There are ways and ways to explain what happens in childbirth, but without a doubt this is the most original I've seen. Maybe that's why it has become a viral video widely shared on social networks, especially among women who will soon give birth.
Midwife Liz Chalmers, owner of the Puget Sound Childbirth Center, first learned this demonstration technique in a delivery workshop. He uploaded it to Facebook to explain to his niece, who lives in Australia, how uterine contractions work To help the baby be born. And it does it with a couple of very basic elements: a balloon, which would be the mother's womb, and a ping pong ball, which represents the baby.
At first it baffles. It looks like a kind of crafts, but then you see how everything makes sense. It is perfect to learn to differentiate labor contractions from false contractions and how the cervix changes as labor progresses.
Start by inserting the ping pong ball into the balloon and swelling it with a little air. Then he explains how Braxton Hicks contractions work, which are not rhythmic or constant but prepare the uterus for birth.
"These are the Braxton Hicks contractions that are only practice contractions, which are increasingly common towards the end of pregnancy. But they don't modify the cervix."
Actual labor contractions, meanwhile, occur in the upper part of the uterus and are rhythmic, progressive and intense contractions.
"It's what happens in early labor: cervical erasure. And not much dilation occurs while we're still working on shortening the cervix."
After the latent dilation phase, when the cervix is ​​shortened or erased, the second phase of labor occurs: active dilation, in which the cervix will go from 3 to 10 centimeters dilated to open the canal of the delivery and allow the baby to leave (the third phase: the expulsive).
"A lot of people get nervous at this point. It's like, 'Oh, no, I don't want to push!' It's like real labor, where would you say, "Okay, just breathe. Do it gently. You're stretching beautifully. And then just give it one more push, and the baby will be here."
Everyone is surprised and laugh when the ping ping ball is fired from inside the balloon, says the midwife. It is recommended to show it to young children to teach them in a fun way how babies are born.
Some are scared after watching the video, while others believe it is the most playful way to describe what happens during labor. What do you think?
In Babies and more | How to differentiate false contractions from labor contractions, Signs of childbirth: the day is coming, will I be in labor? A device controls contractions in pregnancy
