Laughter is the best medicine . Such a cliché that we don’t even take it seriously. But what about bringing it into the birth experience? While birth is amazing and beautiful and holy, there is also a bit of the ridiculous involved. God created us to have our babies come out of WHERE? Sometimes we can help our bodies to accept the amazing and fantastic things and accept the flow if we relax and find the funny in it. It’s not a marathon after all, it’s a joyous thing. So here’s a tip for early labor: Bring out the laptop, or your dvd player, and bring the best stand-up and comedy clips you can find.
Pick something that brings out good belly laughs! They massage the uterus, which can tip a ripe and ready uterus right over the edge into proper labor. Laughing releases endorphins and oxytocin which are both hormones that are key in the birthing process! If you go to hospital to be induced, they’ll give you synthetic forms of oxytocin to stimulate contractions – wouldn’t you rather first have a try a more fun way of getting those hormones naturally?
Not only that, but beginning the process of labor and becoming parents by laughing with your partner is a good bonding experience for the two of you. You are enjoying this experience, together, both involved, feeling good, enjoying yourselves.
So what should you watch? I have a good friend who went into labor over My Big Fat Greek Wedding, although she was British so for people who are used to stiff, formal weddings this would really funny. If you are used to a loud, raucous family event like a Jewish wedding, then you won’t understand what the big deal is. I’ve added a list of YouTube clips that make me roll about laughing over on the sidebar, but make sure that you’re watching these clips for the first time, because that’s when you tend to laugh the hardest! Another idea is to incorporate your friends: ask people to send you links to their favorite funniest videos, obviously letting them know if you are language sensitive or not. I’m sure they will be more than happy to play their little part in this event!
So, if you have a favorite comedy clip, go on, share it in the comments…….x
