The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Marathon Analogy for Labor and Birth

Suppose you've wanted to run in the Boston Marathon for years, and finally had an opportunity to get the kind of training you needed to run it an finish it in what you would consider a "respectable" time. You get a trainer. Your trainer gives you a program to follow which he swears will get you in perfect shape for the Marathon. You get up every morning and run, even on days when you don't want to or when it's snowing outside. You change your diet. You spend hours in the gym. The day of the Marathon, everything is going well. You are making excellent time, you feel good (better than you thought you would) and the weather is cooperating. On mile 26, after cresting Heartbreak Hill, you suddenly experience cramps so severe, you not only can't stagger over the finish line under your own power, you actually need to be helped off the course by medical personnel- with the finish line in sight.

Okay, and we need to add that the race organizers and their lawyers decided that this was a potentially life threatening goal to attempt so to be careful, they want everyone on monitors and with IVs in just in case of dehydration and/or heart attack and no one is allowed to eat or drink once they begin the race, OH! and their diets before the race were calorie restricted and lets see......they have to stop for complete examinations every hour to make sure they are still fit to continue running and if they don't make certain checkpoints by certain times, they will be "helped off the course" and of course, they must be quiet and "in control" while doing this or medication may become necessary................did I forget anything?

Yes, you have to run on your back because it's easier for the non-runners to rescue you. And please don't yell or moan, you'll frighten the other runners who we also expect to run quietly. If you didn't finish your last marathon, you won't be able to finish this one even if you trained differently. And of course, you probably won't be able to run at all because your feet are too small.