Milli Hill, a British mother and writer, invited a few women
to her house for tea and cake to talk about giving birth.
A “positive
birth” can leave you with your child feeling “on top of the world, satisfied,
and strong,” Hill told Healthline.
But at that
first gathering and elsewhere, she heard stories that too often included
comments like, “They did not let me,” or “I was not allowed.”
Why weren’t mothers having the labors and deliveries they
wanted?
Maybe support groups for pregnant women that focused on
empowering them would make a difference, she thought.
Hill posted her ideas online in 2012 and the idea of
“positive birth” hit a nerve.
In a few weeks, she received more than 100 emails from women
who wanted to start groups of their own.
In less than five years, 250 “Positive Birth” groups sprang
up in the United Kingdom and another 200 located around the world.
There are groups
in about 30 U.S. states. These chapters usually meet monthly to discuss a
theme. The meetings are often led by professionals — from doulas to
obstetricians — and may include two to 20 people.
What is a positive birth?
Hill unveiled “The
Positive Birth Book: A new approach to pregnancy, birth and the early weeks”
in March.
She begins by discussing fears, and takes readers through a
labor, step by step.
Along the way, she answers questions about blood, bathroom
functions, and other delicate topics.
The message: You can do it and you can love it. Take charge,
seek out the labor and birth you want and refuse conditions that aren’t
medically necessary and make you unhappy.
Hill believes that a “climate of fear” has affected not just
women, but also midwives and doctors. Her goal isn’t to push women toward “natural” rather than
“medical” births, but to encourage them to let go of the fear and learn about
their options.
One woman found
her surgeon through the Positive Birth Facebook page and traveled to another
area to have a “gentle C-section,” in which she could see the birth through a
mirror. She posted a video
online, which appeared on the website of the local newspaper and attracted a flood
of viewers.
“The positive
birth movement offers the chance to listen to and learn from each other,” Hill
told Healthline.
Positive reactions
Caroline Handschuh, a New
York-based midwife, agrees that pregnant women need more support from other
women.
Handschuh spent part of her
training at a hospital in Tuba City, Ariz., run by the Navajo Nation.
She saw that women there
benefited from a strong community, even in the birthing room, where many family
members might gather. Those gatherings helped other women as well.
“You might see your sister
and your aunt give birth, which can make your own labor less frightening” she told
Healthline.
Hill, a mother of three,
recalls each labor and birth vividly.
“Small details will be
remembered and make a huge difference — forever,” she said.
What people say sinks in.
After a difficult birth, for example, mothers too often hear that they are
lucky to have a healthy baby.
The implication is that “you
are selfish to care about how the birth was for you,” Hill said.
Samantha Drury was inspired to take charge by an unhappy
first birth. To bear her eldest, she had to stay in bed for 12 hours, hooked up
to fluids, using a bed pan and going without solid food.
Restrictions are common when women have preeclampsia or
diabetes. Drury had no complications. Still, she didn’t protest.
“I thought you do what the doctor said and my being happy
with the birth wasn’t even an option,” she told Healthline.
In fact, she had a right to ask if there was a medical
reason for her confinement and, if not, to move.
Three years later, for her next birth, she hired a doula and
chose a different hospital. The difference was dramatic.
“I was able to get up and walk around and take a shower, sit
in the bathtub when I had contractions, eat and drink, walk the halls, and
listen to music. There were CD players and radios in the room,” she said. “The
doula was absolutely wonderful.”
Drury began studying online to become a doula a month later.
“I wanted other women to feel as I felt, to be happy and
satisfied with how they gave birth,” said Drury.
She founded Welcome Baby in Grinnell, Iowa, where she runs a
monthly Positive Birth group. She has now been present for 30 births.
In about a third of those births, women were confined to
their beds as she had been, despite no complications.
“I remind the mother that you can say that you want to get
up,” she said.
Getting up will ease the labor, Giuditta Tornetta, another
doula, told Healthline, as long as the woman is healthy, and her blood pressure
and the baby’s heart beat are normal.
“It’s much less painful while you’re walking or standing up
or squatting,” she said.
But that freedom poses a practical problem for overstretched
nurses, Tornetta explained.
“It’s 3:00 in the morning, I have three other patients, I
hook her up to the monitor so I can leave the room,” she said.
The concern is you might fall, if you’re not in bed, and
shouldn’t be alone.
Finding joy in giving birth
Tornetta founded the Joy in Birthing Foundation, which
matches volunteer doulas with about 200 low-income women a year in and around
Los Angeles.
Most of the women come from public shelters or foster care
and don’t bring partners or family. Volunteer doulas watch them, so a nurse in
charge can leave them free to move.
Women helping each other — that’s the message of the
fast-growing positive birth movement. Women are advised to look for a doctor
and hospital who will work with you.
“Of course obstetricians and other obstetric care providers
want women to have positive experiences,” Dr. Jeffrey L. Ecker, chief of the
Obstetrics Gynecology Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, told
Healthline in an email.
“We support providers listening to patients and their
preferences,” Ecker said.
So make your preferences known.
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