no labor comes so we can go in for an induction. Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. If you are in obstruct, extracted care, even. So again, each care provider will have their own philosophy. Some care providers, midwives who do home births, who know your family knows you well, have their own way of evaluating risks, but every human being will have an outside boundary, but then boundary cannot be imposed. So while science says 42 weeks and mother may feel differently and then she has a care provider.
They can wait, or she may not feel comfortable even doing 42 weeks. And that can also be a conversation, but it cannot be a conversation that is being imposed on a mother and baby, because this is a cut-off date. Okay, we have another question from Kruti and she’s asking what would be the amniotic fluid levels at 38 weeks? Is it necessary to get induced, or fluid level if the fluid level goes down to eight?
Okay. So when you look at your EFI index, depending on what mechanism they’ve used for measuring it, you’ll be able to see a range. The first question would always be, is it within the range? Just as an evaluation, if it is already within the range, there is no urgent rush to get the baby out now then maybe because of look at the weather around.
Say, for example, I have a mom who I’m supporting this it’s eight at 38 weeks. Look at the weather around you. Have you hydrated? Well, give yourself 72 hours and go to hydration, including, salt balancing. So maybe three narial paani (coconut water). Let’s review it again in three days. So three things can happen. A) – the fluid index goes up. No problem. It was the hydration. We solved the issue. Let’s move on. Number two, despite doing everything, stayed the same, but it’s still not decreased. And so can I maintain my level of hydration so that I can buffer it? And number three, it is reducing what it says, despite my best efforts, something is going on with this baby.
How much is it reducing only then can you evaluate whether this is a matter where you should intervene or not? So most interventions are not especially at induction on not like, Oh, it’s an emergency. Let’s get the baby out. Now, if it is a true emergency, that would be a cesarian. This is an emerging situation.
Something is changing. So we’re watching. A good conversation would say, this is what is happening. This is what we are watching. These other consequences. This is the timeframe we can wait and the middle observing it. And if anything changes towards an emergency, then we’re going in that direction or it points in that direction.
Then we choose an induction otherwise you don’t. There are a lot of women who’ve had supposedly low AFI and three days later hydration, even if the baby moving, find themselves that now, oh, now it’s nicely buffered. Because it’s the timing. If we had done that ultrasound three days later, or two days earlier, maybe the results will be different.
Okay, we have another question from Rishti, she is asking. I wanted to understand that my gyneac says that we might need to induce pains before the 40th week since the baby’s abdomen is not growing sufficiently. What do you suggest about that? Okay. So I don’t want to comment on a medical condition.
If she’s saying that the abdomen is not growing sufficient, there will be an ultrasound that would write it down, and then there will be a diagnosis that she would do you, which she would put in writing. So when we talk about awaiting and estimated due date, we are definitely talking for women in the range of low-risk normal, natural, healthy pregnancies with healthy babies.
If there is truly something that the baby’s growth is affected, then that is another conversation to have for you to understand. What are the signs that you’re seeing that indicate that this baby needs to come out now? Do you understand that? Do you get a chance to evaluate it, maybe get a second opinion on it and it has to be on paper.
It can’t be in the air because if it’s the truth they should put it down. That’s a genuine medical reason and there are medical reasons, why the baby should come out early. And inductions I’ve done. So I’m not denying that at all. That was not the conversation, but if they are saying that the abdominal is not growing, then they will have an ultrasound result and a clinical correlation where the final authority, your doctor will write down a diagnosis.
On which the action has been proposed. So the options are laid out for my condition. If there is a condition. Definitely. I think that’s the whole purpose of having medical science is to, kind of save, you know, protect us from the offshoot of pathology that may arise for a few people, but not to intervene in a system that works well.
How many of us do that system that works, well, how many times do you open up your car and if it’s running well or took it to the garage and last time I asked this question to somebody, they said, we send it for servicing regularly. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s the difference between nature and inanimate that the servicing system is within us.
And one of those systems is called sleep. So when we sleep our body repairs and gets serviced for the next day. So it’s not servicing. I’m talking about, do you get your engine open? If there is nothing wrong with you and if it’s running. It is making a sound or if it’s doing giving you trouble, that’s the time to take it to a specialist to a mechanic.
Another question from Favzaan, she is asking why do most doctors opt for induction at the 39th week, even in a normal pregnancy? Technically, I can’t answer that question because I’m not a doctor. And I think that is one of the questions we should be asking doctors, but I don’t think doctors have much tolerance for our questions.
There was a study that said that the risks increased considerably after 39 weeks and then they listed out some risks. And then they have listed out two studies, this was an ACop paper. And then they went back and said that, no, no. You know, when you look at that study, it doesn’t really come to that 39 weeks.
But you know how things are once we hear a negative, it’s very hard to push it out of your mind. So now everybody’s doing conservative or different medication. And I think primarily because doctors don’t, study the growth developmental psychological effects of what babies go through or what anxiety can do to mothers. They study it afterward. Or if you’re anxious, then you know, you’re anxious, your fraternities affected, but your birth can’t be affected. Your baby’s development is not affected. But they’re not looking at the links that this might be the cause of anxiety for the baby, because that’s not how they are taught and a majority of our life I think we live with a paradigm that is already fixed as templates. It’s called a subconscious program or social programming or educational programming, cultural programming, subconscious programming. So perhaps they’ve not looked at the other side of, you know, as the baby’s born and you take the baby home and whatever happens in the restaurant that we’ve not seen the correlations yet.
Maybe that is why, but I really can’t answer that question though, it’s true. Two questions which we had received, prior to the session first was, is it true that induction of labor doubles your chances of having the cesarean? Right. So the word doubles are the problem here because humans are very individual.
Therefore those two studies will not produce similar results. We, let’s say that there is nobody else in the world like me or you. We are all unique in that way. So to answer this question, I can tell you the process that may lead to more intervention including cesarean. But I can’t say the word double is a very fixed number.
So if you, if for, for most people, if you have decided that this is, the baby is ready, but the baby’s actually not ready, the link between the baby and you gives a very clear signal to your body, which is pregnancy. Keep the cervix shut. Because we need the baby to grow fully so that he can survive outright.
Now, if the induction is done at a point where the baby was not ready, then despite all of the medication and the pains you take, your cervix will not dilate and that will become a C-section. So right off the bed, we have opened ourselves to a possibility of a C-section because we cannot know how it will behave because we don’t know how ready the baby and body are.
There is something called the Bishop score in which you can check how the body, how the cervix is today. But that is not a Testament to what will happen tomorrow. That is just a retrospective story of what has happened till this moment. So when we look at the Bishop’s score is a really good building user, that it may not be the truth.
The cervix is soft and seems right, but wasn’t quite ready to open up. Think of all the people who go for a holiday and pack three weeks ahead of time, and think of people who pack two hours before the flight. Cervix is like that. We don’t know its nature where it’s going. That’s number one, number two – induction does come with its own mental anxiety, but it also feels in the body as something is done from outside. So, think about pushing yourself on a weight training machine versus weight, being loaded on you. There’s a very different feeling of safety and threat in the body when you’re lifting to your own, you’re punching higher than your weight, but you’re doing it with motivation.
Something assists you from inside, but if you are loaded with me, don’t buckle under that weight. So depending on how your body perceives those contractions, it can either open up or shut down. So that’s another way it can lead to a C-section gladly is that you might have very strong contractions. You may take an epidural for it, but the baby’s feeling each of those contracts.
And what does that mean for the baby? The utri gets tighter and his head gets pushed against harder muscle former muscle oxygen supply is deprived. How does that mean maybe experience that we don’t know? So fetal distress and might become the reason for your C-section. So we have opened up many opportunities for things to escalate to a C-section by intervening.
And that is true for any intervention. When we bring in something from outside that is not endogenous to our body. That’s not, we don’t have mechanisms to deal with depending on how we perceive it. We believe that open up to it or shut down to it. And that is why there are more chances of C-section but stress also does that to you.
So really we are not comparing, I want to simply say drop the objective. If you do not have a higher objective, the objective is to work for the benefit of the baby. And then that means tuning into the baby, asking the baby, feeding yourself. If I feel comfortable, if I feel open and expensive, chances are my, my body will open up.
But if I’m feeling like Oh my God, then that is so much more effort is needed to open up that side because it’s the muscle. And, you know, when you have mental stress, your neck hurts, your arm gets your back, gets tight. Muscles transfer that tension from one to the other. So I hope that answers your question was a really long answer that wasn’t really direct to the point as a yes and no.
Okay, one more question came in, which she’s saying, do a large baby is, can a large baby be a medical reason for induction.
Okay. I want to understand that baby is the baby already large then it doesn’t matter, but the baby is going to become large. How do we define that? But more importantly, why would this baby become large? Again, I want to bring this to our attention. We are talking about waiting and letting nature take its course for women who are healthy and low risk, which means the baby’s healthy. So the baby’s healthy and the mother and the baby’s body are synchronized in biological processes. Why would any baby become too big to come out? How do, how do you explain that in terms of nature’s perspective of procreation? I cannot understand that. So unless the mother’s body has a pathology or metabolic dysfunction, Why would the baby become bigger?
Also remember this baby was a germ seed in your, you only when you are a fetus in your mother’s womb. So this baby is, this cell has the wisdom of your growth. It knows exactly what your pelvis looks like. The second part of it, what part of the baby’s big, the head, the shoulders is crunchy.
Everything is moveable. The mother’s body is also moveable. So this is the pelvis. This is the head. This can increase in size and this can decrease in size. Then where does the problem of what defines big? So I don’t understand the big baby. A tall baby can look high in weight. So they’re just tall. Which part is considered to be big? So we are talking about big babies from a paradigm of doctors who see pathology, who have learned to deliver women in lying down with neither of the joints becomes mobile and have a baby push upwards. So it’s really counter-intuitive to giving birth and therefore I don’t believe that they love big babies at all.
Great. So, that kind of answers all our questions in case anyone else has any questions you can post them in our comment section. I hope we were able to address most of your queries and, okay. So another question came up – is there more risk in a second pregnancy than the first? In case of normal delivery, wait beyond 40 weeks.
No, because mechanisms of growth of the baby are developed from the baby’s body, the placenta, the cord are part of the baby’s cells for the baby is not a second baby. He is the baby. And yes, gestational age may change between the first and the second baby. That’s the dynamics of this baby with the mother.
It could also mean that this mother’s body is matured enough or has experienced labor before. So some of the receptors are easily matured. It’s not a new journey she’s taking, but having said that, why should there be any risk to the baby? Because for the baby the placenta, the cord, the amniotic fluid, the membranes – they are his cells and have nothing to do with the mother. And so, no, I don’t think so.
Great. Okay. So, that brings us to the end of this, live session. And thank you everyone for attending this session. Sorry, just one last question we are going to take by Nit. She’s saying, what are the natural induction ways? Any recommendation, like consuming Castrol oil, doing squats jogging, etc.
Okay. So, this natural induction is one of my pet topics. Just because we put the word natural, organic in front of something. Does that make it any different than induction? So the word induction, hear it carefully and think what is my purpose? You know, why am I not rushed to evict this baby?
Because as far as the baby’s concerned, anything is going to throw him out of his eviction. Am I afraid of what the doctor might do? If I cross my due date, that’s a conversation with yourself. Or do I look at these global remedies, tinctures, and things that I do as if facilitation for my body, if your attention or your, your intention is to prepare your body for birth, then, by all means, the jogging, the squatting, everything will help, but the desperation, the anxiety of beating the induction or doing whatever will probably counterproductive? Having said that when for me, when you’re consuming something, you should know really well that when I’ve consumed something, it’s an irreversible process. Can I, you know, I have to see what might come up.
So Castrol oil leads to a lot of distress in the gut lining and how that might be perceived by the baby and that’s the unknown quality. And so, but squatting, what does squatting do? It actually opens the pelvis, gives more room for the baby as the baby comes down. So this is the wall of the uterus, and this is the wall of the amnion or the amniotic fluid bag.
And as the baby and that is the one that produces, say, prostaglandin movement. These things can support the baby coming into a better position signaling to the mother. But there is really no straight connection to say, if you do this, this will happen. That’s not how it ever works. It works.
So if you eat so much of iron pills or so much spinach, your hemoglobin will grow up and grow by this. But to see how this process will facilitate my body or support my body, that’s an important question. And then you can look at women doctors through that lens, but if you have a moment, you catch yourself thinking, Oh my God, what can I do so that I beat induction or start labor naturally.
Well, this desperation tells you but this is really not natural. Nobody’s supposed to feel that upset or that anxious, especially when they’re carrying the baby. Look at her culture. We, we, we always want to make a pregnant woman be happy. We tell her that eat well, rest. Be happy. Read good books. Look at good media. Why are we telling them to be happy?
Because they’re going to get so anxious about giving birth. To put it in perspective to how you feel about using, but it’s nothing new. We eat specific food to grow the capacity of our body, including protein, etc. We have used tinctures, herbs, oils, majority of our, you know, self-care comes from that, but it’s self-care and you have to approach it like that.
If you can approach it like that, then everything’s good. Do your research on it and you feel comfortable taking it. You believe in it. Go for it. So a question has come from Priyanka though I know that you’ve addressed this question regarding the stress and anxiety, she’s saying I’m in the seventh month, and right from my conception time, I have been undergoing a lot of mental stress and I’m concerned that this will, cause and that if this will cause any difficulty in having natural labor.
I can’t answer that question because it’s unique, but I’m happy to hear from you, maybe not today, but maybe, you know, you can write to us on our email and tell me what is that stress because of, and, on one hand, we can look for ways of supporting you through that stress. If it is something that you can’t get rid of.
And the other side, if it is a daily kind of up and down, then that doesn’t really affect the baby that much. But if it is really something very deeply connected to you, then we would like to support you too, you know, how to buffer it. The best way is to not feel stressed, but it’s easier said than done. So, it’s, it’s not a simple answer.
Please write to us. I, I would love to address it. And also, if, if you want to share that, maybe next time we are going to talk about anxiety and fear. Being natural as well. And how that comes in contrast. So that is our topic for the next session for the Talking Tuesday is around this, that ‘Birth is natural and so is fear’.
So we would be addressing this. We would be happy for, you know, you all can attend that session. However, Priyanka, it would be great if you can, you know, come back to us, put in your details, either through a direct message or write to us on our email ID, we’ll be happy to address.
So, you know, your question one-on-one. So, one last, suggestion that has come from Zoe, she’s saying, would you like to recommend women, in terms of, you know like a tool that they can, so, let me just actually read hook, you know, message. How do you recommend a woman, a woman equipping herself with tools to advocate for both.
She may desire without handing over her part to a doctor or anyone else for that matter. Okay. Something very close to my heart and the word that you used is quite correct, that women do handle that pause. Nobody takes it from them. So firstly, it starts with your preparation. You know, when people are talking of birth plans, they talk about the birth plans that the caregiver would do.
But for me, a birth plan starts with me clearly understanding what is important to me and then discussing it with the other parent, the partner, and the larger family, because you need their support first. Then finding a care provider who is either online with you or is open to negotiation. But the way that you frame that conversation and that conversation happens way before labor begins.
So birth plans are not primarily said to, oh, this is my birth plan and you are to follow it. But birth plans are evolved out of a mutual understanding, which would put your insecurity on paper. If you do it early, it also gives you time to get a second opinion, explore other options without feeling the pressure that I’m stuck here.
We never put ourselves in that corner, so ask those questions. So there are a few things that will happen a) Your care provider will give you the answers or they will not. If they’re not, you know, that’s not a good fit. Somebody who cannot take their time to answer your questions. When that is that primary job to reassure you, to make sure you feel safe, then is that a good fit for you?
If they do answer your questions, a couple of things may arise. A) they may be in line with what you’re saying. That’s utopia. The second thing would be that they may not be in line with it, but they’re open to listening. And that that’s where the sharing will come. That you know, natural birth is my responsibility when I need medical help or when I need it, or when I want it, you are there. You’re my team. And that puts the relationship in perspective in terms of where power is concerned. And thirdly, it would be that they say, no, I’m the doctor. This is how I practice. Take it or leave it. You still have a choice to leave it and find another care provider. So there may not be a chance that you may get the first thing ticked off right away, but you may find a care provider who would, probably there’ll be a give and take, and you may get the majority of the things that you truly want. And also it gives you a time to go back in one chain to, I really want this, or, you know, how do I feel about this? So it isn’t about getting everything your way.
That’s not power. The true power says to clearly define what I want and then stand for it and then find a way to make it happen because that’s what you’re willing to do as a parent, as well as for your child. You’re going to look at the limited options life throws at us, and you’re going to pick the one that optimizes your potential and you’re going to work hard for it right now.
Does that help?
Great. So I think that brings us to the end of the session. Thank you all for attending our Talking Tuesday’s first live Insta live with Divya Deswal on this topic. Our next session is going to be next Tuesday and the topic is, around, you know, fear and anxiety. So we will be posting details about the live session on our Insta handle.
Thank you so much all for attending this, live session with us, and thank you Divya for answering all the questions, so patiently and, thank you all. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you. See you next Tuesday.