GOAL:
Our goal is to foster the growth of a Skills-based childbirth trend. That’s our only goal … to have the vast majority of expectant families be able to prepare their pregnant body to become a birthing body, learn, practice and then use birth and birth coaching skills to work through their baby’s birth journey no matter how the birth unfolds. This is our goal and we want you to want this as well.
1) We’ve discussed the 3 historic childbirth trends: Follow-your-doctor’s-orders; the short lived Skills-based approach and the present Choice-based approach.
2) We’ve also said that the 2nd trend is unique to the US. Of course, we’ll eventually address counties that have a different history but we have to build the case for having a Skills-based approach to all pregnancies and every birth for all families worldwide.
3) We’ve discussed how the initial Skills-based resources: Lamaze and Bradley were skills-based YET were also trying to increase ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ births. At the same time Natural Birth and Midwifery advocates wanted women to have more ‘choices’ AND they also wanted less medical births and more ‘natural’ births. However, those words were narrowly defined. When used they imply: safe, easy, good outcome, instinctive. This narrow definition has (without intent) led to the division in childbirth: natural vs medical, midwife vs doctor, home vs hospital. This division has also led to the shame, blame, guilt and disappointment experienced by so many women today when reflecting on their birth experience. THIS IS NOT OK!
4) We’ve also looked a wee bit more closely at what happened in the US during the short Skills-based childbirth trend in the 1960s/70s. There was a societal expectation that expectant parents learn birth and coaching skills. Birth providers saw millions upon millions upon millions skilled birthing women and coaching dads/others. These families used their skills in whatever birth unfolded and along side all the standard medical practices: the assessments, monitoring and procedures. There were no or few choices. This means we KNOW that families birth better when skilled and use skills in every type of birth. We KNOW birth and coaching skills can heal the present rift that was caused the oppositional approach to childbirth.
5) We used Encarta Dictionary to define the words: natural, normal, safe and problems. We discovered these words have very broad meanings and have synonyms that further broaden their meaning. We then explained that we must use the broadest meaning of these words as the foundation for building a Skills-based approach to all pregnancies and every birth. This is directly related to the Truth: 100% of pregnant women will give birth. Pregnancy is normal and natural and birth is the normal and natural complication of any pregnancy even when the birth is full of medical care. When we see these Truths then we fully understand how using birth and birth coaching skills can be used in every type of birth from home alone to non-laboring Caesarean. We do this because we get pregnant to have a baby not a ‘type’ of birth. Birth is the natural, normal activity we do as our baby is being born. Skills are what we ‘do’ during that experience.
6) Most recently we’ve investigated the word ‘problem/s’ in pregnancy and childbirth. This word has fostered the conflict between the Natural Birth and Medical view of childbirth. The former viewpoint believes there are few problems (and that’s not accurate) and the latter believes every problem is a major one (and that’s not accurate)
7) We discussed the present Choice-based childbirth trend and discovered what many, many women discovered: ‘you can choose the birth you want but not the one you have’.
8) We’ve now discussed how important it is for our society to want fathers-to-be/others to learn essential skills during pregnancy so they can grow with their baby and the mother who is pulled along by the baby’s growth in her body.
9) We’ve also discussed how vitally important it is for fathers-to-be/others to know how to prepare his pregnant partner’s body to become a birthing body so that container can open up to let a big object come down, through and out. We discussed how important this is whether the family is planning a ‘natural’ birth (more likely to achieve that) or a non-laboring Caesarean (totally enjoy staying engaged and participating in the journey from pregnancy to birth). After all we get pregnant to have a baby not a ‘type’ of birth.
10) We further discussed the huge and undeniable importance of the father-to-be/other learning, practicing birth coaching skills that he commits to using throughout the journey from Time A-B that he will take with the mother and baby during this Gateway activity that moves him from ‘becoming’ a father to ‘being’ a father.
NEXT POST: A further discussion of Birth Plans