Does being a midwife affect your cycle?

[Funny Face]

I have been working with a few midwives (I'm a nursing student) and attended my first two births this month, one which ended up being a 24 hour marathon.

The first birth occurred on the day I normally ovulate and I saw my fertile signs dry up, then a few days later I thought I was about to O, went to a birth and didn't end up o'ing for another 4 days so my o date was pushed back by almost a week and wondered if attending the births had something to do with it.

I'd read about a midwife who would begin to bleed when she attended her first few births it affected her so much.

Anyone else see changes in their cycle related to attended births? I find this fascinating if it is true....

[CarolynnMarilynn]

I have been a midwife for 5 years and my cycle in unaffected now. I am not sure if my cycle was affected before my body got used to the 'new normal'.

Carolynn

[applejuice]

The last time I was pregnant, it affected the cycle of every woman in the office. We were all in sync until I turned up pregnant.

Considering the hormones and pheromones around fertile women, yes, it probably does have something to do with it.

That is just a wild, educated guess.

[courtenay_e]

In the spring I attended in one week: A late first term miscarriage turned hemmorage, a four day pp mama with breastfeeding issues naked from the waist up and sweating profusely, and a birth that took 36 hours where I was in mamas face a LOT.

My cycle was almost two weeks off. and I'm regular to the day. I was NOT pregnant, just around a TON of hormones flying all over the place. I'm usually the one to set the pace with periods, so it was strange for me to have MY cycle affected by others' hormones!

[hipmummy]

As a doula, I found found that after a birth I am at least 5-7 days late. Also I have a much dif bleeding pattern after a birth. I am still af from ds 's birth and have not done a birth since he was born. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Charmie981]

There were two months last year where my cycle was off. Both of those months found me expecting a period about 5 days before a client had a baby, but with both of those cycles, I didn't start bleeding until just after the birth (I'm talking, I got mama and baby settled and had to run to the bathroom!). It hasn't happened since, and it didn't happen during my apprenticeship, so I don't know...maybe the stress of the responsibility of being the solely responsible midwife cause me to ovulate late (or not at all and the "period" was breakthrough bleeding)?

[balancedmama]

I'm a doula but when I was attending births regularly, I would bleed up to 7 days early if I attended a birth. Particularly one when I had a lot of physical contact with the mom. It was somewhat challenging when we were TTC.

[mwherbs]

yes, but not in the way you may think-- I have intruped sleep=awake cycle and I am pretty sure that changes how my cycles go-- when I have had long pauses in going to births but still around alot of women- my cycles normal as clock work--

[DoomaYula]

I always got af when I was at a birth. Once I had to ask a l/d nurse for a pad :

Always keep one in my doula bag now

Oddly enough, we were ttc this baby when I attended an incredibly long and physically demanding birth, and I was completely shocked when I found out I was pregnant. I thought that birth would have thrown off my cycle. Although that birth was very difficult so maybe my body was healing me by giving me a baby?

[CMcC]

I'm a student doula and have found that it affects my cycles A LOT! This month I attended a birth at the end of my period. I was with her for 2 days.... so I continued to spot for 3 days longer than usual. I've also been attending childbirth classes everyweek, so then, I ovulated on day 16! Which is huge for me. In the 10 years I have been charting, the earliest I have ever ovulated was day 19. (Typically it's around day 22.) My first birth I attended, I ended up ovulating that day. And for another birth, I had just ovulated a few days before that birth.... But in all 3 cases, I had extra high temps in the luteal phase.

And after the births, my body feels like it just went through a mini labor!

Oh, and after one prenatal discussing breastfeeding, my milk began to leak while we were in the store. Yes, I'm still nursing, but my baby was 2.5 years old!!!

[essnce629]

Whenever I attend a birth before ovulation it always delays my ovulation by a few days, which then means my period comes later than usual. Since I know that having a stress in your life before ovulation tends to delay ovulation I've always just assumed that the stress of a birth will delay my ovulation as well. When it gets close to a client's due date I start to get anxious (always wondering if I'll get a call in the middle of the night, etc.) and then if the birth is really long that's another stressor as well. I attended my best friends really long labor and birth a while back and was due to ovulate at that time. Instead, I started spotting from the first time I visited her in early labor and continued spotting for 3 more days AND my ovulation was delayed by about 4 extra days!

[Zoo Loo Naturals]

The power us women hold...when we get together and share hormones.

[MamaRabbit]

OK this is all a little scary! We use FAM and charting, and if my cycle isn't predictable due to attending births, I'm going to have a hard time preventing!

Fascinating though.

[Sileree]

When me and my Mom lived together, we both menstruated for eight years and never got in sync. But three of my closest friends and I have started within a day or two of each other for years.

Births don't affect my cycles at all. I was told this might be because I see myself as a "dominant" female, lol.