Fetal ejection reflex… this is a natural urge that a woman gets when she has an undisturbed birth, benefitting from all her natural birthing hormones. Just as your body involuntarily expels your stomach contents when you are ill, or your bowels, and no amount of trying would stop you from vomiting, so the fetal ejection reflex does the same to baby from the uterus. Think reverse vomiting!
Conscious and coached pushing isn’t necessary, and this can actually cause damage to the perenium as well as distress to the baby. Trust in your body’s ability to naturally birth your baby!
See below for a fantastic video demonstrating the fetal ejection reflex!
“Physiological birth is an involuntary process, related to activity in the primitive brain and body structures. It occurs best when a woman’s parasympathetic nervous system is operational and she is in a state of trust. A dark, calm, quiet, and almost solitary surrounding serves the mother best for labour and birth. Birth is not a voluntary action” (midwife Marianne Littlejohn 2014).