Bringing To Life A New Concept In Childbirth
Most people who have had a baby know about a number of different concepts or approaches to childbirth. Lamaze breathing was very popular in the 1970s. Bradley Method … father coached childbirth is well known. LeBoyer births became the rage in the 1980s as did Active Birth. Now Hypnobirthing, Calm Birth, Gentle Birth are all concepts to help women cope with labour.
So, how does a new concept grow in the minds of people? Actually, it’s quite difficult to separate a concept from a resource. There are a number of childbirth resources that are well known but aren’t really concepts. Spiritual Midwifery, Heart And Hands, Expect The Unexpected and Up The Duff are well loved childbirth books read by a multitude of pregnant women.
A concept, method or system is actually something larger than a well written book, yet still may have one or more resources that pass on the concept. And it is usually through a publicly available resource that a new concept becomes as commonly familiar as Active Birth or Lamaze.
What exactly differentiates one birth concept from another? Actually all of the known childbirth systems or methods focus on ‘natural’ birth. On the surface this seems to make sense. Everyone knows that childbirth has been viewed as part of the modern medical system for 80 years give or take. So, having techniques, attitudes and beliefs that try to counteract the dominance of medical care would appear to be admirable.
There is absolutely no doubt that all of the known childbirth systems have been incredibly successful for millions of women worldwide. At the same time all the systems seem to be failing to produce more natural childbirth.
So for a new childbirth method to become recognized and known, it has to approach birth in a different fashion from all the others. This new method has been growing since the 1970s but only as recently as 2006 has the completed resource become available to the public.
But how can there be anything new in childbirth? We all know about the pelvis, breathing, relaxation, the need to make a Birth Plan and gather information to make informed decisions about our care. However, once a new concept becomes known then the gaps previously not seen suddenly get filled.
For example, most childbirth systems use ‘breathing techniques’. When they work they are great and when we can’t maintain them then we believe ‘they don’t work’. Instead, this new birth method breaks down how we, as human beings, breathe. Once we understand how we breathe when we are relaxed, working, in stress or out of control then we can use human breath patterns (that we all share) to work with the sensations we feel. No longer are we faced with a technique. Now we understand how best to use our human breath patterns to adapt to what is happening inside us.
Most pregnant women are shown charts and models of the pelvis. Yet, this intellectual knowledge does little to help us understand our 3-Dimensional pelvis. This new method of childbirth helps us to identify in our own body how to create space, mobility and openness in this part of our body. And, we then can experience how we create tension, inflexibility and immobility in this same area.
Knowing our pelvis in this manner means we can use our mind in labour to look inside specific areas and make certain we remain open and relaxed. Since men and women share the same body structure this can be shared which then develops the ability of fathers to really help the woman remain relaxed. In fact, this new concept of childbirth is based on what we do as human beings and how to best use our human behaviors to help our baby’s efforts to be born.
Once we experience our commonality and learn the skills that are specific for childbirth, then we can take these skills into any birth situation. This one statement will lead this new childbirth method into the forefront of birth preparation. Birth skills once learned can be taken into absolutely all births. No longer must we feel pulled apart by opposing philosophical beliefs.
A woman having a cesarean delivery can still use these skills and still enjoy preparing for birth through the last few months of pregnancy. A woman planning a ‘natural’ birth but finds herself facing more medical care still has these skills. Women planning to use pain relief will still use these skills.
No time in the history of childbirth has there been a birth preparation method and birth skills that work in all births. In fact there is no other childbirth method that is based entirely and solely on birth skills and nothing else. Nor is any previous system based on the skills that generate from our shared human behavior between women and men and across cultures. Village Muslim women in Pakistan understand the benefits of these skills as do modern women.
We’re Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online Courses … all skills developed by hundreds of fathers and mothers for absolutely every type of birth without exception. The new approach to childbirth is the end of conflict. Every family values their own baby’s birth. That means every family can become skilled to birth their baby which means every family can have a positively skilled birth.