Interventions
Sadly, irrespective of how prepared we are, some births will become more medical.
This could be due to your personal choice, a cascade of intervention, or a medical complication.
YOU can still use your hypnobirthing tools.
If birth is going smoothly a lot of the relaxation stuff tends to take care of itself, it is when things get complicated that the techniques really are beneficial.
The relaxation response is triggered in response to breathing deeply with the focus being on the out breath – this is vital in any birth situation. It helps the baby get as much oxygen as possible. You will also feel more in control of the process and know that, despite the medical procedures and medical speak potentially surrounding you, focussing on your breath and utilising all you have learnt is something you alone can do. You will also be physically and emotionally in a better mind-set to embark on the next stage of the journey which is to parent your baby.
What are you aware of?
Depending on whether you are doing this on your own or with your birth partner take a few moments to think about the interventions you are aware of and make a note of them.
Think about how these make you feel?
Do you know enough about what each one is?
Do you need more information in order to make an informed choice?
Is there an intervention that you would consider accepting? If yes why?
If no, why not?
What do you not want to have?
Why?
Do you know enough to make an informed choice?
Interventions – Why?
TO SPEED LABOUR ALONG!
Natural methods – Sex, nipple stimulation, eating spicy food/pineapple
Sweep?
Induction – natural or managed? Acupressure / Bowen or Chemical – (Syntocinon)?
Breaking waters
Instrumental deliveries – ventouse / forceps – what’s the difference?
Episiotomies
C-section
It’s not always to speed labour along. Sometimes you are under pressure to have your baby by a certain date or number of weeks thus forcing you to start thinking about how to force your baby out. There are lots of things to consider.
Here are a couple of videos to explain interventions.
These are USA based so please note we use different drugs in the UK.
Now that you have a list of the interventions let’s consider what you need to know?
Would understanding timescales help? So what happens before 37 weeks and what happens after 37 weeks as different scenarios can occur.
Before we can do this we have to consider your due date.
Let’s talk about due dates … do you know when you conceived? This is important … some clients will say to me well it could only have happened around these dates because I wasn’t or they weren’t in the country. So when they give that client a date that says she conceived around x time then you need to understand how this is being worked out.
So I promised you evidence based and this lady we will be coming back and forth to a lot as she is wise and also looks at the facts and the EVIDENCE – very important when you are making choices based on evidence … please meet Dr Sara Wickham who is a midwife, speaker, bestselling author and researcher who works independently.
Remember to come back here after reading the following:
Part 1: https://www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/fixed-point-due-dates-and-wider-windows-part-1/
Part 2 is here: https://www.sarawickham.com/topic-resources/fixed-point-due-dates-and-wider-windows-part-2/
and for good measure …
https://sarawickham.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/a1e-post-term-pregnancy-the-problem-of-the-boundaries.pdf
https://sarawickham.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/em-stretching-the-fabric.pdf
Sara’s book on Inducing Labour may be helpful
AIMS book on The AIMS Guide to Induction of Labour
Here are a whole host of resources that may be helpful if you are facing induction
I’m hoping you feel empowered around the topic of Due dates and Induction. We’ll come back to it as some point to discuss what Induction can look like and what the process is.
Video – Ventouse Birth