Partnership in Midwifery Care
Choosing to have your baby in the comfort of your own home is an empowering and challenging choice in our modern era. In order to meet your goal, it requires that you have a physiological birth, or birth with no interventions. This is something our bodies are fully capable of doing but our modern lifestyle often makes more difficult.
For a physiological birth to occur, hormone levels must be very high to cause adequate strong contractions. These high levels of hormones are only produced when the mother feels safe and secure and in a private place. The pelvis must also be mobile so that the baby can move through the pelvis and open the cervix. The mother must also be able to mentally relax and release to allow her body to achieve the birth.
Through attending hundreds of births, Midwife Bethany has found that our sedentary lifestyles and lack of mental preparation can easily result in very long labors where the mother is unable to relax and move her baby through her pelvis, dilate, and push her baby out. For example, sitting for the majority of our lives to our tuberosities, or sit bones, coming together. These bones need to be wide apart for a baby to pass through. In addition, negative stories and fear around birth causes most women to be tense and unable to relax during natural labor and birth.
These factors often lead labor to be long and result in transport to the hospital for epidural pain relief, pitocin augmentation, or other interventions, like cesarean section. This exact situation has resulted in 95% of the transports that Midwife Bethany has ever had. Meaning, only 3 transports have ever been emergencies and the rest were because the pelvis was so tight that they baby could not move through resulting in a long labor requiring the mother need an epidural to relax and open the pelvis.
Every family that chooses to plan a home, or birth center birth, desires to achieve that kind of birth! It is vital that women combat their fears and negative perceptions around birth while moving through their pregnancy to prepare their pelvis for a normal birth. Midwife Bethany has kept a low transport rate by offering individualized care and simply being patient when labors may become long. This will always be what is offered at North Texas Midwifery. Unfortunately, Midwife Bethany is starting to see complications from long labors due to lack of maternal preparation, including fetal distress and increased passing of meconium in labor. It is not safe to remain sedentary and not mentally prepare for a natural birth AND plan an out of hospital birth. Birth is beautiful but also hard work. Preparing in advance makes all the difference. In order for Midwife Bethany to continue offering midwifery care in partnership with families, it is not only strongly recommended, but required, for families to complete the following throughout their pregnancy:
For those having their first natural birth with no epidural, it is required to:
Attend Krisha Crosley’s Train for Birth class in person, whether in the group setting or in the privacy of your own home, and commit to the daily exercises she recommends.
Educate yourself through reading books and listening to positive birth stories. It is vital that you understand what is happening in your body so that you do not fight the process. It is also important to rewrite the negative views of birth that our culture has told us. Replace negativity with positive stories!
Here are some of our favorite books to read, or listen to on audible.
Here are some of our favorite podcasts that include many positive birth stories.
Here are some fabulous documentaries that help depict a realistic and empowering view of birth.
Daily relaxation techniques to train your mind and body to relax every muscle. This is so important in labor and something you will use again and again throughout your life.
See a Webster certified chiropractor as soon as possible throughout pregnancy on their recommended schedule. Manual adjusting with soft tissue work is highly recommended. Dr Demetra Mydlo at Whole Hearted Chiropractic and Dr Kristin Hosaka are Midwife Bethany’s favorites.
Take Herbal Labor Prep for a Timely and Efficient Labor for your unique situation.
For those having a subsequent natural birth with no epidural, it is required:
Attend Krisha Crosley’s Train for Birth class in person, whether in the group setting or in the privacy of your own home and commit to the daily exercises she recommends. If you have attended her class in a previous pregnancy, consider attending again for review. It is still recommended to commit to her exercise routine through pregnancy to prepare your pelvis for labor.
Educate yourself through reading books and listening to positive birth stories, as listed above.
Daily relaxation techniques, as listed above.
See a Webster certified chiropractor as soon as possible throughout pregnancy on their recommended schedule. Manual adjusting with soft tissue work is highly recommended. Dr Demetra Mydlo at Whole Hearted Chiropractic and Dr Kristin Hosaka are Midwife Bethany’s favorites.
NOTE: It is not required these mothers have a doula but we strongly recommend it because you simply never know how your labor will go. Please see information on hiring a doula and our recommended doula list here.
Midwife Bethany also strongly recommends for all pregnant mothers in care:
Drink NORA tea infusions daily starting at 20 weeks. Check with your midwife before beginning to make sure this is a good optionf or you.
Consider minimizing the number of people present at the birth and only include those who are 100% supportive of out of hospital birth and natural birth. Remember that each additional person that is not necessary to be there will add time to the length of your labor and is very likely to benefit you. The longer the labor the more likely you are to experience maternal exhaustion and you and your baby need interventions.
Consider taking an additional childbirth education class to fully prepare yourself for the entire labor process, pros and cons of interventions, reasons for transport, newborn care, and feeding, including breastfeeding. Bradley Classes are highly recommended and can be found in most cities across the metroplex.
Consider seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist through your pregnancy to prepare your body for an easy labor and birth. If someone has a long labor, or gets stuck at 6-9cm dilation, it is almost always because of an imbalance in their pelvic floor. Fire Physical Therapy is recommended.
Consider seeing a counselor to process how you carry stress and have experienced trauma in the past and present which may impact your labor and birth. Sexual trauma that has not been processed almost always comes up during natural labor and birth. This can result in stalls in labor progress that may not be able to be resolved without epidural pain management. Seeing a counselor as you transition and grow your family is always a wonderful idea. Talk to your midwife if you need recommendations for a counselor in your area.
In the end, birth is about surrendering to the process that your body knows, by design. How can you prepare yourself holistically to surrender in an environment where you feel safe and supported? This is the most important to ask yourself and set yourself up for success in having your best birth!
