Читать книгу Your First Grandchild: Useful, touching and hilarious guide for first-time grandparents - Paul Greenwood - Страница 11

Active Birth: Coined by the famous pioneer of natural childbirth, Janet Balaskas, this term describes labours in which the mother remains mobile, with complete freedom of movement. She may choose to walk about, to squat, to kneel or to lean on her birth partner. Of course, she may also lie down, but only if it is her choice to do so. This body-centred approach encourages the mother to have faith in the natural process of birth and to use breathing, meditation, massage and water for pain relief. The International Active Birth Movement promotes this approach worldwide and is based at the Active Birth Centre in London.

Water Birth: The therapeutic properties of water have been known about for thousands of years and women have always used water as a relaxant – think of how having a bath helped the cramps of period pains. Today, at long last, water is recognized as a highly effective form of pain relief for labour and birth. Whether the mother simply showers or gets in the bath, or whether she uses a purpose-designed birth pool, the effect is similar. The benefit of a pool, however, is that the woman has more mobility in it and can stay in it comfortably for hours. Most women choose to come out for the actual birth, and some to stay in – often they don’t know exactly what they will decide to do until the time comes. Babies born under water don’t take their first breath until they are brought up to the surface, but if you are worried about what might seem like a danger, then – rather than battle with the mother over the issue – resist commenting until you know more. Buy a book on the subject, read up, and if you are still concerned, talk to the obstetrician (with the mother’s permission).

It’s very important, too, not to indulge in any scare stories. No matter what a hard time you had giving birth, no daughter or daughter-in-law wants to hear about it. Nor son-in-law for that matter. I know my own mother scared the life out of me by telling me that she was dreading my labour because she’d had three difficult births – ‘They were AGONY, darling!’ – and that as I was as narrow-hipped as she was, so she feared for a similar experience. In the event, her dire prophecies proved quite unfounded and she could have saved me quite a lot of apprehension had she kept her misgivings to herself. I know it was because she genuinely didn’t want me to suffer, but there is no need to anticipate something that may never happen.