Right off the bat, we have to ask: ‘What does the word ‘natural’ mean when referring to ‘natural’ birth?
Have you ever really thought about that? Or, like most of us, do you throw that two word phrase around as though EVERYONE knows what it means?
You can make a list of what qualities constitute a ‘natural’ birth.
What’s the opposite of ‘natural’ birth? … Unnatural? Is there any unnatural birth? That doesn’t make sense since 100% of pregnant women will give birth one way or another.
Yah … you’re thinking: “The opposite of ‘natural’ birth is ‘medical’ birth”. OK, so if a woman or baby needs medical care, is her birth unnatural?
Words matter because words come from ideas. The idea behind ‘natural’ birth is a ‘choice’ in how people think. For example, we all know the thinking: ‘Women died in childbirth”. Yes, sadly, and thankfully infrequently, women did die in childbirth and that was ‘natural’ even though it wasn’t wanted. However, there are ‘naturally’ more issues that either ‘everything’s fine and death’.
We’ve created a conundrum. We have this idea in our heads that birth is just part of life, it’s natural to get pregnant if you can easily and now you can get help medically. It’s natural that at the end of pregnancy you give birth, either you go into labor spontaneously, or labor get induced or you have a non-laboring Cesarean. Pregnancy has to come to an end one way or another.
Yet, when we reflect on those three scenarios: spontaneous labor; induced labor; or non-laboring surgical birth there is something that says: ‘OK … the spontaneous labor is ‘natural’ birth and the other two aren’t”.
Part of this conundrum comes from dictionary definitions. Look up the word ‘natural’ and you’ll discover it means different things depending on the intent of the sentence.
However each of us defines ‘natural’ birth do you know that simple word has been the cause of the huge rise in shame, blame, guilt, disappointment, anger, frustration and birth trauma.
The word ‘natural’ birth has come to symbolize the best birth, the only true birth, the goal we should aim for yet so many of us fail to achieve.
In this talk, we’re going to look at birth entirely differently. That simple difference and implementation of this simple Concept will change how each of us approaches our coming birth, what we do throughout our birth and how we look back on our birth.
CONCEPT: “When pregnant, it’s natural and normal to self-learn birth and coaching skills then use those skills to work through the activity of birthing your baby no matter where birth takes place, who is present, circumstances or beliefs; choices, lack of choices, change of choices; or what happens to or around the birth”
Let’s imagine and then create a world with a self-learning skilled birthing population.