Simela Petridou – I have been attending an antenatal class recently as we are expecting our second child. I can only highly recommend doing the same to any pregnant women. I thought I am really well informed but still, almost every week I attend the class I hear something I didn’t know, or thought about before. Great way to make an INFORMED decision although my decision was and is clear, but going to these class just confirmed that our decision is the best one we could possibly have made for us and my future second child.
A Home birth !
I think it’s very important to go to antenatal classes that are NOT offered from any hospital, as they would only give you information of procedures which will be applicable and suitable with THEIR standards and rules of what should happen to you or your baby. This is not making a REALLY INFORMED DECISION. Book your antenatal class rather with a International Certified Childbirth Educator, preferably an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant which is also a Childbirth Educator. Just in case you may struggle to breastfeed, this way you will have an expert on hand already which you are comfortable with.
I would like to share with you some of the shocking information I gathered there :
First, there are only 2 private hospitals in Cape Town which are REALLY BABY FRIENDLY, although most will tell you that they are ‘baby friendly’ ,but that is only what THEY THINK they are in their terms of being ‘baby friendly’. There are strict regulations that must apply to the hospital procedures, so that they ARE ALLOWED to call themselves ‘baby friendly’. In most private hospitals, ALL BABIES (healthy & full term babies too ,not only the ones in need of medical care)are taken away from the mother to the nursery after the first feed, so the mother can ‘rest’. Often it will be given artificial food or a dummy meanwhile mom is sleeping because the staff will also be ‘nice’ enough to give mom a sleeping pill. Is that not great? Why give a chance of having a difficult mom, which might question the procedure in the maternity room, if you can just drug her and send her off to sleep?
A lot of studies over years prove the importance of early bonding between mother and child and the health benefits of babies being close to their mother. In Germany, where I gave birth the first time and most other parts in Europe, is ‘Rooming In’ the standard procedure for several years. Even your husband is allowed to sleep over after birth if you wish so, even for your whole stay. They put two beds together. I wonder in which century this will also apply to South African standard. Especially after birth it is crucial for the success in breastfeeding that Baby can suck as often as it wants to and on demand and not when hospital staff decides to take it back to the mother. Breastfeeding is easier this way. Baby is breathing better, his heartbeat and temperature is more stable, it feels the warmth of his mother, feels safe and sleeps happy, as his needs are fully met. You can tell the staff that you or your partner will look after the child and keep it warm, that you know about the benefits of keeping it with you and certainly if there is no medical reason and the baby is healthy & full; term NOBODY CAN FORCE YOU and take your child away from you, as you could charge them for kidnapping by the way, if they would insist.
So, hold on to your child and don’t let go ;-).
I can still remember how wonderful it felt when I woke up and saw my beautiful angel sleeping next to me, with a happy, satisfied smile in her face. I wouldn’t want to miss this memory for nothing in the world and surely not for a drugged night of sleep, so why should you?
Another shocking information was that the Caesarian rate in Cape Town in private hospitals sky-rocketed to alarming rates. So there are months where there is actually NOT ONE single vaginal birth which makes a 100% Caesar rate. We have after Brazil the highest Caesarean rate in the world. Is that not scary? The last official numbers of South African Caesar rates are from 2002 which show a 15% rate in public and 60% in private hospitals. So going to a private hospital even while considering a vaginal birth makes it really difficult to really have a natural birth nowadays. Let’s have a look at the facts: The problem is that even if you want to give natural birth, having any forms of intervention, which is very likely to happen in hospital, often leads to a cascade of interventions and will often unavoidably end up in a Caesarian. They start inducing the labour, (much more likely to end up in a Caesarean),break your waters, fasten labour with the use of hormones, fill you up with chemicals, performing Epidurals before the cervix is 5cm dilated(higher complications and increases caesarean rate, not to mention all the other disadvantages of Epidurals for mother and baby even if it’s done after 5cm dilation.)About the risks of Epidurals we’ll talk next time. They don’t let you move around as you like to, kneel, squat or let you be upright during contractions. Perform episiotomies. Yes, exactly, they FORCE you to lay on your back for hours, slowing down your labour as you can’t work with gravity this way and intervene with the birth process as much as they can(and you let them).The problem is that most mothers are not well informed and will accept anything what the ‘professionals’ advise, without questioning any procedures. I know out of experience that it isn’t easy to stand up against or question the Doctor while you are in active labour, that’s why it is extremely important to do your homework before. Doctors are so used to perform Caesarean sections that they are probably more scared of a natural birth then you are. I am serious, they are so used to perform Caesareans, that they are not comfortable with the natural birth process, as they don’t have enough practice with it and just the thought of letting nature take over is weird to them. They usually always find a reason why one should have a Caesarean: being overdue, the baby is too large(absolute nonsense),(a friend of mine, very small women gave natural birth without intervention to a 4,7kg heavy, healthy boy.)They can’t say for sure how ‘big’ a baby is anyway, doesn’t matter which kind of scan they use and how often it is performed. It’s proven that this is not a accurate information you can rely on, most of these so called ‘big babies’ could be born vaginal, as we are designed for that and often oh, miracle, they are much smaller than the doc thought. Another given reason for them is a slow labour, not dilating fast enough (certainly, after doing everything to slow it down and interfere)and so on. A lot of babies are planned Caesareans, making most babies inadvertently born prematurely. Are the doctors GOD to know when a child is supposed to be born? Or do some women possibly think THEY ARE if they decide on which date their baby should have their birthday? Studies show that babies born even slightly before they are supposed to be born may experience problems breathing and are five times more likely to be admitted to intermediate or intensive care. They also have much more difficulty breastfeeding.
The World Health Organization recommends no more than a 15 percent caesarean rate, we have millions of children cut out of their mothers abdomen without any medical necessity. I feel so sad for all the women which ended up having an ’emergency’ Caesarean, as most of them wouldn’t have ended as Caesareans if the medical approach would have been different. Research has shown that the risk of maternal death following Caesarian section is five to seven times higher than through vaginal birth. Complication during and after the major surgery may include injury to the bladder, uterus and blood vessels, haemorrhage, anaesthesia accidents, blood clots in the legs, pulmonary embolism, paralysed bowel and infection, just to name some. Shouldn’t be the possible death of the mother and her reproductive future also worth a thought? You can’t have many caesarian without having a much higher risk of placenta previa and miscarriage and many other serious risks involved, but you can have multiple vaginal births with no problems and healthier moms and babies.
I saw movies of all different aspects of births, caesarean birth, natural birth with epidural, natural birth in hospital with midwife without intervention, natural birth in the sea (amazing, beautiful). I saw babies latching on the breast after birth and the tremendous difference in latching between drugged babies and non drugged babies. I really can not understand how somebody could see this and know what I’ve learned and still decides to have a medicated birth or even worse in my eyes, an elective Caesarean. The worst of all the films was this one. Not because I can’t see blood, I don’t have a problem with that. But this baby screamed sooo much. The doc sucked his breathing passage for ever, obviously, as it wasn’t pushed through the birth canal. It was examined while mom was stitched up. Then they swaddled it in a towel like a sausage to rest it on mothers shoulders. This was so disgusting and horrible. A cold, heartless happening in my eyes. No wonder that a lot of women get depressions after Caesareans. I almost got depressed just by watching it. This would definitely be my absolute nightmare situation, really can’t understand why somebody could possibly wish to have this type of birth.
I first thought the epidural birth was disgusting, but this movie still made it to first place in the horror picture charts. Brought back my beautiful memory of a un-medicated natural birth with my daughter. I feel sorry for all mothers who didn’t experience this kind of birth. You can’t imagine what you are missing. You can only feel what I felt when you go through a natural labour without intervention and a natural birth and nothing in the world can give you this high level of emotions for your child, This natural release of hormones through natural birth makes the difference between getting depressed, being in pain, or angry and disappointed, having regrets and feeling guilty about not given normal birth, or being unbelievably happy about lives miracle and staying sane, although you sleep deprived in the beginning. Breastfeeding successfully on demand continues releasing all the hormones you and your child needs to be happy, content and healthy not to mention all the other benefits of human milk. Nature wants you to have a natural birth, to FEEL IT, we are made and equipped for that. This balance of hormones ensured our survival for thousands of years. This is the best start your Baby could possibly have: not drugged, happy, full of mothers natural released endorphins and snuggle up on mothers breast, having his first happy feed on mommy’s breast. My child never cried like this Caesarean baby in the movie, maybe if you would have dropped her head down on the tiles she would have made this kind and amount of crying this poor baby did. I never heard such an unhappy cry ever, it made my heart sore and it wasn’t even my child. My daughter only cried for a few seconds after birth during examination and was then placed naked on my chest, so she could snuggle skin to skin with me and was never heard crying in hospital as she was happy and so were we. I had her with me 24/7 and that was so great.
If you REALLY want to experience natural birth then I can only recommend to stay at home as long as possible before you drive to the hospital, so you dilate far enough to minimise the chance of
interference with the natural birth process in hospital. But you should have the support of a Doula. Otherwise you are likely to drive to the hospital too early, as you don’t know what’s going on, if that is your first child. Most first time mothers are afraid of having a planned home birth, although there is nothing to be afraid off in a healthy, low risk pregnancy. With a professional, experienced midwife it is considered to be ‘as safe as’ giving birth in hospital, as a study in the Netherlands found NO difference in death rates of either mothers or babies in 530.000 births. But believe me, after one hospital birth, I can’t wait to have my child at home and not be surrounded by strangers in a hospital and all the crap procedures involved. My daughter was born at 42 weeks. I had a 28 hour labour with her and was countless times offered pain medication, labour fastening drugs, epidural and advised to have constant monitoring, which I refused. So to say interventions of any kind were ‘kindly’ offered and advised to fasten my labour, although I had clearly specified in my birth plan that I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE ANY INTERVENTIONS. But it just took them too long, obviously. I also had discussions with the doc, who was very keen on performing a Caesarean on me, despite the fact that my baby didn’t show any signs of stress, as I didn’t allow them to interfere with my natural labour, that wasn’t likely to happen :-).My daughter was born totally natural because I can be like a Lion, especially when it comes to protecting my child (and my food;-)). I would for sure have ended up with a Caesarean, if I would have been in South Africa. I mean which hospital would have not pressured me to be induced before 42 weeks, even if the baby is fine like in my case? They would have latest performed a Caesarean due to my long labour. I don’t know anybody in SA who had such a long labour and didn’t end up in a Caesar, except of some women I know which had a home birth.
I think nature and GOD should decide how long a child is supposed to ripen in the womb and NOBODY else, except of when REAL emergencies occur certainly. I know that the first time around you get so nervous when labour starts and most women I know went way to early to the hospital, including myself, as they thought they must be almost ‘there’. I think that was also the main reason why I had such a long labour. I mean you should focus on your labour and not on discussions with hospital staff, no wonder my labour progressed so slowly, especially as I wasn’t allowed to move around as I wanted.
I suggest to book a Doula during pregnancy. Even if you consider to have a hospital birth,she’ll be at home with and will help you until labour is good established,so you’ll have a much bigger chance of not having unnecessary interventions after you arrive in hospital. She can still be with you and your partner or midwife during birth in hospital and will be of most important help,especially for a first time mother. Let her be part of your labour as a worldwide study involving more than 1500 women,found that mothers who had a Doula support were then ones with the shortest labours. Other benefits found in this study by Klaus et al. include:
– greater than 50% drop in caesarean births.
– 30% reduction in the mother’s need for pain medication
– 60% reduction in epidural requests
– 40% reduction in forceps delivery.
Having a Doula with you during your labour and birth will help you to have the birth experience every mother deserves,a positive and memorable birth experience with no later regrets and worries. Contact W.O.M.B.S. (Women Offering Mothers Birth Support) for a experienced Doula.
Your future is worth doing the best you can to educate yourself. Please do so, make informed decisions. For your health, for your babies health and for your future lifelong relationship.
Also look at these interesting links for helpful information and support:
www.lamaze.org
www.acnm.org
www.birthworks.co.za
www.llli.org
Here you find two interesting articles about the same study regarding elective Caesarian before 39 weeks:
http://main.uab.edu/Sites/MediaRelations/articles/57102/
http://handheld.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/360/2/111
