Читать книгу New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth - Janet Balaskas - Страница 20

Based on research findings, various up-to-date studies and ancestral instinct, it is foreseeable that widespread changes with respect to labour and birth positions are inevitable in the management of labour and in the preparation of women for childbirth (27-30).

As changes in position help to increase the strength and effectiveness of contractions, allowing a woman to be up and to walk about in early labour, especially if there are no complications, seems rational and good practice. A woman’s own instincts dictate to her that she should move around. Standing, walking about and assuming various sitting, kneeling and squatting positions, with any suitable means of support, causes the uterus to exert more pressure on the foetus and in turn on the cervix. Women should be guided more by their own feelings, comfort and need rather than by hospital convenience and obstetric fashion. Freedom of one’s body is necessary to find those positions which traditionally have been used to facilitate labour and delivery; positions which will assist one to attain maximum comfort, relaxation, ease and control.

There is an infinite range of possible positions and no constant chronological order. It is the need to search for the most effective, efficient and comfortable positions that is common. The common need amongst women instinctively to keep changing positions will one day have to be universally recognised. This involves a different attitude to the management of labour, to maternity care generally and to antenatal preparation.

A prospective mother needs not only knowledge of pregnancy, labour and delivery and the growth and development of babies, but also adequate physical preparation concerning the effects of varying upright positions and the cultivation of ease and comfort in them, so that she can actively and effectively help herself during labour. The emphasis during pregnancy will need to be on developing trust and confidence in her own body and on learning to discover her instinctive potential for childbirth and mothering. Her emotional and physical readiness for birth and her self-empowerment in pregnancy will become as important as good medical care in the antenatal clinic.