https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/well/family/the-benefits-of-a-mindful-pregnancy.html
Many expectant mothers worry about the physical pain that accompanies labor and childbirth. New research suggests that including mindfulness skills in childbirth education can help first-time mothers cope with their fear.
(click link to read this great post on NY Times website)
(click link above to see some amazing photos of ALL types of labors and births…)
Oh, my heart…
No matter how a baby’s birth unfolds ― whether it’s a first-time mom having a C-section, or a third-time mother fighting through a labor that lasts two full days ― childbirth is hard and it is messy.
But in between all the, well, laboring are moments of love. Love between partners, love between families and doctors, doulas and midwives, an)d that very special love when parents and babies lock eyes for the very first time.
Here, talented birth photographers share photos they’ve captured that celebrate those moments of pure joy and connection in childbirth.
Photo by Capturing Joy Birth Services:
http://www.mothering.com/articles/researcher-advises-stop-thinking-avoid-4-ls/
(click link above to read on Mothering.com)
For those of you who don’t know, Michel Odent is a world-famous researcher and obstetrician who ran a maternity unit in France for, I think, 86 years. Yeah, he’s that good. He is recognized for his extensive research concerning how we are born. All the stuff that midwives and women have known for generations, he is putting the science to. All of the interventions and procedures that have come about in the last few generations, he’s questioning if they’re best for women and babies.
Much of his work is concerning the fact that how we are born matters. Reading his books changed the way I think about birth and the way I teach about birth.
Your own mind gets in the way.
Of supreme importance is that a woman can STOP THINKING. To birth easily and quickly, you have to turn off the human part of your brain–the neo-cortex. We are the only animal with such a huge thinking part of our brains. We’re pretty smart.
The problem is the the neo-cortex inhibits physiological actions. When you are thinking–when your neo-cortex is in control, you don’t release the right hormones, your body can’t relax. Birth is harder and longer.
It’s like sex. (Isn’t it always?) You have to turn off your brain first in order to enjoy it. You have to be making the right hormones and the right brain waves to get into it. You can’t orgasm if you’re full of adrenaline and cortisol. You can’t birth, either.
It’s like how some people don’t poop on vacation. Sphincters don’t open in the presence of adrenaline. You have to feel relaxed and totally safe.
Who feels totally safe and relaxed giving birth these days? Almost no one. We’ve socialized and medicalized birth too much. Birth is not inner work anymore. Instead of softening into the birth process, we spend most of our energy avoiding risk. Birth is a reason to be on high alert.
Michel Odent says that is to our detriment.
“To give birth to her baby, the mother needs privacy. She needs to feel unobserved.” She needs to turn off neo-cortical control.
Here are four things that turn on the neo-cortex and make birth hard: (click link above to read the blog)
When it comes to labor and birth, sometimes you get more when you know what to ask for. As an L&D nurse, it is my job to ensure that a woman is informed, empowered and autonomous t…
Source: 5 Things Your L&D Nurse Wishes You Knew (click to read the blog)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/02/natural-birth-after-caesarean_n_8231566.html?edition=uk
“New guidance from the RCOG states a vaginal birth after a previous caesarean section has a success rate of around 75%, which is the same as for first-time mothers.
Even if the woman has had two or more previous caesareans the success rate of a vaginal birth only reduces slightly to 71%.”
(click link above to read the post from 2015)
http://blog.everymothercounts.org/the-big-baby-conundrum/
When I read the January 11th New York Times Well blog, titled When A Big Baby Isn’t So Big, I looked back on my career as a labor nurse and thought, “Yep – happens all the time.” Predictions for a “too big baby” were among the most common reasons I heard from women admitted to my labor unit for induction of labor or scheduled cesarean sections. In most cases, once the baby was delivered, either vaginally or surgically, they weren’t all that big after all.
The New York Times blog is centered around a recent study based on Childbirth Connection’s national survey of 1,960 new mothers, called Listening to Mothers III. The survey indicates that four out of five mothers who were warned they might have large babies gave birth to infants who were not large, and weighed less than 8 pounds 13 ounces (which defines macrosomia – a larger than average baby). These mothers were almost twice as likely to have interventions like medical induction of labor or attempt to self-induce labor, presumably so their baby wouldn’t get too big to deliver vaginally. They were also nearly twice as likely to have planned C-sections, though as the blog mentions, researchers say that increase fell just short of being statistically meaningful.
(click link to read the blog on the Every Mother Counts website)
http://asahq.org/about-asa/newsroom/news-releases/2015/10/eating-a-light-meal-during-labor
It’s about time!!! The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) announced this weekend that most healthy women can skip the fasting and, in fact, would benefit from eating a light meal during labor.
(click link above to read the press release)
