Call the Midwife or Doula Giving Birth at Home

by taylorevance@gmail.com | May 19, 2016 9:07 pm

In many countries, delivery of children at home is the rule. The experience with home deliveries are safe in many countries, doesn’t mean that they are safe in your community or right for you. Deliveries in countries like England and Holland has been excellent. But the fact that delivering a baby at home could have complications and it is good to have a medical doctor who you know that will assist if necessary. This is just a precaution because unforeseen things might happen.

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If you find someone offering to assist with your child’s birth at home, ask about his or her qualifications and experience.

Is he or she a midwife, nurse, or doctor trained in obstetrics?

A really good point is to ask, “How many deliveries have you performed?”

Is he or she prepared to deal with an emergency?

You should also see if there are any backup facilities available?

Does the person have admitting privileges at a hospital?

There are two types of Midwife – the CNM, or Certified Nurse Midwife, and the lay midwife.

A CNM is available in a hospital setting, has specific classroom training and can be a great support in the delivery of a baby.

Some home births are done in the comfort of your own bath tub full of warm water; some are done in the comfort of your bed, learning about the different birthing positions your Douala or mid wife allows, is important. Finding a position that will decrease the pain of natural child birth is also very helpful, especially when there will be no pain medications or epidurals available at home.

The Mid wife or Douala is usually trained to properly and safely handle any situation and usually have something set up with a hospital in case of any issues that may come up. The mid wife usually is supplied with oxygen for either mom or baby and they are trained to properly deliver your baby into this world.

The lay midwife acts as a guide during the birthing process in the home environment and emphasis is placed on birth as a natural process. Not every birth goes as planned and it is better to decide ahead of time about attitudes toward pain management.

In a home birth with a lay midwife the process is managed with breathing and other stress management techniques. During the pushing stage of delivery the perineum (the area between the vagina and the anus) may be more relaxed from immersion in water. This will allow it to be stretchier, reducing the risk of tears. During a friend’s home delivery, the midwife was well experienced, and it did not take more than an hour for birth. She did not rip this time and she delivered at her own pace with no heart monitors attached to the baby or herself and no pressure whatsoever on needing to deliver within a certain amount of time.

However a mum may be asked to leave the pool if the labour progresses too slowly, she starts bleeding, her blood pressure rises, she feels drowsy/ faint or if baby’s first poo (meconium) is detected in the pool water.
Have you had deliveries at the hospital and contemplating home births, ask around for an experienced midwife and you could soon be having your baby in a water bath.

See: Natural Birth Resources in the Pacific Northwest[2]

Source URL: https://alternativeresourcesdirectory.com/news/call-the-midwife-or-doula-giving-birth-at-home

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