Babytalk | Giving birth is like running a marathon. It takes a plan
When people ask me what kind of nursing I do, I tell them: mothers and runners. It may seem those two things require different nursing skills. In reality they have many similarities.
I have had the privilege of being on the medical team at major races such as the Marine Corps Marathon, Boston Marathon, New York Marathon, Cowtown Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Houston Marathon, Cherry Blossom 10 miler and other races. I have worked at 48 major races over the last 11 years.
I have been working with mothers many more years. I can confidently say I have attended to the delivery of thousands of babies and counseled thousands of mothers and fathers.
It has dawned on me, and I use this when teaching new families, running a marathon and giving birth have many things in common.
Starting with, preparing for a challenging race and giving birth starts around nine months before the event. Babies start small and grow steadily in the womb. They practice what they will need to do to live outside the womb. Fetuses start swallowing around 16 weeks. They start sucking around 18 weeks. They practice these things and become better and better over the course of 40 weeks.
In the movie “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” she starts out running around her block. Runners increase their time and distance gradually in preparation for the big day of the race. Yes I have met a few runners who tell me they just got up one day and decided to run a long race, but they are few and very far between.
Unless someone is an “elite” runner, they sign up to run a race, not win it. Their goal is to finish the race.
Mothers just want to deliver their baby.
It takes great physical effort to go through labor and to run a race. It takes several weeks to recover from the physical effort it takes to give birth, same as running a marathon.
There is great rejoicing at crossing the finish line. People pump their arms out, they cry, people are cheering, there is relief the race is over.
When a baby is born, after the baby gives out her first cry, the same happens. Tears of happiness, parents embracing, great rejoicing, and tremendous relief labor is over and the baby is here.
Both produce sweat, muscle aches, and take months to prepare.
Both require setting goals. Pablo Picasso wrote: “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
Even with the best plan in place, unexpected things can happen. A mother may have been planning on a normal birth and end up with a cesarean surgical delivery. A runner may develop a blister that changes the preplanned strategy.
The goal of finishing a race, of delivering the baby, require planning and commitment.
Recently I had a mother bring a picture of herself crossing the finish line at a marathon with her to labor. She said it was the hardest thing she had ever done and wanted to remind herself of how amazing she felt when she finished the race. She already knew labor was like running a marathon.
Another favorite mother runner of mine who I know through the Boston Marathon shared with me her thoughts. She wrote to me: My overwhelming sentiment on marathons and parenting is that you commit to both 150%, and prepare as you may, you have no idea what you’ve committed to until you are doing it, both the frustrations and the rewards alike.
The day one gives birth and the day ones finishes a race, are days one never forgets.
Katie Powers, R.N., is a board-certified lactation consultant and perinatal educator at Manatee Memorial Hospital’s Family BirthPlace. Her column appears every other week in Healthy Living in the Bradenton Herald. Contact her at katie.powers@mmhhs.com.