Ode to childbirth

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The majority cannot even imagine that it is possible to give birth outside the walls of the hospital. Although few people know that the first maternity hospitals appeared in our country so that women of easy virtue do not give birth on the streets.

But the pattern “you need to give birth in a maternity hospital” is not the worst thing yet. Imagine a woman who is about to give birth. In what position does she give birth to you? I suspect that I was lying on my back with my legs raised to the ceiling. This stereotype is imposed on us, first of all, by cinematographic production: in almost every film where, according to the plot, a woman gives birth, she always gives birth lying on her back and at the same time writhes in terrible agony.

I myself was under the rule of similar stereotypes.

And then I found out that this position is not the most physiological one for both the mother and the child. On the one hand, the uterus with the fetus presses on the blood vessels, which hinders blood circulation, and less oxygen enters the baby through the placenta. On the other hand, in this position, the child walks along the birth canal perpendicular to the force of gravity, which is directed vertically downward, so the woman needs to exert more effort during the expulsion of the fetus.

But some one and a half centuries ago in Europe, women gave birth sitting on special chairs, which were heirlooms and were inherited from generation to generation …

Now this wonderful tradition has mutated into … an obstetric chair-bed, which, according to Wikipedia, is designed "to provide the woman in labor with a comfortable and safe position at every stage of childbirth."

Unfortunately, few expectant mothers know about this, almost every woman goes into childbirth with the aforementioned set of stereotypes, surrendering to the hands of the obstetric team.

I, too, would not have been an exception if at one time I had not learned about the modern system of obstetrics (although it would be more correct to call it "childbirth"), about how it turns an exciting, intimate moment of a woman's life into a medical event that cannot be remembered without a shudder …

Having studied everything related to childbirth in the hospital, I realized that I could not entrust the birth of my child to the local obstetricians. I was lucky: my husband completely and completely shared my views on the hospital, and together we began to look for an alternative to him.

An alternative was found pretty quickly - I decided to give birth at home, I decided to trust my body, which nature created so that it could bear and give birth to offspring without outside help.

… It was the most beautiful moment in my life. He was wonderful in many respects thanks to my husband, who helped me in those minutes. More precisely, he gave birth with me. It was childbirth without fear and pain, and all because it took place in a comfortable environment for me: in home comfort with dim light, and not surrounded by cold tiles sparkling in the light of hospital lamps; I gave birth in the position in which it was convenient for me, and not in the one that is convenient for the doctors; next to me was the closest and closest person - my husband. It was his hands that were the first that our son met when he came into this world. And every time I look at the baby crawling on my father’s chest, I remember this.

However, I want to warn everyone who wants to repeat my experience: you need to prepare for childbirth at home (and for any childbirth). And prepare very seriously. Not only morally and physically, but also theoretically and practically. It is necessary to prepare a lot of things that will be needed in childbirth - medicines, care items, herbs for brewing, and so on. On the Internet, you can find a lot of information about what is required in childbirth, but still, consultations with a midwife, even if you decide not to call her for childbirth, but to do it on your own, are necessary. The knowledge that she will give you, based on her experience in childbirth, you will not find anywhere else.

I understand that very few expectant mothers can dare to give birth at home: stereotypes are too deep in the brain. I am not encouraging all pregnant women to give birth at home. If it is more comfortable and safer for someone to do it around doctors - well, then home birth is not for them.

But I am convinced that, having learned from my own experience what a home birth is, having experienced these extraordinary emotions, any woman would hardly have gone to give birth to the hospital.

Alas, in our country the percentage of people giving birth at home is very, very small. Moreover, in the eyes of those around them, those who decide to give birth at home often look crazy and face condemnation from close relatives. Meanwhile, in Europe, home birth is quite a normal practice. For example, in Holland, notorious for same-sex marriage and drug legalization, a large number of women give birth in this way, only a few are sent to the hospital - some of their own free will, some for medical reasons. Home obstetrics is a type of licensed medical practice. During childbirth, an obstetric team can be on duty at the house, which, if necessary, can immediately take the woman in labor to the hospital.

In Russia, the institution of midwives has sunk into oblivion with the proliferation of maternity hospitals, and midwives who now practice home births do it virtually illegally, since our legislation does not provide for the licensing of their activities. As a result, it is difficult to find information about such midwives and the cost of their services. In large cities, you can still find home midwives, in provincial cities it is almost impossible.

It is not so difficult to legalize home obstetrics in Russia: this can be done on the basis of the same antenatal clinics (an obstetrician-gynecologist who observes a woman during pregnancy goes to her house to give birth).