The Difference Between What is Common and What is Normal

"Truth is like fire; to tell the truth means to glow and burn," by Gustav Klimt

The words “common” and “normal” have been coming up for me, a lot lately, in the birth work world. However, as humans we used these words interchangeably almost daily. It wasn’t until I became a birth doula that I began to have more questions about, well everything.

Common is described as something occurring, found, or done often.

Normal is described as conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.

Now, for me, when discussing things around pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum, I am more focused on what is “normal” rooted is physiology. What does our innate physiological design tell us and how does our body alert us when something is going well or going poorly? In physiology, "normal" refers to the typical or expected range of biological functions within a living organism, ensuring optimal health and survival.

So, what is a good example of this? Let’s talk about menstrual cycles! Growing up, I heard from women in my family and friends at school about how awful periods were. That it’s “normal'“ to have pain and cramps constantly. I witnessed how women treated their cycle as an inconvenience and how disconnected they were from understanding their cycle/womb health.

Knowing what I know now, experiencing pain and cramps during a menstrual cycle is extremely common for many women, especially American women. However, these symptoms are not physiologically normal. Pain and cramps during a menstrual cycle are a signal from our bodies telling us that something is not being tended to. Sometimes, it’s a misaligned uterus, that is working extra hard to shed blood because it cannot release naturally on its’ own. Sometimes, it is a result of taking birth control and the synthetic hormones are causing your natural hormones to become imbalanced. (This is true even for birth controls that are deemed “non-hormonal”. They still alternate your normal hormones levels and impact your body’s natural function!) Sometimes, it’s a result of the food that we eat or being dehydrated.

As I have become more intention with the words I use and how I describe things to my clients about what is “common” and “normal” during pregnancy and birth, I am faced with needing to recognize truth. I often ask myself questions to understand more about the body’s physiological design. I wonder how our food and medical systems are altering our natural state and pushing us further away from our original design and capacity as humans. I am faced with recognizing how much medical interventions impact the human body during birth and how it alters women’s experiences during postpartum. I am constantly evolving with the knowledge that I obtain and I do not have all the answers. I never claim to haha! However, I will always be honest with my clients and let them know the benefits AND risks of everything. I will always give them data and percentages, if they ask for it. Because fear mongering in this field is everywhere. Fear mongering comes for the medical professionals and it comes from our dearest family members. It is impossible to completely escape. But what overcomes all of that, it being intuitive and knowing real physiological truth.

Warmly,

Kalista