We’ve come to the last of the correspondence with Annette. We’ll begin on a discussion that occurred over several months with a woman who works as a doula and wants her clients and others in her local area to use The Pink Kit (now known as Birthing Better online birthing classes). We hope some of you have followed how extensive this conversation has been. Childbirth is full of a huge number of tiny issues. We have to talk deep and long.
A political view
This political viewpoint comes from the many thousands of our Birthing Better families
- Birth is birth. We wanted all our births whether medical, natural, hospital, home, midwife or doctor births to be positive experiences where ever and with whom we gave birth.
- Birth is birth. We wanted to actively participate in the birth of our children where ever or with whom we birthed.
- Birth is birth. We wanted something to do during our births even if there was need for medical care or whether medical care was imposed on us through ‘standard of care.’
Annette continued:
‘You also asked how would I have birthed if I have been alone and had NO CHOICE… good question. Probably squatting and wanting to hold onto something, like a rope hanging from the ceiling and from my husband’s neck/shoulders. But I would have had to regain my calm and the breathing and just let go.’
Wintergreen’s comments:
‘If you were on your own you won’t have your husband so no neck in this image. It’s very difficult to squat on one’s own and traditional women don’t squat the same way modern women do. Holding onto to something dangling is very good but what?. Do you know why dangling is good? This is part of discovering positions.
A large part of why you were not calm is NOT about you. You were being given a message from your baby that he needed something. When women are restless in labour it’s because the baby is giving a message. For example, in second stage when a woman is naturally making deep, low sounds or the pushing effort is almost soundless then the baby is moving down and this is apparent. The sounds tell us that the baby can find a way forward. If a woman is making high sounds that rise up out of her chest, she is reflecting the baby’s inability to come down. These are some of the things we learned together. This meant we recognized this early and adjusted right away to find a position which was more open.’
Annette continues:
‘I’m so glad you think I will probably have a quick 2nd stage next time (not that I’m planning anything like that at the moment!).’
Wintergreen’s response:
‘Yup you will but you’ll still have to find open posiitons and do the internal work again’.
Annette goes one:
‘I’m sorry if some of these sentences don’t make much sense or are jumbled. It’s getting late now and my head is going a bit. Just want to thank you again for your insight and your great advice. I’m going to carry on rethinking my birth and trying to figure out anything else that might help next time. The birth story you attached was interesting with some parallels.’
Best wishes, Annette
Wintergreen wraps it up:
‘Our dialogues are very important. Every woman who learns about her own body and the process of birth is important. Your photos are great and we will use them. Hope you enjoy the pictures and please feel free to use them on the website’.
Birthing Better is housed in Common Knowledge Trust