It's no secret that pregnancy puts the human body through its paces. From the moment of conception, changes occur, many of which are unpleasant, such as the notorious morning sickness, and they culminate in the most taxing process of them all: giving birth.

This pregnant Instagram star posted a video in tears, revealing she was banned over a "sexual" baby bump pic:

Now, a picture has emerged of a woman giving birth standing up; revealing that pregnancy more painfully extraordinary than most of us realize - showing that her bones actually move to open up the birth canal for her child.

Credit: 977

Originally posted to Instagram by user North Dallas Doulas, the picture was captioned: "Our bodies are AMAZING!!! I love witnessing its majesty! This second-time mom had a precipitous/rapid birth and used chiropractic care throughout her pregnancy & postpartum."

There is a bulge at the bottom of the woman's back, and it is caused by her bones moving to make way for her child. This bulge is what's medically known as the rhombus of Michaelis.

In the latter stages of pregnancy, it and the three vertebrae it includes move back, giving the impression that a woman's bones are protruding.

Credit: 1782

Dr. Sarah Wickham captioned the image:

"The rhombus of Michaelis (sometimes called the quadrilateral of Michaelis) is a kite-shaped area that includes the three lower lumber vertebrae, the sacrum and that long ligament which reaches down from the base of the scull to the sacrum. This wedge-shaped area of bone moves backwards during the second stage of labour and as it moves back it pushes the wings of the ilea out, increasing the diameters of the pelvis.

We know it's happening when the woman's hands reach upwards (to find something to hold onto, her head goes back and her back arches. It's what Sheila Kitzinger (1993) was talking about when she recorded Jamaican midwives saying the baby will not be born 'till the woman opens her back'. I'm sure that is what they mean by the 'opening of the back'."

The doctor continued:

"The reason that the woman's arms go up is to find something to hold onto as her pelvis is going to become destabilized. This happens as part of [the] physiological second stage; it's an integral part of an active normal birth. If you're going to have a normal birth you need to allow the rhombus of Michaelis to move backwards to give the baby the maximum amount of space to turn his shoulders in. Although the rhombus appears high in the pelvis and the lower lumbar spine when it moves backwards, it has the effect of opening the outlet as well.

"When women are leaning forward, upright, or on their hands and knees, you will see a lump appear on their back, at and below waist level. It's much higher up than you might think; you don't look for it near her buttocks, you look for it near her waist."

Isn't Mother Nature amazing? Hats off to all the moms out there!

It's no secret that pregnancy puts the human body through its paces. From the moment of conception, changes occur, many of which are unpleasant, such as the notorious morning sickness, and they culminate in the most taxing process of them all: giving birth.

This pregnant Instagram star posted a video in tears, revealing she was banned over a "sexual" baby bump pic:

Now, a picture has emerged of a woman giving birth standing up; revealing that pregnancy more painfully extraordinary than most of us realize - showing that her bones actually move to open up the birth canal for her child.

Credit: 977

Originally posted to Instagram by user North Dallas Doulas, the picture was captioned: "Our bodies are AMAZING!!! I love witnessing its majesty! This second-time mom had a precipitous/rapid birth and used chiropractic care throughout her pregnancy & postpartum."

There is a bulge at the bottom of the woman's back, and it is caused by her bones moving to make way for her child. This bulge is what's medically known as the rhombus of Michaelis.

In the latter stages of pregnancy, it and the three vertebrae it includes move back, giving the impression that a woman's bones are protruding.

Credit: 1782

Dr. Sarah Wickham captioned the image:

"The rhombus of Michaelis (sometimes called the quadrilateral of Michaelis) is a kite-shaped area that includes the three lower lumber vertebrae, the sacrum and that long ligament which reaches down from the base of the scull to the sacrum. This wedge-shaped area of bone moves backwards during the second stage of labour and as it moves back it pushes the wings of the ilea out, increasing the diameters of the pelvis.

We know it's happening when the woman's hands reach upwards (to find something to hold onto, her head goes back and her back arches. It's what Sheila Kitzinger (1993) was talking about when she recorded Jamaican midwives saying the baby will not be born 'till the woman opens her back'. I'm sure that is what they mean by the 'opening of the back'."

The doctor continued:

"The reason that the woman's arms go up is to find something to hold onto as her pelvis is going to become destabilized. This happens as part of [the] physiological second stage; it's an integral part of an active normal birth. If you're going to have a normal birth you need to allow the rhombus of Michaelis to move backwards to give the baby the maximum amount of space to turn his shoulders in. Although the rhombus appears high in the pelvis and the lower lumbar spine when it moves backwards, it has the effect of opening the outlet as well.

"When women are leaning forward, upright, or on their hands and knees, you will see a lump appear on their back, at and below waist level. It's much higher up than you might think; you don't look for it near her buttocks, you look for it near her waist."

Isn't Mother Nature amazing? Hats off to all the moms out there!