Articles Natural Birth

What is the Fetus Ejection Reflex?

Physiological birth is an involuntary process, related to activity in the primitive brain and body structures. It occurs best when a woman’s parasympathetic nervous system is operational and she is in a state of trust. The fetus ejection reflex is a short series of involuntary movements that result in the birth of the baby followed by transcendent feelings for the mother baby dyad.

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Protecting Mother and Baby during Second Stage of Labour

Seahorse

How does a midwife explain a slow labour or a long ‘second stage’? The fact that a woman may be fully dilated does not mean she is ready to expel her baby from the womb. Midwives and obstetricians make this mistake all the time, as if the woman were a mechanical engine that should fire it’s pistons at the turn of a key. Midwifery is both an art and a science and part of that art, in the present climate, seems to be to prevaricate in order to align ourselves with what obstetric theory advises we should be doing.

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