The year of sustainable birth practices
I am sitting here today thinking about New Year’s resolutions after my partner read an article this morning by a reporter who didn’t seem fond of the idea. Most years, I don’t have much when it comes to resolutions. I do however like goal-setting, I just don’t limit it to one day out of the year.
Then I began to wonder about what I would love to see. It would be amazing to see sustainable birth practices. What do I mean? I am talking about care that we can continue to provide, reliably that is mother and baby focused, that is empowering, that is healthy. I want to see birth practices that are respectful and see birth honoured, not medicalized, shamed, or leaving mothers feeling as if they are victims of a horrible attack.
That is a lot to ask for, and a lot to ask of one person.
So I will break it down and do my part and I hope that you will comment with something that you can do in 2012 to help birth practices become sustainable.
In 2012, I commit to:
- writing to my MPs about birth centers and midwives
- helping women and their loved ones learn about their birthing options through free talks, classes, my blog, social media, and doula care
- start making some you tube videos to share information with you in a visual way
- listening to what women want, what works, what is empowering and passing that on to those decision makers at the top of the food chain
- applying to sit on boards where I can make those voices heard
- doing a lunch and learn (or more) for some physicians and midwives about doulas and our training as well as our scopes of practice so we can all be players on mom’s care team
I’d love to hear your inspiration for other tasks this doula and mom of 2 can take on to change the world of birth and what you can do to support this big goal!
Can dilation go backwards?
A woman goes to the hospital after making wonderful progress at home. She is labouring beautifully, riding each wave, and decides to go to the hospital. She gets hooked up to monitors, puts on a hospital gown (because those are flattering). However when you listen to her carefully, things have changed. The waves aren’t as high, less frequent, she is quiet, tense, and required to answer so many questions.
Another woman is examined at 6 cms and doing well. Someone she wasn’t expecting walks in the room and she shuts down. Her next exam reveals she is at 4cms.
I’m not the only witness to labour progress doesn’t follow a straight line or even backwards. It was well known to nurses when they would stay with the labouring woman. This information wasn’t written in medical texts.
When labour progress reverses, this is a sign that the woman has some internal work to get through. Sometimes it is a past experience (birth related or not), sometimes she is hanging on until her partner arrives, and other times it can be triggered by someone saying something unpleasant.
Labouring is in a different part of our consciousness. It is almost like women create a circle of safety and sacredness around them. When others intrude on that sacred space, they no longer feel free to do what helps them birth their babies but instead focus on the elephant in their circle.
I had the pleasure this year of seeing Ina May Gaskin and listening to her as she addressed a room of birth professionals. She is an amazing midwife and author in the United States. She exaplains the cervix like a sphincter. Imagine you had the urge to have a bowel movement. How would you perform if you had strangers in your room? Would it help if they yelled at you to push? Probably not. You would keep that sphincter shut tight until you felt safe and comfortable. Yet, our current birth practices expect us to perform under such pressures.
But imagine being surrounded by familiar professionals who follow your lead. Who let you recognize your urge to push on your own, who let you move freely, and let you push as is comfortable for your body. Wouldn’t that feel different?
When we look at progress for labour and birth, safety and security physically and emotionally have to be there. No question about it. I still think about an early birth I attended as a doula where mom progressed to 3cms and stayed there for hours. Reflecting back – she had been told that if she didn’t have this induction, her baby was going to die. There was no test to say the placenta wasn’t working, all her tests were normal, baby’s heart rate was fantastic. How awful – and yet back then, I didn’t know how to make space for her as she carried this burden with her. Physically, we tried lots of things but the real work was in her heart. It was the second birth I attended and still think about her often.
I can recall countless births now where those emotional and safety triggers came into play. I can also recall the many ways I was able to make space for these women to share their burdens, to feel safe, to bring light to what would feel right for them in that moment.
Can it go backwards? Sure it can. Especially if we do not choose our words carefully, if we put pressure on the birthing woman, and if we don’t take care to be respectful of the sacred space of birth.
