Have you ever tried explaining how a baby comes out of Mummy’s belly to your child? Let’s rephrase that – have you ever tried explaining it without tripping over yourself in an effort not to get graphic?
If the answer here is a big ‘yes’, then you will absolutely appreciate child birth educator Liz Chalmers’ latest informative YouTube video.
Liz has become an online sensation after her easy explanation of child birth contractions – using a balloon, of all things – went viral!
In the video’s description, Liz explains that she originally put the idea and video together for her niece, who is training to become a child birth educator in New Zealand.
When she shared it, it went ‘unexpectedly viral’ – so she decided to make a step-by-step run-through for the rest of us!
Liz’s demonstration is truly genius. She uses a pink balloon and a ping-pong ball to represent the uterus, showing how stretching causes the ‘baby’ to pop out.
To begin with, Liz pops a ping-pong ball in, then inflates the balloon to halfway. The ball keeps the opening to the balloon blocked, serving as the ‘baby’ and keeping the air inside.
Liz begins to ‘squeeze and let go’ of the top of the balloon, pointing out how the opening at the end – serving as the cervix – is thinning.
“Real contractions happen at the top of the uterus – it’s the muscle fibres at the top getting shorter and thicker, which squeeze the top and then pull up the sides of the uterus,” she explains.
It is fascinating to watch, as Liz reminds the viewers to focus on the shortening of the cervix rather than the dilation.
Liz gives ‘one more push’, and the ping-pong ball pops out – the baby has been delivered!
Liz advises those watching to use this easy, step-by-step guide to explain child birth to younger and older siblings, and to spice up a ‘boring office meeting’ – we would love to be flies on the wall for that!
Well, what do you make of Liz’s video? Do you find it useful?
