PUSH: Persevere Until Success Happens Through Prayer by Cindy Trimm Read Free Book Online Page A

when her energy is physically at its lowest.
    During transition, a woman must dig deep within herself to hang on. It is when the mother is for the most part soloing—the coaching offered by the midwife throughout labor will, at this point, be considered useless and even irritating. The midwife knows to keep the room quiet, instructions minimal, and communication positive. Until her guidance is needed when it is time to push, the woman in transition must lean in and trust her inner strength. Further medication is pointless because the duration of transition would not allow time for it to take effect.
    Just before the urge to push takes over, the contractions subside, and activity kicks in as the mother positions herself to bear down. It is the most intimate, transparent time between a woman and her own soul—she is vulnerable. It is almost a call from God to go deep in trusting and leaning on Him, to shed every self-righteous ounce of self-will and completely give over to the Divine within. It is where the rubber meets the road when God says,
“My grace…is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness.”
Then Paul says,
“For when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength)”
(2 Corinthians 12:9-10 AMP).
    This is when radical enlarging takes place to allow the baby to drop down and signal that it is time to begin pushing. It is when the mother must give over and
“let the power of the Master expand, enlarge itself greatly”
(Numbers 14:17 MSG) on her behalf. It is almost as if God is answering the call to
“enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings”
(Isaiah 54:2), and as if the body is in and of itself crying out to its Maker,
“Bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain!”
(1 Chronicles 4:10 NIV). To this cry God faithfully answers:
“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert”
(Isaiah 43:19). The mother will know exactly when that new thing is about to spring forth. If her water hasn’t already broken, it will—like a river in the desert—and the baby will suddenly drop into the birth canal—the road in the wilderness—and immediately this new little being will begin to emerge,
“whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant”
(Isaiah 30:13).
    Likewise, according to Certified Nurse Midwife Peg Plumbo, prematurely initiating the pushing phase can be counterproductive and even harmful. Plumbo distinguishes between
directive pushing
and
spontaneous pushing
, stating that “most mothers should be encouraged to push when they want to push and for as long as they want to push.” She suggests that a woman listens to her body, giving in to the urge to push only when it comes naturally. “Studies are now confirming what midwives have known for centuries—mothers know how to birth their babies. They don’t require…a gallery of spectators to tell them, even demand them, to push.” 26 In the words of birth professional Virginia Di Orio, “Just as a woman’s heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.” The key to birthing—and to effectively “pushing”—is to get in tune with the natural rhythm of the body.
    In
Birthing Naturally
, author Jennifer VanderLaan adds a bit of advice that throws some light on how to approach the pushing process when it comes to prayer. “If the urge to push is not strong, it may be better to change position or lean into the contraction until the pushing urge is strong. This helps to prevent fatigue and allows the strongest pushing to be done when