How I Had My Shortest Labor Ever, Thanks To This Natural Technique

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As the expecting moms approach their due date, there are many concerns that start cropping up in their minds. Of course, the much-talked-about pain of the labor and childbirth is one of these worries. Since they often hear from their friends and relatives alike about the labor pain being excruciating, the thought of going through it themselves can make the soon-to-be moms pretty nervous. This was pretty much the case with me too, especially the second time around.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I underwent labor for almost 36 hours. And, I eventually had to go for a C-section surgery due to fetal distress. In fact, everyone I knew was so surprised about how long my labor lasted that they bestowed me with the title “Queen of labor” for the same reason.

It comes as no surprise then that I was ready to do almost anything the second time around to avoid painful, long labor. Of course, as long as it was reasonable. Just to be sure, I found myself a midwife who was a naturopathic doctor as well. She was well aware of the herbs that could help me ease my pregnancy and labor. In fact, I even visited one of the chiropractors on a regular basis.

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I intentionally made a lot of efforts to better my chances of having a birth with as fewer interventions as possible. But, more than anything else, I was intrigued by this method known as “Rebozo technique”. This was something that I had often heard my midwife mentioning. She told me how she had been helping her clients ease their labor with this technique over the years. And, the fact that it had also helped bring down some labor hours sounded pretty amazing to me!

Rebozo is a piece of knitted cloth that women from Guatemala and Mexico typically wear. It is a brightly-colored cloth which is decorated with tassels at times. Not only does it provide warmth as a blanket or shawl, but it can be used for many other things such as carrying babies or firewood. Rebozo has also been interestingly used by midwives (1).

My midwife taught me how Rebozo has been used by many traditional Mexican midwives in various ways during pregnancy. Since I really didn’t have the proper Rebozo scarf, I had to take a twin sheet and fold it in half along the length. Then, I had to get on both my knees and hands, all this while keeping the sheet under the belly. My husband then held the sheet from both ends and gently lifted my belly. In this position, he would rock it gently from one side to another. What this is meant to do is get the little one within my womb in a better position.

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My lovely husband and I started doing the Rebozo technique somewhere during the third trimester. But, we weren’t very consistent until the 37th week of gestation. This was the time when we started being a little more regular with it.

It was when the 40th week of my pregnancy ended that I went into labor. Of course, due to my previous experience, I braced myself for hours and hours of labor as it had been the case earlier. My labor started sometime around one in the afternoon. And, within three hours of labor, with the help of a modified version of the technique, I was able to give birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl.

I breathed a sigh of relief as my labor time went down from 36 hours to mere three hours. While I had attempted many things before to achieve this impossible goal, it became possible only after I tried this technique. However, pregnancy is unique for each woman and it is important that you consult your doctor once before trying anything new. After all, you need to ensure that it does not pose any risk to the well-being of both you and your little one. Good luck, moms-to-be!

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