Why prepare for birth?

Nov12

A question was posed on another list recently: “what about the idea that women shouldn’t ‘prepare’ for but rather just experience birth?”

My response to this question is hard to articulate, but basically I would say that you can *experience* rather than *prepare* for birth if you are birthing on completely your own terms. If you are in a setting involving other people (doctors, nurses, etc.), your birth experience will be impacted by THEIR birth “preparation” and you will likely need your own preparation in order to have your OWN experience rather than an experience modified by another person’s fears or opinions about birth and how birth should be.

Maybe I’ll gather my thoughts more clearly later and will add more… 🙂

Natural Childbirth

Oct29

I have been asked if my classes are appropriate for people planning a medicated birth.

I do focus on natural childbirth (meaning unhindered birth that progresses on its own timeline, under the woman’s own power, and takes place without medication), but I also recognize that many couples choose epidurals. Since women are not generally given an epidural instantly or immediately, most of the “natural childbirth” information is still helpful and valuable to have (in terms of “up until you have the epidural” instead of “up until the baby is born.”). So, a class on labor support could be focused on labor support prior to an epidural and also about working with the epidural for an optimal birth experience. I also like to remind people that you don’t have to necessarily make up your mind before your go into labor about medications or not—you can take the labor one contraction at a time and see where it leads you. It might lead you to an epidural or it might lead you to not have one.