09/25/2024
“Many couples don’t call their midwife until the sensations are coming five minutes apart (30 seconds long), but they’ve been up since midnight timing every one of the early sensations. If the woman had called the midwife at midnight, she would have said, “Turn off the light and let your husband sleep as much as possible through the night. Stay dark and quiet. It’s still very early. Take a bath with a candle if it helps, but the most important thing is to get some rest. Call me back when you think I should come over.” That first night can make all the difference and yet so many couples act like it’s a party and don’t realize they are sabotaging their births right at the beginning. Staying up all night in the early part does two things: 1) it throws off the body clock, which controls sleep and waking, confusing the brain and 2) it inhibits the release of the very hormone women need to dilate effectively, oxytocin.”
The Importance of Sensory Quiet
by Gloria Lemay
