How: Birthing Positions

There are many different birthing position options available to laboring mothers. The most well known position is the semi-seated position, where your legs are supported and held open while you push. This is not the best position for birth but it very convenient for doctors and midwives which is why it is the mostly widely used.

A couple alternative options that may provide more support are:

-Squatting With a Birthing Bar:

Birthing bars are attachments that can be added to beds to help support yourself while you are in a squatting position. Squatting helps expand the pelvis which allows gravity to help the baby move down. 

-Birthing Stool:

Birthing stools a made to help you sit like you would when you go to the bathroom. It is also low to the ground with allows you to flex your legs out, expanding your pelvis. It is also useful because of the upright position gravity works to move the baby down. Using a birthing stool usually allows your partner to sit behind you so you can rest between contractions. 

-Sitting Upright:

This variation is similar to sitting on a birthing stool. It also is helpful because gravity is used to move the baby down the birth canal. In this position you can lean back supported by the bed that can be adjusted into a more chair like position. 

-Kneeling:

Kneeling can be a very helpful birthing position if you have had back pain during labor. It allows you to encourage the movement of your baby by flexing your hops and lower buttocks during contractions. This position is also affective on your hands and knees but could cause your wrists to be tired. 

-Laying Curled on Your Side Position

This position, laying on your side, is especially good for helping you to relax in between contractions. Some research has also shows that this is the most effective birthing position for preventing tearing.

 

 

Who: Midwives and Doulas

Midwives and doulas are birthing professionals who can be present at your home births, birth center births or even hospital births. There are two types of midwives:

-Certified Nurse-Midwives who have training as nurses and as midwives. Usually CNMs have a master's degree in nursing as well as taking classes in midwifery. All CNMs are certified by the American College of Nurse-Midwives and tend to work in hospitals or in birth center settings. 

-Direct-Entry Midwives who usually achieve their career as a midwife through training in apprenticeship or workshop programs. They often manage home births, but can also accompany you to your birth center or hospital birth to give you support. 

Many studies have shown that women who use a midwife require less medical intervention such as episiotomies or cesarean deliveries.

Doulas who attend your child birth do not make any medical decisions. Most doulas only attend to the mother by providing emotional support, massages, encouraging and helping with relaxation. Doulas, like midwives can be very helpful in reducing the need for medical intervention and have been shown to reduce labor time for women by twenty-five percent.

Source:
-http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/pregnancy/labor-delivery/difference-between-a-midwife-and-doula2.htm

What are your pain relief options?

There are many different types of pain relief options for your labor experience. From medications to relaxation techniques there are many different ways to make the birth experience exactly what you want it to be.

A few options mothers have are:

-Self-Help and Relaxation Techniques

The techniques could be breathing techniques learned through birthing class before birth, or constantly staying in motion to distract from labor pains. Other relaxation techniques are taking a shower or a bath, and having a partner who supports you by standing by your side, or massaging your back through contractions.

-Hydrotherapy (Water Births)

I talked about water births in a previous post but one reason that water births are a good relaxation and pain relief option is that the water can help you relax more and can help the contractions seem less painful.

-Gas and Air (Entonox)

This is a mixture of gas and air that you breathe through a mask. This will not remove all of the pain but can help it become more bearable. It does not have any side effects for the baby but can sometimes make mothers feel light-headed, sleepy, or unable to concentrate.

-Pethidine Injections

This is a type of drug injection that is usually administered through the thigh or buttocks that helps you relax which can lessen the pain. The effects last between two and four hours but if it is given to close to delivery it can make it harder to push.

-Epidural Anesthesia

Epidurals area mix of local anesthetics and opioids are put in the back through an IV. This numbs the nerves that carry pain impulses from the birth canal to the brain. When given an epidural most women must stay in bed because it numbs from the waist down. The baby must also be monitored after an epidural is given. Epidurals can sometimes prolong labor, make it hard to go to the bathroom (meaning you need a catheter), cause soreness in the back, or sometimes sever headaches after birth.

These are some of the most well known pain relief options mothers are given but there are also many homeopathic options like acupuncture, aromatherapy, hypnosis, massage and reflexology.

Sources:
-http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/pain-relief-labour.aspx#close
-http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/labor-and-delivery/labor-pain.aspx

How: Cesarean Section

Cesarean Sections are one other option laboring mothers have. Also known as C-Sections they can be planned before birth, if a mother wants one, if she has already had on c-section, or if the baby will be too large to deliver vaginally. C-Sections are also used in case of emergency during labor; if the baby is breech, or goes into distress.

For the C-Section, women are often given epidurals or spinal blocks so that they can stay awake through the procedure but they will not have any feeling in the lower half of their body. The lower half of the body is then usually covered so that the mother does not have to watch the procedure. Next the doctor will make two incisions, one in the abdomen and one in the uterus. After the amniotic fluid is suctioned out of the uterus and the baby is brought into the world.

Sometime bonding with the baby after birth can be delayed due to the time it takes mothers to be sewn back up after the procedure. But bonding catches up to the same as vaginal deliveries. Recovery from C-Sections usually last about four to eight weeks.

Some advantages to cesarean births are:

-planned cesareans mean that you know exactly when your baby will be born.
-you won't have the same pain that comes from vaginal births.

Some disadvantages to cesarean births are:

-recovery time is must longer than vaginal birth.
-most women experience a lot of abdominal pain and sometimes their incision sites become infected.
-that it is a major surgery that could lead to blood clots and adhesions (scar tissue) that can cause organs to stick together.

Overal C-Sections serve a great purpose in the labor and delivery world. They provide quick and easy births at the time. But usually lead to long recovery times that are very painful for moms.

Sources:
-http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/labor-and-delivery/cesarean-section/what-happens-when-you-have-one.aspx
-http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a1029062/caesarean-birth-what-are-the-risks-and-benefits

How: Water Births

I now want to talk about the different types of births women can have. The first one I want to touch on are water births.

Water births can take place in home births, or in birth center settings, they are also sometimes offered at some hospital locations. It is believed that because the baby has been in amniotic fluid for the past nine months, birthing into a similar environment is less stressful for them and the mother as well.

Water births have may benefits, a couple are:

-the warm water is soothing and comforting for the mother.
-the water has been show to increase a woman's energy.
-buoyancy given by the water allows the mother to move freely.
-immersion in water often helps lower blood pressure and stress-related hormones.
-the water helps to make the perineum more elastic and relaxed which reduces the risk and severity of tearing.
-provides the woman with more privacy, which can reduce anxiety and fear
-gives woman a greater ability to focus on the process because they feel more relaxed

Water births are a great option for many women. Through studies they also show no greater risk of infections for baby or mother than regular vaginal birth.

Where: Birth Centers

Birth Centers are one of the other main options women have location wise for their birth experiences. Birth centers tend to be thought of as the middle ground between home births and hospital births.

Some advantages to birth center births are:

- Rooms are most commonly modeled to look like a home, so rooms feel cozy, and comforting.

- You are still in an environment where you could get help immediately if complications arise.

- You are free to move around, and choose your birthing position just like if you were at home.

- If needed you have the option to transport to a hospital in the face of complications or if you need an epidural.

Some disadvantages to birth centers are:

-if complications do arise, transportation would be necessary BUT, birth centers are sometimes located within a hospital, or very near one so transportation is possible.

At birth centers, a mid-wife assists in the laboring process, and usually you can have whoever you want to be there with you.

Resources:

-http://www.houstonnaturalbirth.com/adv_homebirth.shtml

-http://www.babycenter.com/0_birth-centers-alternatives-to-hospitals_2007.bc

Where: Home Births

Next I wanted to talk about home births.

Home births are births that occur in your own home. In this setting mothers have a natural vaginal delivery. Mothers are assisted by a midwife, and in some cases a doula, in the birth of her baby in the safe, calming, environment of her own home.

Some of the advantages to home delivery are:

- It is easier to relax because of the calming, familiar environment you are in.
- You can wear your own clothes, eat, drink and move freely throughout the labor and delivery.
- You can be in control of what birthing positions you want to try and what you do not want to try.
- It also give you the option to give birth free from any medical intervention.

Disadvantages to home births are:

- Home births cannot always continue as planned; if you develop a pregnancy complication like preeclampsia or go into pre-term labor, home births are strongly discouraged.
- If you are diagnosed with an pre-pregnancy medical conditions home births are usually not encouraged.
- If complications were to arise, you would have to transport to a medical facility during labor.

Overall home births give you as the mother the option to have the birth you want. You can go through labor any way you want and can give birth in many different ways. Although there are some disadvantages to home births it is another option that mothers have.

Sources:
-http://www.houstonnaturalbirth.com/adv_homebirth.shtml
-http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/labor-and-delivery/in-depth/home-birth/art-20046878