Mom in Labor Pulls Off Dance Moves as Husband Cheers Her On
In the face of crippling pain, some shake it off. Yuki Nishizawa boogies, as seen in an amazing new viral video of the Boston mom dancing the shuffle, butterfly, and “Tootsee Roll” during her drug-free labor at the hospital — all while she was 7 centimeters dilated.
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“It definitely helped with the pain,” Nishizawa tells Yahoo Parenting of the moves she busted out Tuesday at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her husband, Connell Cloyd, caught it all in a video that has since gone viral on Facebook, with a whopping 3.6 million views since Tuesday. “The nurses encouraged me to walk around, but that wasn’t doing anything. So I thought, ‘Why not do something that I love?’ And as soon as the nurse saw the movements of the ‘Tootsee Roll’ she said, ‘That is perfect.’”
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Indeed, the steps worked like a charm, helping the second-time mom (her daughter, Yume, is 2) encourage her newborn to descend as her water was breaking.
“I know I shouldn’t be laughing as a husband,” Cloyd says in the footage, marveling over his wife’s gyrations, “but she said she wanted to be famous, so I guess this is how you do it. Doing the ‘Tootsee Roll’ in labor.” The dad tells Yahoo Parenting that Nishizawa rested for about an hour after cutting a rug and that their son, Coji, then “came out in, like, 30 seconds.”
Dancing mom Nishizawa poses with her newborn son, Coji, in Boston on Thursday. (Photo: Connell Cloyd)
The old-school dance — which Nishizawa says she also did at a party the day before Yume’s birth — “kept the energy in the room really positive,” Cloyd adds. “The nurse was really enjoying it. Apparently everyone else has, too.”
The couple had no idea, though, that the footage would be a hit with millions. “I’m just so surprised,” says Nishizawa. “I really thought that other people were already dancing in labor or doing what they felt like doing. I didn’t think my dancing was a big deal. But I’m very happy that I was able to inspire other mothers-to-be. And to them, I just say, ‘Do whatever you think works to get through the pain.’”
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