Hello @crosheille! First of all thank you for taking the time to read my post and to leave such a toughtful comment ^^
I'm so glad you had a great experience with your pregnancies and childbirth 😄 I believe every woman should have the possibility to make informed choices about what they want for her childbirth and to make them feel safe and comfortable in one of the most amazing events on her life!
I also believe in science and I want to clarify that I don't advocate for a no intervention/all natural chilbirth for everyone, as there can be situations where intervention is needed in order save lifes.
But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying one is better than the other! Natural and free intervention childbirth is also possible and should be the first approach in every low risk pregnancy. Sadly, at least in my contry, that is not the first choice. There is a lot of unnecessary medical interventions that leads to more medical intervention as a result.
That is why I say I wish for every woman to have all the information to help them decide in what risks they wanna take, and what interventions they are comfortable saying no or yes. The support of midwifes and doula are fundamental during the whole process and can lead to better results in terms of mother satisfaction with her childbirth 😍
I'm so happy you stoped by 😍 Don't be a stranger! I'll whatch out for more of your awesome posts as well 😁
The pleasure was mine. 😉
I agree with you 100% that every woman should be free to make her choice on how she wants her childbirth to go (although many times it may not go the way as planned).
I appreciate you saying that a natural and free intervention birth should be the first approach in every low risk pregnancy. This is what I encourage. I always add if it is possible because I know that every mother may not be capable or able to do this. My sister went through a very difficult time of delivery and although she wanted to have a chemical free and intervention free birth it was not possible. It was needed for the safety of both her and her baby.
So I just wanted to iterate that I do understand every mother does not have that choice but I am a strong advocate in a natural as possible birth for those who can. I used to speak to mothers that wanted this type of birth but didn’t feel they were strong enough to do it and that’s where I stepped in and shared the tools that were given to me to help strengthen and encourage them and remind them they were created for such a task and can have the birth that they desire or at least shoot for that goal.
Yes, I’m not sure if I would have made it through like I did without my doula and midwives. They were such a significant part of my successful childbirths.
Thank you, I’ll be sure to visit you again as well. Take care ~
Hello @crosheille ! This was just the kind of interactions and opening sharing I was looking for on Hive. I believe talking to mothers and listening to their stories will enable me to learn so much more about pregnancy and to be able to support them the best.
First of all, I agree with what you said about childbirth being a unpredictable event! And as such, things may not go as well as planned. I'm currently studying and preparing information to elaborate a post with some insights and opening wider discussions and opinions about childbirth 😊
However, I would like to leave here a few inputs I believe they are worthy of discussion and sharing opinions.🤗
We see eye to eye in this aspect! I would like to share some problems in my country that don't allow this to apply to every woman.
Problem: In Portugal it's very rare for a physician to let the pregnancy get past 41 weeks. The most common intervention is induction proposal aroung 39 week and it's booked usually for the day of the 40/41 week gestation. Many times they do not even ask for the womans permission and there's high coersion on doing so and the "you want your baby to die" card is used more than it should (that would be ZERO).
Even worse is that some Obstetricians do what is called a rupture of the amniotic sac that is a method to manually induce labor. I've heard of some testemonies of women suffering this WITHOUT THEY KNOWING ABOUT IT. In quite a few cases, the doctor says it needs to do the vaginal touch and the woman only realized it after feeling a sharp pain and noticing bleeding in the following days. Doing this without consent and explaining all the pros and cons to the woman or not having a clear medical reason for the intervention is considered Obstetric Violence accordingly to World Health Organization (WHO).
Possible solution: Women must be informed that accordingly to statistics of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 97,5% are born spontaniously until 41 weeks of gestation. And 15% are born during 41 and 42 weeks! So, knowing what's expected acordingly to science and have taken all doubts about risks and beneficies of the proposed induction, then the Woman can make an informed decision about what risk SHE wants to take. It's her body = her decision. And to do that she needs to have acess and clear information provided by those who study years and have impartial and unbiased medical information on all proposed interventions during childbirth.
Finnaly, just wanted to underline that it is the health care worker's responsability to stay up to date on changes of scientific evidence and changing their practices accordingly!
My main stand in this subject is that women have the right to make decisions about their childbirth as it's their bodies that are being interventioned upon. To do that they must be informed on all procedures and interventions, all it's risks and benefits.
In doing so, I've heard and read women's reports of high intervention labour but with clear medical reason, where informed consent was given in every moment. Like you told me about your sister needing help and that it saved both their lives. This way, the Women get the respect and empathy that is imperative for any human being and are able to make the decision they most feel comfortable with!
I think it seems just so easy to do... Maybe I don't know yet all the obstacles health profesional go throught, but it just seems so simple to apply this. Talking, cooperation between doctor-patient, viewing women as individuals and in transformation. Not as incubators and sensless beings that can't think for themselfs.
Thank you for this wonderful sharing experience 😀 See you around!
Thank you for sharing this input and helping me understand what goes on in your country surrounding women and pregnancies.
I am very aware of the procedure when they rupture of the amniotic sac. Before having my first child I studied about many interventions and painful procedures in order to avoid them and say NO to them. I know how painful they can be for the mother. 😞 It’s really sad that things are done to mothers without them even knowing or realizing how much it will effect their bodies.
I definitely agree that women should be informed to be able to make the best possible decisions for how their labor and birth goes. Even when this doesn’t happen it would help for them to have access to this information to study and research on their own to gain the knowledge and wisdom they need.
I thank you as well for this wonderful sharing. I look forward to talking with you more on other posts ~
Exactly! We have very similiar opinions in this matter 🤗 I look foward to further continue sharing with you and maybe we can bring some other Ladie's opinions and experiences to the discussion as well!
@ladiesofhive and @motherhood I would like to share more info on this subject to both communities! As I'm quite new on Hive platform I might need some help or guidance on how I should bring this information, or even if we can create together some sort of iniciative regarding subjects like pregnancy, labour, women's rights and obstetric violence!
I would love to hear some feedback from you ladies or any kind of pointers in the right path 😊
Thank you all for this sharing opportunity 😘