"A normal physiologic labour and birth is one that is powered by the innate human capacity of the woman and fetus. This birth is more likely to be safe and healthy because there is no unnecessary intervention that disrupts normal physiologic processes." 17 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647729/ As a Midwife, this is what I see my job as, support of physiologic birth, and as we can see from the statement above, this is likely to result in a safe and healthy birth because of the lack of unnecessary intervention. I have a belief that labour will begin on its own, and progress as it should, if it is supported and allowed to do so. This is, I believe, why we at Cheryl's Gentle Births, have a high success rate for normal, natural delivery. (2020 - 93% delivered successfully) Less is definitely more! Labour should be as far as possible, undisturbed. Labour should always begin at home, and to be able to remain there, safe in the knowledge that your team is only a phone call away, and ready to attend as soon as the going gets tough, is just that added bonus. If the environment is safe, the journey will progress and unfold exactly as it should. Home is most people's "safe place". Not everyone choses to birth at home, but those who do find that labour is very "do-able", it is a term that often comes up in the practice. Once you realise that labour is a normal process that happens with the release of neurochemicals and hormones, birthing in your "safe space" at home, makes so much more sense. No need to change location part way through, and just at the point where the going gets tough! Safe in the knowledge that there will be no unnecessary interventions, including internal examinations, induction, drips, vacuum or forceps delivery, or any drugs that interfere with the release of the natural hormone cascade that happens in labour. Of course safety always comes first, so apart from the facilitator of physiologic birth, my job as a midwife is to recognise anything that falls outside of this. We have an amazing team of highly skilled Dr's who are available should we need them. Labouring under the restrictions of a hospital can put unnecessary hurdles in the way, making a physiologic birth less likely. Labour in a place that is not familiar, or is too hot or cold, doesn't smell right, isn't private enough, is full of strangers, is less likely to result in spontaneous commencement, progress of labour, and ultimately natural delivery of your baby. This is why we prefer home birth, especially in the current times, home gives you and your baby the correct exposure to the beneficial microbes that you and baby need and not the hospital bacteria, but we will go into more detail about this in my next blog.
0 Comments
|
AuthorCheryl Rowe - Midwife Archives
May 2023
Categories |