Childbirth Choices

I’ve recently been writing a blog regarding my current exercise and diet program and now I feel it is time to start blogging about topics that are relevant to the work (for want of a better word) that I do.  I have a number of different areas in which I will write including general personal development topics, single parenting and childbirth so have decided due to my business name that I would call my blog choosing your destiny and follow that up with whichever specific topic I’m talking about in the blog. To start off with is one on childbirth…..
There seems to be a huge generalization out there in the birthing information world that women who birth babies in hospitals will not be supported in their choices to have a natural birth and end up having various interventions thrust upon them.
I myself have worked as a Midwife in a Private Hospital delivery suite for over 10 years and choose to work there because as natural a process as I believe birth to be I am also aware that at times things can go wrong and I like having the reassurance of backup close at hand.
One of the things they teach you in nursing, midwifery and life coach training, in which I have qualifications, is that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and the need to remain non-judgemental in professional interactions. There are certainly beliefs and choices that others make that I don’t hold myself however this doesn’t stop me from being a support to the person.
Now for me I wouldn’t let an anaesthetist anywhere near my back with an epidural needle unless I thought there was a very good medical indication for doing so and for me labour is not one of those indications. That however does not mean I don’t support my patients choice to use them and arrange for them to have them accordingly. I recently read an article titled – ‘The truth about epidural’, I believe the only truth of the article (which was never stated anywhere in the article) was that it was the writers attempt to justify her own decision to have an epidural as the article attempted to discount the whole notion of a cascade of intervention and focused on the advantages of epidurals from the writers perspective.
Even in a private hospital (at least where I have been working) women have natural birth options available and are generally supported in their desire to use such methods as; the use of exercise balls, a birthing chair, spa baths and although not an option at this point in time within a year or so water births will be an available option, also a number of midwives have acupressure point knowledge, myself included. There are more and more women attending both Calm birth and Hypnobirthing classes.
My training as a Life Coach has increased my understanding of how our emotions affect us in certain situations, birth being one of them and I’ve made the decision that I want to assist women and their partners to be better prepared mentally and emotionally for the challenges of child birth. In order to do this I am going to be trained as a Hypnobirth trainer so that I can teach women and their birth partners natural child birth techniques in order to be able to have a drug free birthing experience, if that is what they decided to do regardless of where they choose to have their babies.