Reason #1: The last couple weeks of my pregnancy, I would always get regular contractions from 3-5 am. I now know that was because those hours are the peak in melatonin production.
Reason #2: I birthed my baby girl in the dark and my labor never stalled or stopped. I also used Hypnobirthing and was in deep relaxation the entire time. Both of these factors increase melatonin.
Reason #3: I DID take a lesson from my pet cat. Growing up we had a cat named Twinkie. We always knew when she was about to give birth and we would have her come into our laundry room. There was a little nook under the cupboards where she would have her babies and stay there until they were weaned. We never saw her have the babies because she would always have them at night (thus, in the dark). But one night (or a wee morning hour) my niece got sick and was throwing up in bed. I went into the laundry room to get towels and there Twinkie was in labor. She had already had two kittens and the third one was on it's way down. I watched as she birthed the third kitten and then turned the lights off and let her finish in peace. I was surprised at how calm she was. I remember thinking "wow, does labor not hurt?" Her eyes were closed and she was completely focused.
I know this may sound weird to some people, observations of a cat in labor. But this experience has stuck with me since then (I was about 10 when this happened) and I believe it influenced me to want natural labor because I had seen what it could be.
A week before I gave birth to Hazel, I had a dream (you know how pregnant women have the most interesting of dreams). But I dreamt that I was in an Indian camp with a few other pregnant women and our "pregnancy guide" I'll call him, was explaining the rights of passage with birth. He was also talking about different spirits that help us through birth, family on the other side and such. Then he had each one of us step into a stream and choose an animal spirit to help us through our labor. I chose the cat because of my experience with Twinkie.
Now this may sound extremely weird and I agree. It's a weird dream. However, I remember feeling very connected to it because it was truth in a dream, which doesn't happen all that often to me. I also felt empowered because I knew that I could do it. I'd seen it done by an animal mother and it gave me courage and peace.
Here's to mothers in nature, which we all are.
