Читать книгу Blooming Birth: How to get the pregnancy and birth you want - Lucy Atkins - Страница 78

Real labours can progress in spurts. Sharon, 28, mother of Joshua (2) and Maria (6 months) says, ‘With Maria I’d been in painful labour for several hours, with regular contractions and when I was told I was only 1 to 2 cm dilated I was distraught… I kept labouring but increasingly I felt that my pain wasn’t being acknowledged. I couldn’t breathe through the contractions anymore. I wanted out. The midwife gave me some pethidene [an injected drug for pain management] to calm me down (I was hyperventilating) then went out to find the doctor. But then I felt I needed to push. She said that was ridiculous as it had only been half an hour since I was 1 to 2 cm but she examined me and could actually see the head. So I pushed and pushed and my baby was born at 10.16 p.m.!!! No extra help, no major tears. My first words this time were “I did it!”’

Midwife Jenny Smith says, ‘It helps to remember that labour progress is multifactorial – it’s not just about cervical dilation, it’s about contractions building up, the head descending, the cervix thinning.’ You can, then, decide to ditch the maths. This is not something many of us think about – or many midwives are asked to do – but this strategy, laid out in your birth plan and reinforced during labour by your birth partner, can be immensely helpful. A great many experienced doulas encourage their clients to do this. Your midwife may be taken aback when you ask her to do this, but explain your reasoning to her and she should respect your wishes.

EIGHT TIPS FOR A NUMBERS-FREE LABOUR

1 Do not assume your labour – or any stage of it – will last for any particular length of time. (A favourite doula adage: ‘Prepare for a long labour, hope for a short one’.)

2 Cover the clocks (literally) – at home and in the hospital room.

3 Ask people not to discuss time with you during labour – how long you’ve been at it, how long you may have to go on for.

4 Eat, drink, pee, sleep when you want – your body knows best.

5 Do not accept medical intervention to speed things up unless there is a good clinical (or personal) reason to do so.

6 Negotiate about your hospital’s imposed time restraints on the stages of labour unless there is a good clinical reason to stick to them.

7 Ask the midwife to do as few vaginal exams as possible: they can be distracting and uncomfortable.

8 Ask the midwife not to tell you how dilated you are unless there is a good medical reason to do so.