That might seem like a simple question and perhaps prior to the modern maternity health care this had a simple answer … in other words all women had a labour (contractions) and eventually had a baby. Now some women do that and some have surgical births. Some women who labour do so with a great deal of medical assessments, monitoring and procedures even when the mother and child are healthy.
There is no right or wrong, good or bad about childbirth. The birth of your baby is as important to you as any other person’s birth. Our babies are THAT important. There are still some commonalities now as there were in the distant past or in any culture.
Childbirth … comes after pregnancy 100% guaranteed!
Although we consider childbirth to come at the end of nine months of pregnancy, childbirth does include miscarriage and pre-mature births. In our contemporary societies childbirth can include a surgical delivery … Caesarean.
- Childbirth can also include many medical ‘interventions’ such as: induction of labour, augmentation of labour, the use of medical pain relief, forceps or vacuum delivery and others.
- Childbirth can also have none of those.
- Childbirth can take place in hospital, Birth Center, home, in the back of a taxi or in a rice paddy to just name a few places.
Inclusive of all factors, childbirth is the natural transformation of the state of pregnancy that you, the pregnant woman will take along with your partner, extended family and friends. So you and your partner (at least) need to know:
- What is your task?
- How do you best prepare for this task?
- What are your roles for this task?
- What will you face when doing this task?
- When and how will you use your skills in this task?