It's always interesting to me how people say that I "deliver" babies. Just the term - "deliver" - sounds a bit odd. Almost like I drive around in my big truck, dropping babies off between women's waiting legs.
Tonight I watched Birth In The Squatting Position with a couple friends. It's an amazing video, just women birthing their babies while squatting low over a pile of towels. No hands interfering with the process, no stretching of the vagina, no perineal support...just pure birth. It's a beautiful scene.
It's getting more difficult to find videos of land births. There are so many new birth videos out, but they're all water births. Which is great, but something about seeing the baby coming out of the vagina on land is really remarkable for expectant parents. I often visit an Australian site to order new birth videos. I have a great Dutch birth video that I love from the site.
One thing I've noticed is that in other parts of the world, there is no throwing the baby up on the mom's belly right away. Typically, the women are upright and the midwife lies the baby on towels below the woman (the baby often doesn't have far to travel to the floor). The woman then either stays kneeling or squatting or sometimes sits down, then takes in her baby. She doesn't automatically pick her baby up, either - it's a whole sensory experience. She marvels at the whole body, touches each part gently and tentatively. It's quite remarkable.
Seeing women in most US births, the baby is immediately put on the mother's belly. The woman looks a bit stunned most of the time, trying to re-route her brain from the incredible space and work of labor to recognizing this new being that is being rubbed and dried off on her belly. She cannot see the whole body - just the head. A hat is placed on the head right away, so she's really just seeing a bit of the face if she's lucky. Otherwise, nurses or attendants may not have turned the baby to where she can see the face and are too busy trying to "get the baby to cry".
These two approaches are really contrasted in my mind. On the one hand, I think that the immediate handing over of the baby to the mom was in response to a time when babies were taken immediately at birth and the mother not given them until a half hour - or more! - afterwards. So, in some ways, placing the baby immediately on the mom serves a great purpose (not that it stops many hospital based providers from taking the baby after a mere 5 minutes or so to the "warming bed"). There's also the fact that very few women in our country birth in any way but on their backs, so it makes any sort of alternative difficult.
However, I wonder if the way the mothers respond to seeing their whole baby and picking up their baby when they're ready actually benefits them hormonally. More so than having the baby placed on their belly. It almost appears as if there is a more serene transition from labor to seeing the baby. More peaceful. I would tend to think that this floods the body with oxytocin (the hormone that we all feel after having an orgaasm, also responsible for uterine contractions during labor and expelling the placenta after birth, as well as stopping bleeding after birth) in a more efficient manner than if the baby is hastily placed on the mother's belly only to be messed with by attendants.
I think about this alot, but I rarely have land births in my practice. With waterbirths, many couples are either catching their own baby or bringing their baby up to them before the baby hits the air.
I am longing to read some Michel Odent books to find out more on this. I wish I had an opportunity to go to Holland and learn from some of the Dutch midwives.
Based on some input from a local midwife in my area, I have stopped putting hats on newborns right at birth. I'm really wanting to focus on the third stage of birth being quiet and mother-led. During my apprenticeship, the time of the birth was all harried and anxious. I still remember my hands shaking as I would write down the time of birth, etc. Now, it's much more relaxed and I love that I have an assistant that honors birth in such a real way.
I've noticed that not putting the hat on the baby does result in less interference between mom and baby and mom often kissing the baby's head or putting her cheek to his/her head. It's amazing to see the subtle differences.
So much transition, so much changing, so much dialogue. I'm really grateful that I have the experiences I have.
how the baby is "delivered"
Saturday, January 29, 2005at 11:20 PM
Labels: moment of birth, second stage, unlearning midwifery
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4 comments:
All three of my babies were put on my belly (I birthed the first flat on my back in the hospital, the second semi-reclining in my own bed, the third on hands & knees on my bedroom floor). I loved the feel of that warm, slippery little weight on my belly, and the anticipation of it helped me through the hardest parts of labor. My first experience of my babies was through touch much more than sight, and the memory of that feeling moves me to tears every time. I often think what it would be like to be blind, to experience people through touch, sound, smell. Sometimes I think vision gets in the way.
Nevertheless, I like your idea, especially leaving off the hat. And I wish you'd post to your blog more often! :)
I'm so amazed by what you do! It's such a great gift you give mothers to be there with them, with all of your knowledge and wisdom about birth. There was a moment when I thought I was pregnant just these past days when I thought that it would be such a blessing to have you be our midwife. Ahh, we will thankfully wait for that though. :)
Great post. I love your thoughts and insights. My experience (with my 2 hospital "mec" births) was that I didn't miss the babies when they were over getting their lungs sucked out. Honestly, they were secondary for a good 3-5 minutes to my sense of relief at having the birth pain over and my elation in my efforts. When my mind finally turned to the baby I had made ("What is it anyway? A boy or a girl?"), we were able to be reunited and begin exploration.
This makes me think that had I delivered without any interference, I still would have taken those minutes to recollect myself -- come out of Laborland -- before moving on to the new member of my present!
I never even thiught to question this practice, but yes, for me, it WAS disturbing to have that PLOP HERES YOUR BABY thrust onto me (HBAC, hands and knees on the floor, baby sort of under/behind me when born, and I really really needed a sec to assimilate that the pain was over and that I was on Earth and that I had a baby....)
My midwife was overwhelmingly like TALK TO HIM TALK TO HIM ( he was a little slow to start but not floppy, just quiet) and I was just think huh? Its a boy?
I dunno.
Thank you for this post.
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