Hail, the Almighty Uterus!

Okay, so, it's a cheesy title, but it's so true! Women!!!! Hear me now!!! The organ that holds and gives life to all humans is YOURS!!! It belongs to you and ONLY you!!!! Don't let anyone tell you what to do with your uterus!!!! There, I said it. I just get the feeling sometimes that women get bullied around by TV, doctors, moms, friends, boyfriends, husbands, the news, magazines and a plethora of other agents telling them what to do with their uterus. Let me make this very plain: you have options for birth and the more you know about your uterus, and what she is capable of, the better off you are and the more empowered you are when it comes time to bring your amazing child into this world. As a pregnant woman, I received sooo many bits of advice from people. Most of them were well-intended, but not really welcome. Everyone I met wanted to tell me what to do with my uterus. "You can't have a home birth the first time around! You need a doctor!" was the most commonly heard bit of information. Another one that made me laugh was, "You're not going to use drugs!? You'll be changing your tune when you're screaming for an epidural." People that told me these things, I suspect, probably had some sort of bad experience with birth. I also suspect many of the people who offered advice still had their own lingering fears surrounding this miraculous event. Not me. I was fearless. I remained undaunted by what others had to say about my decision to birth at home. I was thoroughly convinced that the ease of pregnancy and birth was strictly about how easy I wanted it to be. For example, I threw out the notion that everyone had to get morning sickness (I didn't puke once during pregnancy until the day I delivered!) I had it in my mind that proper diet and exercise would be my safety net for birth and all I needed resided within me to bring my child safely into this world. During pregnancy I received not only unwanted bits of advice, but also, very wanted pregnancy massage. I ran into a woman who had been in the same class I had attended that so very changed my view of birth. She had studied pregnancy massage before and was a practicing massage therapist and doula. A doula is like a birth helper. She assists the midwife and supports the birth partner during the birthing process. She also has a myriad of other tasks to do like massaging the laboring woman, or making sure the birth plan is adhered to, getting food for the birth partner, things like that. Also, my friend, Katie, the doula, had studied in the jungles of Belize with the Mayans. They had taught her uterus massage over the course of several visits. At the end of our pregnancy massage class together, she had the three other students and the teacher lay down on the floor. She walked us through the steps to do self-massage on our uterus. It's basically massage of the abdomen between the belly-button and the two hip bones, but in a specified manner. We learned that in the Mayan culture, the older women do this type of massage even on little girls. If a girl takes a tumble, they lay her down and massage her uterus. Why? Because it can fall out of place! Just like any other muscle, the uterus has tendons and ligaments holding it in place. And, just like any other muscle, those connectors can get stretched or misaligned. So, uterus massage encourages the muscle to straighten up. The uterus can actually sag to the left, right, front or back. She can even get crumpled down from the top. What happens with this out-of-place positioning is that there are folds and wrinkles where the uterus is flopped. So, if a woman has her moon and her uterus isn't straight, blood can get caught in these folds. This makes for.....Cramping!!! It can also add to the discomfort during childbirth if the uterus isn't straight. I was so amazed at this bit of information. My uterus had remained this enigmatic entity until I learned her truth. And it was with that bit of truth that I forged ahead with my plans to let Ms. Uterus do her thing, unimpeded by chemicals, medicines, drugs, whatever you want to call them, during birth. I trusted her fully and wanted her to perform without any hindrance from me or anyone else. So, back to Katie. She came over several times during my pregnancy and gave me prenatal massage. She would say a blessing with some herbs before each session. At the end of each session, she would ask me to lay my hands on my belly and get in touch with my child. Then, I would ask my child, "Is it okay if Katie massages you?" Invariably, it was always a "yes", although I have encountered women who received a strong, "no" from their babies. After the go-ahead from the baby, Katie would hold her fingers on my hip bone and "measure" how many fingers she could fit between the hip bone and my uterus. Then she would gently massage the side that was too far over and eventually, the massage would get my uterus back in the straight position. She would remeasure to see that she had equal fingers on both sides before finishing. "Every woman I have massaged during pregnancy has had a swift and easy delivery,"she told me the first time she made a house call. "When the uterus is straight, she can function her best. She doesn't have to fight gravity by laying on one side or the other. Also, the organs surrounding the uterus are not smashed to one side or the other." Katie ended up actually working with my midwife and became my doula officially in October. She was also working with my midwife's supervisor (the one who was to oversee my birth). She was going to be Shell's assistant when Maryn was on maternity leave. Katie actually ended up assisting with my friend, Niccole's birth. With that, Katie found her calling, to become a midwife. She trained later that spring to become a midwife and ended up moving to Oregon to work in a group of midwives a year later. Before she left us in Sedona, however, she held a gathering of all her friends who were involved in the healing arts. She passed on to us women her knowledge and skill of uterus massage so that we could practice on each other and incorporate that skills into our individual healing practices. Hail, the Almighty Uterus, Keeper and Giver of Life!!!!