BirthingBetter 4 Types Of Births

4 Types of birth

At the end of your pregnancy you will have one of these four types of birth:

Labour and then a vaginal delivery
Labour and then an ‘emergency Caesarean’
A non-labouring planned Caesarean
A vaginal delivery after a previous Caesarean (This is sort of a 4^th type of birth that will end up as one of the above three.)

No matter what you believe or want, you will have one of these births. Your Pink Kit resources are designed so that you can spend time during your pregnancy to prepare your body to make this transition to childbirth as safe and easy as possible for both you and your baby.

Your BirthingBetter resources are also designed so you can learn your birthing skills that can be used in all of these births. That means you will have skills to use in order to:

facilitate Number #1
move from labour into a surgery and still use your skills as in Number #2
enjoy preparing for birth the same way as other women and be able to use your skills during surgery and recovery as in Number #3
increase your chances of accomplishing a VBAC yet know you will still be able to use your skills if you have another Caesarean.

Your BirthingBetter resources are also designed for your partner so that he/she can be the absolute best help during this transformative experience. You will work as a team.

In other words, your BirthingBetter skills are for you and you and you and you (repetition confusing, not normally seen in print) and everyone who is pregnant for whom one day there will be the birth of a child. Difficult sentence, have to read it a few times to get what you mean because 3 ideas in one sentence.

The Disconnect

As bizarre as it might seem, at the present time there is a huge disconnection between pregnancy and childbirth in two fundamental ways.

Pregnancy is actually not associated with learning birth and coaching skills to any level of proficiency for Number #1 and #2. a clearer sentence might be: pregnant couples don’t normally learn birth and coaching skills to a proficient level for number 1 and 2
Pregnancy is definitely not associated with learning birth/coaching skills if you have an emergency Caesarean or are planning an elective cesarean delivery for Number #2 and #3.

This is a bold statement but think about it: ‘that’ suggests the previous sentence

If you are planning Number #1. Do you have the level of skills to work with your baby’s efforts to be born in the same way (as) you have the skills (you do) to drive your car?

For most women the answer is a big ‘NOPE’.

Said another way. If you went into labour tonight or got into your car during a bad storm … which experience (do) would you actually feel more skilled doing? Or ‘would you feel more skilled going into labour tonight or getting into you car during a bad storm?

Although you might not like driving in a bad storm, (the) chances are you’d feel more competent and confident to do that alone than to (know you can cope and) manage your way through labour contractions and the birth of your child … alone.

Either way, birth will happen (anyway) even if you don’t have any skills. So it’s very easy to be passive and just let it happen to you. It’s so simple to just go with the flow because whether or not you actually have birthing skills you will give birth one way or another. So why bother? Besides everyone knows that there’s no way to know what your birth will be like, therefore there’s no real way to prepare for it. Why not add something here to say that 2^nd part is not true because those new to it all may still believe it’s true. Eg ‘But in reality, there’s everything you can do to prepare! That’s what the BirthingBetter online courses are all about!

The Bottom Line

Women and men (who are expected to help/support at birth) are not really properly prepared to do the task of labour and delivery. Instead you are left to be carried along whether you know how-to manage the experience or not.

For each of the four types of birth there are specific reasons why you need to prepare the pregnant body to give birth and learn appropriate skills so you can work with your baby’s efforts to be born and then use those skills in whatever birth you have. This sentence seems way too long with too many ideas in it! I have to reread it a few times to get all the ideas. Perhaps something like; “For each of the 4 types of birth, there are specific reasons why you need to prepare the pregnant body to give birth. You need to learn the appropriate skills so you can work with you baby’s efforts to be born. Then you can use those skills in whatever birth experience you have.”

Type #1 … Labour and Vaginal birth

You must do everything you can to reduce, prevent or eliminate potential risks to yourself and baby.
If you plan this type of birth then you absolutely must be able to behave in a manner during painful contractions that do not stimulate a belief in others that you are suffering. Would women and men ask ‘why?’ of this point? I do.
You must be able to work with and around all the modern standards of care common in the maternity system of today.

Type #2 … Labour and Emergency Delivery

Besides the above, it’s essential you continue to stay connected during the surgery by continuing to use your skills.
Using skills will reduce your sense of alienation and may prevent you from feeling traumatized.

Type # 3 … Non-labouring Caesarean

You must give yourself permission to enjoy preparing for the birth.
Preparing your body for birth, learning and using skills will keep you engaged, connected and an active participant in what can be an alienating procedure – even though everyone is doing their best to make the preparation and surgery more humane.
You need to (will) have skills to deal with recovery discomforts.

Type #4 … A vaginal delivery after a previous Caesarean

All of the above.
You must work toward what you want then work with what happens in a manner that does not leave you traumatized.
You must acknowledge your efforts even if the outcome is different to (than) what you would have liked.
You must do everything you can to heal any sense of trauma (so you, your children and partner do not suffer for years because you cannot heal.) redundant to 1^st part of sentence

As the author, Maya Angelou said, … “You do what you know how to do and when you know better you do better”. That’s probably not a direct quote but right now you don’t know you need to know. Huh? At least you don’t know you need to know how to ‘drive’ your birth as well as you drive your car. This is very confusing!

For families who will have a surgical birth (whether an emergency or planned), the relationship between pregnancy and ‘birth’ is even more disconnected.

No one plans an emergency Caesarean. However, you absolutely need to know that, during the surgery, you can use your skills as a continuation of your labour. During the surgery, there is no need to stop using your skills just because something happens that requires a caesarian.

How many families planning a Cesarean, whether they want one or not actually go to childbirth classes? Few.

Once a family knows they will have a Cesarean, they believe there is nothing they need or can do for the ‘birth.’ Without intent, this separates pregnancy from how it transforms into giving birth.

This can be remedied with your BirthingBetter skills. Enjoy preparing for the birth of your baby with your BirthingBetter skills … why not? Then use these skills on the day of your baby’s birth, throughout the surgery and during recovery as needed.

In other words, people have been focusing on childbirth rather than the relationship between pregnancy and giving birth … or your child’s birth.