Natural.childbirth Quotes

God schedules a birthday, not man.

Time and time again, throughout the history of medical practice, what was once considered as "scientific" eventually becomes regarded as "bad practice".

Each woman must realize that she is the final guardian of her unborn child.

Natural childbirth —I would never understand it. It was like going to the dentist and saying, "Novocain? No thanks. Just go in there Doc and rip that sucker right out!

We repeatedly tell patients we are not in a hurry; there are no trains to catch and we don't care when the baby comes, only how! A doctor who is in a hurry does not belong in the field of obstetrics. As my chief pointed out, 'An obstetrician should have a big rear end and the good sense to sit calmly thereupon and let nature take its course.

Even before i had children, I knew that being a parent was going to be challenging as well as rewarding. But I didn't really know. I didn't know how exhausted it was possible to become, or how clueless it was possible to feel, or how, each time I reached the end of my rope, I would somehow have to find more rope. I didn't understand that sometimes when your kids scream so loudly that the neighbors are ready to call the Department of Child Services, it's because you've served the wrong shape of pasta for dinner. I didn't realize that those deep-breathing exercises mothers are taught in natural-childbirth class dont really start to pay off until long after the child is out. I couldn't have predicted how relieved I'd be to learn that other peoples children struggle with the same issues, and act in some of the same ways, mine do. (Even more liberating is the recognition that other parents, too, have dark moments when they catch themselves not liking their own child, or wondering whether it's all worth it, or entertaining various other unspeakable thoughts). The bottom line is that raising kids is not for whimps.

...that the husband should be the one in constant attendance. Because of his love relationship with his wife, he is far more capable of achieving cooperation and helping her self-control than any attending doctor.

In the 1940s women were changing from home to hospital where they gave birth alone and thus birth became a mystery to the next generation.

But after years of teaching, we have decided that a lot of mothers just aren't reading textbooks.

In French, giving birth without an epidural isn’t called “natural” childbirth. It’s called “giving birth without an epidural” (accouchement sans péridurale).

Why is she crying?” I barked at the doctor. “Because it fucking hurts!” she yelped, answering for him. “Well, give her something!” “It’s too late for that now,” he mumbled through his mask and then peered over Winter’s legs. “Plus, you wanted natural childbirth, right?” “What the fuck for?” I burst out, looking down at her like she had three heads. “We didn’t talk about that.

Today, the lay midwife is a response to a growing home-birth movement. In my own community most physicians have decided to withhold prenatal care from the home-birther. This is judgmental and vindictive. These doctors have decided that home birth is not safe, and by withholding prenatal care they are doing their best to make sure it is unsafe. Often it is lay midwives who step forward to fill the void and help eliminate the unnecessary dangers of home birth. They are essential for screening out women who really should not have a home birth. For considerably less money than a physician charges, they spend many more hours with a pregnant woman before, during, and after the birth. and in most places they courageously face the opposition of the established medical community.

There are two others: the erroneous claim that anything natural must be safe, and the bedrock assertion of midwives, doulas, and other natural childbirth advocates that childbirth itself is an inherently safe process. Unfortunately, both claims conflict with medical and historical reality.

...I'll never forget going out to dinner with my parents to an elegant restaurant. My very proper Bostonian mother leaned over and said to me, 'Just what are you going to do if the baby gets hungry while we're here, dear?' The baby and I were already hooked up, very discreetly and my mother couldn't tell. I just chuckled and said, 'I don't know Mom.

I am persuaded from long years of experience amongst women of many nationalities that good midwifery is essential for the true happiness of motherhood – that good midwifery is the birth of a baby in a manner nearest to the natural law and design – and good midwifery, next to wise and healthy pregnancy, sets the pattern of the newborn infant and its relationship to its mother.

No one can fail to recognize the influence of the doctrine of the Noble Savage in contemporary consciousness. We see it in the current respect for all things natural (natural foods, natural medicines, natural childbirth) and the distrust of the man-made, the unfashionability of authoritarian styles of childrearing and education, and the understanding of social problems as repairable defects in our institutions rather than as tragedies inherent to the human condition.

Drugs and medical technology can be enormously beneficial when used to take care of real complications, but too often they are abused when applied to women birthing normally. These women are thus subjected to unnecessary risks. The key to this problem is informed consent, an ideal too seldom realized. Informed consent means that no woman during pregnancy or labor should ever be deceived into thinking that any drug or procedure (Demerol, Seconal, spinals, caudals, epidurals, paracervical block, etc.) is guaranteed safe. Not only are there no guaranteed safe drugs, but many of them have well-known, recognized side effects and potential side effects. Informed consent should mean that no woman would ever hear such falsehoods as, “This is harmless,” or, “I only give it in such a small dose that it can’t affect the baby,” or, “This is just a local and won’t reach the baby.

Beside the kit she’d put together were several books, and because he was reluctant to open the sealed plastic container and look at the contents, he browsed through the books. The titles told him a lot about Rose. She planned well for things. One book was on natural childbirth, another focused on nutrition for the pregnant woman. Both books had been read many times. The pages were worn and dog-eared. Another book on parenting caught his attention. He flipped through it and found many passages underlined. There were notes in the margin Rose had made to herself, multiple reminders to find other titles on various subjects. Like Kane, Rose could kill a man with her bare hands without blinking, but diapering a baby was out of their realm of expertise. He closed the book slowly, the revelation hitting him hard. She had to be every bit as scared as he was over the birth of their child. She had no more experience than he did. Just because she was a woman didn’t mean that she understood any of this. She’d never had parents to give her a blueprint. Neither of them had the least idea of what they were doing, but at least Rose was trying. She was determined that their child would have the chance in life she never had—to grow up in a loving home.

Here as a boy, prone on the grass, I observed the peaceful beauty of nature as its constituents gradually appeared. Silver fish lit up the shallow water, great swallowtail butterflies flitted decoratively from ragged robin to wild flower; small cotton tufts revealed the newly hatched cocoon; each wee spider was a thrill as it set out on its great adventure. I heard the moorhen call and hurry her fluffy offspring past my observation post as a bittern boomed in the distance. At every turn of the eye the simplest form of nature is found to be full of excitement and fresh beauty to the quiet, respectful observer. As we look more closely, the treasure-house opens fresh doors of wonder until we become absorbed in the perfection of simplicity and the magnificence of the ordinary. I have continued to do this so often during my life that the intrusion in these marshes during the past several years of foreign bodies in smelly motorboats is equivalent to disease attacking the peacefulness of natural beauty. The thought of these disturbers brings resentment; they are not interesting. They upset the natural order, and are unheedful of the beauty around them. In all observation of a natural state, the more concentrated and penetrating it becomes, so much the more is found to observe, to understand, and over which to marvel. Many people think the Norfolk marshes dull. They abhor the silence, so they bring radios and tape recorders and regale the voices of nature with ragtime. These are the same people who love to be on the Jungfraujoch with me and count the roars of avalanches and say, “Stupendous!” while I say, “Dead ends falling off dead beginnings.

I said to myself, This is going to be quick. I also thought: I’ll take the epidural now! Because the contractions were starting to demonstrate what the pain of birth is all about. The obstetrician came in. I smiled, ready for my shot. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” she said. “Your platelets are really, really low.” “Okay,” I said. I knew what platelets were-blood cells whose job it is to stop bleeding-but I had no idea why that was significant. “So, my epidural?” “You can’t have any medications.” “Come again?” “No drugs, no medications,” she said. “No epidural. I’ve called around to different anesthesiologists, and no one will touch you.” “No epidural?” “Nothing.” There are girls from third-world countries who do it with no drugs, I reminded myself. My mother elected for natural childbirth. How bad can it be? I got this. It started to hurt. I thought to myself, I am not going to cuss. Hell no! I am about to be a mother. I am bringing our baby into a positive environment and must be a good role model. Wow! The contractions built up quickly. My pristine vision of perfect, calm, quiet childbirth disappeared. A banshee snuck into the room and took over my body. Arrrgggh!!! No cursing! There was a rocking chair in the birth room. I went over and sat in it and began moving back and forth. Chris put on a CD by Enya that we’d brought to listen to: peaceful, pleasant music. I took a deep breath. Jeez, Louise! That one was a monster! Then, a breather. I’m doing goooooood! Breathe. Breathe… Wow! Then I said some other things. The banshee had a mind of her own. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I apologized to the nurses as I recovered from the surge of the contraction. “It’s okay,” said Chris. The pain surged again. Dang! Jiminy! And other things. Chris would watch the monitor. Suddenly he’d turn to look at me. “What?” I asked. “That was a strong one.” “Uh-huh.” The funny thing is, the stronger the contractions were on the monitor, the less they seemed to hurt. Maybe when things are really bad you focus more on being tough. Or perhaps my brain’s pain mechanism simply went on strike when the agony got too much.

At some point I tried willing things along, mentally focusing on a rapid delivery. That didn't work. I got up to walk around-walking is supposed to help you progress-then quickly got back in the chair. “Argh!!!!!” I groaned. And other stuff. The way I saw it, my baby should have been out by now, shaking hands with his dad and passing around cigars to the nurses. But he apparently had other plans. Labor continued very slowly. Very slowly. We were in that room for eighteen hours. That was a lot of contractions. And a lot of PG versions of curse words, along with the X-rated kind. I may have invented a whole new language. Somewhere around the twelve-hour mark, Chris asked if I’d mind if he changed the music, since our songs had been playing on repeat for what surely seemed like a millennium. “Sure,” I said. He switched to the radio and found a country station. That lasted a song or two. “I’m so sorry,” I told him. “I need Enya. I’m tuned in to it, and it calms me…ohhhhh!” “Okay. No problem,” he said calmly, though not quite cheerfully. I’m sure it was torture. Chris would take short breaks, walking out into the waiting room where both sides of our family were waiting to welcome their first grandchild and nephew. He’d look at his dad and give a little nod. “She’s okay,” he told everyone. Then he’d wipe a little tear away from his eye and walk back to me. Chris said later that watching me give birth was probably the most powerless feeling he’d ever had. He knew I was in pain and yet couldn’t do a whit about it. “It’s like watching your wife get stabbed and not being able to do anything to help.” But when he came into the room with me, his eyes were clear and he seemed confident and even upbeat. It was the thing he did when talking to me from the combat zone, all over again: he wasn’t about to do anything that would make me worry. I, on the other hand, made no secret of what I was feeling. An alien watermelon was ripping my insides out. And it hurt. Whoooh! Suddenly one of the contractions peaked way beyond where the others had been. Bubba had finally decided it was time to say hello to the world. I grabbed the side rail on the bed and struggled to remain conscious, if not exactly calm. Part of me was thinking, You should remember this, Taya. This is natural childbirth. This is beautiful. This is what God intended. You should enjoy this precious moment and remember it always. Another part of me was telling that part to shut the bleep up. I begged for mercy-for painkillers.

For the actual birth, one of the best pieces of advice I was given was this—don't just distract yourself during early labor, as is often recommended. Instead, spend at least part of the early labor, during weaker contractions, practicing keeping your mental focus using your birth breathing and coping techniques. If you distract, trying merely to endure the contractions during early labor, you will miss out on your only real opportunity to practice labor coping techniques. This practice will pay off substantially in later stages of labor if you can learn to embrace the sensations early on.

Nocebo effect” refers to the unintended negative effect of a medical diagnosis or treatment. It is particularly relevant to maternity care, because the mother’s emotional well-being is so often neglected, as we have discussed. Michel Odent comments, “The nocebo effect is inherent in conventional prenatal care, which is constantly focusing on potential problems. Every visit is an opportunity to be reminded of all the risks associated with pregnancy and delivery.”12

Women who are upset about their birth experiences but who did not write birth plans often say, "If only I had known" or "If only I had prepared." In contrast, mothers who prepare for a natural birth and write birth plans but end up with necessary interventions do not have to blame themselves for lack of preparation. They are free to mourn without self-recrimination.

it’s a heck of an ordeal, natural childbirth

His mom was more the rich pampered type whose version of natural childbirth meant giving birth without makeup.

One such father, decades ago now, John Quinn, a student at Humboldt State College in Arcata, California, made newspaper headlines when he chained himself to his laboring wife in order to foil the hospital ban on his presence. His explanation is a classical example of the increased awareness of the younger generation: "I love my wife. I feel it's my moral right as a husband and father to be there.

Q: What’s a Jewish woman’s idea of natural childbirth? A: No makeup, whatsoever.

Twinge” and “surge” and “pressure” were the euphemisms that a lot of the people in the natural childbirth community had been using for contractions. And Josie got it, she understood. It was a way to train the mind to think of the pain differently. “Searing, fibrous, ripping pain that makes you want to eat morphine-laden donuts and drop acid to avoid it” wouldn’t make anyone want to have a baby, right?

When a nursing mother encounters infectious agents in her gut and lung—the main routes of human infection—the antibodies that she forms will travel to her breasts and will be transferred to the baby via breast milk, giving specific protection against infections that the baby is, or will soon be, exposed to. A breastfed infant receives a relatively high dose of maternal antibodies: up to 1 gram per day via breast milk, compared to a total of 2.5 grams produced daily in the body of an average adult.

Beliefs about women and their role in society undergird natural parenting. It seems to me to be more than coincidence that natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and natural parenting share a variety of disturbing characteristics. All impose an inordinate amount of work and pain on women, and all ostensibly exclude fathers and other family members, making women not merely the primary caregivers but the only acceptable caregivers a majority of the time. And by requiring intense around-the-clock effort, they make it nearly impossible for women who want or need something in addition to mothering (a job, a career, free time) to be “good” mothers. It all seems suspiciously like the classic ploy to control and judge women by the performance of their reproductive organs.

Childbirth in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s was, like most of contemporary medicine, afflicted with patriarchal practices that made things easier for doctors but were not beneficial, and possibly were even harmful, to women. These included putting women under general anesthesia for labor and childbirth and banning fathers from the delivery room. Natural childbirth advocates questioned those practices and eventually pushed for their end. The contemporary patient experience is far better because of them.

I am a child of Western medicine. I am a cynic, a skeptic, which is the attitude underlying so much of Western medicine. I don't believe in inherent goodness. I don't believe that nature will never lead you astray. I believe there are more than one hundred billion cells in the body and if, at any moment, one of them is not becoming cancerous, it's only your good luck, the whimsy of your god that has spared you. Natural childbirth proudly announces, "All pain has a purpose," which is a wonderful view, an utterly romantic view, straight out of the mind of Shelley or Byron; those thoughts are not mine. I live in a world of random events, unseen collisions, and sudden swerves. The beauty, for me, lies not in knowing there is an underlying purposeful pattern but in facing, with some sort of grace, the impenetrable vista.

Pain has a purpose. Especially in childbirth. It’s the pain that tells you how close you are to pushing, and when it’s time, you’ll know because you can’t stop until the baby is out.

Perhaps the cultural obsession with ‘natural’ birth reflects the extent of our detachment from our bodies and from the Earth. We are so disconnected from the rest of the natural world that we don’t know what ‘nature’ is: bodies failing, cuckoos pushing eggs out of nests, a weirdly small human pelvis and a big infant head, illness and disease, shit and blood, ticks and cockroaches. ‘Natural childbirth’ in the ‘natural world’ often ends in infant or maternal death. ‘Natural’ childbirth can end in clitoral tears, sepsis, rectoceles, fistulas and psychosis.

Through the process of natural childbirth, I gained a lot of confidence in myself. I left my comfort zone and the culture I had grown up with. I learned that I can work through scary and painful situations and be strong and present when I need to be.

Unnecessary Caesareans: Ways to Avoid Them

This talk of exploding spleens scared the hell out of me. I went back to the apartment and told Dominique what the doctor had said and that he had advised me not to participate in the natural childbirth. She thought it all sounded preposterous. “If anybody’s going to explode, it’s me if I don’t have this baby soon.

woman to do well with labor: Be sure to rub exactly where it aches. Obviously, she will be able to tell you just where that is. The spot is not in the small of the back nor all the way down at the tailbone, but usually somewhere in between. You should rub this spot in a small, tight circle. She will tell you just where to rub, and she is the one to please. The heel of your hand or the front of your fist usually works best for this back rub. You may find it helpful to wrap your hand in a soft cloth, like an old T-shirt. Have your hand in place before the contraction starts. Don’t wait for her to tell you the contraction is under way and then try to put your hand on her back. That’s sloppy. It is exactly what the untrained husband does when trying to help his wife, and it’s exactly why she tells him to leave her alone. Rub with a slow, steady rhythm in one direction. If you break the rhythm it distracts her attention immediately and she may snap at you. Press your hand firmly into the back and then rotate it in a circular motion. Do not slide your hand over her skin. That is irritating and will soon leave a raw feeling. Press inward—it will require a lot of pressure—and let the skin move with your hand in that circular motion. This is a deep massage.

Be forewarned—the most common error is to rub too fast. It must be a slow, steady, deep rub. And don’t make the mistake of changing the direction of the rub in the middle of a contraction, even though your arm may feel tired. You will get an instant cranky reaction. The laboring woman is acutely aware of the minutest details (even though she may not seem to be), and a sudden shift in direction is sure to distract her attention from relaxation. Be sure your rubbing motion is steady and rhythmic, with no jerky, uneven movements. A sloppy back rub may be even more disturbing to the laboring woman than the backache. She senses the coach is tired and not doing a thorough and careful job. She may also feel annoyed because he seems to lack empathy for the intensity of the sensations she is feeling. So to get the back rub right, it will be necessary to practice. It is a little like an isometric exercise, and you may be surprised at how hard she will want you to push. One coach said we should have told him to practice by rubbing a brick wall.

ONE: Darkness and Solitude. The laboring woman needs a dark or dimly lit room. Bright lights disturb concentration and she needs 100 percent concentration on relaxation to work properly with labor. Solitude while the two of you are working together is also important. This means no mothers or mothers-in-law. If children are to be present at birth, this is not the time to have them in the room, except for short visits so they can see that Mommy is doing fine. Solitude also means no pregnant neighbor from across the street, despite the temptation to show off a bit. It is very distracting for most women to have observers in the first stage of labor. The laboring woman finds herself wondering what everyone thinks about how she is doing. The coach, in turn, spends less time thinking about the laboring woman and more time on what the observers think of his coaching. A laboring woman is not performing. She should simply work for herself and her baby. Keeping the room (even a hospital room) dark and keeping observers to a minimum is the coach’s responsibility. Whether they are in-laws or hospital personnel, this requires tact, but it should not be left to the laboring woman to deal with. As her work gets serious, she will have other things to think about.

Appearance of Sleep and Closed Eyes. Closed eyes are a guarantee that there will be no visual distractions. The woman who keeps her eyes open is trying to escape from the contraction, rather than go with it. The appearance of sleep is your ultimate goal.

The sitting squat and lying flat on a delivery table (or labor bed) defeat nature’s plan. Both positions interfere with the normal, amazing expansion movements of your well-engineered pelvis. That’s why you want to do no more than the first three pushes in the sitting squat.

But instead here you are standing up, making the contractions back off, perhaps back to 30 to 35 seconds. But they’re coming closer, so you think standing is making things go faster, but remember, it is the long, strong contractions that get your work done and open that cervix. If lying down brings on longer, stronger contractions and you’re getting up to get away from them, then you may be defeating yourself. Standing up may trigger closer contractions but frequently makes for shorter contractions

You undoubtedly thought you did make that commitment to want to work with your labor, but then you’ve never felt a working contraction in your life, and it takes your breath away; it takes you by surprise and scares you a bit. That’s okay, but the sooner you make that commitment to want to work with your body and try lying down and going for it with the deepest relaxation you can achieve, the better it is

Contraction begins: 45 seconds long, 5 minutes apart COACH: Coach her from head to toe in relaxation and in quiet, relaxed abdominal breathing. Coach her in mental imagery (“bag of muscles” technique), keeping in mind the purpose of each technique. Breathing=Control Relaxation=Comfort “Bag of muscles” technique aids in perception Rub her back if there is any backache at all. You should be serious and alert. Don’t let tension build up. Be ahead of things, Coach. You see she is MORE SERIOUS NOW. Another contraction: 50 to 55 seconds COACH: Repeat the sequence above. Remind her not to hold herself still, imitating relaxing, but to really let go! In between contractions COACH: Offer her a wet washrag; wipe off her brow and the back of her neck, if she lets you. It can be nice, too, to have sweaty palms wiped. Continue to rub her shoulders in between contractions. Talk to her about relaxing. Do not let tension build up anywhere. The hours are going by. You see she is MOST SERIOUS NOW. Another 1-minute contraction COACH: Coach her in everything. Don’t forget key phrases: slack open mouth, loose limp hands. In between contractions COACH: About every hour and a half, remind her to go to the bathroom, and encourage her to turn over onto her other side. (A contraction is not your enemy. It is just your own big bag of muscles flexing for you, to get the door open. As you feel the flex, think of opening and opening.)

Another contraction begins Oops, no, it dwindled away before it got started. Contraction begins: 60 seconds long, 5 minutes apart Practice through it with your coach. Do not skip any practice contractions. Contraction begins: 60 seconds long, 4 minutes apart On this practice contraction, we are going to do a little play-acting and pretend that a contraction is starting to get away from you. You don’t think you can relax, you tighten up a bit, maybe clench your hand, open your eyes, contract your tummy muscles slightly, and breathe rapidly. Respond to your coach only after he has coached you firmly! COACH: Firm coaching does not mean harsh coaching, and, of course, you never criticize the laboring mother. Never tell her, “No, you’re doing it all wrong!” If you say something like that, her whole body will immediately go “twang” with tension. This is not helpful. Instead, look for tension, listen for frantic breathing. Give her specific coaching in whatever she needs help with, and continue to give it in an absolutely confident, warm, strong voice. Many women never get off the track with a single contraction. Others lose one or two. If they do, it’s not a big deal. It helps for both of you to remember what happens if she tightens up on a contraction. She just makes it last longer, and it’s very painful for her to work against.

Start coaching before it begins, about the time you think another one is due, so she isn’t caught unaware. Coaching before it begins sounds like this: “The next time you barely begin to feel that bag of muscles starting to flex, you want to greet it with a limp, yielding body, releasing everywhere all at once, welcome it; let it come on strong as you let go. At the barest hint of another flex beginning, embrace it by melting down into the bed.

Why in the world would any woman reject this modern technological machinery? You research the literature and discover that while you were trained to use the electronic monitor in medical school and during your residency, that, actually, babies do not benefit when electronic monitoring is used. Babies do just as well when only the stethoscope is used. But mothers don’t do as well when they are on electronic monitoring. They are greatly harmed by suffering a tripled rate of cesareans. Since the babies don’t benefit by this monitoring, then this increase of surgery represents unnecessary surgery.

out of five scientific studies (randomized controlled trials) of fetal monitors, four showed no differences in outcome for the babies whether the fetal monitor was used or not.5 Only one showed an improved outcome for the babies, and that study has been severely criticized for poor scientific methodology.6 Dr. A. D. Haverkamp of Denver told the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1975 that research showed no difference in the health or survival rate of babies when internal electronic fetal heart monitoring was used to manage deliveries. But the big difference, he said, was in the cesarean-section rate. It was 16.5 percent in the group of women who underwent electronic fetal monitoring but only 6.8 percent in the group whose births were managed by frequent use of the stethoscope to check the baby’s well-being.7 Clearly, repeated scientific studies show that the baby does not benefit when the mother is electronically monitored. These studies show that the major difference in outcome when the fetal monitor is used is for the mother. The cesarean surgery rate is as much as tripled!

My husband coached. He was instrumental in helping me to let the contractions go once they were over.

Everyone believes in "Informed Consent" until a woman does not consent.