Ep 153: Spinning Babies Activities for a Smoother Pregnancy and Birth

In this episode, Dr. Shannon and Doula Rachael discuss the concept of Spinning Babies. They explain the main principles of balance, movement, and gravity, and how these principles can help optimize fetal positioning and promote efficient labor. 

They also highlight the importance of resting smart and incorporating daily exercises into pregnancy routines. The conversation emphasizes the need to explore all of your available resources and options fully.

In this conversation, Doula Rachael and Dr. Shannon discuss various exercises and stretches that can help improve fetal positioning and overall comfort during pregnancy. They cover topics such as walking, forward leaning inversion, sitting posture, stretching, pelvic tilts, and emotional release. 

They emphasize the importance of consistency and gradually increasing the intensity of exercises based on individual fitness levels. The conversation also highlights the benefits of rest and relaxation techniques, such as creating a hammock for the baby and practicing deep breathing. Overall, these exercises and practices can contribute to a more efficient and comfortable labor experience.
Resources mentioned:
Spinning Babies
Ep 55: Optimal Fetal Positioning

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Spinning Babies

06:11 The Three Balances: Jiggle, Forward Leaning Inversion, and Sideline Release

13:39 Resting Smart and Incorporating Daily Exercises

28:08 Moving Consistently and Holding Conversations

34:54 Stretching for Loosening the Hips and Preparing for Labor

42:37 Pelvic Tilts for Relaxing the Lower Back

49:06 Emotional Release and Relaxation Techniques

Transcript

Dr. Shannon (00:01.922)
Hello, you are listening to the Aligned Birth podcast. Today's birthy topic is going to be covering something called spinning babies. Now, if you've heard it before, you're like, oh yeah, spinning babies. And if you hadn't, you're like, oh my, what is spinning babies? So, but it's a fun name. Dr. Shannon here, Dula Rachel's here too, and we're just gonna chat about spinning babies.

Rachael Hutchins (00:22.018)
Thank you.

Dr. Shannon (00:30.594)
where it came from, how we're looking at fetal position as it pertains to mom and pelvis and sacrum and alignment there. There's gonna be some main principles that we'll go over and then there's daily exercises that Spinning Babies has and then we'll link to all of these so that you can further.

look into what exactly is entailed with spinning babies. So I am excited to chat about this today with you Rachel because you had You recently took one of their trainings or I don't know if I can't remember when you did so I was I wanted to Pick your brain on these things. So yeah, welcome

Rachael Hutchins (01:18.462)
Yes. Hi, Dr. Shannon. Yes, I did a training with Spending Babies back at the end of 2023. Can't believe like it feels like I just did it and now it's been like seven or eight months. I don't know where time went, but here we are. But yeah, so Spending Babies is wonderful and a plethora of information lives on the Spending Babies website. They have parent courses, they have birth professional courses, they have

tons of free material, they have videos on YouTube, and really it's all about learning how to balance your body and how to move through pregnancy and how to work with gravity to achieve optimal function, optimal fetal positioning, and an efficient labor. That's kind of their premise.

And then they achieve that through their three principles of balance, movement, and gravity. Right. And so we're going to talk about that and then we're going to talk about the daily activities that Spinning Babies shares and definitely giving credit where credit is due. Obviously, this is all spinning babies. And then even on Spinning Babies website, they give credit where credit is due. Right. Because they're kind of leaning on some previous experts in the area of this topic. And so we are linking.

Dr. Shannon (02:30.997)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (02:41.714)
several things at the bottom of the show notes where we encourage you to go explore, learn more, watch the videos. There are like some do's and don'ts and some, you know, counter indications that, or contra indications that it's important if you have anything that would prevent you from doing some of these things that you know about it. So we're not getting into all of that today. We're just sort of doing an overview.

Dr. Shannon (03:00.866)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (03:11.394)
trying to plant that seed and encouraging you to go learn more.

Dr. Shannon (03:11.777)
Mm-hmm.

There's a ton of info on the website. So much so that like I usually send a Spinnin' Babies email to my moms with, cause they've got some exercises and things that I want them to do and it puts it in such a nice manner. I'm like, hey, you can go here, do this. I don't need to recreate the wheel, but I try to hone in for them cause you can go to the website and it's like, whoa. So it can be over one cause there's so much information. So, but definitely check it out. Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (03:29.154)
Right.

Rachael Hutchins (03:32.642)
It could be overwhelming. Yeah, so we're gonna try and like simplify it today and talk about the benefits of it and we do the same thing with our birth doula clients too and even in our childbirth classes we share about we use spending babies as a resource but we definitely encourage like understanding kind of why this is important and not getting buried in the how and just trying to understand the understand why it's important and then do what you can

Dr. Shannon (03:47.448)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (04:01.334)
Do the best you can with what you got. I think I closed like at the bottom of this, like close out with like, it might feel overwhelming, but do the best with what you got and you won't regret. Like trying, like you won't regret, like attempting to do some of these things, but you might regret doing nothing. So do, do what you can with what you got and take one step at a time. Um, so spending babies, um, is all about good fetal position and labor.

Dr. Shannon (04:01.844)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (04:13.519)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (04:19.287)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (04:30.658)
and labor progress. It's helping understand the ligaments joints and the fascia. That fun little fun little piece that a lot of people ignore. Coneximals the membrane surrounding our muscles organs and bones and they need to be relaxed and symmetrical as possible. You want to lengthen your muscles and increase your range of motion in your pregnant body to make space for baby's best birth position. So

Dr. Shannon (04:37.932)
Mm-hmm. That connects them all. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (04:48.751)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (04:59.198)
I don't want to get bogged down in the optimal fetal position or what's LOA versus ROA versus transverse. Like there's, baby can be in a lot of different positions. But I like how they phrased it because it's all about making space for baby's best birth position. And to facilitate an efficient delivery, birth, one that, you know, minimizes...

Dr. Shannon (05:07.165)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (05:19.578)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (05:28.714)
Intervention or complication. Spending Babies was developed by Gail Tully and focuses on optimizing fetal positioning through balance, movement, and gravity. And the core principle behind Spending Babies is to create space in the pelvis and encourage the baby to assume optimal position for birth by incorporating gentle exercises, stretches, and positions. Again, efficient labor, reducing complications. That's the overall.

goal of spinning babies. And so you might be wondering like, okay, what do you mean by balance? What do you mean by gravity? What do you mean by movement? So we were going to kind of explain those principles a little bit with starting with balance. So body balance is important for all of us. So I'm sure you talk about this with your chiropractic clients and definitely it's really important in pregnancy. The sooner you can kind of

Dr. Shannon (06:11.95)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (06:20.827)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (06:26.294)
focus on body balance the better. And that's where you're not too tight, you're not too loose, find that happy medium, right? So being too tight could be problematic and being too loose can be problematic. And discomfort is that signal that there's a symptom of imbalance and misalignment. And I know that's like your whole world, right?

Dr. Shannon (06:48.662)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's like the premise of it. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm also when you're even talking about balance. I'm like, yeah, it's that That tension there, but then it's like the asymmetry I want to note like okay There's the too much tightness on just one side of the body or too much Looseness on just one side of the body because you can even have it on both sides pulling really tight Which is not ideal both sides pulling really loose. So there's those degrees of abnormal and then it's also just that imbalance in

Rachael Hutchins (07:05.074)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (07:11.036)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (07:18.891)
symmetry as well. So there's just, you know, yeah, balance is huge though.

Rachael Hutchins (07:23.306)
Mm-hmm, yeah and spinning babies talks about within balance there's the three balances to improve comfort and fetal positioning in most pregnancies and a reminder that the dos and the don'ts for doing the three balances are on their website and we're linking them in the notes.

Dr. Shannon (07:33.676)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (07:47.754)
And it's a go over this with your practitioner, you know, and say like, hey, I'm thinking about doing spinning babies. Are all of these okay for me to do? So yeah, that's all it really is.

Rachael Hutchins (07:51.99)
Yeah, just make sure that this is good for you.

Rachael Hutchins (07:58.858)
Yes. And for most people, they are. There are very few instances when these movements aren't okay, but we have to say that, right? Like everything, because we're speaking to a bunch of different people. Okay, so the three balances, and I love this. So we talked all of our Birth through the Clients about this childbirth education. When someone, I mean, you can do it during pregnancy and you can do it like in labor too. So if someone is having

Dr. Shannon (08:06.574)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (08:10.309)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (08:16.743)
These are my favorite.

Dr. Shannon (08:25.091)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (08:27.55)
a start and stop in early labor. If someone is having like their water is broken, contractions aren't starting. If someone has a stalled labor, this is gonna be the first thing I recommend them to do. So the three balances, you have the jiggle, the forward leaning inversion, and the sideline release. And they go in that order. And so the jiggle is all about the fascia. And the fascia responds to that vibration motion.

Dr. Shannon (08:47.439)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (08:55.126)
by increasing hydration and circulation, which in turn improves function. And so there are a few different things you can do for the jiggle. Again, I'm going to briefly talk about them, but for full description, it's on the website. Um, so there is the belly sifting. So you can use a traditional styled robozo, which is like a Mexican scarf, or you can use a sheet or you can use like a scarf. You might wrap around your neck in the winter. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (09:00.398)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (09:19.57)
Mm-hmm. Something long enough, sturdy enough. Yeah, yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (09:23.234)
that it can go from underneath your, like where your boobs are, and all the way under like your belly. So you're fully, you're putting your belly into a hammock and you're getting on hands and knees or you're leaning over a birth ball, somewhere where you can let your belly go and relax into that hammock. And then you have someone else holding the scarf standing behind you, and they are lifting up your belly and taking all that pressure off of your body.

Dr. Shannon (09:28.459)
under the pelvis.

Dr. Shannon (09:38.818)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (09:50.622)
you're relaxing and breathing slow rhythmic breathing and then the person holding the scarf is like sifting like you're like you would sift flour it's a very subtle movement and you're just trying to move like the surface you're not like jiggling the whole belly yeah so that's a that's a belly sifting um technique the partner it's a great partner to help or support person or doula um

Dr. Shannon (09:50.729)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (10:03.542)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (10:07.57)
It's not... yeah yeah. It's a gentle movement.

Rachael Hutchins (10:17.906)
Another one is called Shake the Apple Trees. I really like that one. It's where you take a robozo scarf or a regular scarf or a sheet and you put it over so the birthing person gets into hands and knees or like a modified child's pose or, um, those are usually the two I do it in. Um, so like child's pose with the butt up in the air or leaning over a birth ball or hands and knees if you feel like you can support yourself. Um, but just access to the rump.

Dr. Shannon (10:20.378)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (10:41.792)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (10:46.366)
I really like a modified child's pose where they can like lay their head down with their butt up in the air. I like that one.

Dr. Shannon (10:49.694)
Yeah, yeah, it's almost like that's like puppy pose or something and yoga where you're like the front is down a little bit more Dolph, I don't know. I think it is. I think it's yeah. Mm-hmm

Rachael Hutchins (10:56.983)
more than the back. Yeah. And then you wrap the scarf like where it's all the way around the butt, your bosom, and you're shaking it. Like again, sifting it. You're just trying to move, create a jiggle that reverberates in the body or not like moving their whole body with the way you're sifting it. And again, that's creating a reverberation into the body that actually feels really, really good.

Dr. Shannon (11:10.474)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (11:24.006)
So many people like the way this feels. And then.

Dr. Shannon (11:27.222)
I wish I had experienced how that feels because it sounds like I'm remaining pregnant. I was like, oh, I bet that would have been really good. Just to alleviate all of that pressure and then just to have it move. I know, I never did this when I was pregnant, so.

Rachael Hutchins (11:36.434)
You can do it not pregnant at the spinning babies workshop. We all did the next one. I'm going to talk about this, this other way you can jiggle. And everyone was like, oh my gosh, everyone was feeling great. It's like a, it's a reset for everybody. So you, you can feel it. Um, the, the that's true.

Dr. Shannon (11:40.286)
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Dr. Shannon (11:49.462)
It's a reset. Yeah. Okay. I can feel it. I know, but I wanted to feel it when I was pregnant. I don't want to be pregnant though.

Rachael Hutchins (11:57.226)
And so belly sifting obviously is for pregnancy, but the shake the obituaries. And then the other one is where, like if you're lying on your side, this is great if someone's in like a restful position or if they have an epidural during labor. And you can do this pre, again, pre-labor or during labor, but this is more like you're lying on your side and you jiggle, you start by, you put both your hands on like the front and the side of the thigh. And you're doing this little, you know, it's kind of like you're waving your hand type of jiggle.

Dr. Shannon (12:07.6)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (12:20.498)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (12:24.842)
Yes.

Rachael Hutchins (12:24.926)
And sometimes if you can't coordinate both your hands, just do one hand, because you don't want it to feel wonky. So you gotta have your hands in sync or just do one hand and you're literally just like doing like a hand wave. And.

Dr. Shannon (12:32.392)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. This is that's what I was think I always think of I think of the jiggle as it being Sideline for some reason I don't know when I think of it with mom, but there's different ways. Mm-hmm

Rachael Hutchins (12:41.662)
Yeah, that's a way to do. There's lots of ways to jiggle. And that's why it's good to know different ways you can jiggle. Um, again, you're just trying to communicate to that fascia and you do the, the jiggle on the thigh for like 30 seconds to a minute. And then you do the buttocks. So like a hand on the butt and then like top of the hip and you jiggle there. And then you get your hand on the sacrum and you jiggle the sacrum and, and then you, you rest. Um, and so,

Dr. Shannon (12:54.499)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (13:00.329)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (13:05.355)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (13:10.018)
that is, and then you would do it on the other side after a break or whatever, so you can balance things out. But the jiggle and that communicating with the fascia is so, so important in balancing the body. And so that's the jiggle. And then you do the forward leaning inversion. This helps to untwist ligaments in the lower uterine segment as well as the cervix. So you have ligaments that go around the cervix too. Obviously you wanna take

precautions with the forward leaning inversion. Watch the video, read about the technique, read about the counter indications. Make sure it's a good fit for you. Find a reliable surface, a bed or a couch. You put your knees close to a firm and secure edge. Use a spotter for the first few times, if not every time, especially if you're more progressed in pregnancy, for balance. If you feel not balanced.

Dr. Shannon (13:47.264)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (13:59.601)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (14:07.894)
then you need a support person there to help you get down and out of this. Um, and basically you are, it's a modified inversion. So you're taking your, your knees on the edge of a couch. Imagine, imagine couch in your living room, your knees are towards the edge and you put your hands over the edge. There's a pillow on the floor. You lean over and then you put one hand on the floor and then the next and you tuck your chin.

and you let your head hang, you try not have any tension in your head or in your jaw, and you stay in that position for about 30 seconds to a minute. If you're in labor, if you can do it for the duration of a contraction and then stop, that's great. If you're not in labor, just do it for a minute or so, and then come up and out of it. So you come up real slow. So same way, one hand up on the couch, next hand up. And then if you can bring yourself up, great. If not, the partner can kind of help lift you up. Um, and

You would do that multiple times. If you are really working on baby's position and to ensure baby can be in a good position, doing forward leaning inversions can really help. But you, you know, doing them a few times a day, if possible.

Dr. Shannon (15:03.2)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (15:16.202)
You can do that. Yeah, so usually so I like this a lot Because if you do downward dog It's this like this is one of the only ways That you can really let those lower uterine ligaments Relax the roboza you can but you're still kind of you know, you're on your knees You're still kind of engaged in it. Whereas this is really using gravity To pull forward because you're just having your head hanging down

Rachael Hutchins (15:32.492)
Mm-hmm

Rachael Hutchins (15:39.735)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (15:46.782)
Excuse me, I should have muted that. But you have that rear end up in the air and that lets those lower uterine ligaments like completely go. With my moms that come in, this isn't just a breach episode but there's more to it if there is that specific fetal malposition so but that's the only but this is kind of like the beginning stages of that.

Rachael Hutchins (15:48.174)
Bless you.

Rachael Hutchins (15:58.614)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (16:07.985)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (16:14.814)
Yeah, there's definitely protocols for breach.

Dr. Shannon (16:15.014)
I do recommend, yeah, protocols, there's definitely, yeah, so that's not here. If you want to look at that, go on the website. But I do always like to have mom have someone there when she does it. I'm usually like, I just err on that almost all the time. I'm like, yeah. So, yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (16:27.822)
YEEET

Rachael Hutchins (16:32.302)
I would say yes. If you're earlier in pregnancy and you've done it a few times with a person and you feel very secure, maybe, but yeah, I say have someone with you just in case you can't get out of it.

Dr. Shannon (16:39.138)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, but no, that's a good one. That's a good one to really relax.

Rachael Hutchins (16:46.898)
Yeah, so the forward leaning inversion is awesome. And then the third of the three balances is the side lying release. We also call it SLR, or not we, just the abbreviation, because it's a mouthful. So the weight of the leg in the side lying release gives a stretch to muscles to elicit a stretch response, which makes room for the baby.

Dr. Shannon (17:00.878)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (17:13.53)
And this is also really best achieved and only achieved with a support partner. You got to have somebody. The sideline release is where you lie on a firm, secure surface, like towards the edge, a bed or a couch that isn't super soft. I think the bed is the best place. And then you got to scoot way towards the edge, straight your body, like your hips and your

Dr. Shannon (17:17.574)
Yeah, you got to have a person.

Dr. Shannon (17:33.526)
Hehe.

Rachael Hutchins (17:37.722)
shoulders are aligned, your shoulders not curving over, your hips aren't tilting forward, you're as like straight of a line as you can be and you feel like your belly, you feel like you're going to tilt off the edge, but that's where the support person, like support person can be there and then you can put a chair towards your head to where you can kind of grab onto it if you feel like, because you really want to kind of be leaning as much over the edge as possible, you know what I'm saying, for it to work the best. And then your support person stands kind of at your hip.

Dr. Shannon (17:44.008)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (17:55.118)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (18:00.208)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (18:07.486)
and puts a gentle, yep, exactly. And then the chair can kind of be at your head if you want it there to feel like, okay, if I'm gonna fall, I have a chair here. And then the support person is at your hip, below your belly, gently holding the hip from going forward without pushing too much on that hip. And then you pick up the top leg, bring it forward and lower it down. And then you're getting a good stretch in that IT band on the outside of your thigh.

Dr. Shannon (18:07.59)
Right, kind of almost like below the belly, like you're kind of wedged in there.

Rachael Hutchins (18:35.062)
And ideally at first, you'll feel it's probably restricted, but the longer it's there, it will eventually release to where it lowers even further than where you started. And it's really important for the support person to be monitoring the hips to make sure we're not like twisting, that the shoulders aren't coming forward and the hips going back or vice versa. So really keeping an eye and keeping them in line. And then in this position, you can even stretch the abdomen, like stretch the shoulder up and stretch.

Dr. Shannon (18:42.272)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (18:51.884)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (19:04.478)
stretch the hip down to really make like feels like a really good side stretch while you're in that position that's just a bonus. Like if you put your arm your top arm over your ear if you know what I'm saying and point it away from you and then kind of stretch that scapula and the ribs which can help make room for baby too. But the goal of this is the that leg and pelvis are getting loose and stretched out in the in the right way.

Dr. Shannon (19:07.578)
along a.

Dr. Shannon (19:11.084)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (19:15.776)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (19:24.16)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (19:32.682)
And you want to do this on both sides. So you can hang out here for a few minutes and then do the other side. If you're in labor, you would do it for like three or four contractions and then switch and do it for three or four contractions on the other side. We highly recommend it. I think it's highly beneficial. If you watch the video and visually put your eyes on someone doing this, it'll make more sense.

Dr. Shannon (19:43.932)
Okay.

Dr. Shannon (19:57.522)
Yeah, and again, you said, you know, do both sides. I definitely would recommend that even if you've got one side that's typically, you know, tighter than the other or something like that, that's that doesn't matter. Like I would, you know, definitely stretch out both sides and get that balance there.

Rachael Hutchins (20:10.658)
both sides. So, and you might feel like comfortable on one side and tighter on the other, like you have to do both sides with everything. So that's the balance, the three, like they call it three sisters of balance. That's a spinning baby, baby's reference, but so that's all about balance. And then there's gravity. So aligning your body with gravity. Gravity is working 24 seven. It is a free resource.

Dr. Shannon (20:15.702)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (20:26.35)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (20:38.678)
So using it throughout your day, thinking about how you're sitting, how you're walking, being upright, upright forward leaning, gravity friendly positions as often as possible, especially during labor is going to help things move along and help baby settle into the right position. I mean, all about sitting. And when I think I talk about this, I think it's on the list about how you sit.

Dr. Shannon (20:59.328)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (21:08.054)
Cause if you lean back on your sacrum, you have gravity moving babies, you know, baby's back is the heaviest, like their head and back are going to be the heaviest part of them. So if you're reclined a lot, baby's back is going to be more inclined to rotate towards your back. If you are sitting forward and on your sits bones where your belly is leaning more in that forward position, that's where baby's back is going to more likely go. So thinking about, you know, how you're sitting in the car, how you're sitting at work.

Dr. Shannon (21:08.73)
Okay. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (21:15.006)
Mm-hmm, the baby's spine. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (21:29.454)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (21:36.182)
sitting at a dinner table if you're there for a long time. Like how we move through the day impacts how you know baby babies it can impact baby's position and it's simple adjustments and it makes sense when you think about it um and gravity helps and then the other thing like with the with like the position of your belly a little they call it the flashlight test and it's where if you pretend like out of your belly button is a flashlight pointing.

Dr. Shannon (21:44.658)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely.

Dr. Shannon (21:51.566)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (22:06.183)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (22:06.21)
So where is that flashlight pointing? Is it pointing towards the ceiling? If so, you need to adjust your position and aim for it to always be pointing towards the floor or down. So that's a little test, like, okay, how am I? And then what can I change in my position to make sure that my belly button, if it were a flashlight, would be pointing towards the floor. So, and that is a helpful little tip.

Dr. Shannon (22:09.23)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (22:17.533)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (22:26.078)
Yeah, no, I like that. That's a good visual to like help. Okay, because you may not realize how, you know, slouchy or tilted you, you know, are or not.

Rachael Hutchins (22:33.48)
Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah, so that's the three principles. And then within that, the three balances.

Dr. Shannon (22:42.142)
Yes. And then there's three balances. Yes. So you had balance and then there's gravity. And then the last of the three principles is movement. Yes. I was going to say, no, we didn't talk about movement. We talked a little bit. Movement.

Rachael Hutchins (22:51.383)
Oh, I didn't get to movement. I didn't say movement. I stopped at gravity. You're like, that's two, not three. Okay. Movement, obviously move throughout the day, move in labor, but also rest smart. So resting smart is just as important as movement. Right? So when you are resting, being in a position that's favorable for.

Dr. Shannon (23:08.09)
Hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (23:16.79)
for baby's position. And that's again, if you're doing the flashlight test, even when you're resting, you're probably in a good position. So, you know, movement such as walking supports flexibility and enhances stability in the joints. So like walking is like for movement baseline, like walking should be the baseline. And that's where you start, because that's gonna.

Dr. Shannon (23:30.449)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (23:33.974)
Mm-hmm

Rachael Hutchins (23:38.658)
you're going to get flexibility and stability in your joints. And that's going to support you during pregnancy and then during labor. But then that also means you're upright and giving baby a chance to, to settle in. And you're also increasing the flexibility and movement in your joints, which is beneficial for baby to settle in too. Um, but resting smart is thinking about, um, taking as much pressure like off of your abdomen as possible. So that's where you're using those pillows.

Dr. Shannon (23:52.296)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (24:06.082)
those pregnancy pillows or your bed pillows to make like a nest for yourself for sleeping and then thinking about your belly button and where is it pointing and really trying to rotate as much as you can to where you're creating a hammock for the baby to settle into during your the whole night you're sleeping. I mean we're sleeping for many, you know, many hours even if you're waking up like you're in that lying down position a lot so you need to rest smart and just being on your side isn't I mean that's sometimes okay but like.

Dr. Shannon (24:29.915)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (24:34.91)
really trying to create a little nest for your belly to safely lay in and then really rotating to where your belly is pointing towards the floor. Almost like as close to belly sleeping as you can get which is achievable with lots of pillows.

Dr. Shannon (24:48.83)
Yeah, I was gonna say it's the pillows and then yeah, movement of the hips and everything too. Yeah. So moving smart and resting smart or smartly. I don't know what the proper grammar is there.

Rachael Hutchins (24:54.732)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (25:02.264)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (25:05.63)
Okay, so that's the three principles of spinning babies. Now, spinning babies also has, I don't know, is it the 13? There's daily exercises that they have as well. And I feel like that's another big part of what they do. And this is...

Rachael Hutchins (25:12.116)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (25:23.326)
Yes.

Dr. Shannon (25:31.318)
I know sometimes when I send it to moms, I'm like, I know it can be like a lot, so it's kind of, but then again, it's not. So when we break it down, it's gonna be like, okay, it's not like I'm doing so much. I think that sometimes it can feel like, oh my gosh, overwhelming, but this isn't when we kind of go through it. It's like, oh, almost like bringing intentionality to like all of these different parts and you can do like a little body scan and like, okay, have I done these movements? So at least that's kind of how I feel a little bit.

Rachael Hutchins (25:44.49)
It's really not.

Rachael Hutchins (25:55.538)
Yeah. And it's like a brief, most of these are, don't take that long to do. And, and you weave them into maybe a routine you're already doing, try to just, where can you do it in the morning, in the middle of the day, in the night? Like you don't have to sit down and do them all at once. Um, but where can you weave them into, to where you're already moving and doing throughout the day? And I, this brings me back to that point of like,

Dr. Shannon (26:00.18)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (26:21.302)
Like you want to be satisfied with your amount of your preparation. Like you don't want to look back and be like, you know, I didn't do anything. Should I have done something? Now you can do all the things and also still have complications during labor or still have an outcome that wasn't what you originally wanted. So please, please know that doing isn't a guarantee, but, but it's definitely a better chance at achieving the work that you want and just feeling satisfied with the effort towards it.

Dr. Shannon (26:30.709)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (26:36.096)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (26:46.832)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (26:50.262)
with the effort exactly. That's what I was gonna say.

Rachael Hutchins (26:52.606)
And that you won't regret. That you won't regret. So just keep that in the back of your mind if it does start to feel overwhelming. But yeah, so I think I have nine here. And then, cause some of them we talked about the jiggle and the forward leaning inversion previously. So I think I have nine things, nine daily activities that you can do here.

Dr. Shannon (27:05.727)
Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (27:13.734)
Yeah, and incorporating these in for your birth preparation is both beneficial and empowering. Feels good to be like trying to take charge of your experience and your body and your birth. And definitely we've already set up, I'm gonna say it again, consult your provider if you have any questions and learn about the do's and don'ts and the contraindications for you specifically. But again, generally speaking, most of these are safe.

Dr. Shannon (27:40.704)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (27:41.302)
We did mention already how walking is kind of like the baseline for movement, but it really is important to incorporate walking into your routine as much as possible up to even five times a week, working your way up to three miles. That's the kind of spinning babies recommendation. Um, so three miles five times a week, keeping a steady pace. So like

moving consistently for that whole time, but also being able to hold a conversation. So that's sort of your like measurement. We don't, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And start gradually based on your current fitness level and then work up from there. But again, walking is flexibility and stability for your joints, which is going to help support your pregnancy and improve your overall comfort during pregnancy and also support you in labor.

Dr. Shannon (28:13.726)
Yes, that's a good measurement of like, can you still talk and you're not winded?

Dr. Shannon (28:23.379)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (28:31.375)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (28:38.27)
Um, the next one is forward leaning inversion, which we already talked about. Um, that is considered a daily exercise by spinning babies. So like, this isn't like a, if you have a breech baby do it is, there is a breech protocol that includes an inversion before the new versions are recommended for. Most people daily for improving that optimal fetal positioning. Um, we've already kind of talked about how to do that. Um, and the maternal positioning kind of.

Dr. Shannon (28:41.953)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (28:49.212)
Mm-hmm.

that includes this.

Dr. Shannon (28:58.303)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (29:08.746)
what's going on with your body, which we did already talk on that too. So like, how are you sitting? So knees lower than your hips and your belly lower than your hips. When you sit on like an exercise ball that is properly inflated in the right size for you, that's the position you're in. Your knees are at your hips about, your belly is lower than your hips and let the belly be the hammock for your baby. So it really is that like sitting forward on your sits bones.

Dr. Shannon (29:24.115)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (29:34.23)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (29:37.718)
That lean forward. Yes, that's the key.

Rachael Hutchins (29:39.578)
It's a slight lean. And yeah, so knees lower than the hips. So think about like greater than a 90 degree at a 90 degree or greater than a 90 degree I guess for your knees. You don't want your hips below your knees. A great tip that we share frequently is if you're sitting at a kitchen table on like a regular chair or a diet if you're out to eat and you're in a chair and it's longer than 15 minutes

Dr. Shannon (29:50.446)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (30:07.202)
Take that chair and turn it around backwards and lean over the back of the chair. And that's gonna put you in that forward sitting position on your sits bones versus being on your sacrum.

Dr. Shannon (30:12.442)
Hmm.

Dr. Shannon (30:16.378)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (30:19.962)
You know, I always so like with at our dining room table and anywhere I go I constantly sit on the front edge of the seat. I'm constantly doing that. I am not pregnant I've been doing like I don't know if I started that in pregnancy But I always and I'm like I just don't like sitting back in a chair like I always have this like a little bit of like Lean tilt and I feel like I don't know it helps me remember my posture a bit as well, too You know like it brings but I just always do

Rachael Hutchins (30:28.761)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (30:40.255)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (30:46.334)
It absolutely does. It encourages better posture. Yeah, no, it's a good thing. It's, it's good for overall, for anybody slouching, back sitting back. I mean, isn't, isn't optimal, but definitely during pregnancy. But yeah, I'm the same way. I feel weird leaning back in a chair. Unless if I can, if I can put my feet up, because for some reason that is more comfortable, I can lean back, but just sitting in a regular chair, if there's nothing to put my feet on, I'm going to lean forward.

Dr. Shannon (30:49.818)
Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Shannon (30:59.674)
Yeah.

Yeah, so just yeah, I just continue. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (31:08.378)
Yes. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (31:14.362)
Yeah, same. I'm like, I wonder if this came about in pregnancy. That's where I got it from.

Rachael Hutchins (31:15.454)
It's a good practice. Um, so yeah, so if you think, um, staying as much off of your sacrum, so your sacrum, that lower back right above your butt crack, like sacrum area, trying not to be on that as much as possible and being more on your sits bones. So that's what you're talking about here. There's like couch slouching, leaning back. That's your sacrum. That's being more toward your back versus forward leaning. That's being more on your sits bones. So that's.

Dr. Shannon (31:32.57)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (31:44.57)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (31:45.35)
wherever you're sitting however you're seeing a aiming for sits bones versus sacrum again baby's back and gravity are going to baby's back is going to go where gravity is yeah so think about that in your body where do you want the back you want the back towards the front you want their back towards your front um so next is stretching

Dr. Shannon (31:57.914)
heaviest partners. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (32:04.634)
towards the front. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (32:14.21)
Um, so the specifics of all of these stretches are linked in our show notes, but I did want to mention them here because some people are surprised by the stretches that can improve. Fetal positioning and overall comfort during pregnancy. Um, so there's the TMJ release. I love this one. Um, we, a lot of people hold tension in their jaw. So this is your, your jaw joint and you might be able to speak to this more. We just did an episode on.

Dr. Shannon (32:43.322)
I just wrote that down. Yeah, jaw and pelvis connection. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (32:43.726)
tension in the jaw, right? Yeah, there's a huge connection there, but releasing it daily, like not just saying, oh, I'm in labor, I have a tight jaw. It's like assessing it daily. And if you feel around and if you clench your molars, you can feel the muscle bulge and then relax and open and close and then kind of gently press in to help release that tension. And that the...

Dr. Shannon (32:51.866)
Mm-hmm.

No, it's every day, yeah.

Dr. Shannon (33:02.01)
Mm-hmm. And you can open and close too. Uh-huh.

Dr. Shannon (33:12.026)
You might be shocked at how little pressure you need to put for you to feel significant discomfort. I mean, and that's very eye-opening. Very eye-opening. Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (33:22.21)
This... Yeah, it's wild.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, yeah. So TMJ release, neck rolls, great help overall health. Opening your shoulders, so stretches to open your shoulders. The windmill, which is kind of where you stand with your feet a little bit more than hip width apart and then you kind of reach down towards the earth and then bring an arm up towards the sky and really open your chest and your back and your hips and your hamstrings. And then you...

Dr. Shannon (33:33.594)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (33:54.778)
Okay, so you're like rotating like opposite side, okay, okay, yeah

Rachael Hutchins (33:56.498)
alternating sides. Yep. And then forward lunges gonna help that. So as muscle release and that the front of your hips are gonna get released in the forward lunge. And this is like forward lunge, like knee on the ground, one knee on the ground, one knee in front and kind of lean into it. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (34:14.362)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (34:23.034)
You can exaggerate it a bit to really stretch out that knee that's on the ground.

Rachael Hutchins (34:26.294)
Based on your flexibility. Yeah. Um, the calf stretch. I always love sharing about the calf stretch cause people are like calves. It's like the furthest thing from a belly. Like, but the calves are connected to the hamstrings, which are connected to the glutes, which are connected to the pelvis. It's all connected. And we, a lot of us have tight calves. So stretching out your calves, um, and then squats. So doing labor squats, um, for the stretch.

Dr. Shannon (34:35.29)
Mm-hmm

Dr. Shannon (34:41.21)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (34:50.202)
Hmm...

Rachael Hutchins (34:54.306)
Obviously you can do regular squats for strength building, which are definitely encouraged. But getting down in that your bottom is down like towards the ground or on a yoga block and your knees are out, your feet are flat. And you can work towards this. You might go to do it the first time and not be able to get all the way down, but it can be a progressive like work working towards achieving the full labor squat. But doing that a couple minutes a day could be.

really, really helpful to prepare for labor. It strengthens and lengthens all the muscles you need for labor in your thighs and in your pelvic floor. Yeah, and in your hips. It feels really good in the hips and in the back. It may not feel good at first, but it will the more you do it. So those are some daily stretches you can do. The psoas. So the psoas is a big player in...

Dr. Shannon (35:30.33)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (35:38.042)
Mm-hmm. We're gonna start doing it.

Rachael Hutchins (35:49.834)
supporting pregnancy, it wraps from your, on the psoas. Well, that was honestly my, I did that full day workshop and my biggest takeaway was love the, love on the psoas, assess the psoas, psoas holds emotion, it holds tension, it wraps from the back all the way around the front, like it's very involved in the labor process and is underappreciated.

Dr. Shannon (35:51.258)
We should do a whole episode. We need to do a whole episode on the SOS. Yes.

Dr. Shannon (36:08.058)
Oh, emotion.

Dr. Shannon (36:17.37)
Well, it is like the only muscle that connects the legs to the body. So it starts on the posterior spine and connects from like the intervertebral disc, so in between the discs and then it comes around and it then you form that iliac psoas. So it then meshes with the other iliac muscle comes around and inserts in on the hip. So and it's like that main flexion part, but it takes a beating during pregnancy.

Rachael Hutchins (36:35.95)
Mm.

Dr. Shannon (36:46.106)
because it's being shifted and pushed out of the way and the other ligaments are trying to hold it as well. But like, even like you said too, it stores emotions as well too. But a lot of people, even outside of pregnancy, I'm constantly doing psoas work on folks and it can be a big part of low back pain. And so, and this is also part of Webster technique. So psoas.

Rachael Hutchins (36:57.494)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (37:03.136)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (37:14.522)
releases a specific, and there's lots of different ways to release it, which is really cool too. But within Webster is they also have the so as release.

Rachael Hutchins (37:19.695)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (37:25.874)
Yeah, and I've 10 years, 11 years now, postpartum and learning about my SOAS and its connection to some chronic pain in my back that I've had, that I've learned through pelvic floor PT has been a game changer. And so I do certain SOAS releases for myself a few times a week. So it's pregnant or non-pregnant. Everyone has a SOAS. So...

Dr. Shannon (37:34.01)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (37:40.186)
Mmm...

Dr. Shannon (37:47.13)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (37:51.834)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (37:54.75)
And to be clear, SOAS is spelled P-S-O-A-S. If you are wanting to look up things about the SOAS.

Dr. Shannon (37:58.266)
Yes, Pessoas, my autocorrect. Every time I write my notes at the office, I think it's finally learned, but I'm like, I can't remember what it tries to change it to, but it's something silly. So

Rachael Hutchins (38:03.626)
It's like, yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (38:08.206)
Yeah, so a tight psoas can keep the baby high. A longer supple psoas is one of several factors to help baby engage, but also too loose of a psoas can cause some complications too. Taking care of your psoas also benefits digestion, your balance, and your just overall comfort, which we've already talked about with low back pain. And back pain, and during pregnancy, that's huge.

Dr. Shannon (38:13.178)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:20.73)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:34.17)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (38:38.034)
And sitting, so a lot of us are very sedentary. We have desk jobs or, you know, whatever we're doing, a lot of us are sitting. And that shortens the psoas. And it can make it tighter. So you really have to love on your psoas, especially if you are sitting a lot. And three minutes each leg doing psoas, love and stretches.

Dr. Shannon (38:41.018)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:48.378)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (38:55.674)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (39:05.13)
And again, there are directions of how to do that in our show notes, because it'd be really hard for me to walk you through it without getting bogged down and confusing people. So I just say, I like to reference the videos and the in-depth description of how to do that. Um, but one of the most common ways, which if you work out regularly, it's pretty common, but you know, 90, like one knee down, one knee up, and then pushing your hips forward. We'll kind of light up that. So as. Um,

Dr. Shannon (39:11.226)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (39:35.322)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (39:36.15)
So if you're wanting to kind of start there, that's a good place to start. So yeah, love on that SOS. And hip openers is the next one. So balancing the pelvis and opening the hips, allowing easier descent of the baby in labor. Figure four stretches are great. So this can be achieved if you're sitting in a chair.

Dr. Shannon (39:42.458)
Love the psoas.

Dr. Shannon (40:00.89)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (40:03.746)
for a modification of the stretch sitting in the chair and you cross your legs kind of like how a traditional man might sit making a four with your foot flex so top foot flexed and then you press your knee away you're going to feel that stretch in your hip or you can go down and lie on your back and do like your hands do that same position but then put your hands through your legs and kind of reach to the back of your hamstring and pull towards your body with your neck and back

Dr. Shannon (40:16.25)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (40:29.722)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (40:32.69)
on the floor and then pull your leg towards you is also going to stretch your hip. And if you do yoga regularly, hip openers, like a pigeon pose, there are lots of ways that they can, doing yoga helps open your hips too. Minimum three times a week, 45 seconds on each leg. I love hip openers.

Dr. Shannon (40:38.938)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (40:45.562)
Oh yeah.

Dr. Shannon (40:52.282)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (40:57.562)
I like the figure four a lot, or not figure four, I like the hip, like, I like hands and knees, because you can kind of sway hips a bit too, and you can get like a good, and like a modified child to kind of like stretch out and open, but then doing that in addition to like a little bit of that figure four. And there's other ways to stretch some of the hip muscles. I do some other things in the office too. So even, you know, if you've got pelvic floor PT and that type of thing,

Rachael Hutchins (41:07.02)
Yep.

Dr. Shannon (41:26.65)
they're probably doing some other stretches as well. But yeah, figure four. That's the easiest, well, not the easiest, but that's an easiest way to kind of stretch out the hips because I like the ones in yoga.

Rachael Hutchins (41:37.774)
I think it's easiest, I mean, because I'm, because I mean, I'm sitting here and it's a position I assume like regularly. Like if I'm sitting for a long time, I sit and do the figure four in a chair in order to get to my hips. And I think it's the easiest, most accessible way.

Dr. Shannon (41:47.098)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (41:57.082)
Mm-hmm. Especially during, I would say during pregnancy because some of the other ways it might be um and really engaging for the pelvis, you know as far as um some of the other stretches. So yep hip openers

Rachael Hutchins (42:01.431)
Pregnancy, yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (42:09.166)
Mm-hmm. Yep. And then moving into pelvic tilts. This is going to loosen the hips and the sacrum, relax the lower back and soothe achy backs. This is a great thing to do if you're having low back pain or discomfort during pregnancy or during labor. I've had many mamas in labor do this and it helped alleviate that back pain. Do at the end of each day to enhance flexibility.

It's a version of cat cow if you're familiar with yoga where you're on your hands and knees And I like instead of cat I thought angry cat That upward Yeah, and you go from neutral spine. So when you're pregnant, you're not ex you're not exaggerating the cow You're not swaying you're not dropping down and putting that pinch sensation in your lower back

Dr. Shannon (42:46.938)
Mm-hmm. It is. It's angry cat. RAR! Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (42:56.25)
Mm-hmm, that drop. Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (43:04.086)
You're really aiming for neutral spine to angry cat. So if you're on hands and knees, neutral spine, and then you inhale and you're gonna push the floor away and really tuck your tailbone so you can arch your back as much and that's that angry cat position. And you really should feel a good stretch between your shoulder blades if you're pushing the floor away, as well as when you tuck, you're tucking your tailbone, so you should feel your back. Everything in your back should be stretching.

Dr. Shannon (43:06.458)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (43:23.674)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (43:33.098)
and your pelvis and then when you come back, you're moving your pelvis back to neutral and so that's that pelvic tilt without over exaggerating it in that cow position. You don't want that belly to hang too far and push the hips up too far.

Dr. Shannon (43:33.146)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (43:46.65)
Well, yeah, then too you've got like way hyper lordosis in that lumbar spine. It's a little bit too much then because you naturally have that in pregnancy.

Rachael Hutchins (43:51.002)
Yes. Yeah. And you do have more, well yeah, and you have, yeah, the relaxing hormone is gonna create lots of extra movement, so you just gotta pay attention. You don't wanna over, overdo it. And looking 20 to 40 pelvic tilts a day is what Spinning Babies recommends. And all of this at first might feel wonky or uncomfortable or, you know, you may not love it, but the more you do it, I do think it becomes like, oh, I've gotta do this, helps.

Dr. Shannon (44:02.938)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (44:20.778)
you know, tapping into these things at the end of the day when you are feeling discomfort or aches and pains, like these can help alleviate that.

Dr. Shannon (44:28.538)
Yes, I mean it can make a huge difference. So I have this postpartum mom who I think her daughter is maybe six months now and we've had a lot of like mid back pain from like motherhood and her daughter is just you know she's just a very healthy weight and so it's like you know as baby grows and she's so so cute um but that creates a lot of extra tension in mom's spine.

Rachael Hutchins (44:42.583)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (44:55.482)
and mom's body. So we've had to do, there's a lot of posture issues with her as well too. So we're really trying to engage posture, engage that mid-back so that it's pulling its weight that we're not so imbalanced. But I have her doing, she's come up with, we've come up with this little nighttime routine and she's like, she notices a difference if she doesn't do it.

And so now it makes her want to do it, right? So it's kind of like, okay, now I feel better. I want to do these things. So then you'll make time for it because you feel better. But then incorporating it into that habit or routine, it can be very quick, you know, when you look at all of this. So like, yeah, it might be awkward at first, like what you were saying, but do a little bit of inversion, hands and knees, hip openers, like come up with that little routine. And I think it would, I mean, exactly. It becomes that part of your habit, but it can, I mean, it can make a huge difference.

Rachael Hutchins (45:21.212)
Mm-hmm.

Right? Right.

Rachael Hutchins (45:39.182)
Mm-hmm. It'll become something you can't not do.

Dr. Shannon (45:48.922)
So it doesn't have to be so involved.

Rachael Hutchins (45:49.206)
And it makes it when you get into labor, if you've been doing these things during pregnancy, it helps you be able to do them more easily in labor, which is going to serve you during labor. If you've not been doing pelvic tilts, like can you do them? Yeah, but I don't know, like learning and doing it all right there. Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (45:54.906)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (46:01.146)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (46:08.666)
And yeah, when you're trying to have contractions, it might be like, oh God, this isn't awkward. It's not bringing the relief as it does. You've got that muscle memory. You'll have that emotional memory with having done it before and knowing how relaxing it can be. So, yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (46:17.49)
Right, right, right. Yeah. So another big reason to do it. Um, and I, the last one, or no, this isn't the last one, but one of the ones listed here is called rest resting smart. Right. And we talked about this, uh, earlier because it was, it was really talking about like move, move smart, use gravity, but also rest smart. Um, so making a hammock for your baby. Um, using the flashlight test.

and you want your babies back to settle into your hammock to where, you know, their back is facing your front and create a nest of pillows so that you're taking some of that weight and pressure off of the belly. Um, and it's supported. Um, and you can basically nearly lay on, on your tummy. It says as close as you can get to tummy sleeping in pregnancy. Um, it takes a lot of pillows. Um,

Dr. Shannon (47:06.01)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (47:10.67)
prop that top knee up on a big stack of pillows and then you kind of rotate and that back leg kind of kicks out behind you. You're not necessarily stacked hips. It's almost like you're not stacked. You're really leaning forward. And then I like to say hug a pillow so your shoulders and your clavicle are supported and so you're kind of, you're not twisting. Like the whole upper torso is going towards the earth.

Dr. Shannon (47:19.13)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, you don't have to be stacked. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (47:27.642)
Children's don't collapse.

Dr. Shannon (47:36.986)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (47:37.166)
And then since you're not stacking your hips, you're not twisting, everything's like going over together. And then that's gonna give your baby, their back, a place for their back to settle. Now, sleep is unpredictable and you can't guarantee staying in a certain position. But just start here and when you wake up in the middle of the night, reset and change sides, you know, equally. I think that's the best thing to do.

Dr. Shannon (47:49.274)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (47:58.714)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (48:06.102)
And the flashlight test applies. Sorry, I feel like I have something on my arm. Oh, it's a little hair. Um, the flashlight test applies to sleeping too. And I kind of already said that. Make sure you're, if your belly button's a flashlight, even in the bed, you want it pointing towards the floor. It's a good test. Um, so resting smart is so helpful for babies position and it's a, that's the position that, um, as a doula, I'm telling you to do when you're in early labor. Um, or if labor is sort of.

Dr. Shannon (48:06.106)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (48:17.786)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (48:35.274)
ebbing and flowing and or stalled out. We're trying to get maybe in a better position. Like that's a good position to assume as well, because you can keep having contractions in that position, but also rest. Um, so it's a position that you will try out during labor if you're working with me. Um, and then relaxing what is tight in general, right? So this is just, just relax. Oh my God. It's so easy.

Dr. Shannon (48:44.282)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (48:57.114)
Just relax, just relax. I know, I know we say this in jest, but yes, just relax.

Rachael Hutchins (49:06.686)
Relaxing what is tight in general. Okay. Sounds easy, it is easier said than done. And we definitely don't wanna shit on anybody. But this is just a general, like, trying to do that body scan, trying to bring tension to the area of your body and then let it go and that might help you find and feel where you have tension. So squint your brows, let your brows go, tighten your jaw, let it go. Bring your shoulders up, let them go. You know.

Dr. Shannon (49:08.954)
Uh...

Dr. Shannon (49:14.554)
Yeah.

Dr. Shannon (49:19.994)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (49:33.562)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (49:34.93)
make fists and then let your fists go. And when you do that, you feel true sort of relaxation and releasing and do that from top to bottom. And that might help you release tension that you don't even know you have. And then breath work. So combining that with breath work, breathing evenly and deeply on a regular basis is so important for most of us. We're doing these kind of short, shallow breaths all day. So really taking time each day to do long, slow,

Dr. Shannon (49:40.602)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (49:47.578)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (50:04.102)
intentional breaths, filling up your abdomen, filling up your back, long slow exhale, feeling what that feels like to like empty your lungs out and repeat and do that is also really important for releasing tension. Other activities that help with these with optimal fetal positioning and comfort during labor is prenatal yoga.

Dr. Shannon (50:20.282)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (50:28.342)
belly dancing, swimming. I love swimming, especially when we're coming up on summer. Swimming is a great activity for moving, but also not being hard on your body. Doing big hula hoop circles on your yoga ball or your birth ball. And then emotional release. So your mind needs to release tension too. So verbally processing with someone you trust, journaling, seeking professional counseling, prayer.

Dr. Shannon (50:38.106)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (50:56.474)
and forgiveness are always to achieve emotional resolutions or emotional releases that are so, so important for like making way for labor to flow.

Dr. Shannon (51:05.018)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (51:10.33)
Yep, I think sometimes we don't give enough credit for that like emotional release as well because it can also you can be so Tied to maybe certain outcomes or just whatnot But those emotions play a big role. So we have a ton of episodes. Sorry go for it

Rachael Hutchins (51:23.17)
Well, it's a lot. No, I was going to say, like, this is also this is an episode about a lot of doing and people like to have do things they can do and the emotional release is one that people tend to shy away from myself included because that's kind of uncomfortable. And you're scared of what it might come up, bring up or whatever. So it's OK if you have hesitations. But just like you are looking, if you being the people we're talking to, like looking for.

Dr. Shannon (51:32.666)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (51:38.746)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (51:51.842)
things to do to help improve your comfort during pregnancy and an efficient labor, like addressing the emotional capacity, the emotional side for yourself is just as important as all of these other things we mentioned.

Dr. Shannon (52:05.754)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and we have a ton of episodes that I don't even have links for or I mean we have the links for but I don't even know which ones because we've got a yoga one We've got breath work. I have no idea or just check out all of our old episodes as well, too Because even once about you know, emotional resolutions And then you just keep going

Rachael Hutchins (52:15.03)
They will be in the show notes by the time we...

Rachael Hutchins (52:23.07)
We will, how about this, we'll find a few, we'll find a few and we'll get them linked in the show notes because there are so many where we've touched on many of these topics. And we like to highlight those previous episodes for you to dive deeper into. And I do, I touched on this earlier, but like if this feels...

Dr. Shannon (52:34.202)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Shannon (52:38.778)
Yeah.

Rachael Hutchins (52:44.67)
Overwhelming if you're like, okay, it's too much and you kind of want to pull away I just encourage you to lean into this topic lean into these things because like You won't regret and I said this early you won't regret putting effort towards achieving The best birth for you and that's all we want is for you to have the best birth available to you And for you to feel satisfied and empowered and feel your best during this time

Dr. Shannon (52:51.61)
Mm-hmm.

Rachael Hutchins (53:11.29)
So while it might feel overwhelming at first, like we always say, just take one thing at a time and let that guide you towards the next. And that's all you can do.

Dr. Shannon (53:20.858)
That's all you can do. Yeah, I love it. Good little notes to end with. Again, check out all of the resources linked in the show notes and we'll see you next week.