When people think about women giving birth, they tend to focus on things like pushing and counting breaths.
But, if you think about it, a lot has to be done to get that baby out into the world. A new photo is blowing people’s minds for showing how a mom’s bones move during the birth process.
When women become pregnant, we know their bodies go through a lot of physical changes.
It’s kind of hard to miss that baby bump and the swollen feet that come with pregnancy.
We’re also starting to recognize the changes that happen to a mom’s body after she gives birth.
There is a huge postpartum body movement happening on social media that celebrates the stretch marks and swollen breasts that come with being a new mom.
If you think about it, though, we never really talk about what happens to a mom’s body when she’s actually giving birth.
We know that her uterus is contracting and her cervix is dilating to accommodate the baby, but a new photo proves that giving birth requires the strength of a woman’s entire body.
A photo posted by North Dallas Doulas on Instagram shows a mom’s backbone moving to make room for her baby.
You can see the bone, that triangular bump near the base of her spine, protruding under her skin.
Here’s exactly what is going on when this bone moves during the birth process:
“The rhombus of Michaelis (sometimes called the quadrilateral of Michaelis) is a kite-shaped area that includes the three lower lumbar vertebrae, the sacrum and that long ligament which reaches down from the base of the skull to the sacrum,” Dr. Sarah Wickham explained in an Instagram post.
Dr. Wickham described how the bones move during labor.
“This wedge-shaped area of bone moves backwards during the second stage of labour and as it moves back it pushes the wings of the ilia out, increasing the diameters of the pelvis.”
Even though this phenomenon has been observed by midwives, doulas, and doctors for decades, this photo is just making people aware of the process now.
“It’s what Sheila Kitzinger (1993) was talking about when she recorded Jamaican midwives saying the baby will not be born ‘till the woman opens her back’. I’m sure that is what they mean by the ‘opening of the back.”
And while it looks a little freaky, it’s totally normal
“This happens as part of [the] physiological second stage; it’s an integral part of an active normal birth,” Dr. Wickham said.
This process needs to happen so the baby has enough room to move.
“If you’re going to have a normal birth you need to allow the rhombus of Michaelis to move backwards to give the baby the maximum amount of space to turn his shoulders in,” she said.
The reason this photo was able to show the process happening was because of the mom’s position.
“When women are leaning forward, upright, or on their hands and knees, you will see a lump appear on their back, at and below waist level,” Dr. Wickham said.
Since it has been shared on Instagram and Facebook, many people have commented on this rare birth moment captured in a photo.
For moms who gave birth in a similar position, it was a chance for them to see what they went through from a different perspective.
Many couldn’t help but marvel at the photo.
It’s an important reminder of how incredible women’s bodies are.
For a lot of moms, this photo brought back memories of their own birthing experiences.
Even though we tend to picture moms giving birth on their backs, many women opt for an upright position or being on their hands and knees.
And some moms could even recall the exact moment they felt their own bones shift.
This mom actually heard her bones pop. Wow!
For even seasoned moms, this picture and the information was totally new to them.
I also didn’t know that this could happen and it’s so cool. It just goes to show that there are still so many things about women’s bodies and giving birth that we don’t know.
