Birth, with its blend of anticipation and unpredictability, is a journey filled with moments of joy, challenge, and profound connection. However, the way birth is often portrayed in movies and TV shows can sometimes create unrealistic expectations.
All tagged Birth
Birth, with its blend of anticipation and unpredictability, is a journey filled with moments of joy, challenge, and profound connection. However, the way birth is often portrayed in movies and TV shows can sometimes create unrealistic expectations.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve worked with clients who have a clear vision for their birth that would 100% be better supported by birthing at home (and conversely, has a high chance of being derailed by birthing in hospital) and yet they’re dead set on birthing in hospital anyway.
We can influence birth, but we can’t control it
What I mean is that there’re a lot of decisions that you can make in advance of birth that statistically affect outcomes on a population level. For example:
Choosing a midwife increases the chance that you’ll feel positively about your birth experience
Choosing to birth at home decreases the likelihood of experiencing birth interventions
Choosing to have a doula present at your birth reduces the chance you’ll use pain medications
Choosing which hospital you birth at affects your chances of having a cesarean birth
But none of the above are guarantees. When it comes to YOUR birth, you’re a sample size of one and either a thing happens, or it doesn’t.
Have you ever thought about what qualities you want in your medical care providers? What makes a care provider/patient relationship work for you?
If not, and you’re currently pregnant, now’s the time to ask yourself the following questions. In my experience, answering yes to these questions increases the likelihood that you’ll get respectful, nurturing care whether you’re with a midwife, OB, or family doctor for your birth.
I love attending home births - they’re often calm and cozy, even when labour gets intense. Here are my top tips for a great homebirth (most require prepping BEFORE labour but the last three can be done as early-labour-do tasks).
Welcome to Birth Geekery, the blog series designed to put interesting, fun, USEFUL, and usually nerdy resources at your disposal.
Each post features two to three resources that I either love and frequently share with our clients OR something I’ve come across recently that’s got my brain all 🤯.
As a doula, one of the best things I can do to support your labour is create a birthing space that feels safe, private and unobserved.
Why does it matter? Because when you feel safe, private, and unobserved, your labour may be less painful, happen more quickly, and result in fewer complications for you and your baby (want to learn more about this? Check out Dr. Sarah Buckley's work on physiological birth).
Do you ever get tired of hearing about surrender? Yay, me too.
The reason birth workers go on about it so much though, is because surrender is often a necessary part of birth and parenting – sometimes it’s surrendering to the power of the surges running through your body, or surrendering to the need for unwished for medical interventions, or surrendering to the sleep deprivation and high needs of your newborn in the early weeks of postpartum.
“Stepping out your front door is the first intervention in birth.” ~ Unknown
I imagine that folks may have strong reactions to that statement. Perhaps it feels confronting, or perhaps it feels obvious.
How it feels to you will depend a lot on the stories you’ve heard about birth your whole life.
The stories your parents told, your grandparents told, the stories you saw on tv or in movies, the stories your friends have told, what you’ve read on the internet or heard in podcasts, and the stories your maternity care provider has taken in and in return shares with you. All of these stories combine to create the story you personally believe about birth – about what makes it safe, or not safe, about what makes a birth “good” or “bad”.
Welcome to Birth Geekery, the blog series designed to put interesting, fun, USEFUL, and occasionally nerdy resources at your disposal.
Each post features two to three resources that I love and frequently share with our clients so that you can check them out too!
Labourland is the place you go when you’re in labour (particularly unmedicated labour):
As oxytocin flows…
As contractions intensify…
As endorphins soften the world…
As focus and energy turn ever inward and down…
You enter into labourland.
