Squatting Position for Birth

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Twelve years ago when I sat in a birth class learning about birth in the squatting postion, I wasn't completely convinced it was for me. It seemed uncomfortable, awkward, and maybe even a little barbaric. But as years passed and I became a childbirth educator myself I became intrigued by the ancient wisdom of cultures past and present benefiting from squatting during birth. I made it a goal to birth my own child in the squat.

Baby number five was an assisted squat. The C.N.M dropped the lower end of the bed so that I could sit at the edge of the hospital bed with my tailbone scooted to the ledge and my legs resting on the lowered portion of the bed. It amazed me how comfortable pushing could be without the exertion of holding up my legs. Not to mention gravity working in my favor to drop the baby.

During the birth of baby number seven I crawled onto the hospital bed and turned around to face the C.N.M. The nurse raised the back of the bed to offer support from behind. Then she raised the bars on the side for me to hold. There on the hospital bed I squatted flat footed completely covered in my modest hospital gown. Three pushes later baby James arrived.

In the squatting position the perineum stretches more efficiently and the stretching of the tissue occurs with optimum alignment. It's easier to apply proper techniques such as chin down and curved back when you birth in the natural position.

When a woman squats the gravitational force is so effective there is no pulling or prodding to get the baby to move through the birth canal. It simply drops and turns on its own. All the clinician needs to do is catch.