hi I'm Kristen and I'm a pregnancy coach who works with mamas all over the world I help you go from feeling anxious and overwhelmed to really enjoying your pregnancy preparing for a sacred natural birth and giving your baby the Beautiful Beginning that you are dreaming of today I want to share a bit of wisdom with you from anime Gaskin one of The Midwives who helped establish the farm and who helped seed the Resurgence of Midwifery in the United States she talks about how as birthing women we can get big like a man and the magic of your body and I love this I know that she makes audiences laugh with this and I think that it's really a lot of fun and helps us talk about some things that otherwise might feel awkward to talk about or this is even a video that you may want to watch with your husband or partner to help him understand because the reality is is that we're surrounded by men everywhere who have no doubt that they can get really big and then they can get really small without any damage being done to their body right in fact many of the men swaggering around us today feel really proud of their ability to do at least one part of that equation yet somehow there's a doubt that a woman's body can get really big big enough to birth a baby and then get really small again without there being some sort of permanent damage or some sort of interference needed now we realize that sometimes the older fellas can have trouble with one part of their equation but in reality most guys don't think that they're going to have any problems with it and even if they are having issues they take it for granted that they'll be able to work those things out yet somehow we think that women's bodies aren't going to be able to do what they were naturally designed to do so why can men but not women women's bodies the birth canal will call it that in case we're watching with little ones and you're not quite sure about Anatomy yet but the birth canal is designed to change in fact we'll just use an anatomically correct term here when you're being intimate the vagina is actually meant to expand and uh first of all increase your level of pleasure and also prepare for possible conception so all kinds of changes happen including getting bigger engorgement just like what happens to guys happens on the inside of you as well which increases your feelings of pleasure just like it does for him and it also creates room for things that need room down there and the inside changes the cervix comes down things open up to help facilitate the possibility of a pregnancy which if you're hoping for a baby is a really good thing so even during intimacy that sort of thing happens and it definitely happens when that area is now the birth canal and the birth of a baby there's that same getting much bigger of the birth canal to permit the baby through also the ends side of the birth canal is not a Smooth Wall it's actually ridged with ruge and that those are just folds of skin and that helps with expanding during both of those physiological actions both excitement and also when you're about to birth your baby and then of course we know that the cervix like I mentioned changes when you're being intimate to help permit conception of a baby it also of course changes when you're about to birth your baby and the thing is is all of those are natural they're designed to happen another thing this is an anime's book spiritual Midwifery and she shares how one mom said to her oh you told me I was gonna get huge so I did and Anime says she can't even recall quite when she said that but apparently she said that to this mom and this mom took that literally and she just kind of meditated on that and visualized that and Anime so she had never seen a woman who just opened like that quite so beautifully but the reality is is that you're gonna get huge and then the other reality is that everything's gonna go back to the way that it should because that's how your body is designed to work and just like no man would ever doubt that his body is designed to get really big and then go back you know to a small turtle kind of guy no man would ever doubt that so why do we doubt our bodies part of the reason of course is that as women we're taught to doubt our bodies and be uncomfortable and unsure of our bodies all throughout our lives and pregnancy and birth are shrouded in mystery and fear and all these kinds of things but what I hope that this little chat has helped you do is to start to think different maybe to laugh maybe to smile and also maybe to just shift that Paradigm in your mind to go oh yeah you know my body was meant to do that I've had eight babies and I can tell you that you know I've got some Mama fluff right a little bit of padding around my belly but I don't walk around feeling like my energies are gonna fall out I actually feel fit and trim probably more so than I have between some of my other babies and so you know having a strong pelvic floor having good muscle tone down there all of those things are things that come back so your body not only opens naturally I had all eight of my babies naturally including my 10 pounder 10 pound 10 ounce baby boy all of them naturally and everything comes back together and life feels good things can feel pleasurable just like they did before your body was designed to work in a way that is beautiful and Majestic to birth your baby sweetly peacefully beautifully sacredly and then to heal up so that you feel good and whole and strong and vigorous afterwards believe in yourself and your body mama like I said I am a pregnancy coach I love working with mamas all over the world if you want somebody to be your cheerleader if you want somebody to help you with evidence-based information to shift these paradigms to grow this belief in yourself most of all to help you do that soul searching to find your inner power and to help you with practical things like preparing for the birth designing easy meal plans that nourish you and baby I am there for you we chat via Zoom regularly if you've got a question at any time you can shoot me a text or even a voice text if you just need to vent or if you've got a question that you really need to think through and talk through I'm there for you if that level of support sounds good for you I would love to chat head over to birthbabylife.com beautiful and let's set up a time to talk this week