Birthing Skills Are Skills For Life

by Juliet on 07/06/10
in Support

Being in the birthing business means that you often build closer relationships to people you deal with than in other professions. This is the case for a couple and their beautiful baby I met up with recently. We met up to chat about the birth of their second child and how, even though they felt as though they had a good first birth experience, they thought this may not happen for the second. I think there are many people who go through this thought process, which often isn't helped by well meaning friends or relatives claiming that it wouldn’t be the same for the second child, or that it was just luck that it was ok for the first.

This led me to consider how we need to ensure that mums to be and their birth companions understand that although the physical birth outcome is changeable, the skills and resources you have to ensure you have a good birth experience are constant and, like any skill, will only improve with practise.

As I wrote in a previous blog post when I questioned "What Is a Natural Birth?", there are 4 key elements to ensuring mum comes away from her birth recognising that it was a good experience. These are:

Did mum and birth companion feel in control of their birth?
Was the birth as calm and gentle as possible?
Was mum relaxed throughout the birth?
Did mum feel empowered after the birth?

I know I contradict some of the well known antenatal classes who infer that the best birth experiences are completely 'natural' ones, however I passionately believe that a great birth experience includes those who choose to have gas and air, epidurals, caesarean sections, hospital births and the multpiple other options which are available to help support the arrival of a healthy and happy baby.

A great quote by Jimmy Dean comes to mind when I consider birth - "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." A first time mum sails her maiden voyage for her first birth, having learned the skills but never having experienced the changing wind or power of the seas. A second time mum returns to the sea as an experienced sailor, she has the familiarity of the ocean and knows just how to work with that power and how to best harness the energy of nature.