At the Healthy Mother Natural Birthing Center, we see so many mothers who have switched from other doctors or hospitals complain that their doctors’ protocols do not allow for them to wait beyond 37 weeks. Mothers who have had previous cesarean sections tell us that despite their perfect normal pregnancies they were induced at 37 weeks or earlier, which lead to a cascade of further interventions, ultimately leading to a c-section – this is so not fair to mothers!! Mothers and their husbands need to educate themselves on evidence-based facts about the risks due to early induction. Talk to your doctor and insist that you be allowed to carry your baby for as long as you and baby are able to. Attend a certified Lamaze program to learn about the true facts and always seek out a second informed opinion about what your health care provider is telling you. You as the mother are the primary care giver to your baby and you owe it to your baby to do all the right things.

Therefore we take the time and effort to make the mother feel at ease and feel that she in the midst of people who have ONLY her and her baby’s interests at heart and not the hospital or physician’s interests.

Healthy Mother midwife Crystal Pope describes in her own words how she and her colleagues at Healthy Mother take care of mothers who come for their antenatal checkups. All mothers under Crystal’s care have the highest regard and gratitude for the selfless care she demonstrates during their antenatal visits and during the birth of their baby.

Here is the link to video.

While their kids run around us on the grass between their house and the fields Pushpadevi and her sister-in-law, women from the untouchable Pasi jati tell me about the ways their kids were born…… Pushpadevi tells me how she prefers to sit to give birth. She pulls her knees upto her shoulders and leans back.  Her sister-in-law laughs and nods. “Yes, it is like this”, Pushpadevi says “having your baby here in dehat (village) is much better than in cities. There you are alone . Maybe there is a nurse, but you wont know her. She is nothing to you. Here you have so many sahelis (girlfriends). Girlfriends are all around you. You are sitting on the ground like this, and one is here behind you, and there is someone in front watching for the baby.”

……….

“In the house you have this one touching you here, and that one pressing you there; if there is pain in another place someone else comes to press on it. In the hospital so many people are coming in and out, doctors, nurses, and still you are all alone! But here in the village you are not alone – your family is with you”

I wonder if in our race to acquire knowledge in medical schools health care professionals (and hospitals) have lost the wisdom that is required to help mothers give birth. This innate wisdom demonstrated by these rural women questions our belief as to who is really illiterate, the Midwife or today’s medical professionals.

We as midwives respect a woman’s inner wisdom as she labors and support and encourage her throughout labor as she feels empowered to trust herself, be strong and able to give birth to her own baby among people who she trusts and loves.

What do you think?

There is not much information surrounding validity of the “due date” in pregnancy and childbirth. This lack of credible and evidence-based information is being used to instill fear in the minds of expectant mothers and fathers who are already apprehensive about the safety of their baby, and thereby forcing them into unnecessary time pressures and ultimately to a cesarean section.

At Healthy Mother, we teach couples the true facts about Pregnancy and Due Dates, and tell them that they should think of it as a “Due Month” rather than a date. In this accompanying video we explain why different babies choose to be born at different times and why generally it is not a good practice to force him or her to through a process that natural, physiological and spontaneous.

What has been your experience with your baby’s due date and how do you rate your care provider? Please write so that others may benefit.

It is a fact that all mothers face emotional ups and downs during pregnancy and during the actual birth of their baby. However, for couples who attend Lamaze classes taught by a good, certified Lamaze educator will find that they are no longer afraid or fearful, nor do they panic when labor pains actually set in and when pre-labor occurs. As we advise most of our mothers to spend a lot of time in prelabor at home, we find couples are at ease with this prospect, knowing fully well that mother will be physically and emotionally more comfortable in the privacy and sanctity of her own home. This plays a major role in ensuring a good birth outcome.

In the video below one of Healthy Mother VBAC mothers recounts how the Lamaze classes conducted by Healthy Mother helped her overcome her fears as a result of her previous c-section, and gave her the confidence to trust her body and the Healthy Mother midwives to give birth to a beautiful girl on 30th December. It is important for would be parents to select the right care provider who will support VBAC.

So, at the Lamaze International Conference in September 2011, Judith Lothian, Jeanne Greene and Sharon Dalrymple led a session to develop some consensus opinion on what should be “taught” as “breathing” in Lamaze classes. Here is what the consensus/ guiding principles are:

1) It is important to breathe!!

2) Conscious Breathing: When we teach, and when women practice this conscious breathing, it becomes a skill and brings the woman to a different space and gets her to be aware of her body and her baby. This in turn, leads her into a better body awareness in labor as well, so she can work with her body – not to distract herself from labor, but to actually work with it.

3) Individualized: Breathing, like everything else in pregnancy and labor is very, very individualized. We can teach women all that we can in the classes, but eventually they will do what they need to do in labor.

4) Focus: Breathing, especially deep breathing, initially helps in being a part of a ritual, and later becomes a part of the rhythm of labor as the woman turns her focus inwards to birthing her baby.

5) Labor tool: For most women, it is one of the tools that she has to manage her contractions. And, for most women it works in conjunction with other comfort measures like touch, massage, showers, rhythmic movement etc.

6) Physiological: It should not be prescriptive! When taught as a part of the Lamaze classes, it is better to let the woman know that it should be slower and deeper than her normal breathing, and then let her choose her own pace and rhythm.

As a midwife, as I help the mother through her labor and birth, I see over and over again, that breathing is an integral part of her labor process – calming her, focusing her and letting her get on with the job of birthing her baby. That said, almost every woman chooses a breathing pattern that is most comfortable to her. So, when I teach Lamaze classes, I ask the woman and her partner to practice deep breathing as a ritual: to get connected with each other, their body and their baby, and to relax as well. It does not make sense to have an entire class collectively inhaling and exhaling to my rhythm, and leading them to expect that in labor, their baby will slide out with their exhaled breath!! It is just one of the tools .. and, as Penny Simkin says – “For lots of women, breathing (in labor) is the only thing that no one can take away!”

So, go ahead and practice your breathing .. it does come in handy. Use it everyday, especially in anxiety or stress situations (you will find that you are doing it anyway); and know that however you choose to use it, it will help you. Understand that there is no prescription, and you do not need to do it X number of times, X times a day, and practice many variations in order to birth your baby!

Happy pregnancy .. happy birthing!!

And, since it will be my last blog for 2011, Happy 2012!