The Birthing Place: to give birth and have a baby are not the same thing

In 2011 I I got approved to have a licensed birth center. My homebirth practice was already called The Birthing Place. I use to get calls all the time because woman thought that it was a birth center. I choose the name because after about 15 years of practice I realized that many woman did not believe that they could actually give birth. Their introduction to the medical model of care left women feeling that they needed a building called a hospital and an person called a doctor to give birth. mY GOAL WAS AND IS TO INFORM WOMAN THAT THEY CAN GIVE BIRTH ANY WHERE. Giving birth, though it is a physical phenomenon it is also a mental state of being that I feel women need to connect with. During prenats my clients and I spend time talking about reaching the state of being of giving birth. The reality is that to give birth and a process and to have a baby is a procedure. As midwives. we join a woman on her journey to give birth. We monitor her prenatally to encourage her to eat properly, get adequate rest and to adjust to the ever changing stresses of life. I try to get my moms to laugh as much as possible to lighten load from the new normals. What I hear from woman who go to the doctor is that they are told what to do and what IS GOING TO HAPPEN BEFORE IT HAPPENS. " " We need to induce because the baby is growing to big . If you go past 41 weeks the placenta has deteriorated and will not withstand the riggers of labor so lets cut the baby out. There is a tool (biophysical profile) that can be performed that tells us the health of the placenta." I can go on and on about the the difference between having a baby and giving birth. All I want you to get out of this read is that there is a difference and you should choose which arena best suits your needs. Do not think that you can go to one store and get a service that that store does not offer because you will be disappointed. DO YOUR RESEARCH

Thoughts about your upcoming birth

I had a consult the other day and I asked the 30 something week mom how she pictured her birth. She was very direct in saying that she did not want to poop while she was giving birth. After a short anatomy lesson I told her that it was very common for women to have a bowel moment while pushing. But she was very insistent that she did not want this to be her fate. Her husband could not understand why she would even be concerned about the possibility of it happening. So moms think about how many of you first time moms thought about pooping while you where pushing the baby out. I can remember a mom missing out on having the water birth that she wanted because when it was time to push she insisted on going to the toilet because she did not want any floaties in the water. I tried to convince her that the baby was ready to come ( and it was) but she knew that she had more than a baby to push out on to the toilet. And sure enough before the head came out mushy feces came out. I do not think that it would have floated. Ok ladies let's have some straight talk. Your colon is right behind the baby's head. And if there is any waste products in the colon as you push out your precious cargo the waste products come out also. It is important that you understand that you are using the same muscles to push the baby out that you use to push out your feces. There have been times that a woman has not wanted to push for fear of the feces. I have had to spend valuable time convincing a woman to let go and push. Is there anything that can be done to avoid this from happening. The only real option that I know of is once your midwife says that you are in labor you can get an enma. If you do it yourself, hold the soapy water in for as long as possible to give your self the best chance of emptying the colon as much as possible. So, if you find yourself in the category of women who fear pooping and birthing realize sometimes they go hand and hand but the sooner you push the sooner you have your baby and the sooner everyone can get cleaned up. Happy birthing,pooping and pushing. Afua Hassan The birth that you want, is something to want.