14/11/2021
What "Birth Time" and other books on birth fail to mention...
Birth Time was a great documentary made by a team of great birth workers.
It gathered everything I knew as a Doula...everything that I have learned about birthing in the 'system'...and put it in a neat little bundle for those desperately wanting to know how we pass the birth baton back to birthing mothers. Well done guys ☺️
It meticulously mentions all the barriers we face that limit our true potential and ideal self in the birthing arena; namely the broken maternity system and our lack of freedom/awareness of choice.
The documentors however are unaware of another barrier that is still limiting womens' abilty to achieve great outcomes for their births. This is a barrier that I've noticed after working for more than 12 years as a Doula and it's...LONG LABOURS.
It has taken me many years to finally figure this out, but I have seen time and time again that no matter how PREPARED and how CHOOSY and how PROTECTED a womans' birth journey is...if her labour is long she WILL end up with intervention.
Mama's with bulletproof birth plans; Doula by their side, candles glowing in their bathroom can still end up with intervention from a long labour.
It is only natural for this progression to occur since lack of sleep and depletion of energy stores means that SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE TO GIVE THAT MAMA A BREAK!
This would usually involve an epidural or a caesarean...almost always something that a well educated birthing mother never wanted.
I used to feel terrible attending these types of births. Everyone involved would end up exhausted and in the weeks that followed I always felt like I let that mama down. Sometimes I would verbalise this to them, sometimes I would keep it hidden fearing that they were angry at me for not supporting them "enough".
I would go back and forth in my mind blaming myself for their horrible birth outcome but then sometimes I would deflect blame onto them.
Turns out that no one was really to blame at all and that there were simply barriers in thier way that neither of us knew about or knew how to fix.
❓❓So, now we come to the question of "Why long labours?" "What are these barriers you speak of?"
I have thought about this a lot and have concluded (after much witnessing) that long labours are the result of a mixture of complex factors but mainly these factors can be broken down into the following categories.
Now be aware that only the 1st category is at the mercy of the maternity system and the rest all come down to the mama and the controllable or uncontrollable dynamics within herself. The long labour mamas that I have personally worked with possessed one or more of the following barriers...
1. Lack of Privacy/Interruptions.
2. One's own Expectation to "Perform" in front of other support persons watching or helping; that is a premature use of vocalisation and movement that does not match the contraction intensity.
3. Unresolved trauma and relationship breakdown that weary the mind and hold back it's ability to revert to the "primitive" brain.
4. Inhibitions surrounding the normal sights and sounds of labour. Attempts to suppress involuntary bodily functions because they are looked upon as "gross", "unladylike", "out of control" or "not calm enough".
5. A heightened fear of a particular risk or particular outcome due to conditioning or past experience eg. extremely worried about cord prolapse
6.. Loss of confidence in self, essentially a case of the "yips", a state of nervous tension that affects the ability to perform due to self doubt and the pressure to achieve a certain outcome. Perhaps caused by pressure within themselves or the pressure that comes from others expectation on the birthing mother to achieve a certain outcome. Sometimes seen in mothers pursuing VBAC's and the overhwelming feeling of "what if I can't do it".
I won't go into detail about the ins and outs of how these barriers played out with my clients to protect their privacy but I will mention that in now way am I either saying that birth trauma or an undesired outcome is the product of the forementioned "barriers". Birth trauma indefintely stems from unhealhty interactions within the maternity system.
The hospital setting is not the only area that needs a shake up in order to achieve birth reform. The way in which we prepare women mentally, emotionally and soulfully leading up to birth, with the above factors in mind, will always reinforce their ability to achieve their well intentioned goals and heart's desires.
