10 Things About Birth That You Did Not Know About

It is magic that can turn all the hard work and pain into the purest love. Birth is a sacred moment when the most immaculate, unchanging and eternal bond begins to form.

But there are also endless myths surrounding this moment. Myths that are not necessarily true. There is as much information as possible about the birth, sometimes contradictory ones, which at different times in history have been highlighted as facts.

So, in this article on Being a Mom , we are going to tell you 10 things about this milestone in every family life.

5 things before birth

• Measures of how open the woman is. There is no such thing as “open five fingers” when it comes to childbirth in humans. How open the woman is, the midwife can measure with good precision up to one or two fingers. From there, he or she goes over to centimeters until the woman reaches 10 cm.
• Expansion times. In obstetrics it is said that, with few exceptions: “There is no woman, whose cervix will not expand”. But what can be stated is that there are several who work in maternity care who are not very patient when it comes to waiting for the correct physiological conditions for childbirth.
  
  

• What is really expanding? It is a common misconception that it is the vagina that expands. This is a big mistake. What is getting bigger is actually the cervix. In fact, the vaginal canal is made of elastic tissue that “extends” at birth and then regains its original shape.
• Does all amniotic fluid run out when the water runs? When an expectant mother’s water runs out, the baby continues to produce amniotic fluid through urine. In addition, the position and position of the baby’s head causes it to act as a cork, temporarily clogging the cervix. In this way, the baby always has amniotic fluid.
• Is it dangerous for the baby to drink amniotic fluid or swallow meconium?  Absolutely not. In fact, the baby drinks fluids all the time during at least half of the pregnancy. It also eats meconium, which is a sterile and risk-free substance for the digestive system.

5 things after

• The fetus chooses when to come out. The person who decides when the labor starts starts is usually the child. When the last organs that are mature (the lungs) are ready, the fetus releases a substance into the amniotic fluid. This creates a reaction in the woman’s body. So, if the baby does not come, he or she is simply not ready for a life outside the womb.

• “He was born purple because he stayed in his stomach for too long”, is a total myth. In fact, all children come into the world with that color to some degree. It is actually the color they have in the uterus, because there is not much oxygen in the uterus. When the baby starts breathing outside the womb, their skin color becomes more rosy.

• The dreaded jaundice. Did you know that in principle all children have this condition after childbirth to some extent? They usually have a little yellow in their skin and eyes. Eventually, the liver naturally begins to metabolize bilirubin in the system, so that the color returns to normal. Very few cases require light treatment.
• APGAR-tested. This is a point that is given to the newborn baby. The test can be easily performed while the mother is allowed to have skin contact with her baby. The first score is given 1 minute after birth and the second reflects the baby’s condition after 5 minutes. A score greater than 7 is considered excellent.
• Once your baby is in your arms, the rest can wait. The umbilical cord can be cut at any time. This does not affect your child’s health. In fact, scientific studies show that it is beneficial to do so when it stops pulsating. The length and weight of a newborn is no more important to measure than to strengthen the bond between mother and child.