Here is an e-mail I just sent to one of my dearest friends who is pregnant for the first time. Aahhhh, the miracle of new life. I packed so much info and great links into my message that I thought it would make for a great blog post! After all, natural birth is definitely one of my passions!
Hi Mama!
Here's some links for you to peruse... Several of them have birth stories, which I love! I was always so encouraged when pregnant reading birth stories. Enjoy!
For Angy, the midwife I had for Daniel and Christopher and who worked at the birth center when I had Joshua, her website is: http://www.anmidwife.com/
Acupressure points for labor: http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/acupressure/index.php/
More cool links: http://www.wvhomebirth.com/
Local lay Christian midwife I know and much more general birth, etc info:
http://www.midwifeinfo.com/practitioners/view/1987 or
http://www.facebook.com/joyinbirth#!/joyinbirth?v=wall&ref=ts
Great general info: http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/index.php/
Another super cool site: http://www.birthjunkie.com/
Here are lots of stories of unassisted birth, which are very empowering to read: http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/ucstories/
I love this site!: http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/
Here's another: http://www.birthunassisted.com/
(This site has TONS of birth videos, which always make me cry! I've posted my birth stories here, but they have Daniel's birth incorrectly titled as a waterbirth. I guess I forgot to mention that I got out of my tub shortly before birth. I was actually squatting beside my toilet!)
More: http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/
And more: http://www.birthingnaturally.net/directory/birth/stories.html/
Still more: http://www.naturalbirth.freeservers.com/
Good article: http://www.glorialemay.com/blog/?p=74/
Great birth video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoIiVszj1EU&feature=player_embedded/
Short but sweet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbiSvdH5CLo&feature=related/
Cool thought provoking video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBvSKGBzZd0&feature=related/
Angy also has a monthly homebirth meetup group. I've known about it for years, but have never attended any meetings. I actually plan to attend the next one. It's Saturday, April 24 at Joplin Park in So. Chas and starts at 11 am. It's a family picnic hang out type of meeting with kids welcome, so I thought it would be a great one to attend. Angy will be out of town, but there will be moms there who have had homebirths or are pregnant and planning one. I think they even get people who are neither but plan a homebirth for when they ever get pregnant. Also, there will be other midwives and doulas there.
A doula is someone who helps a laboring woman, by giving her whatever she needs and being with her as needed. I had a doula with Joshua, but didn't feel I needed one with the others. I knew what to expect. When I said I volunteered to stay with you and be your advocate, that's essentially a doula role, to help the mother in any way and be a voice for her if she's in intense labor and unable to fully communicate. This is especially helpful in a hospital setting as the staff may try to push the mom into certain things that she doesn't want, but since she's in intense labor, she can't express her desires clearly. The mom tells the doula her desires for labor and birth beforehand, so the doula can help her stick with her goals even if hospital staff tries to persuade her otherwise. Even at a homebirth, a doula can still help assist the mom in any way by being there for her, offering massage, support, encouragement, etc.
Anyway, if you aren't busy, come with me to the picnic! You'll get to meet lots of other homebirth moms passionate about natural birth. Many moms choose homebirth because they had a bad hospital birth and vow to never do that again. You can have a good birth in a hospital, but it takes a lot more effort and vigilance. Since they tend to treat birth as a "condition" requiring care, they are so bent on interfering at every turn. This constant interference greatly impedes the efforts of the woman's natural birth instincts. For instance, mammals will only birth when they feel safe. If they are threatened, labor will cease and only resume when they feel safe again. We are mammals and it is no wonder that laboring women often go to the hospital only to have labor stall. Well, who would feel safe with all the strangers, machines, noise, bright lights, exams, odors, etc? So, the hospital gives her pictocin to artificially cause contractions. That's also how they induce labor, or cause her to labor before her body is ready. This very often leads to many more interferences and complications. Rates of c-section, foreceps use, episiotomies, and more go way up.
WV has a very high c-sec rate. If you want to avoid a c-sec, stay out of the hospital. If you do go to the hospital, refuse an induction, no matter how much a doctor pressures you! Also, choose natural birth. Epidurals and drugs also greatly interfere with your body's efforts to birth and lead to much higher rates of c-sec, etc. Your body can't/won't push and the baby is drugged and sluggish. Non-drugged babies are alert and typically do not have trouble nursing. Also, 20% of women who get epidurals have lifelong back pain as a result! I have massaged tons of women who said they've had back pain ever since their epidural. I'd take 1 day of pain any day over a lifetime of pain!
A common reason for a c-sec is called "failure to progress." The hospital protocol only allows so much time for the baby to be born. If you take longer to labor or can't relax enough to let your body do what it needs to do, (how could any laboring mom not relax in a hospital setting?) then a c-sec is ordered. Talk about pressure! The mom is told she MUST have the baby within such and such time or she's getting a c-sec. That's going to make her body clam up even more from the stress!
Another thing is that you need to be free to move and do what you want. Hospitals put those insane fetal monitoring devices in the baby's head. It is a sharp, pigtail shaped corkscrew that they literally put in your vagina and screw it into the top of the baby's head!!! I'm not joking! At my birth center birth class, they passed one around to show everyone. The purpose? So, they can monitor contractions!!! Great day! The mom knows when she's having a contraction!!! So, not only do they hurt the baby for a totally unneeded reason, the mom is now confined to the bed! She can't walk around or get into different positions, etc. So, again, she is going to be much more likely to have further problems. Having a baby while laying on your back is the absolute worst position to be in! You are fighting against gravity and the pelvic area is narrowed and the pressure of the baby is on your spine. If the mom is left alone (what a concept!), she will do many things during labor and for the birth will tend to adopt some type of a squat or sitting position. Some women birth on all fours. I've never heard of any woman choosing to lay flat on their back to birth! It's handy for the OB to watch, but not good for mom.
I don't mean to overwhelm you with info. I'm super passionate about natural, un-interfered with birth. The current medical model for birth is to interfere from beginning to end. Doctors don't even wait for women to go into labor. The baby will come when he's ready! By forcing him to come early, that just asks for problems. It's phenomenal that we have hospitals and OBs for actual emergencies. But, if women are left alone to labor as they choose and feel safe, don't fear birth, aren't induced, confined to bed, etc, very few births require emergency care. People think doctors and hospitals are needed to make birth safe. But, really, birth is safe! It's a normal body function. You don't need a doctor to poop! (Hospital germs are a whole other story!) It's all the interventions done by the doctors that cause the problems!
Anyway, you've got time to educate yourself and think about what kind of birth you want. It's your birth, and you are in control. If you don't decide beforehand what you do and don't want, you are at the mercy of the doctors, nurses, and hospital. You are always free to change health care providers. It's not too late to switch to a midwife, intended place to birth, etc. Feel free to pick my brain. :)
Oh, and I always tell pregnant women about the acupressure points I used for my last labor. It was like night and day! I had natural labor with all 3 boys, but only found and used the acupressure points with the last. All my contractions were very short and never got very painful, and I never even had any hard labor! With the first 2, I had to totally concentrate on each contraction, and with the last, I was busy working around the house up until birth! I had no idea I was so close to birth since the contractions never got bad. I just held the points with each contraction. That's one thing I could do for you if you want me around to help during your labor. I held my points myself (I used BL 32), but it'd be even better for someone else to hold them.
I love you!!!
Christy
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