Episode 18: Transition

In our free weekly videos, we're continuing our study of the linear & medical model of birth. This week's video is about the transition phase of labor. Transition is so intense. Transition is when many birthing people descend deeply into the altered mindstate of labor, laborland, which invites surrender and release into the intensity - the final stage of opening and baby's descent before pushing.

Full Transcript

Hello, and welcome to episode 18 of the free weekly Brave Journey birth preparation videos. This week, we are talking about transition, which is intense, but we'll talk about that in a sec. As I've been mentioning these videos, I originally recorded them to be part of the full, Brave Journey Birth Preparation Program.

However I have since completely reorganized and changed how I'm introducing concepts for for that program. So these videos were no longer useful for that purpose. So I decided to split them up and release them as free weekly videos, rather than keeping them behind a paywall or never using them at all. It's good information.

You might notice, I might mention things like "in future lessons we'll discuss", or "that's a different lesson, and that is in reference to the program, the full program that I'm currently developing. So it might not make sense within this weekly free video context.

So forgive me for that if that's not clear, but other than that, it's good information. Let's talk transition.

 Transition is no joke. I distinctly remember saying this to my spouse when I was in transition with my second baby. And I said, transition is no joke. And I... everyone around me laughed and I got really mad because I wasn't trying to be funny. Cause the thing is I had already given birth and been through transition once with my first, I had been to births between my first and second babies, and I had witnessed people in transition many times. And yet when I got to transition again, I was still shocked by the intensity.

Transition is the final stage of labor before pushing. And transition is physical. It is emotional. It is some would say, I think I would say, it's spiritual. Transition is when the contractions are the strongest and the longest and the closest together they'll ever be throughout the labor

Laboring people, when they get to transition are often deep, deep, deep, in labor land. They are deep in that altered mind state of labor. They are often giving one or two word answers. They're moving rhythmically with their body. They're finding positions that work and perhaps dozing or in off in labor land in between contractions. Laboring people are having to dive deep into their internal resources to get through transition. Tears and feelings of wanting to give up. And feelings of being overwhelmed are common in transition.

So I always say, as a birth doula, my goal through labor is to ensure that birthing people never feel overwhelmed. Birthing people are working hard but they're never overwhelmed. And then we'll try alternate coping mechanisms if someone's getting overwhelmed .

Transition is a little different. Overwhelm seems to be just A natural part of transition because this is when birthing people are just so close. And sometimes this overwhelm in the stage of transition is an invitation to surrender. And to really open and allow that baby to come through.

So tears and feelings of wanting to give up. It's also not uncommon for birthing people to vomit during transition. They may, some birthing people will vomit all throughout labor. It's just the physical intensity and it's so close to your stomach. Birth partners, if you're watching this, it's very common for the birthing person you're supporting to weep. They may be vomiting. They may be be sobbing. They may be saying, "I don't want to do this anymore", but this is transition.

This is right before pushing. So, this is a time for you as the birth partner to dig deep into your internal resources yourself, and to really remind yourself that they're doing great. And then verbally remind your birthing person that they are doing great. Remind them that they're close. If that's true check with your medical care providers or your birth team before you say something like that. But remind them that things are so intense because we are so close to meeting this baby. That can be really helpful for the birthing person in this stage.

Also in contrast, some birthing people sail through transition and doesn't look any different than the rest of labor. Some people sail through their entire labor with rythmic, coping, chatting, laughing in between every contraction until all of a sudden it's time to push. That is also not unusual. So you never know what your birth journey hasn't store for you. I'm trying to give you "typicals" and "usually" , but everybody's journey is different. So maybe you'll be the person who just sales through transition and then all of a sudden this has the urge to push.

So a story about this. I had a doula client call saying that labor was starting and they had not, it was the birth partner calling me. And I could hear the laboring person in the background a little bit with moans and they said: "Labor is started. We need to go to the hospital". And I was like, "oh, not yet. You know, when did labor start?" And they said about half an hour ago. And I was like, "oh, it's probably not time to go to the hospital, yet". Can I talk to the laboring person, expecting her to get her on the phone and, and find that this is very much early labor.

And he's like, I" don't think she can talk to you right now". And then I heard the laboring person in the background have a contraction and she was not just moaning. She was bearing down. It was like a moan. And then, oh, and I was like: oh, my gosh. "Well, where is she laboring?" And he's like, "she's on the toilet".

And side note, the toilet is a great laboring position because, uh, for two reasons, one, we are conditioned to release our bodies over the toilet. So it helps release the pelvic floor over the toilet. Also the physicality of the toilet, it supports the hips, but it allows all that space for the pelvic floor. So it's not so much pressure. So it can allow, uh, it's a really great place to labor as strange it is. And it's not unusual for babies, particularly in birthing centers and home births to be born over the toilet with someone catching the baby. But for the birthing person to be laboring on the toilet, standup, and then the baby's coming.

Um, so then I heard her moaning and bearing down like that, which are pushing sounds. And I was like, "okay, I'll meet you there. I'll meet you at the hospital!" And we met at the hospital and sure enough, she was 10 centimeters dilated, fully ready to push.

But, you know, we all rushed and everybody's like, oh my gosh, she's about ready to push.

But the truth is, is that, um, it took her a couple hours to push that baby out. So everybody expected that baby would just fall out, um, and come really quickly. But it still took a couple of hours for a first time birthing person to push that baby out, which is very normal. Which takes us to our next stage of labor pushing.