Your Natural Birth

06/02/2025

"It's just what we do" isn't good enough when it comes to membrane sweeping in pregnancy.

Many women and families ask about membrane sweeping, which is often presented as an alternative to induction of labour.

And yet it's not an alternative to induction.

It is a FORM of induction.

Because we see so many questions about this, I have updated my blog post on this topic.

Learn what the evidence really says about this common procedure.

Read my blog post at https://www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/what-is-a-stretch-and-sweep/

10/12/2024

Many studies have challenged the idea of a fixed due date, with one researcher noting that this idea “stretches credulity.”

Gerald Wightman Lawson searched and analysed the medical literature relating to "variables on the length of pregnancy, the expected date of confinement, and prolonged pregnancy."

His research (like many other studies before) confirmed that:

"a number of factors were found to significantly influence the length of a pregnancy, including ethnicity, height, variations in the menstrual cycle, the timing of ovulation, parity and maternal weight." (Lawson 2020)

And for those who would like a bit more detail...

"The proposition that a pregnancy is 40 weeks or 280 days in duration is attributed to the German obstetrician Franz Naegele (1778–1851).

His rule adds nine months and seven days to the first day of the last menstrual period.

The expected date of confinement from this formula is approximately right in the majority of cases.

However, the idea that this rule can apply to every pregnant female – young or old, nulliparous or multigravida, Caucasian, Asian, African, or Indigenous – stretches credulity.

In addition, many women regard the 40‐week date as a deadline, which if crossed, may then place the baby under stress.

Forty weeks is such a simple, round, convenient figure that it has proved difficult to challenge, despite criticism.

Nonetheless, what might have been an appropriate formula in Germany in the 19th century deserves to be revisited in the 21st."

You can see the paper at https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajo.13253

For loads more information about "due dates", other approaches and the options available towards the end of pregnancy, see my books on induction, or visit https://www.sarawickham.com/iol

09/12/2024

Did you know that, in the UK, the data which underpinned the recommendation that women should give birth in hospital instead of at home were interpreted incorrectly?

Statistician Marjorie Tew pointed that out, but it took years until a medical journal would print her article.

By that time (1985), hospital birth had been established as the norm.

I wrote about this in in my book, In Your Own Time.

Many studies continue to show that home birth is safe and leads to less intervention for women and babies.

Because so many people ask, "is home birth safe?" (and yes, it is), that's the name of our home birth information hub.

It offers links to all of my info on this topic and an overview of the most recent studies in this area.

So have a look at our information hub, it's at www.sarawickham.com/research-updates/is_home_birth_safe/

And yes, please feel free to share/repost this pic with our text and credit intact.

21/11/2024

Be educated

02/11/2024

Welcome to midwifery 😝

Patience and space is what most mothers need…our bodies were made to birth.

25/09/2024

20/09/2024

We see more comments, queries and concerns about induction of labour than about any other single pregnancy and birth-related topic.

It's too hard to put everything that women and their families need to know in one post (which is why I have written two books about this!)

But here are some of the key facts.

Induction of labour is absolutely the right decision for some women, and absolutely not the right decision for others.

Some women are delighted that they had their labour induced, and some women regret this decision for decades.

It is for those reasons that we encourage anybody who might be affected by this to get lots of information about induction of labour or any other birth intervention before making a decision.

The mass media is not a good source of information about birth. Newspapers spin stories to make headlines and often fail to discuss the nuances and complexities of the issues.

Like many of my colleagues, my primary concern is that people who need to make such decisions can get good information from a credible source and make the decision that is right for them.

That’s why I’ve written two books about this. They have both helped tens of thousands of women and families make the decisions that are right for them.

I also have more than twenty articles and blog posts to help you understand the issues a bit better.,

Loads more info at www.sarawickham.com/iol

I hope it helps.