Being Honest about Childbirth Preparation
More on the homebirth debate blog, which is increasingly just an anti-natural-birth blog...
Normally I wouldn't give much weight to the problem of women who want natural births but find that labor is more intense/painful than they expected. I don't instinctively think that natural childbirth education classes bear responsibility for this kind of disappointment, based on the knowledge that all women experience labor differently.
I think that calling natural childbirth educators "liars" based on this discrepancy is inflammatory and nothing more.
But I tried to understand the intentions of writing a blog like this. I gave the author the benefit of the doubt, and I reached an understanding that I think is very important:
If a woman goes into labor, a normal labor (no posterior position, uncomplicated), with the idea that it's going to be a cake walk because she took a class, then she has been duped. The whole idea of childbirth education is to educate. This means making a strong effort to prepare women for what her labor will probably be like.
It does no one any good to attend a class where only ideals are taught. It gives no one any skills for dealing with even small deviations. Women need honesty - that doesn't mean horror stories, things that are going to frighten her into choosing certain options over others. It means telling women that there is an entire range of normal, and that some of it is painful, yes, but here are things you can do to get through it.
Any good childbirth education class - especially, but not exclusively, for women planning on having a natural birth - will tell women that labor is usually painful, but will also educate them on handling the pain. They will be honest about the entire issue. Their goal is to prepare the pregnant woman for labor, not to take shortcuts and present only a very limited view of labor and birth.
This goes both ways. I object to educators who tell women "labor is entirely pain-free if you're relaxed enough" as much as "since most of you will be getting epidurals, I won't go over relaxation techniques". Both approaches are wholly objectionable and are setting women up for failure.
Normally I wouldn't give much weight to the problem of women who want natural births but find that labor is more intense/painful than they expected. I don't instinctively think that natural childbirth education classes bear responsibility for this kind of disappointment, based on the knowledge that all women experience labor differently.
I think that calling natural childbirth educators "liars" based on this discrepancy is inflammatory and nothing more.
But I tried to understand the intentions of writing a blog like this. I gave the author the benefit of the doubt, and I reached an understanding that I think is very important:
If a woman goes into labor, a normal labor (no posterior position, uncomplicated), with the idea that it's going to be a cake walk because she took a class, then she has been duped. The whole idea of childbirth education is to educate. This means making a strong effort to prepare women for what her labor will probably be like.
It does no one any good to attend a class where only ideals are taught. It gives no one any skills for dealing with even small deviations. Women need honesty - that doesn't mean horror stories, things that are going to frighten her into choosing certain options over others. It means telling women that there is an entire range of normal, and that some of it is painful, yes, but here are things you can do to get through it.
Any good childbirth education class - especially, but not exclusively, for women planning on having a natural birth - will tell women that labor is usually painful, but will also educate them on handling the pain. They will be honest about the entire issue. Their goal is to prepare the pregnant woman for labor, not to take shortcuts and present only a very limited view of labor and birth.
This goes both ways. I object to educators who tell women "labor is entirely pain-free if you're relaxed enough" as much as "since most of you will be getting epidurals, I won't go over relaxation techniques". Both approaches are wholly objectionable and are setting women up for failure.
posted by jenn at 6:51 AM
1 Comments:
I completely appreciate all you have said about the conversation in the other blog spot...
And I urge you all to research The Mongan Method (Hypnobirthing)...really educate yourself about it. Drop all of your current ideas about self hypnosis and learn that hypnosis is the same as meditation and deep relaxation. With that being said, women who are learning the Mongan Method are not being lied to when they are told that most Hypnobirthing moms feel no pain when they labor/birth their babies...check it out...it will change the way you see birth and the way you live your life...
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