more hijacking.

Try not to deliver your baby while you are laying on your back, legs up in stirrups or legs being held back by the nurse and Fussy. That position is convieneint for the doctor, not you. The way that our bodies are made has our tailbones curling in towards our bottoms. This makes an up hill curve to the birth canal when a woman is lying on her back, or even sitting up a bit. The perineum is more likely to get kind of stretched upwards as it is being stretched open, and thus making the woman have to push her baby up and over the perineum, and causing tearing/episotomy.

Push baby out when your body says so, not when a 10cm measurement and doctor/midwife tells you to do so. Your body has the knowledge to push baby out when it is time, and rushing nature tends to end up with more complications.

Here are some tips on birthing positions that may help prevent tearing/episiotomy:
*Water is THE best natural pain reliever. See if your hospital/birthing center has big bath tubs, or whirlpool tubs, or birthing pools, or showers with chairs in them. the warm water will help distract and relieve you. If the tub is deep enough, it can give bouyancy to your belly and rest to your muscles in the rest of your body, and takes gravitational pressure off of your perineum. If you can, go for a waterbirth. I have read that most of the time, women who birth in water have minimal or no tearing at all. (I want to go all "hippy"-like and have a waterbirth if Mayhem and I get preggers)
*If you feel that you must lie down, you can lay on your side to birth, and Fussy can hold your leg.
*Squatting is a great way to lessen pushing time by letting gravity help you. Fussy can supprt you in the squat, or you can use a bar that goes across the bed to hold yourself in the squat.
*You can birth on your hands and knees, or holding on the the back of the fully up raised bed.
*If your hospital/birthing center has birthing chairs, they are good to birth on too. They work on the idea that when you sit on a toilet, your pelvic floor muscles are instinctively relaxed so you can do your business on the toilet. They look like variations of cool looking toilet seats.


I know that medical professionals say not to have sex until 6-8 weeks post-partum, but I know that I was feeling good after my eldest was born, needed no stitches, and the ex and I had sex 2 weeks post-partum. I don't think I was all "stretched out" as we both seemed to enjoy ourselves.