"I had an unmedicated three hour labour and gave birth in 40 seconds – I didn’t have to push" - video Dailymotion

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A unmedicated mum gave birth in just 40 seconds when her baby "shot out" - because of a medical rarity.  Cianna Gonzalez, 24, experienced the Ferguson reflex, when the body 'expels' a child.  Also known as the fetal ejection reflex, it is often seen in home births - but rarely in a medical setting.  Stay-at-home mum Cianna, from Philadelphia, says she felt her son "descending" without control.  And he just slipped out after a three-hour labour - where he was caught by a midwife.  Cianna said: “I felt him descending. I was screaming ‘he’s coming’.  “My baby shot out completely voluntarily.  “I did not have to push him out, he came out on his own. He came out in less than 40 seconds.”  Cianna, who now has two children, went into labour after 38 weeks.  She started feeling what she thought were Braxton Hicks contractions.  But, after contacting the birth centre, she was told to come in and that she was in labour.  She went into a birth pool during labour and was in there when she suddenly felt her baby coming.  She tried to get out of the tub to give birth - but realised there was no time.  Cianna said: “I was anxiety ridden in the moment.  "I thought who is going to catch this baby? It was very natural and very fast.”  Her second son was born on August 8 2022, weighing 7lbs 5oz, at 10.35am.  She believes “being able to relax trigged the Ferguson reflex”.  Cianna said: “It was very intuitive on the babies end. It was incredible.  "I didn’t know I could do that or the baby could. He was on his own timing."  Cianna had not had the reflex with her first son, now two, when he was born on February 10 2021 weighing 7lbs 12oz.  Her positive birth experience which gave her “confidence” for her second birth.  She said: “I was excited to do it again.”  According to birthing information online, the reflex is involuntary - the woman's body is doing the work without any thought.  Some women have likened it to a sneeze, it is claimed - once it’s started to happen, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

Transcript

00:00 So I got this question a few times where people were asking me, "What do you mean you didn't have to push?"

00:04 So while I was giving birth, what basically happened to me is called the Ferguson reflex. My baby shot out

00:10 completely involuntary. I did not have to push him out. He came out on his own.

00:15 I have my birth video up on my page, but when you watch it, you can hear me screaming, "The baby is coming!

00:22 He's coming!" and that was me screaming to my team that I'm gonna need hands on deck

00:28 because I could feel him descending outside of my control.

00:32 I was standing up while I was giving birth,

00:35 so I also feel like just me being in that position and the way that gravity works, it was also just pulling him down.

00:41 So I feel like there was a lot of factors involved as to why I didn't have to push.

00:45 Hi guys, so I'm gonna discuss two techniques that I was using in this video to kind of help me relax because I do feel like

00:52 relaxing is

00:55 very key into kind of progressing in labor.

00:58 So I don't know if you guys relate, but do you know how sometimes maybe when you get period cramps,

01:04 you get the urge to just like curl up into the fetal position?

01:08 That is exactly what was happening to me here.

01:10 You can see literally my arms and my face how much pain I'm in and I'm just holding in so much tension.

01:17 And this is exactly why I was forcing myself to extend my arms and release my hands

01:23 so that I could try to relax during this active contraction.

01:26 You could also see in the video that I am breathing.

01:31 I'm focusing on my breathing, which I also feel like is super, super important.

01:36 So if you're pregnant and you're preparing for labor, I would definitely look up some breathing techniques.

01:42 There wasn't any technique that I did specifically,

01:44 but I just focused on making sure I'm taking very slow deep breaths.

01:51 I was fortunate enough to be able to birth in a birth center and the environment that birth centers have,

01:56 especially the one I was at, really allowed me to relax. I was able to

02:00 move freely without being hooked up to any machines. I was able to be in warm water and

02:06 I do firmly believe that those things helped me progress my labor instantly.

02:11 I know that these are amenities that are not necessarily available to anybody and for that I would definitely recommend

02:18 have somebody keep you accountable for your breathing and try to make the environment as relaxing as possible.

02:24 Maybe you want dim lighting. Maybe you want certain music. Maybe you don't even want to be talked to.

02:29 Maybe you just want silence. Try to think of those things and think about what might help you relax during that time.

"I had an unmedicated three hour labour and gave birth in 40 seconds – I didn’t have to push"

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