Here at UK Birth Centres Ltd we understand that your birth experience is extremely important because not only does it shape how you transition into being a Mother but will remain with you for the rest of your life. We the midwives at UK Birth Centres are passionate about supporting women, listening to your hopes and dreams and helping to optimise your birth experience which it now turns out is going to have a lifelong beneficial effect on your baby!
At times you will have a pregnancy journey that is veering away from the straight forward route and when this happens you can feel that you have very little choice but to go along with the medical interventions even though they were not part of your birth plan. This can lead to feelings of powerlessness and a perception that you are not being heard!
You are unique, fantastic, a perfect human being; as are your baby, your pregnancy and your birth; they matter so much. I became an Independent midwife to ensure I could continue to support women through this amazing journey in the best way possible. Please take time to consider your choices in who attends you during this time. It is one of the most important times of your life.
Women are awake to the notion that being a mother starts when your baby is in the womb and they want to make choices about their pregnancy and birth that will have a positive impact on their babies. Birth is a physiological process that has built in hormone release that floods your body and crosses to the baby giving you both a loving feeling that remains long after the birth giving you a blissful, helpful start to Motherhood!
Now I make no apology to be talking on the subject of relaxation yet again, but it is an important subject when it comes to child birth! Let me explain an adaption your body has that allows us to stop our babies being born until we feel safe and out of danger. When you are fearful and anxious your body immediately activates the nervous system to produce adrenalin. The adrenalin release is to enable you to either fight or to run away from this “threat”.
Here at UK Birth Centres we think you deserve an individual approach for your birth support. We believe whole heartedly that you deserve to have the continued support of a midwife, so that you get to know her and she in turn learns about your hopes and fears and helps you to feel relaxed and cared for throughout your pregnancy and birth, and of course into those special early days with your newborn.
As a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, I have been thinking about how best to advice women who ask about the benefit to them of avoiding a vaginal delivery and having an elective caesarean section instead. Sometimes there are clinical reasons why a Caesarean may be advised. However, sometimes women will request a Caesarean section when there is no obvious reason to indicate this is necessary. Despite some press statements to the contrary this is still a relatively unusual request. I suppose my answer will depend on what the woman is concerned about, what her choices are, her experiences, her physical and psychological well-being.
The Birth Ball for movement and pain relief in labour is a large inflated exercise ball that has been adopted into maternity care to aid relaxation and movement (Perez .P 2000). The woman can sit on or lean against the ball, which provides soft support. The ball also expands the number of positions the woman can assume for comfort and offers a means for movement (e.g. bouncing, rolling) in these positions, which provides a counter-distraction during contractions. Many hospitals have birth balls in their maternity departments and encourage labouring women to use them for comfort.
Are you expecting an imminent arrival? You may be experiencing all of the typical ‘false alarm’ twinges and cramps that mums-to-be normally have at this point in your pregnancy. So how do you know that labour has started? Each woman is different, but normally one of the following will occur:
I believe that women are wonderfully designed to give birth so when they are supported by midwives with whom they have developed a relationship of trust then amazing births will happen. My philosophy of trust in the physiology of birth differs from the Medical model of child birth that proliferates in our health care system. The medical model believes that birth is only normal in retrospect and is fraught with potential problems that need fixing at any moment! This form of care appears to disempower women and leads to the use of phrases such as “I was not allowed” or “I had to have and induction” evidence that the women did not have any choice in the matter.