Built for Birth

ENDORPHINS ARE HORMONES RELEASED BY OUR BODY AS A PAINKILLER; TO CALM & GIVE US PLEASURE; A HUGELY IMPORTANT ROLE IN LABOUR & BIRTH. AND THEY ARE 200 TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN MORPHINE. WHEN I DISCOVERED THIS WHILE READING ‘WHY HYPNOBIRTHING MATTERS’ BY KATRINA BERRY IT BLEW ME AWAY.

I KNEW ENDORPHINS WERE IMPORTANT IN LABOUR; I KNEW MORPHINE WAS PAIN RELIEF AVAILABLE IN LABOUR. I DIDN’T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE POWERFUL THE BODY’S OWN PAIN RELIEF IS. ENDORPHIN IS SHORT FOR ‘ENDOGENOUS MORPHINE’ - AS IN BIOLOGICAL MORPHINE. MORPHINE WE MAKE OURSELVES… BUT BETTER! WHEN LABOUR IS ALLOWED TO UNFOLD WITHOUT INTERVENTION, OUR HORMONES WORK TOGETHER. THEY RESPOND TO EACH OTHER, SIGNALLING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LABOUR, TO BOTH YOU & YOUR BABY (THEY DO A BIT OF WORK TOO!).

OBVIOUSLY EVERYONE’S CIRCUMSTANCES ARE DIFFERENT & SITUATIONS CAN CHANGE QUICKLY IN PREGNANCY & LABOUR MEANING THAT AN ENTIRELY UNASSISTED BIRTH ISN’T ALWAYS POSSIBLE, OR PREFERRED, WHICH IS TOTALLY FINE & NORMAL (AS LONG AS YOU FEEL FINE & NORMAL ABOUT IT BUT THAT’S A STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY). MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHT WHEN I READ ABOUT THE POWER OF ENDORPHINS WAS ‘IMAGINE IF WE WERE TAUGHT THIS’.

AND I DON’T MEAN THE MINORITY OF BIRTHING PEOPLE WHO PAY FOR HYPNOBIRTHING CLASSES, THEY WILL BE TAUGHT THIS. I MEAN EVERYONE. I MEAN IN NHS ANTENATAL CLASSES. I MEAN IN SCHOOL. WHY DO WE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS OF PLANTS IN HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY THAN THE INCREDIBLE BIRTH SYSTEMS OF THE HUMAN BODY? KNOWLEDGE IS POWER AND IMAGINE IF WE WERE ALL TAUGHT ABOUT THE POWER OF THE BIRTHING BODY.

IMAGINE IF BIRTH PARTNERS ALREADY BELIEVED THAT THE POWER TO BIRTH A BABY EXISTS WITHIN THE PREGNANT BODY. IMAGINE IF FRIENDS, FAMILY & STRANGERS DIDN’T SHOUT ‘TAKE ALL THE DRUGS!’. YOU MIGHT WANT ALL THE DRUGS; YOU MIGHT NOT. BUT BEING AFRAID; THINKING THAT YOU’LL NEED THEM; THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO DO IT WITHOUT THEM; THIS MAKES IT A HELL OF A LOT MORE LIKELY THAT YOU WILL NEED THEM. WHEN WE BELIEVE SOMETHING WILL BE PAINFUL, IT IS GUARANTEED TO BE.

THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO UNDERESTIMATE THE INTENSITY OF BIRTH; BUT TO HIGHLIGHT HOW SOCIETY MASSIVELY UNDERESTIMATES THE UNBELIEVABLE POWER OF THE BIRTHING BODY. WE ARE NOT TAUGHT THAT WE ARE POWERFUL, AND WE ARE; FAR MORE THAN WE ARE GIVEN CREDIT FOR.

BIRTHING BODIES ARE BUILT FOR BIRTHING. LET’S UN-FORGET THIS.