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Child-Bearing Hips- How It Affects Delivery With 4 Additional Factors!
Probabilities are that you have heard the term “child-bearing hips” earlier somewhere. Maybe somebody used such words to express your body shape or somebody else’s shape.
But assuming how most ladies are built with the capability to give birth to children, saying that somebody has childbearing hips may appear a bit strange— or even illogical. While the old saying about holding “childbearing hips” is not usually considered praise, many women believe it is a benefit when it comes to giving birth.
As midwives, women are used to alleviating the troubles of petite women who are anxious that their pelvic region or hips, or their bodies, are petite to give birth naturally.
Women have a biological structure for delivery, and thus, coming across an expression such as ‘child-bearing hips’ may be incoherent to some! In this article, we speak about what this expression means and if it makes any distinction in the understanding of childbirth. Read on to learn more!
What do people mean by childbearing hips?
To be precise, depicting a woman’s hips as child-bearing hips do not mean that she retains some special capability to bear kids that most women do not. Child-bearing hips direct to a woman’s hips or pelvic structure in the most straightforward terms. This term is usually used to represent women with more extensive hips.
Pelvic shapes are not one dimension fits all. Instead, they can differ considerably in size and shape from woman to woman. And essentially, some women are created with a wider hip and pelvis that can perhaps make it more manageable for them to hold and birth to a newborn.
Back in the 1930s, investigators categorized the pelvis into various shapes, mainly four: Gynecoid, android, anthropoid, and platypelloid. Interestingly, the latest research shows that pelvic shapes are not so readily categorized into these four groups and that there is additional variation than earlier thought.
Still, to comprehend why it’s considered that pelvic shapes may affect childbirth, here are the features of each pelvic shape as they were initially described:
How Various Types of Pelvic Shapes Affect Childbirth
As per one research analysis completed in the 1930s, it was confirmed that women’s pelvises could be broadly categorized into four major categories. However, many professionals find it challenging to stick to this restricted categorization in current times. In order to comprehend whether child-bearing hips or birthing hips have any effect on childbirth, let us discuss the different categories of child-bearing hips or pelvis shapes:
1. The Gynecoid Pelvis Shape
The gynecoid pelvis figure is one of the prevalent pelvic forms seen in women. This form is excellent for promoting and relaxing vaginal birth in many women. This type of pelvis is wide and shallow, which demonstrates to be excellent in helping the baby via the birthing channel. In other words, a more external and wider pelvis delivers more space for the baby during the delivery process, making this form one of the most advantageous.
This also suggests that if you have been informed you have good child-bearing hips by the midwife or physician, there is a good chance that you hold a gynecoid pelvis. Women with such a pelvis are usually curvy and full-figured and tend to carry more fat near their thighs than their midriff.
2. The Anthropoid Pelvis Shape
This pelvis form is standard, like a gynaecoid pelvis, but rather than being wider from one side to the other (right to the left), this form is broader from back to front. If you have this type of pelvis form, labor might not be excessively easy for you, as there is a smaller room for the pelvis to spread completely during delivery. Labour may also be expanded.
Women who carry this pelvis form have additional weight around their stomachs and butts. If you have this kind of pelvis, the doctor might suggest that you carry an active part while giving birth and might also suggest specific actions such as crouching or walking that can assist in facilitating the process of childbirth.
3. The Android Pelvis Shape
This pelvis shape is mainly found in taller ladies with a narrow pubic arch and smaller buttock muscles. The pelvis is limited in the front and holds a heart-shaped projection, and thus a triangular shape is formed at the inlet with a limited-down sub-pubic arch. This type of pelvis shape causes it difficult for big babies to pass via the birth canal, and thus women having this type of pelvis typically go through a Cesarean delivery.
However, if vaginal birth is believed, the physician might ask you to move additionally during the delivery process, and you might also need to push harder. This suggests that this type of pelvis does not head out the case of standard delivery, but you might have to undergo more prolonged labor.
4. The Platypelloid pelvis shape
A platypelloid pelvis is also marked by narrowness. This pelvic structure can also result in a little longer delivery as it can take the baby longer to pierce the pelvis.
The distinction between this form and the android is that an android pelvis holds a narrow pubic arch, whereas the platypelloid pelvis holds a wider sub-pubic arch. Thus, if you have a platypelloid pelvis, delivery becomes more manageable once your baby is in the pelvis.
Decades back, a woman’s pelvis region was X-rayed to determine whether or not she may be able to maintain a relatively easy vaginal childbirth. While pelvic X-rays are not part of the prenatal checkup anymore, your OB-GYN might examine the pelvis to get an insight into the structure.
Understand that keeping a particular pelvic shape is not always necessarily a sign of a more straightforward birth or whether you will have vaginal childbirth or cesarean delivery.
Many elements come into play while giving birth, including the dimensions of the baby’s head, the fitness of the mother, and the positioning of your baby at the time of childbirth.
Here’s the crucial thing to recognize: a woman’s body is prepared to give birth to a newborn. As you get nearer the due date and delivery begins, the pelvic floor will inherently relax and extend in trial for delivery. This occurs when the body discharges the hormone relaxin.
The pelvic bones will narrowly diverge from each other, and it’s this detachment lets a baby move through the pelvic joints. But although the ligaments near the pelvis will rest in preparation for childbirth, the pelvis shape does not vary.
Do Child-bearing Hips Ease the Birthing Process?
After learning a lot about child-bearing hips, you may wonder whether they will make the birthing process easier or if it’s just an expression. Well, here’s what you need to know.
A woman’s venture into childbirth circles around different essential aspects, such as her fitness, the position of their baby at the time of labor, the dimensions of the baby’s head, and so on. A female’s body is created for childbirth. Therefore, having a particular pelvis form cannot be a precise indicator of whether you will have a standard vaginal delivery or need a C-section.
As you move with your gestation and get nearer to the delivery date, the body begins preparing for labor. The pelvis will begin stretching and loosening to promote the baby’s movements through your birthing canal. The bones near the pelvic region will begin separating gradually while creating space for the baby’s activity. It is necessary to recognize that these changing ligaments in your pelvis do not mean that the bone structure is adjusting; instead, it is the body’s way of training for childbirth.
So, suppose you are thinking about whether women with child-bearing hips will have it manageable during labor. In that case, the response is yes; this is positively possible because there is more space for the baby to drag easily. However, the dimensions of the hips cannot be the only determining element in what makes labor more painless. Other significant aspects that indicate alleviating the birthing operation are the dimensions of the baby, the place of the baby, the power of the contractions, and the fitness of the mother.
This also suggests that, even if you hold child-bearing hips and different childbirth factors are not in your favor, you might have problems during the delivery process or even go through a Cesarean section. On the other hand, if all different childbirth requirements are in your favor, and you do not have perfect childbearing hips, you might still carry a standard delivery.
Childbirth is a different experience for every woman, and till you are in active labor, it might be hard to tell how your labor will move. Thus, there is no need to bother about small matters such as the child-bearing hips unless the doctor is worried about the same.
Here are some other elements that come into play:
1. Baby’s size
One aspect that can significantly influence the childbirth experience is the dimensions of your baby. Even though a lady with wider hips is probable to have quicker, smoother delivery, this may not happen when giving birth to a large baby.
The baby may be a little wider than your hips, and if so, this may potentially delay delivery. Just the exact, a woman with a limited-shaped pelvis — which generally makes it more challenging to deliver — might have a smoother birth because of delivering a smaller infant.
2. Baby’s position
Also, the baby’s position can affect birth, influencing whether you have an uncomplicated or challenging birth.
Babies are generally easier to deliver when positioned in a “head down” position in your womb. The good news is that most infants innately move into this position in the last weeks of pregnancy.
However, a few babies roll into a breech position (suggesting a bottom-down position). In this issue, the doctor may use methods to rotate the baby and then present a C-section if these schemes don’t work.
3. Your health
Be aware that your health can also affect birth. Giving birth to a baby vaginally needs a lot of power and energy on the mother’s part. So if a mother is sick or has a medical situation that limits her physical force or energy, she might be incapable of pushing effectively, which could extend the delivery.
4. Contraction strength
You might have bad uterine contractions, the pulling and relaxing of the muscles in the uterus, and while painful, they help drive out your baby. When the contractions are not as muscular, they may need longer to give birth.
But while various factors can affect birth, know that women of all dimensions and shapes have the capability to birth infants of all sizes and forms.
Evolution and the childbirth challenge
Evolutionary biologists have shown up with a description of the potential challenges of delivery. The “obstetrical dilemma” theory proposes the evolution of humans walking vertically on two legs in a narrowing of a women’s birth canal. With baby brains comparatively large, childbirth becomes problematic.
In evolutionary expressions, this indicates that the female pelvis cannot grow further because this would interrupt the human ability for movement. The obstetrical dilemma hypothesizes that the limitation of the pelvic size decides the end of pregnancy and the timing of spontaneous labor.
A recent study has dismissed the obstetric spot, proposing that the unexpected onset of labor is defined by the balance between mother and fetal metabolism. This is understood as the energetics of gestation and growth (EGG hypothesis) and means that labor starts when fetal vitality demands exceed the mother’s ability to fulfill those demands.
This alternative hypothesis states that as the infant grows via the pregnancy, so do the metabolic needs for tissue development and maintenance. By approximately 40 weeks, the metabolic needs of the baby begin to push the woman’s vitality needs beyond what is easily attainable.
Raising the pregnancy by even one month will presumably need metabolic investment beyond the mom’s capability. So instead, the mother goes into labor. While there is still dispute about the evolutionary directions that select the size of newborn infants, the proposed EGG theory helps us comprehend the significance of starting pregnancy as profoundly as possible, with a healthy weight and good food.
Healthy weight
A woman’s metabolism is fundamental in deciding fetal growth and helps for labor and childbirth. Initiating pregnancy in the most nourishing state and securing appropriate weight gain signifies she is more likely to begin labor at the right time and provide a baby who is a healthful weight.
There are a variety of risks for women who begin pregnancy with a lower or higher pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), encompassing preterm birth, large- or small-for-gestational-age infants, gestational hypertension, stillbirth, neural tube defects, postpartum weight retention, and significant depressive disorders. Women with an increased BMI are also highly likely to have the labor rendered or delivered by cesarean section.
It’s essential to remember that many women are entirely designed to produce a baby that is the correct size and deliver birth. As midwives, females have seen many little women who have delivered birth to regular or large-sized babies.
Child-bearing Hips- The Bottom Line
Do not worry if you do not have what would be deemed child-bearing hips. Maintaining larger and wider hips is not always a sign of whether you will have an uncomplicated birth experience.
Childbirth is a complicated experience, no matter the shape or size of the pelvis. Until you are at the threshold where you are ready to give birth, there is no way to learn how easy (or how challenging) the birth will be.
Once childbirth is underway, both ways strive for comfort, knowing you will soon meet your little one who will bring a bundle of joy!
