Power of a Woman
I've been reflecting (like all good antenatal teachers should) on the conference I attended on Saturday. Some speakers were better than others, but what I came away with was a renewed belief in the power of women.
Birth is awesome. It is a profound experience in a woman's life. She will never forget what happens when she births her baby - and that birth story will stay with her, to be told and retold. What happens during childbirth matters - it is the start of a life as a parent of that baby and the best way for women to begin that journey is feeling powerful and joyous.
I love this picture - she is ecstatic after birthing her baby and I wish all women could feel like that. Women's bodies are designed to give birth - that's why our pelvis is shaped that way. Women KNOW how to give birth to their babies and babies know how to be born. Most women can give birth naturally but it is so hard to get them to believe that.
Dot Parry, a midwife and antenatal teacher, was inspirational when she talked about "high risk" mothers and how being told you are "at risk" is like being told you are a ticking time bomb. No wonder these women have no confidence in their ability to birth their babies, having been told by obstetricians that they just can't do it. Or that they can't do it without lots and lots of medical intervention.
We know how important hormones are to labour and birth. Women need high levels of oxytocin and endorphins for the process to take place and when a woman feels stressed and frightened, she will produce adrenaline which takes over and stops the oxytocin flowing. We know this and yet making women feel safe and strong and loved so that they can birth their babies is so low on a hospital agenda. Women need their caregivers to believe in them and in their ability to birth.
Giving birth is like having sex - you wouldn't ask (most) people to have sex in a brightly lit room, surrounded by observers, and monitoring equipment. You wouldn't tell them that they only had a certain amount of time to get it right by themselves before you started interfering. So why do we assume that women will be able to relax and go with this intimate experience if she is being made to feel like an experimental subject?
Yes, obstetric interventions are lifesavers - but so many times, they aren't used because of any physiological reason. One intervention leads to another and so often women only need help with the birth because earlier down the line, unnecessary intervention screwed it up. We know there is no evidence for women to be routinely monitored on restrictive CTG monitors, we know women should be able to move about and change position in labour, we know that lying on your back is the WORST position to be in, we know that epidurals slow labour down and double the risk of needing forceps/ventouse, we know that a C-section rate of above 10 to 15% does nothing to benefit mothers or babies - we don't make this stuff up, it is evidence based. And yet, so many times interventions are used because of poor obstetric training, or bad interpersonal skills, or just because.
The US c-section rate is over 31% and for the UK it is nearly 24%. That is shocking and scary.
Giving birth is an amazing, powerful experience. It is a wonderful example of women's power and the wonder of women's bodies. And it is such a shame that normal birth is something women have to fight for.
One plenary ended with a short video of a Russian woman giving birth in her bath. It was beautiful and sexy and such a good reminder of birth being a sexual experience. A good birth experience - where the woman feels in control of what happens and where she gets to make the decisions - is the best start to life as a parent. A terrible birth experience can damage women, mentally AND physically, for life. It isn't just about a healthy baby - that baby needs a healthy mother.
Birth is awesome. It is a profound experience in a woman's life. She will never forget what happens when she births her baby - and that birth story will stay with her, to be told and retold. What happens during childbirth matters - it is the start of a life as a parent of that baby and the best way for women to begin that journey is feeling powerful and joyous.
I love this picture - she is ecstatic after birthing her baby and I wish all women could feel like that. Women's bodies are designed to give birth - that's why our pelvis is shaped that way. Women KNOW how to give birth to their babies and babies know how to be born. Most women can give birth naturally but it is so hard to get them to believe that.
Dot Parry, a midwife and antenatal teacher, was inspirational when she talked about "high risk" mothers and how being told you are "at risk" is like being told you are a ticking time bomb. No wonder these women have no confidence in their ability to birth their babies, having been told by obstetricians that they just can't do it. Or that they can't do it without lots and lots of medical intervention.
We know how important hormones are to labour and birth. Women need high levels of oxytocin and endorphins for the process to take place and when a woman feels stressed and frightened, she will produce adrenaline which takes over and stops the oxytocin flowing. We know this and yet making women feel safe and strong and loved so that they can birth their babies is so low on a hospital agenda. Women need their caregivers to believe in them and in their ability to birth.
Giving birth is like having sex - you wouldn't ask (most) people to have sex in a brightly lit room, surrounded by observers, and monitoring equipment. You wouldn't tell them that they only had a certain amount of time to get it right by themselves before you started interfering. So why do we assume that women will be able to relax and go with this intimate experience if she is being made to feel like an experimental subject?
Yes, obstetric interventions are lifesavers - but so many times, they aren't used because of any physiological reason. One intervention leads to another and so often women only need help with the birth because earlier down the line, unnecessary intervention screwed it up. We know there is no evidence for women to be routinely monitored on restrictive CTG monitors, we know women should be able to move about and change position in labour, we know that lying on your back is the WORST position to be in, we know that epidurals slow labour down and double the risk of needing forceps/ventouse, we know that a C-section rate of above 10 to 15% does nothing to benefit mothers or babies - we don't make this stuff up, it is evidence based. And yet, so many times interventions are used because of poor obstetric training, or bad interpersonal skills, or just because.
The US c-section rate is over 31% and for the UK it is nearly 24%. That is shocking and scary.
Giving birth is an amazing, powerful experience. It is a wonderful example of women's power and the wonder of women's bodies. And it is such a shame that normal birth is something women have to fight for.
One plenary ended with a short video of a Russian woman giving birth in her bath. It was beautiful and sexy and such a good reminder of birth being a sexual experience. A good birth experience - where the woman feels in control of what happens and where she gets to make the decisions - is the best start to life as a parent. A terrible birth experience can damage women, mentally AND physically, for life. It isn't just about a healthy baby - that baby needs a healthy mother.