To understand our present Childbirth conversation and how it impacts YOU, we have to understand the ‘ideas, words, actions, perhaps systems and policies’. We have to evaluate whether the first three are actually leading to the goals and desired results.
The idea and words behind Birth Plans was: ‘Women know what type of birth they want’. The ‘action’ was to create a Birth Plan. The hope was that the ’systems’ would welcome Birth Plans and ’policies’ would be put in place to respect women’s choices and involve them in decision making during pregnancy and birth.
The primary goal was: to say ‘no’ to medical interventions in order to achieve a natural birth. The secondary goals were: ‘To leave women alone to discover birth themselves’ and ‘to respect women’s choices’ and ‘to give women informed consent’.
Birth Plans immediately ran up against Truths: ‘There’s no way to know what your birth will be like” and ‘Babies don’t come to plan”.
Here are questions we need to ask:
Are Birth Plans creating a more positive birth experience for the majority of women? Do most Birth Plans unfold as desired? What happens when a Birth Plan changes?
After 40 years, Birth Plans get mixed reviews.
Let’s look at a DIFFERENT IDEA, words and actions’.
IDEA and WORDS: ‘It’s normal and natural to self-learn birth and birth-coaching skills in pregnancy then use those skills to work through the activity of birthing your baby”
ACTION: Create your conventional Birth Plan about what you ‘want’ and create a Skills-based Birth Plan about the skills you’ll use.
SYSTEM: Every Obstetrician, midwife, doula and childbirth educator tells each client to write a conventional Birth Plan and to keep in mind that ‘giving’ birth in all forms is an actively each woman does with her baby; therefore, learn birth and birth-coaching skills and use those skills to work through the activity of birthing your baby whether your Birth Plan unfolds as you want or whether choices change or whether choices are lacking.
BOTTOM-LINE: Each of us ‘does’ the birth. Birth Plans are what we ‘want’. Skills are what we ‘use’ to ‘do’ our birth no matter where birth occurs, who is present, our unique circumstances and beliefs, our choices, lack of choices or change of choices or what happens to or around us.