Myth explosion
This episode’s opening gambit was to ask if a previous caesarean-section that was required at 9cm was because the cervix got stuck. Just to confirm, cervix don’t get stuck. It is not physiologically possible for a cervix to get ‘stuck’. What is possible, is for the environment the woman is in not to be conducive for her mind to relax enough for her body to birth her baby. Even at 9cm, the mind can decide that though close, it is not ready to actually birth the baby. One has to wander what the decision to Caesar at that point was really about.
Purple pushing
Yet again, examples of how not to do it. Women alone and in pain with birth partners poorly equipped to help them. Purple pushing is when women are flat on their back being told to push into their bottom. They usually end up holding their breath whilst they push and their faces go purple. All the evidence says this is an ineffective and damaging way to birth – would someone please scream at the management that these women would be so much better cared for in an upright position. To most people they would look at Jenine, this young mother (not young by many standards actually) and say that was an easy birth, which in some ways is true in so much as it is widely believed younger mothers to labour an birth more easily. However, they could all be better! Today’s saving grace? The midwives dimmed the lights after the birth for a gentler environment for the baby. Someone had read a book since they graduated.
It’s in the mind – or on the phone
Incredibly, at the point when most women would be swinging from the rafters, Sarah takes a call from her boyfriend. It is quite possible that this is the mental release she needed to allow her body to open up and birth her baby in a relatively calm fashion – which she did shortly afterwards. For the record, baby’s do not need to be roughly wiped down as this poor crying soul was. Baby’s are not dirty when they are born, they will absorb the vernix that has protected them in utero and do not need to be cleaned for any reason other than the habit of midwives.
Hypnosis for childbirth
Billed as a HypnoBirthing birth I want to start by saying this was not HynoBirthing. HypnoBirthing is becoming a registered trade mark in the UK to stop ‘hypnobirthing’ being used as a generic term, as it has been used here. This was a different preparation and clearly not being taught or applied successfully.
The positive message to take from this is that Sammy laboured in a predominantly calm fashion, even if a there were some cries for help. This has still been the quietest labour, the labour coped with in the best fashion and calmest birth. It is very possible that her cries for pain relief were during transition – this is the point when adrenaline is naturally released by mother’s to give them the energy to birth and in most women cries for help and comments like ‘I can’t do this’ mean they are very nearly there.
Although not a perfect HypnoBirthing birth I still think it was one of the best natural births on this programme. If you are interested in looking at methods for calm birth I would strongly urge you to take on board the benefits of this experience and consider HypnoBirthing, The Mongan Method for your antenatal preparation.
Water Births
If you are planning a water birth please also note that if you do have (want) a VE it can be done in the pool. One of the problems of getting out of the pool during labour is that you can go into shock and lose control and though that can come back when you get back into the water it doesn’t always. And obviously, you can birth in water. It wasn’t clear why Sammy decided to get out I only hope it was her decision and not the midwives but hey – at least you got to see an upright position for birth!