Interesting Reading & Watching...
Some worthwhile and informative (and sometimes entertaining) bits & pieces that I've found along the way.... from morning sickness to cauls to Princess Kate and her hypnobirth and so much more. Read the articles & watch the videos!
Conception to Birth in 4 minutes! This amazing 3D mini-doc moves through development of a baby from pre-conception to birth in a very fast-forwarded, inspiring 4 minutes! How utterly miraculous life is! For an experience that is both amazing and inspiring, watch this remarkable journey!
Too Posh to Push? This catch-cry was coined in relation to Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham, who was reported to have scheduled a C-section for each of her four births. Of course, every woman has choice around how her baby enters the world, and Victoria believed she was doing what was best for her.
However, it is widely reported that the Princess, Kate Middleton, did loads of research and opted to prepare for a natural birth with Hypnobirthing for her babies! See this article! Kate and her babies would have benefited greatly from the natural cascade of powerful birth hormones that flow on from a birth that unfolds with the least possible intervention.
Cervix thinning and dilating In this video, Liz Chalmers uses a balloon and a ping pong ball to illustrate how the uterus works in a lengthwise way to pull upwards to thin and open the cervix. It really demonstrates this method very well! Just bear in mind, that your baby will emerge gently as you breathe it down, instead of popping out like a champagne cork as with the ping pong ball!
Baby born 'in the caul' This short clip shows a rare (estimated 1 in 80,000 births) and amazing moment in time where a baby is born (normal vaginal birth) and the amniotic sac is still fully intact. The baby is still getting oxygen through the umbilical cord, and is very relaxed and snug. It seems that the bub has no awareness that it is outside its mother's body yet! It gives us a little 'fly on the wall' look at how beautifully tucked up the baby is while inside its safe womb! Throughout history this was deemed a very special phenomenon, and in days past these babies were considered to have special protection from ever drowning!
Childbirth Across the Last Century This article, by Sam McCulloch, in bellybelly.com.au gives really good insight into how birthing changed from a natural function and became 'medicalised' and managed over the 20th century. Hopefully, we are on the way back - Hypnobirthing is certainly part of that movement!
Twilight sleep or Twilight Birth became common in the early 1900's, and was birth under 'sleep' conditions induced by drugs. With a morphine and scopolamine injection, women would be induced into asleep, and wake with no memory of the birth; they therefore believed the birth to have been ‘pain free’. However, many had unknowingly endured a painful even psychotic experience. Many would thrash around in response to the pain of their labour, screaming, banging their heads, clawing at staff or themselves and they would be restrained on the beds by wrists and ankles, or put into straight jackets! Clearly, there was trauma and injury associated: emotional, psychological and physical! Episiotomies and extractions of the babies were necessary!
Kangaroo Care for Premmie and Unwell Babies The evidence to support the benefits to babies of skin-on-skin time is vast, and seen nowhere more than in the model of care known as Kangaroo Care. These babies with special needs have far better outcomes when managed in this way, with skin to skin contact as much of the time as possible, instead of being in a humidicrib. Even the survival rate of premature infants doubled with Kangaroo Care in one study! Here are just some articles about Kangaroo Care, for more information: Breastfeeding Support and Kangaroo Care , Kangaroo care for the preterm infant and family and ...benefits of skin-to-skin and breastfeeding for premature infants extend into adulthood.
Babies and Mental Health If you’re thinking that babies just drink, sleep, cry and dirty their nappies – well, you’re right, but there’s more to them than that. They’re also going through the most rapid period of development that they’ll experience in their lifetime, according to Pip Wynn Owen, midwife and childbirth educator.
“Mental health starts with pregnancy,” says Owen. “We’re setting up the building blocks right from the word go, and we have this critical window that we need to make the most of. Mums who are highly stressed have high levels of cortisol in the amniotic fluid. Basically, babies are swimming in their mum’s emotions.”