Natural Childbirth in an Emergency Situation

There are times in life when we are faced with an unexpected danger, and our reaction to it often turns out to be much more important than the unexpected incident or situation that confronts us.

All over the world, women are (and will continue to be) hostage to unforeseen emergency births. It’s enough just to be alone at home, outside the city, in a public place or in transport. Childbirth, even in such cases, does not frighten a woman if she knows what is happening, how her body will produce a child who is already ready to leave the mother’s womb.

What can a woman do if she unexpectedly goes into labor and there is no one around who can expertly help her, no one who can help her baby enter the world safely? A woman must prepare for this possibility in advance - learn how to give life to a child.

When a child is ready to be born, he lies comfortably in the womb upside down - after all, it is much easier for a child to dive into the world than to enter into it. The baby announces the beginning of its appearance in three ways: traces of blood and mucus at the exit of the birth canal, the flow of water, or rhythmic contractions of the uterus with increasing frequency and strength.

The first two harbingers of labor in the absence of strong uterine contractions, as a rule, leave enough time for preparation. But under the pressure of circumstances or under threat to life, as happens, for example, during war, a defensive reaction to paralyzing fear is complete relaxation and inactivity of the muscles that control the expulsion of the fetus from the uterus.

Under such circumstances, the so-called rapid birth occurs, the child is born without causing almost any inconvenience to the mother. Paralysis of the pelvic floor muscles caused by fear when the intestinal and bladder sphincters open is well known. A similar fear reaction can occur late in pregnancy with the uterus.

When the intensity of fear decreases and the woman realizes that she has already begun to give birth, she resists the efforts of the muscles that expel the fetus, and a tense state develops. This is a reaction to emotional stress. There is a significant difference between an emergency precipitate labor caused by external stress, where there is simply a defensive reaction to the impending danger, and the birth of a woman who is afraid of the birth itself.

A defensive reaction to external danger is physical and emotional paralysis, and if a woman is afraid of childbirth, then there is active resistance to the efforts of the uterus to expel the fetus. Remember that it is the fear of pain that makes childbirth painful and unbearable. In an emergency situation, a calm woman who can control her actions will not experience much discomfort, waiting for a natural event that she already knows everything about.

During labor, a woman must urinate occasionally to keep her bladder empty. This should be done while squatting, in any suitable place, depending on the circumstances.

Then, wherever the woman is, you need to sit down and lean your back against something. Your knees need to be bent, your buttocks resting on a folded coat, a pile of leaves, anything that separates you from the bare ground. Under no circumstances should you lie on your back or side. You need to sit as if squatting, taking your body weight on your buttocks.

If a woman giving birth sits and waits patiently, she will soon feel the urge to push. However, the initial effort should be very easy. She should only inhale and hold her breath without pushing. There may be some back pain, but it will go away soon. When the urge to push becomes overwhelming, she may push harder, but not too much, without expecting immediate results.

After the contraction subsides, the woman can doze off, after taking two or three deep breaths - rest calmly until the next contraction begins.

Shortly before the head appears, many women have a desire to hide, to somehow escape from the onset.