It can be that you feel as if you had been pregnant for a lifetime. The impatience of seeing your baby's face and holding him in your arms as soon as possible is immense. The desires to get rid of the gut that seems to take up all your body and oppresses you everywhere are enormous. Courage! you are already in the final lap.

Take care of your back

Remember what you have learned in previous months, keep healthy postures. It is tempting to relax the neck and to elevate the shoulders when walking or when standing, but it will provoke additional nuisances. Keep the head and the neck raised and relax the shoulders, when bending over flex the knees, when sitting down take the buttocks to the end of the seat and place the back straight. It is possible that you don't tolerate the posture well of laying down face up to rest your back or to sleep, if this is so, lie on your side with the legs flexed placing a cushion between the thighs. If you tolerate well resting face up, lie down on the floor or on the bed with the legs up and apply dry heat in the lumbar area.

Sickness and fainting

In this last phase there is more propensity to suffer airsickness, and even some fainting. These problems are due to the decrease of the arterial tension and of the blood in the brain. When getting out of bed or of a seat, do it slowly so you do not feel unstable. Avoid remaining standing for a long time and in closed, hot or saturated places. If you feel fainting, sit down with the head between the knees or lie down with the feet up to help the blood reaching the brain. So that the blood takes an adequate amount of oxygen to all the parts of the body, including the brain, breathe correctly and don't try to show of your strength by making big efforts.

Urinary incontinence

The involuntary release of urine is quite a common problem during the pregnancy, mainly what is denominated "effort incontinence" that happens when coughing, laughing, sneezing, etc. This problem is provoked by the weakening of the sphincter that opens and closes the exit of the urine from the bladder voluntarily and for the weakness of the muscles of the pelvic floor that support the low part of the abdomen.

The physiologic changes of the pregnancy and the increase of weight of the uterus are responsible for this problem, and in the last phase of the gestation, also the hormone that relaxes the muscles of the area to facilitate the childbirth.

Effort incontinence doesn't entail any risks for the pregnancy. However, it affects the pregnant woman emotionally, mainly in her self confidence and self-esteem.

There are some risk factors such as the genetic ones or the age of the pregnant woman. There are also other aspects that predispose the expecting mother to suffer this problem such as constipation, wearing tight clothes, previous childbirths, to have done abdominal exercises after childbirth without rehabilitating the pelvic muscles, etc.

To prevent this problem the ideal thing would have been to do, before the pregnancy, exercises to strengthen the muscles of the perineum, followed a healthy diet to avoid constipation and worn comfortable clothes. In any case, if you have followed this program and our advice during these months, you will also have partially prevented this problem.

If you suffer incontinence, see your doctor, he will be able to indicate you techniques to control the bladder. This can be a transitory problem, but the control and the medical follow up are necessary for the definitive cure.

The following exercises can be of help to prevent or mitigate incontinence:

• Control the bladder. When you feel an urgency to urinate, try to think of something different to delay for some instants your going to the bathroom. As you train, increase the duration of the delay.

• Hourly frequency. Try to establish some daily specific hours to go to the bathroom.

• Pelvic Reeducation. With the objective of strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor, you can do contraction and distension exercises. You can control these muscles as you do with the rest of the body. Be constant and repeat the exercises several times every day until they become automatic. In a short time you will notice the improvement. If you don't suffer incontinence, work these muscles will go very well to help you prevent it in the postpartum stage.

• Press the muscles of the anus raising them up during some seconds, then relax them. This movement will be very useful when you have gases.

• When urinating, presses strongly to close the sphincter and to contain the urine, later relax the sphincter. After having done this activity several days, try to urinate in an intermittent way.

OVERCOMING THE FEARS OF THE CHILDBIRTH

In these last weeks it is normal that you feel mixed emotions. As the baby's birth approaches, it is possible that you feel more irritable and moodier. There are many feelings that assault you without asking for your permission and, among them, the main characters are, on one hand the impatience and desire to have the baby in your arms; and on the other, the fears related with the actual childbirth. How many doubts! How will I know that it is time to go to the hospital? Will I know how to control the pain? Will it be a natural childbirth? Will the baby be well? etc.

Throughout the course we have told you in many occasions and you have been able to check it: the best way of facing the fears is to identify them, and the best way to overcome them is to be informed. The preparation sessions for the childbirth provide you the information and training in this respect. Nevertheless, following we make a description of the most habitual fears and the most indispensable information that you should know regarding them.

To know if the moment of the childbirth has arrived

The fear to not knowing if the moment of childbirth has arrived is common to most pregnant women and, in many cases, they go to the hospital before time.

The symptoms are not always perceived in the same way, neither do they appear in the same order. It is advisable that you go to your doctor's office or the hospital in the cases that we explain here. The obstetrician or the midwife will explore you to confirm that the childbirth has begun. With any reasonable doubt, it is better to go to the doctor or the hospital.

• The amniotic bag breaks. When this happens, the doctors prescribe hospitalization, although the childbirth has not begun, to control its evolution.

Usually, when the amniotic bag breaks, the contractions and the first phase of the childbirth usually begin. Nevertheless, the bag can break without the childbirth beginning. In this last case, the baby is unprotected and the specialists proceed to induce the childbirth if in 12 and 24 hours it doesn't begin in a natural way. Some doctors administer some antibiotic to protect the baby from possible infections.

It could also happen that the moment of the childbirth arrived without the bag breaking, in this case the doctor or the midwife provokes it.

• Loss of the mucous plug. The plug is a dense and jellied substance that closes the neck of the uterus to protect the baby from possible infections. At the end of the pregnancy, the neck of the uterus expands and the plug can come off. In first time mothers it can happen up to 10 or 12 days before the childbirth.

For many women, the loss of the plug can pass unnoticed if they confuse it with the flow. The biggest difference between the plug and the flow is the rosy color given by the remains of blood of the neck of the uterus.

If you observe the loss of the plug see your doctor so that he assesses the condition of the neck of the uterus.

• Loss of blood. A slight hemorrhage after an exploration or when the mucous plug comes off is normal, but you should see your doctor. If the loss of blood is abrupt, you should go immediately to the hospital so that they determine the cause.

• You feel contractions. If the contractions show up every 5 minutes, they last between 40 and 45 seconds and they keep during one hour, it is probable that the childbirth has begun. They will confirm it in the hospital.

If you have had previous childbirths, go to the hospital when the contractions appear every 10 minutes, in this case the process is usually quicker.

You can also feel contractions (contractions of Braxton-Hicks) that are false contractions. They can happen in the last weeks of the pregnancy, they are irregular contractions and their mission is to modify the neck of the uterus. The contractions can appear accompanied by a slight lumbar or abdominal pain that disappears with some rest or after changing posture.

The uterine contractions happen during the whole pregnancy, but they are hardly perceptible for the mother. For the baby to be born it is necessary that the uterus contracts, for that reason during the childbirth the contractions are more intense and more effective. The childbirth contractions are periodical, they don't disappear with some rest, they are accompanied by a hardening of the abdomen, provoke nuisances or pain and they are go on for more than one hour.

Although each case is different, the first contractions appear every 15 or 20 minutes and their duration is shorter than 20 seconds. To control the duration you should count how long does the abdomen harden, not how long the pain lasts. Progressively, the intensity of the contractions increases and the interval between them diminishes.

When you begin to feel rhythmic, but very separate contractions, it is advisable to wait at home before going to the hospital. At home you can read, watch television, listen to music, prepare the suitcase or carry out some activity to be more distracted. It is also a good moment to do the relaxation and breathing exercises that you have learned. It is not necessary that you remain sitting or lying, you can go for a walk, take a hot shower or ask your partner to give you a massage. It is not advisable to eat or drink, because if there is any complication you would not be prepared to receive general anesthesia.

• Fear of not arriving on time at the hospital. If this is your first childbirth, you should not worry because from the beginning of the contractions until the baby's birth between 4 and 10 hours can go by. This average decreases to 4 hours in the following childbirths. The contractions will guide you.

The cases of sudden childbirths on the way to the hospital when the first symptoms take place are exceptionally strange.

• Fear to pain. If you are expecting your first baby it is normal that you feel this fear. Possibly, all the women with whom you have spoken have alerted you on "the pains of childbirth." Each woman perceives the pain in a different way and this perception is related with the mother's mental preparation and the degree of relaxation that she can maintain.

Besides the information that you have gathered in the preparation classes for childbirth, review the section on the birth of this program. To know the different phases of the childbirth in advance, what happens in your body and the baby's evolution, will help you to control more easily the fear to pain.

The relaxation and breathing techniques that you have learned will mitigate the pains of the contractions. Your doctor can inform you about the possibility of living the childbirth in a natural way, or to opt for the application of epidural anesthesia.

• Fear of not knowing how to confront the childbirth. Many pregnant women are afraid that the baby can suffer when going through the pelvis or they are afraid to push for fear of injuring themselves. In this sense, you should be calm because the midwife will be by your side advising you at all times. Your doctor has assessed in advance the baby's exit through the pelvis and he will practice the episiotomy in the last phases of the expelling. This painless cut will prevent injuries.

• Fear to possible complications. It is normal that you feel uneasiness when thinking of the possibility that the doctor may have to intervene to help the baby to be born. Interventions such as pressures on the abdomen (maneuver of Kristeller), the forceps (at the moment this is falling in disuse), are necessary when the mother cannot push enough. Thanks to them the duration of the expelling period decreases and the mother's suffering is alleviated, besides avoiding the baby's excessive fatigue.

If the doctor suspected that there is some risk for your health or that of the baby, he would practice a Caesarean operation. The techniques available at the hospitals now days allow to quickly extract the baby. On the other hand your recovery would be quite quick and your body would not be much damaged.

• Fear for the baby's health. Although your pregnancy has been carefully monitored and you have been able to observe the baby in the ecographies, it is normal that you feel some fear for his state of health, all the mothers feel it. Relax because the risks are minimum, less than two percent

RELAXATION AND HARMONIZATION

Besides using the relaxation techniques that you have practiced up to now, you will get more well-being if you enjoy some of these activities daily:

• Cultivate your sense of humor and roar with laughter whenever you have the chance. Laughter favors the release of certain chemical substances such as the endorphins that provide serenity and pleasure.

• Take hot baths for their sedative effects, muscular distension and the relief of possible pains. If you prefer to take a shower (that during this month is more advisable), the slight touch of the hot water will produce the same effects. If in another moment of the day you need to stimulate blood circulation and feel more active, use moderately cold water.

• Abdominal breathing favors the decrease of the heart rhythm and arterial tension, increasing the blood flow and the sensation of tranquility. Take air in slowly through the nose filling the abdomen as if you swelled a globe, keep the air for about 5 seconds and expel it very slowly through the mouth.

• Aromatherapy. The essential oils of some flowers and plants can influence in the emotional state. Through the olfatory receivers signs are transmitted that reach the nervous system, mainly the emotional center, and they produce psychic reactions. The essential oils can be used dissolved in other oils for massage, in the bath, in burners for environmental aroma or to inhale some drops in a cotton or paper handkerchief. Some essential oils can be inadvisable during the pregnancy, but that of lavender is completely innocuous and it balances, relaxes and induces relaxation and sleep. If you have problems falling asleep, put a couple of lavender drops on your pillow.

• Visualization. You already know the great potential of visualizations to achieve certain mental states. Concentrate on your breathing and imagine beautiful and harmonic landscapes to share with your baby. A beach with a blue sea, a road among green grass hills, a creek crossing a grassland, etc., can be wonderful spaces to enjoy with your baby in a serene relaxation state. Always include a warm sun in your visualizations, you will benefit from the sensation of warmth and well-being when your corporal temperature lowers because of the relaxation.

MUSICAL SESSION

This month, when you do your music session in the late afternoon or at night, manipulate the different sources of sound as we described in the previous month:

• Diversity in the spatial situation of the musical source. Horizontal and vertical axes, before and behind, close and far.

• Vary the intensity and the volume after each repeated cycle.

• Sources in contact with the body (headphones) or far from it.

• Using the same melody during 8 or 10 days.

You can use the same melodies for your relaxation exercises during this month.

WRITING IN YOUR EMOTIONS NOTEBOOK

From the beginning of the pregnancy you have written in the notebook about your dreams, after reflecting on their interpretation and this way you have understood your internal fears well. It is possible that your current dreams change their content because the fears are also changing.

The experts in dream interpretation say that in the last phase of the pregnancy, the dreams usually reflect the baby's growth and his coming birth. In many cases, the symbols that represent the baby can be animals, plants or big buildings. The channel of the childbirth is usually represented by a tunnel or a kind of labyrinth, the amniotic fluid by pools, lakes or seas, the evolution of the contractions by waves of the sea and the fears about the childbirth habitually provoke dreams with scenes of natural disasters or events loaded with anguish.

Don't forget to leave your notebook on the night table. When you wake up try to write all that you remember about the dream, to write about the people, animals, objects, etc., that appeared in the dream, what happened, etc.

At the end of the day, sit down before the notebook with the annotations. Reflect on the meaning, try to discover the reasons that have provoked their representation and write on them in your notebook.

A PORTION OF LOVE

Working with the meaning of your dreams you will have discovered which are the deep fears that disturb you. As most women when the pregnancy is reaching its term, your concerns will be associated to the childbirth and labor.

During a calm moment of the day, sit down to reflect and respond with absolute sincerity to the following question, writing down any idea that comes to you.

So that you can face the concerns from the correct perspective, calmly read what you have written. For each fear that you have written down choose an affirmative sentence that substitutes it and helps you to overcome it. Write the sentences in cards, read them aloud several times and internalize the messages. Starting from that moment, don't waste time thinking of your fears, when they appear, repeat the positive statement that you have chosen aloud.

Here we give you some examples of fears and affirmative sentences.

Don't forget that the vicinity of the baby's birth also provokes concerns and fears in your couple. He should also do the exercise to recognize, confront and overcome his fears.

Then you should sit down one in front of other and talk about your concerns with sincerity, listening with the heart what the other one says. Don't interrupt yourselves or try to make the other feel guilty for the feelings that you house. To share the concerns and the fears will help you to reinforce your union. You can also share the affirmative sentences that you have chosen separately.

Lastly, make a commitment of mutual support so that each one helps the other one in the most delicate moments.

TO FEEL BETTER

As in previous months, you will find a massage very beneficial. Now you are more sensitive and more tired, for that reason your mind and your body appreciate the physical contact, the cares and caresses.

Your couple's participation will provide you with relief from the different nuisances, the baby will feel happy and your partner will enjoy contributing to your well-being.

Remember that all the nervous endings distributed through the skin react quickly to touch. These receivers send stimuli to the brain so that it liberates endorphins that act at the same time as a pain reliever that reduces the production of adrenaline, responsible for stress and muscular rigidity. This chemical change produces well-being in you, but also, the massage favors the blood circulation improving the oxygenation of the body, among many other positive effects.

You can use the massage combined with stretching to soothe the more common nuisances of this month.

To alleviate the lumbar area.

• Take a crawling position on the floor, leaning on the knees and the palms of the hands. Arch the back down, taking the pelvis back, elevating the buttocks and the head while you inhale through the nose and you take the air to the abdomen. After maintaining the posture some seconds, bring the chin near the breastbone, elevating the back, taking the pelvis toward the abdomen, lowering the buttocks and expelling the air through the mouth. Repeat the complete exercise at least 5 times.

• In the same initial position, place the buttocks on the heels, the abdomen on the thighs and the forehead on the surface your are using for the activity (blanket, carpet, mattress, etc.). In this posture, stretch the arms to both sides of the head stretching the back, later relax the body and repeat the movement between 5 and 10 times.

• In the same initial position, place the buttocks on the heels and the arms in right angle, with the elbows and the forearms supported on the floor. Keep the back straight and relaxed and the head aligned with the back. Your partner places his open hands on the lumbar area and exerts a slight pressure, as if he wanted to push your body toward the floor. Do this several times relaxing the area between takes.

To alleviate the fatigue of the legs and the retention of liquids.

• If you tolerate it well, lie down face up and if it bothers you, lie down supporting your back on cushions or pillows. Your partner is before you and he places your feet on his thighs so that the legs they are high and stretched. Your partner embraces the area of the ankles with his open hands and slides them very slowly up, as if he wanted to drag the skin, until reaching the groin. Repeat several passes on each leg, always in an upward sense and trying to embrace the whole contour of the extremity.

• Do the same exercise, from the ankle to the groin, with circular movements of the hands.

At the beginning of the first contractions
• Your partner sits down in the floor with the legs apart and flexed. You sit down in the space between his legs supporting the back on his body and the head on his shoulder. Flex and separate the legs, with your hands on the knees. Your partner places the hands in the central area of the abdomen and moves them toward the sides, mainly from above the pubis toward the sides that is where the contraction will come from.

• Repeat the previous exercise but make circles of growing size in the same areas of the abdomen.

LIGHT GYMNASTICS

Do your daily exercises at the same hour (you can use them to play the energizing music suggested in the musical session of discriminatory contrasts.

Whenever you do the same activity at the same time of the day, establish a habit. Thanks to the elementary habits you teach your baby to know what will happen in the various of cycles, not by representative anticipation which is a cerebral activity that will take some time in appearing. When the baby lives, day after day, the same situation associated to the same moment, he will end up being able to anticipate it. These basic mechanisms between stimuli, reinforcements and behavior will work for the rest of his life.

Put on comfortable sports clothes, use a room with enough space and a music player. If you want, you can use big headphones adapted to the abdomen so that you are comfortable and don't get entangled with the cable. It is not necessary to play at a loud volume, the sound should reach the baby naturally.

The best moment in the day is the morning, after getting up and after some time so it is not a very sudden awakening for the baby and lengthen the activity slowly.

• Sit down on the floor, with the legs stretched. Move the arms while you breathe rhythmically: cross them and lowers them again, inhale while elevating them and expel the air when lowering them (repeat several times). Now elevate them until they are straight, at the height of the shoulders, before you and lower them again, breathe as indicated and repeat the movement several times. Put them up high, parallel to the head and lower them.

• On your knees, moves the arms from one side to the other while you hold your breath. Exhale through the mouth, inhale through the nose and repeat the movement.

• Sitting or standing, place the arms in cross, close the fists and turn the wrists, the forearms and the arms from the front to the back.

• In the same position, place your arms in cross but bending the forearms by the elbows in a right angle so that the palms of the hands are in the front. In this position toss the arms back bringing near the scapulas while you take air in. Return to the original position while you expel the air. Repeat several times.

• In the same position, join the hands in the back, at the height of the coccyx and try to bring the elbows near to one another.

To end, breathe pushing and blowing (moving the diaphragm). Fill the lungs to the maximum and after retaining it, expel the air toward the abdomen leaning the head forward.

EMOTIONS, AFFECTIONS AND MATERNAL FEELINGS

Looks for a daily moment when you are relaxed and calm. Sit down comfortably, closes your eyes, place your hands on the abdomen and separate the legs a little.

While you listen to your favorite relaxing music, takes air in through the nose and expel it through the mouth, doing deep abdominal breathings.

Imagine that you are in the uterus, next to the baby. Perceive the sounds and the dimness of the environment. Adopt the baby's position. Speak to him. Try to tranquilize him, he is also worried by his birth. Explain to him the movements that he will do when the moment comes and assure him that you will help him.

Take air through the nose in a lingering inspiration, take it to the abdomen and perceive how the air pushes the baby and you toward the childbirth channel. Imagine that the air takes the form of a hand and it can push the baby softly when the time comes. Tell the baby that, when he is prepared to be born, the air and your hand will direct him.

Listen go the music, perceive how the vibrations and the air of your breathing relax the muscles of your surrounding. Both of you feel happy and prepared for the wonderful event. Kiss the baby and let him rest placidly.

Train with this breathing and visualization exercise, it will be of great help when the contractions begin announcing the arrival of your baby.

LULLABIES

Continue telling the same stories to the baby or recite him your favorite rhymes and poetries every day. Remember the importance of the emphasis in your words, the narration should transmit emotions more than messages. The activity will be more amusing if your couple or other members of the family participate.

Sing to the baby at any time during the day, while you are doing other activities such as driving, cooking, taking a shower, etc. When the whole family sings together, remembering songs from your childhood, you will feel more united and you will have some unforgettable moments. On the other hand, it will serve you as training to sing to the baby after he is born.

CARESSES OF LOVE

You will play a variation of the "Morse" communication game that you have been practicing. Observing the baby's position, make some pressure with a finger on a side of the abdomen near the baby's hand and later press on the opposed side. Repeat it several times and wait for his answer.

When the baby has responded with flicks or pressures in the same side of the abdomen, try patting twice on the abdomen and wait for his reaction. It is possible that he responds with two kicks or two blows of his hand. If it is this way, venture with three claps. When you give the claps, leave the hand on the area, the experience of feeling the baby's hands through the abdomen will be unforgettable.

AFFECTIVE CONVERSATION

Your movements provoke pleasant or uncomfortable situations for the baby because they imply some positions inside the uterus that get complicated at the end of the pregnancy.

In the ecographies you can observe facial expressions of displeasure as reactions to the mother's movements, this indicates the most elementary beginning in the baby's gross motor development. The positioning of his body inside the uterus provokes different facial expressions that indicate very elaborated mental or psychological activities. For example, although he doesn't cry exactly, he uses the muscles of the face to express feelings of dislike or uneasiness in a similar way to crying. Starting from the 5th month, to these expressions similar to crying, he ads movements of the arms and the legs. However, in the final stage of the gestation, because he lacks space, he diminishes these movements.

As you know, the baby's movements are a form of conversing with you, he communicates how he feels through them. You should be attentive, starting now he won't be able to move with freedom for lack of space; you will have to use your intuition and what you have learned about him to know what he likes and displeases him.

The baby is more comfortable when you are standing and more uncomfortable with certain postures related with the spine.

For this month we advise you to walk conversing with the baby. Take a pleasant promenade every day, caress the baby from time to time in your abdomen and tell him what you find around you. Explain to him how is the external world. If you feel more comfortable carry out this conversation mentally. To achieve this mental communication, concentrate on the baby before going out, imagine that both are inside a bubble and nobody can interfere in your conversation. Speak with him from that moment just as if you were mentally chatting with yourself.

If you live in an inland city, walk through a park; if you have the luck to be on the coast, go for a walk barefoot on the sand of the beach and if you live in a rural area, walk in communion with nature. Be aware of the way you move and hoe the movement rebounds on the abdomen. Go for a walk with cadence, with rhythm. From time to time changes the rhythm of your steps and caress your gut, mainly when you want to attract the baby's attention and don't stop talking with him all the time. Enjoy the walk and don't make an effort, stop to rest when you feel like it.

BALLROOM DANCING

As throughout the eighth month, make use of the abdominal breathing and the swinging of your body to rock the baby, but from now introduce also sound emissions. When you expel the air through the mouth, taking the abdomen toward the column, make a sound Aaaahhhh!, long and guttural. The whole exercise should be carried out in a natural and coordinated way.

If you carry out this activity correctly and with certain rhythm, besides feeling relaxed by dancing with the baby, the practice of the sound emission will be of great help during the dilation process.

HYDROESTIMULATION

In this last month the neck of the uterus can begin a slow dilation. For this reason you should extreme all the hygienic cautions. Substitute baths with showers and, if you have been swimming in public pools, leave it for now unless they guarantee proper hygiene.

You can take advantage of the exercises with water so that the baby perceives sensations, without running risks. These sensations stimulate the nervous system and they develop the baby's capacities. Your physical activity promotes his physical activity.

The baby has his own means of expression, and through it he makes you know how he feels. When he is born, this means will mainly be crying, now it is the group of movements and blows in the abdomen those that tell you how well-being or his displeasure. This means of communication between you is very elementary, but deeply significant.

• Take a traditional shower changing the temperature, the pressure and the distance of the jet of water. Begin with hot water and little pressure and end with cold water and more pressure. Both the temperature and the pressure should make you feel well. This activity should be pleasant for you and for the baby, for that reason, you should not exert any pressure on the abdomen.

• To benefit the blood circulation, take a shower with cold water. Use a temperature between 8º and 10º, during one minute, whenever it is pleasant. Apply the water first on the back and then on the rest of the body ending with your feet. Get out of the water and end by rubbing your body vigorously with the towel.

• To get relaxing effects, take a shower with hot water. Use a temperature between 35º and 37º for a few minutes, with little or no pressure.

• To get a tonic effect, take a shower with decreasing temperature, from hot to cold. Begin with 34º and lower it approximately to 10º for a few minutes.

• You can also take abdominal showers. Whenever it is pleasant and without pressure, you can strengthen the muscular fibers of the abdomen beginning with hot water and lowering the temperature progressively.

GAMES WITH MUSICAL NOTES

Record the musical notes in a cassette, use some musical instrument or an electronic instrument or musical toys available in the market that contain the different musical notes.

The notes are perceptive elements fully differentiated by the human ear. When using them we establish an approach of simplicity and elementary differentiation of the purest sounds.

In the First start method one works with the repetition of musical notes. We propose an approach of numeric ordination and of upward-descending emission and the inverse one, introducing basic approaches to stimulate with repetitive and predictable rhythms.

According to numerous studies, it is demonstrated that the babies that receive prenatal stimulation develop their auditory sense and they show a very high bias toward the assimilation of any learning type (spoken language, mathematics, languages, etc.). 

• Begin by playing the musical notes near the abdomen. If you use a recording, place the headphones near the baby so that he can listen to the emission of the scale well:

DO – RE – MI – FA – SOL – LA – SI

• Place the headphones in your ears, listen several times to the recording and try to reproduce it following the same tone.

• He/she Repeat the sound of each note three times. When finishing the last note, emit all the notes.

• Repeat the series emitting four times each note of the scale and, again, emit at the end all the notes.

• As you can see in the table of the cycle of notes, repeat the emissions three, two and once each note. Increase to 5 and 6 repetitions, always emitting all the notes at the end of each series.

CHILDBIRTH SIMULATION

So that you feel preparedwhen the first contractions arrive, we suggest that you simulate that the dilation phase begins. Carrying out this exercise throughout the month, you will keep calm when the moment really arrives. Read with attention the following suggestions, practice with them or others learned in the preparation sessions for childbirth and choose those that you find more effective for when the moment arrives.

As we have explained previously, with the first contractions your body modifies so that you can receive the baby. As the contractions are intensified, the neck of the uterus changes. You should not go immediately to the hospital, wait until the labor of the childbirth is a little more advanced.

While you wait you should stay calm and try to relax your body, mainly the muscles of the pelvic area.

Keep in mind that the fear to pain produces anxiety, and this psychological situation reaches the neck of the uterus through the nervous vegetative system producing tension in the area. When the body, and mainly the neck of the uterus, are tensed a contraction of the muscular fibers takes place, hindering the dilation and producing pain. The perception of pain in the brain generates more pain and this, in turn, more tension, closing a harmful circuit for the baby's birth.

To avoid this circuit at the time of the childbirth, you should relax and generate mental positive attitudes to eliminate fears and anxieties. This way the nervous system won't carry the tension that produces your fear to the childbirth.

• Prepare mentally. Accept the pain as something natural and concentrate on sending oxygen to the affected area. Think of the oxygen as a potent pain reliever.

Listen to the relaxing music that you have used every month, close your eyes and visualizes baby ready to be born. With each new contraction, the moment to hold him comes closer. Speak to him, explain to him what is happening and transmit him tranquility so that he confronts the birth with serenity.

• Do abdominal breathings so that the diaphragm wins mobility and is not so compressed, leaving more room for the uterus. Do the breathings learned in the preparation sessions for childbirth.

• Relax. Listen to relaxing music, sit down in the border of a seat, place a cushion in the lumbar area and lean back with the soles of the feet firmly in the floor in a right angle. Follow the relaxation steps that you have been practicing in the last months. If you find it better, place a hot water bag in the lumbar area or an electric blanket. The heat contributes to calm and relax the area.

• Sit squatting, in this position you favor dilation, there is less pressure and tension in the area and you help to the baby on his way towards the exterior.

• Massage the area. A soft massage in the lower part of the abdomen helps to relax the area and helps you to communicate with the baby like you have been doing so far. Think of him, he is also afraid and he doesn't know what is happening. Your caresses and your words will calm both of you. Trace small circles with the hands, mainly on the side of the low part of the stomach and over the pubis. Little by little increase the size of the circles while you communicate to the baby serenity and love.

If you find it convenient, ask your partner to help you with the massages.

• Take a hot bath that doesn't go over 36º. The heat helps the dilation and it helps you to feel more relaxed