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Writer's pictureVicki Thorpe

A Good Birth Goes Beyond having a Healthy Baby, let’s focus on Healthy Mums too

Did you know your birth experience can greatly impact how you feel in the months (and even years) after your baby is born!

Yes! Healthy Babies Matter.

Healthy Mums Matter.

Healthy Families Matter.

Unfortunately Birth Trauma is real, PTSD is real and obstetric violence is real and we need to try and change lots of what is happening in the birth room.

Let’s start with language - How much pain are you in? How will you cope in labour? How will you get through it?

Am I saying all hypnobirths are totally pain free? No But do Parents benefit from being asked how they can be the most comfortable, having a calm environment and feeling totally in control of their own environment- absolutely!!


Positions for birth - check out my last blog on the worst position to give birth in. Giving birth on your back is convenient for birth attendants but not helpful for a comfortable and efficient labour.


Due dates!! Due dates are inaccurate and the WHO says the normal length of pregnancy is anywhere between 37-42 weeks pregnant.


Be informed of your rights in the birth room. After all this is probably a day you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

Marsden Wagner has been quoted as saying “the first birth intervention in labour is when you leave through your front door” and this is proven by a review of the evidence published in the Lancet - linked here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30063-8/fulltext

Staying at home as long as possible gives you the very best chance of completing birth without interventions. Here is Dr Sara Wickham’s article with a link to the research. https://www.sarawickham.com/promoting-normality/the-most-important-thing-women-can-do-for-themselves-in-the-quest-for-a-normal-birth/


Ruptured membranes and the facts, this may support you in staying at home as long as possible - https://midwifethinking.com/2017/01/11/pre-labour-rupture-of-membranes-impatience-and-risk/amp/


An exploratory study of the connection between epidurals and the cascade to cesarean birth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718011/

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