Roots to life - How prepared are you?
Marianne Theuma shares more advice on what the expectant mother and father need to know and do before the big day
If you are a pregnant mother and would like to be able to help yourself and take an active role during the birth of your baby, there is much you can do, once you set your mind on it: Seek education; seek choices; be confident and feel good about your body working well.
Seek education
At this day and age, no mother/father should face childbirth, or mother/ fatherhood for that matter, without adequate preparation. Being prepared, physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually is a useful asset and a must if one aspires to be able to shoulder the responsibilities and decision-making that go with parenting. There are various sources of information, but gaining information is not enough. With proper education, the mother and her partner should be encouraged to become knowledgeable enough to participate and contribute to responsibilities and decisions that involve the family over the parenting years. Parenting starts with pregnancy and birth. Unless the mother feels confident and capable in this area she will find it difficult to accept responsibility throughout the demanding job of motherhood. The same applies to fathers. Needless to say, the whole family will suffer in due course.
Seek choices
As the mother absorbs the different outlooks on pregnancy and birth through various positive or negative sources, she will realise what a vast range of choices lies around her. She needs to protect herself from the negative attitudes that could affect her. It helps her tremendously if she shops around for services, asking relevant questions and showing her likes and dislikes of the various choices and possibilities available, with the right people, of course.
Feel confident
While it is important to feel safe in the hands of your caregivers, it is equally important that you feel confident about your body working well. Your mind is the driving force in your body. Work on it. For example, decide what path you want to take with your perception of pain. With each contraction, visualise your cervix softening and being taken up like a polo neck over your baby's head. This is something you can do mentally, together with other hypnoexercises learnt in a pregnancy class which deals with both the body and the mind.
Here are some other practical tips that may help you during the hours of labour and birth.
Drink water and sweet drinks such as honey and glucose drinks. This keeps up your energy level for a longer period. Discuss with your caregiver.
While you are still at home in early labour, you may eat if you still feel like it - a sandwich, fruit, chicken soup, pasta and jelly or an ice cream are appropriate. It has been proved that starving a mother for long hours during labour diminishes her blood glucose and so her energy level, causing contractions to fade away or stop completely. The mother will feel tired and give up much sooner if she has not been eating anything throughout the hours of labour.
Empty the bladder frequently and empty bowels at least once. This helps the baby's descent and helps shorten the hours of labour. If the mother is mobile, at home and keeping busy with her usual routine, this usually takes care of itself well into established labour!
Have a shower or relax in a warm bath.
Practise relaxation skills and good positions as learnt in pregnancy classes.
Most labours start at night. If at all possible, try to sleep through the early contractions. If this proves impossible, get up and keep busy around the house which is useful for distraction.
Choose a good position for every contraction. This will be tackled in more detail in future articles. Use only the "tools" that are necessary for each particular contraction. Do not overuse techniques. It is wise to keep some tricks for the stronger contractions which come later.
Congratulate yourself! You are having your baby!
Making a birth plan
It is helpful if the mother discusses her choices with her caregivers well in advance. Different hospitals manage births in different ways, so it is wise to discuss procedures with your particular caregivers. A birth plan is encouraged in various hospitals and birth centres, as it gives the caregivers a good idea of what the mother wishes for her birth experience while giving the mother an idea of what is expected of her. Birth plans do not mean that choices, as written and agreed in a birth plan, are adhered to, no matter what. If labour and birth do not follow what is considered safe for the mother and baby, the professional people in charge will automatically take over. Birth plans help, but need to be flexible.
While midwives and obstetricians are the experts in this field, it remains the responsibility of the mother to know what to do in various circumstances. For example it is her responsibility to go to hospital immediately if period-like bleeding occurs anytime during early or late pregnancy. The bag of waters containing the baby may rupture. If the waters break it is necessary for the mother to be checked for prolapse of the cord. If the cord comes down the birth canal, the baby cannot be born vaginally, but needs to be born by Caesarean section. The midwife will advise what needs to be done in such a case or any other event. The birth plan should include information in this regard.
If you plan to let nature take its course, it is safe to stay at home during early labour when you can be moving around in your own familiar environment with your own support persons. First-time mothers are usually advised to go to hospital when contractions are strong, a minute long and perhaps five minutes apart. Mothers who have had babies before, usually know when it is best to go to hospital, as their intuition and their past experience will guide them.
It is normal for labour contractions to stop when you move from one place to another and then resume when you settle down. This happens not only when you decide to go to hospital, but also when you are moved from room to room within the hospital itself, say from the labour room to the delivery room. For this reason some hospitals choose to keep the mother in the same room throughout labour and birth and possibly also until it is time to go home.
A change of shift of caregivers also affects the labouring mother in the same way. In some birth centres, midwives do not work on a shift basis, but on a one-to-one basis with the mother. This avoids the feeling of "racing with a set time" to have the baby before a change of shift. Some systems, like the Domino scheme, allow the possibility of having the midwife go to the mother's home in early labour and then accompanying the mother in late labour to give birth in hospital. When all is well, the same midwife accompanies the mother back home after a few hours of the birth. She continues to look after her as necessary in her own home. This continuity of care by the same midwife is regarded as the optimum quality care that all mothers usually wish for.
• In the next article we shall get prepared for the last phase in the first stage, just before baby comes. How shall we tackle the real hard work of transition?
• Ms Theuma is a qualified childbirth educator and school teacher. A mother of three children and a grandparent, she directs a school for parents, In the Family Way, based at Marsascala.
The school offers courses and support for parents, covering various related subjects, from pregnancy to primary and early secondary school age.
Seek education
At this day and age, no mother/father should face childbirth, or mother/ fatherhood for that matter, without adequate preparation. Being prepared, physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually is a useful asset and a must if one aspires to be able to shoulder the responsibilities and decision-making that go with parenting. There are various sources of information, but gaining information is not enough. With proper education, the mother and her partner should be encouraged to become knowledgeable enough to participate and contribute to responsibilities and decisions that involve the family over the parenting years. Parenting starts with pregnancy and birth. Unless the mother feels confident and capable in this area she will find it difficult to accept responsibility throughout the demanding job of motherhood. The same applies to fathers. Needless to say, the whole family will suffer in due course.
Seek choices
As the mother absorbs the different outlooks on pregnancy and birth through various positive or negative sources, she will realise what a vast range of choices lies around her. She needs to protect herself from the negative attitudes that could affect her. It helps her tremendously if she shops around for services, asking relevant questions and showing her likes and dislikes of the various choices and possibilities available, with the right people, of course.
Feel confident
While it is important to feel safe in the hands of your caregivers, it is equally important that you feel confident about your body working well. Your mind is the driving force in your body. Work on it. For example, decide what path you want to take with your perception of pain. With each contraction, visualise your cervix softening and being taken up like a polo neck over your baby's head. This is something you can do mentally, together with other hypnoexercises learnt in a pregnancy class which deals with both the body and the mind.
Here are some other practical tips that may help you during the hours of labour and birth.
Drink water and sweet drinks such as honey and glucose drinks. This keeps up your energy level for a longer period. Discuss with your caregiver.
While you are still at home in early labour, you may eat if you still feel like it - a sandwich, fruit, chicken soup, pasta and jelly or an ice cream are appropriate. It has been proved that starving a mother for long hours during labour diminishes her blood glucose and so her energy level, causing contractions to fade away or stop completely. The mother will feel tired and give up much sooner if she has not been eating anything throughout the hours of labour.
Empty the bladder frequently and empty bowels at least once. This helps the baby's descent and helps shorten the hours of labour. If the mother is mobile, at home and keeping busy with her usual routine, this usually takes care of itself well into established labour!
Have a shower or relax in a warm bath.
Practise relaxation skills and good positions as learnt in pregnancy classes.
Most labours start at night. If at all possible, try to sleep through the early contractions. If this proves impossible, get up and keep busy around the house which is useful for distraction.
Choose a good position for every contraction. This will be tackled in more detail in future articles. Use only the "tools" that are necessary for each particular contraction. Do not overuse techniques. It is wise to keep some tricks for the stronger contractions which come later.
Congratulate yourself! You are having your baby!
Making a birth plan
It is helpful if the mother discusses her choices with her caregivers well in advance. Different hospitals manage births in different ways, so it is wise to discuss procedures with your particular caregivers. A birth plan is encouraged in various hospitals and birth centres, as it gives the caregivers a good idea of what the mother wishes for her birth experience while giving the mother an idea of what is expected of her. Birth plans do not mean that choices, as written and agreed in a birth plan, are adhered to, no matter what. If labour and birth do not follow what is considered safe for the mother and baby, the professional people in charge will automatically take over. Birth plans help, but need to be flexible.
While midwives and obstetricians are the experts in this field, it remains the responsibility of the mother to know what to do in various circumstances. For example it is her responsibility to go to hospital immediately if period-like bleeding occurs anytime during early or late pregnancy. The bag of waters containing the baby may rupture. If the waters break it is necessary for the mother to be checked for prolapse of the cord. If the cord comes down the birth canal, the baby cannot be born vaginally, but needs to be born by Caesarean section. The midwife will advise what needs to be done in such a case or any other event. The birth plan should include information in this regard.
If you plan to let nature take its course, it is safe to stay at home during early labour when you can be moving around in your own familiar environment with your own support persons. First-time mothers are usually advised to go to hospital when contractions are strong, a minute long and perhaps five minutes apart. Mothers who have had babies before, usually know when it is best to go to hospital, as their intuition and their past experience will guide them.
It is normal for labour contractions to stop when you move from one place to another and then resume when you settle down. This happens not only when you decide to go to hospital, but also when you are moved from room to room within the hospital itself, say from the labour room to the delivery room. For this reason some hospitals choose to keep the mother in the same room throughout labour and birth and possibly also until it is time to go home.
A change of shift of caregivers also affects the labouring mother in the same way. In some birth centres, midwives do not work on a shift basis, but on a one-to-one basis with the mother. This avoids the feeling of "racing with a set time" to have the baby before a change of shift. Some systems, like the Domino scheme, allow the possibility of having the midwife go to the mother's home in early labour and then accompanying the mother in late labour to give birth in hospital. When all is well, the same midwife accompanies the mother back home after a few hours of the birth. She continues to look after her as necessary in her own home. This continuity of care by the same midwife is regarded as the optimum quality care that all mothers usually wish for.
• In the next article we shall get prepared for the last phase in the first stage, just before baby comes. How shall we tackle the real hard work of transition?
• Ms Theuma is a qualified childbirth educator and school teacher. A mother of three children and a grandparent, she directs a school for parents, In the Family Way, based at Marsascala.
The school offers courses and support for parents, covering various related subjects, from pregnancy to primary and early secondary school age.