In this episode I discuss the role of the doula, restrictive birthing practices, homebirth, freebirth and regulations. It is important that couples understand that doulas do not replace midwives.

Why are doulas becoming so popular in Australia? I believe that this could be because maternity care has changed and become more medicalised hospital maternity care. This is not an attack on midwives, but on our broken maternity care system and the shift to become obstetric-led care. Since the movement from home birth to hospital birth, the role of the midwife is changing in many hospitals across our country from “being with woman” to one that has become more clinically focussed with charting, documenting and performing clinical observations and this is where doulas are being hired by women to give them that non-medical support and continuity of care. Women are choosing doulas because they want more.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m a big fan of the placenta and the umbilical cord. The placenta really is an amazing organ and has been the lifeline of your baby for the duration of your pregnancy. Without the placenta, there can be no new life. Your baby uses the placenta as it’s lungs, digestive system and liver. Once you have given birth to your baby, that's not the end - there's more! I know , I know - you just went through all those hours of labour to birth your baby, and what, you're not done yet? That's right.....your placenta needs to be born as well. So what happens with that?  Listen for more about physiological birth versus active management to birth your placenta. 

Immediate clamping and cutting of the cord started in the 1960’s to prevent postpartum haemorrhage, but later research found this did not reduce postpartum haemorrhage, yet the practice continued. Delayed cord clamping means the umbilical cord is not clamped and cut immediately after birth to allow blood containing oxygen, nutrients, stem cells and iron to continue to flow through to baby. Find out more....

You might be fearful with everything going on around you. These are unusual times. For some pregnant women, these are really stressful times. It is time to change your way of thinking. Look at what you CAN change and then see how you can best adapt to what you can’t change, or it will create so much more fear, disharmony and distress within you.

The Natural Alignment Plateau phrase was first used by Marjie Hathaway, who is an independent childbirth educator and author of several books, as well as a practitioner trainer for the Bradley Childbirth Method. She highlighted that it is not uncommon for women to get to a point in their labour where their cervix stops dilating. This usually happens before transition, but it can happen at any time, but it doesn’t mean that the cervix is broken or has failed.

Your birth plan is more powerful than you know. A birth plan is not a legal document, but it can be used in a court of law to show how the woman expected to be treated and supported by her care providers during her labour and birth and immediate postpartum period. The birth plan shows that a woman has done her research and understands normal, physiological birth, interventions, risks and benefits and consent. A birth plan will ensure that the “wants and needs” of the mother are the most important part of her care rather than the “wants and needs” of her care providers.

The postpartum period in many cultures is about healing and adjusting to becoming a mother to a newborn baby. They recognise that a woman’s mind and body goes through a gruelling act of physical and emotional activity during labour and birth, therefore it is the “village” that takes care of the mother, feeding her, nurturing her and comforting her while she learns about herself and her baby. During this time of ‘confinement’ the woman is able to rest to replenish her energy, while being provided with foods for healing and milk production for breastfeeding and postpartum support. How can you help yourself or support a woman through her postpartum journey?

The curse of the due date and the eviction notice for your baby is clearly etched in every woman’s mind after she has confirmation of her pregnancy. She marks that date on the calendar with excitement and shares this with all her family and friends. This is when her baby will come. Then as the days grow into months, her belly getting bigger and more noticeable, her hormones raging and hospital visits increasing, her due date starts looming and then we see the infiltration of stress, anxiety and fear as her head is filled with comments about dead babies, the placenta failing, big baby, small pelvis, closed cervix, red hair, short height and time limits, staff shortages and the list of failures is endless. Why are women no longer allowed to enjoy their pregnancy and positively anticipate a normal, physiological birth?

In Episode 13 I shared some information about medical pain relief options, so now as promised I want to also provide you with some natural methods of pain relief. It is important to recognise that all of these techniques may not make pain completely disappear, but they may be instrumental in helping you to cope through the intensity of your labour therefore providing good pain relief. What is painful for one woman, may not be for the next. We all have our own perceptions of pain and we are all different when it comes to what our thresholds are. Again, what works for one woman may be useless for you, so you need to just have a whole toolbox full of options that you can systematically work through. Make sure your birth team and partner know that they can utilise all these techniques as well to provide comfort and support to you during your labour and birth.