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These candid dancing and singing mama videos courtesy of YouTube
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(above) Alexandra dancing serenely through two contractions while in labor
"I had the textbook-perfect pregnancy...I was extremely physically active throughout, including taking a Dancing For Birth prenatal class.... at eleven ten in the morning, I was 4 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced with the baby at 0 station. I danced during contractions, later retreating to rocking in a rocking chair between them. My doula arrived on the scene and pampered me with back-rubs for the rest of my labour. As the endorphins kicked in, the world seemed surreal, and reality melted away...At three twenty-nine in the afternoon, my uterus simply started pushing on its own. My doula whispered softly that she was going to tell my doctor I was having the "urge to push" and that I would then be surrounded by a lot of people and noise and to just stay inside myself. I was surprised to be found to be 10 centimeters dilated, since I was expecting the feeling of "giving up" or wanting pain medications that was described during Transition in all the books I'd read. Those thoughts had never crossed my mind, and I remained relaxed and in great spirits. ...At six thirthy-two in the evening, all 6 pounds and 13 ounces of her shot out like a baby horse! " (Excerpts from Alexandra's birth story of Eris's birth)
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