Type #1 birth … labour and vaginal delivery
Every woman who has this type of birth will have a series of contractions followed by a rest period followed by another contraction. No woman’s head opens and out pops a baby. No woman puts her fingers into the soil and out sprouts a baby. Therefore, the activity of labour is always accompanied by contractions and believe it or not … the activity of the rest period. For some women contractions are painless (yup, that’s true for the very, very few), for others the pain is ‘manageable’ while for others it is the worst thing to ever happen. See PAIN RESOURCE. This type of birth can happen with or without lots of medical attention. You get to use your BirthingBetter skills throughout this type of birth no matter what is happening to or around you.
BIRTH STORY
“If you had told me that my 5 page Birth Plan would have headed right out the window. Sure I was a bit disappointed but my partner and I made a huge decision once we knew more medical care was needed. This decision changed everything about our birth. We decided to work with the medical care and use our skills. We determined that we would birth our baby even with all the tubes and machines attached. I would have believed this was not possible but it is … without a doubt. We had the most ‘natural’ birth … in fact more so because we worked together all the time. We would have been lazier and I don’t think I would have coped as well.”
Type #2 birth … labour and emergency Caesarean
You will have contractions and rest periods like above but sometime during this process/activity a decision is made that a surgical birth is essential … whether you are disappointed or happy. When this happens, women and men often move from being active to the process to becoming passive. This can cause a disconnected feeling. But you can still use your BirthingBetter skills while you’re waiting to be prepped, during surgery (if you’re awake) and in recovery that might be uncomfortable. You’ll feel much more connected to the whole activity of giving birth.
BIRTH STORY
“When our doctor told us that we needed an emergency Caesarean because our baby was not responding well to labour, we were frightened, disappointed and relieved all at once. When we had worked through our Pink Kit package we threw away all the information about Caesareans. That wasn’t going to happen to us. We talked as they were waiting to get the operating theatre ready and decided that we would still use the Directed Breathing, Pelvic Clock and Touch Relaxation. It worked a dream. We continued to use the skills during the post-operative pain. Maybe we didn’t get the birth we wanted but we created the best birth we could”.
Type #3 birth … non-labour Caesarean
The disconnect that happens with many women who are planning an elective Caesarean occurs during pregnancy and follows on during the birth. This no longer needs to happen. Just enjoy preparing for this birth with your BirthingBetter skills and use them throughout the day you give birth.
In the recent 30 years there has been an inaccurate implication that women who have elective cesareans are somehow not really giving birth. This is a type of emotional bullying. Any birth, under any circumstances will always be important to the family welcoming their child and working with our baby’s efforts to be born is one of the great ‘highs’ in Life.
BIRTH STORY
“My wife has a lot of medical problems and we decided to have an elective c/s. We discussed whether we wanted to go to childbirth classes … no. Most of the birth books gave us the nuts and bolts of what would happen but our Pink Kit gave us ‘what to do’. The skills work a dream. I’m one of those men who want to be pregnant and give birth so being involved in the way that is unique to the Pink Kit satisfied all my ‘female’ urges. My wife certainly felt more involved.”
Type #4 … VBAC
For you, these skills are absolutely essential. You must not go into this birth activity without having prepared your body to let your baby out. Without intent, your previous lack of skills may have caused a earlier Caesarean. Or your previous Caesarean may have been absolutely essential and you’d like to try for a vaginal birth this time. No matter how you got to your previous surgery, you must deeply and thoroughly prepare for birth and use your skills in what happens. Do not let ideology rule. Use your skills throughout whatever birth you have and you’ll birth better in every circumstance. A large part of the desire for a vaginal birth is not actually to have your baby come out your vagina but to feel connected which is frequently lost when you have a surgical birth. This no longer has to happen. If you have medical interventions and even another Caesarean, treat the activity as something you do rather than a dental appointment. You can always stay connected and never, ever, ever feel out of control.
BIRTH STORY
“My husband thought I was nuts. I had tried 3 times to have a vaginal birth and had a c/s each time. I was desperate and he thought I was crazy. While cruising the Internet I discovered BirthingBetter and purchased it. Wow! I was surprised. I had at least 100 childbirth books but nothing like this existed. I learned so much about my body. It took a long time for me to convince my husband that I was learning what could make a difference. Finally he got on board and really helped. Since I had gotten fully {dilated} each time but none of my babies had come into the pelvis, I knew I could labour just not deliver. What made the difference? Fixing my rigid sacrum and my tight birth canal. We worked on both. At 2nd stage I still struggled until I remembered to do Kate’s Cat. Suddenly I realized how tight I had let my sacrum become. As soon as I relaxed and mobilized my sacrum, my baby shot down and flew out … boy the internal massage made all the difference.”