Relax Your Jaw
During my labor with baby #5, my dear sister was here to support me. It was my first homebirth and I was so excited, but after two days of 'labor,' i was tired. Once the contractions started becoming more intense, I would almost hold my breath through them. My friend said three words that have stuck with me for both births since then. She said, "Relax Your Jaw". I am sure she said it in different ways "put your chin down towards your chest" or "drop your jaw". I remember the drastic change in pain when I did what she said. Of course it was still intense, but relaxing my jaw seemed to relax the rest of my body, and I was able to embrace the intensity for what it was doing, which was bringing our precious baby girl into this world. Before relaxing, I was tensing up, which was a form of me fighting against the process. The process was painful, but it was not something I could avoid. I HAD to birth my baby. That was an undeniable fact. Wishing the pai