Some interesting facts about the vagina...

feed our baby from our own bodies, with milk that changes as the baby grows.

So many mothers are curious about the change in milk that the Parenting Science Gang had the milk analysed...

We organised a mass milk-in. As mentioned in number 11, our breastfeeding groups REALLY wanted to know what was in breastmilk for children over 2 years old. So we designed an experiment with Dr Natalie Shenker of Hearts Milk Bank and Dr Simon Cameron of Imperial College. We got 130 breastfeeding mums (feeding a range of nurslings from under six months to over four years) to come to Charing Cross hospital in London, and express breastmilk. [Read from 14 onwards]

parentingsciencegang.org.uk/news/21-things-we-learned-running-a-citizen-science-project-about-parenting/

I love this thread. Have you all seen this beautiful vulva artwork by Jacqueline Secor? instagram.com/jacquelinesecorart?igshid=1tai46o73rxst

I’ve been using what our bodies do to grow a child to explain why the guy sitting next to me at work should not moan to me about his missus.

“She was so grumpy to me when I got home”
“She’s pregnant, right, yes?”
“Yes, but she should ignore her hormones”
“Are you nuts? Worship her. Do you not appreciate what her body is doing?”

I loved this thread. Our bodies are amazing. We can grow a whole new person inside our bodies, and then feed our baby from our own bodies, with milk that changes as the baby grows. The womb is amazing too. It expands enormously, and then shrinks back again.

Who else thought the black hole image looks like a cervix in early labor?

orchidoptic - this image? Absolutely love it and made me feel really powerful.

We truly are amazing!

Inabriati just wow, made my day!!

jamrollyolly arranbubonicplague posted this;

and you can get the cutters here;
bakerlogy.com/collections/cookie-cutter-medical-collection

Beautiful thread, celebrating the amazingness of womens bodies-love it! Am reading bits out to the family who are equally awed.

I had 2 induced births so they were tough, not natural at all, but the result was worth it.

I want a poster of that clitoris image! Why is that not in biology books, like the beautiful flower image of breast feeding ducts?

Sign wow thanks for posting that, it was great to see!

Orchid I remember visualising an expanding donut when in labour!

jamrollyolly Ina May Gaskin's book "Spiritual Midwifery" was quite revolutionary in the US. The Farm midwives in Tennessee were forefront in reclaiming birth as empowering for women. Midwives had by then been mostly eliminated by the medical establishment, and homebirth was considered backwards, dangerous and irresponsible, etc... Ina May and her collaborators called labor contractions "rushes". All this was quite fringe in the 70's and 80's. The ideas were sparked by British doctor Grantly Dick-Read's book "Childbirth Without Fear"
Here is a Ted Talk she gave in 2013:

On some thread here, there was a link to something about how wide your vagina gets to give birth. I haven’t been able to look at a bagel in the same way since

Oh Aran I'd love to see that but my home internet settings wont let me .

Super thread, I read Ima May's Guide to Childbirth when pregnant, written by a midwife in the US south. She talked about how she'd seen women one up one another with their tales of terrible labour and suffering.

To counter this, 2/3 of the book was simply accounts of straightforward labours she'd attended as a home midwife... "as I got there she was still ironing, gave birth ten minutes later etc. " I don't know if this book is easy to get here, but would be a super read for anyone pregnant. My favourite part was her saying, "Men have no problem with the way their parts expand in size, why should we?"!

For those who've ever longed to see a vagina/cervix/ovary/general reproductive system reproduced in biscuit form:

twitter.com/DrSdeG/status/1132589875239301120

Regardless of my own experience I love hearing stories of women who felt wonderful during pregnancy, who delivered their babies naturally and felt empowered and euphoric doing it

This. Is so true.

I had the pregnancy from hell. Several life threatening complications fommowed by an EMCS at 31 weeks. I cannot carry another pregnancy.
But my bad experience does not and should not negate all the positives.

Great thread

My daughter (3) says my tummy is like a bouncy castle
She can’t keep her hands off my stomach and boobs - it’s cute but draining
She even wants to put her hands inside my knickers 😳and rest her hand on my pubic bone as she finds it comforting but that is too much 😂😂😂😂

Squishy tummy- my daughter too. She pointed out it’s as big as my arse the other day mid cuddle 😂 😂
Children have a special way with words!

Dr Jen Gunter has a good piece in the NYT: Your Vagina Is Terrific (and Everyone Else’s Opinions Still Are Not)
One year ago I wrote about my vagina and men’s opinions of it. Things have not improved.

Yes, I’m angry with men. The things I have heard women cry about — things told to them by men — are weighing more heavily on me as I age because they’re not going away. If anything, it feels to me as if the anxieties are increasing.

Social media likely plays a part: the growing number of platforms where women can be subjected to unattainable — and unhealthy — standards. Equally nefarious is the possible profit motive: doctors benefiting financially from women feeling badly about their anatomy, so that they undergo unnecessary and understudied procedures.

www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/style/jen-gunter-says-your-vagina-is-terrific.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

Also, this good Twitter thread:

twitter.com/DrJenGunter/status/1077191075805052929

very basic I know........but we do not pee out of our vaginas. (some people think we do)

Can we carry on this thread? I'm really loving it!

Does anyone have any more amazing facts about the female body?

...I don’t give a fuck anymore what random men think of my body.

I want this on a t-shirt

I still have bath-chats with my mum sometimes, when I’m home (she’s 62 and I’m 31).

Related to this is also feelings around ‘mum tum’. One of my childhood memories is of how soft my mum was and how lovely it was to cuddle her. My daughter seems to think the same about me and wil tell me she loves my squishy tummy. grin This is what matters to me...I don’t give a fuck anymore what random men think of my body.

Oh, how lovely!

And now you've made me remember. I used to sit and talk to my mum while she was in the bath - I recall this as cosy chats but I bet she was sighing to death inside at never being left alone even though she never let it show! - and I used to stare at her stretch marks. And she used to say she loved them because me and my brother made them.

boldly

DS loves my squishy mum-tum too, and happily snuggles into it!