Wiggly babe.
Baby has been wiggling and jiggling all around. The way I best find to describe it is like jiggling a water balloon. This movement is happening most of the day... and pretty much all night. I have had one big elbow so far that made me double check for a second that something didn't hit me from the outside. Such cool feelings. I have started to Invision the birth in more detail, too. Knowing that baby and I both are totally capable of a natural birth. I have been moving through many different positions, working strength, breathing, vocal techniques, and staying in tune to my nutrition. I haven't really had many cravings beyond the first trimester, I feel this is because I am conscious of the nutrition I am feeding baby daily. Beyond all of these factors, I find that where we are mentally plays a huge role in how I feel, and the ability to trust that my body was made for this.
There is so much fear instilled into women when it comes to birth. Whether through movies, stories from other women, the vision of what the hospital does, women rarely have a true vision of what birth is meant to be like. Birth is a beautiful, sacred event in a womans life. We have the gift to create life within us, God made us so that we can bring forth this life exactly as it happens within us.
The fear of excruciating pain is that created by the hospital. The drugs you are given to induce labor cause unnatural, extreme contractions that lead to a spiral of events that could happen, along with extreme pain, that then leads to an epidural or other form of pain management.
Or sometimes the pain management comes first.. and guess what.. when you can't feel the contractions, your mind isn't stimulated to send the natural oxytocin(the love hormone/natural pain relief) through your body. Therefore, complications are likely to occur, or the need for pitocin to "get things moving".
Our bodies will naturally work in a Beautiful rhythm when we allow them to. It is the trust and allowing that may take some knowledge and unlearning to truly feel safe within our bodies.
This is what I love to share. I love to see the shift within that happens as women and their partners see what we are truly capable of!