I have been wanting to write some informative articles on birth and birth choices for a while but I just haven’t had the chance to gather all the information I can to write something that is complete. In the interim here is a wishy washy couple of paragraphs that I have put together myself to try and hint at my experiences and feelings about birth.
No event in my life has filled me with such awe and inspiration as giving birth to my children. As I reflect on the experience of my first birth, I am still amazed at how when left alone my instincts took over so naturally, leaving me in what is affectionately called “the zone” a deeply relaxed, focused place in my mind where my body looked after itself and my mind was away on some deeper primeval thinking.
My birth itself was not entirely “natural” – whatever that means. But it still left me elated with what my body was capable of doing. Not only had it made another human being (with the help of my partner of course) but I had nurtured this baby inside my own body and then birthed my child - safe and well.
What occurred to me after my birth was the way we treat labour and birth these days. It is medicalised and distant. Something to be seen as an accomplishment if you can do it. A lot of natural birth advocates put pressure on woman to feel they have to attempt a natural birth however I think that the real way around the current birthing traditions and issues is to challenge the way labour and birth are visualised and treated.
I remember reading about the “cascade of interventions” – not sure where I read it first but it seems to be everywhere now. Where one medical intervention leads to more and more until one ends up hooked up to machinery with an epidural because the induced labour lying on your back is too painful which causes non-progression and a c-sec. I am sad to say that I have watched friends of mine travel this road and what do you say to them when they ring and tell you they are please to announce the birth of their child which had to be done via c-sec after a 32 hr induced labour? I told you so?
The knowledge we need to be sharing with woman is that the strength is there. Their body CAN and WILL do this. All the knowledge of positions and natural birthing aides fades away when a doctor in a white coat tells you your labour is not progressing, your pelvis is too small, the baby is too big, the baby is stuck, the baby is in distress, your are overdue and putting your baby at risk – WHOA MUMMA! The pressure of having this highly educated person before you telling you that you have failed at birthing is immense... Yet when we look at it, it’s not really their fault either. They are, as far as they know, doing their job. Their job is to ensure the safe delivery of your baby. To me it’s kind of like when you are looking after someone else’s child. How many times do you do something differently because it’s not just your child in the car. Games that are played, things you allow them to do, how carefully you drive home: more carefully than usual because this is someone else’s baby!
It’s a shame then that more doctors aren’t comfortable with the birthing process. That they themselves are taught that birth is a medical procedure which needs to be managed. There are set time limits for things, procedures to follow – if B doesn’t follow A after 24 hrs then do C.
It’s also a shame that more women don’t get to see other women birth. To participate and observe what takes place in the many variations of a vaginal birth. They don’t learn over the years the many secrets of helping a stalled labour, they don’t absorb the centuries of information women before us stored to assist in labour in birth.
But the good news is that this information is there. It might be in the form of friends and family who have a birth story to share, a good book to read, natural therapists who can talk with you about therapies to try in labour. There are also a growing number of women and men out there who gather this information and attend births as midwives and doulas, who can share the knowledge and the confidence in your bodies ability to do what it has been made to do and will share the journey of birth with you. There is so much joy and amazement shared in our pregnancy, our job is to make the birth just as joyous and amazing.
Sara Birt from Doula Birth has made an amazing video clip from births she has attended and I have attached it here with her permission.
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