Why giving birth is like doing a massive poo

‘But could I do a poo like this?’ is one of our favourite questions. Right now you’re probably thinking ‘this is weird, why are they talking about poo?’. We hear you. But bear with us on this one. We promise it will make sense.

So yes, we believe that birth is like doing a big poo. There are 3 reasons for this. The first is down to your position, the second is down to your environment and the third is the feeling. Let us explain…

Position

This means the position you give birth in. When we see women give birth on TV, usually they’re on their back. So we’re conditioned to think that that’s how you give birth, no questions asked. But that’s totally incorrect! If we remove that thought from our mind and actually listen to our bodies and work instinctively, we would never lie on our back. 

Picture this: you’re on a long drive. You need to do an emergency poo. You pull over and get out of the car. You walk into the bushes, pull down your trousers and - what position would you get in? Would you think ‘I’m going to lie on my back’? NO! Of course you wouldn’t. Nobody would ever lie on their back to push a poo out. So why would you lie on your back to push a baby out? 

It’s not instinctive to do that and you haven’t got gravity on your side. Lying on your back would be more difficult to push a poo out, so it’s going to be more difficult to push your baby out. 

Environment

Let’s think about how private we are about going for a poo. It’s a very private matter, isn’t it? Picture this: you’re in a public place and you need a poo. You go into a public bathroom with multiple cubicles. It’s empty - score! You go into your cubicle, sit down and get ready to do your poo. Then suddenly, you hear the door open. Someone else has come into the bathroom. What do you do? 

The majority of people will draw up and not want to do the poo anymore. They’ll be thinking things such as ‘but what if they hear me?’ and they’ll stop, or just feel very uncomfortable whilst doing their poo. Which is crazy if you think about it. That’s what toilets are for after all - poo!

But anyways, the point is that we are very private about going for a poo. We don’t want to be observed or heard and we want to be in a nice, private space. So why do we think that people giving birth can go into a hospital, in a brightly lit space, with lots of strangers in the room watching them, lie on their back and give birth? Now THAT’S crazy, right?

Feeling

To put it simply, when your baby is moving their way down the birth canal, it feels like you’re doing a massive poo.

So when you’re giving birth, think to yourself ‘But could I do a poo like this?’. If the answer is no and something isn't right, CHANGE IT. This is YOUR body. This is YOUR baby. This is YOUR birth.

Here’s our founder and hypnobirthing teacher Siobhan talking about this more in depth.