This is so important! It's often too late to walkback once certain interventions have happened and you're so right they often begin with "social pressure" and fear-based recommendations. I feel extremely lucky that I got into birthwork before I had my first child because the way women are pressured to do things as if there are no other options should be criminal in my opinion. Most of my births have been at home, but my last birth was at the hospital. One thing I wasn't expecting was for my team to try to pull my baby out of me when he was already coming out on his own and for the placenta to be pulled from me.
There's just so much to it and if you're not prepared it's almost like going into war with no protective gear or weapons in some cases. Your list is extremely helpful for dealing with potential interventions, even in the moment.
Ugh this is infuriating!! Again, so disappointed that you had this experience. What’s your role as a birth worker? And I wonder how we can advocate against these types of interventions (pulling of baby/placenta). Is documenting in your birth plan/goals sufficient??
What I didn’t have was a doula. I had a virtual doula, but my phone stopped working and I got a new one so I couldn’t access her. All I had was my husband and myself. So I think an informed, committed birth support like a midwife, doula or partner helps, but I feel like it can’t be just one. There’s just too much going on for one person(aside from the birthing person) to handle it all.
In my experience the birth plan was not even slightly considered, I had to fight for everything I wanted (or my husband did), I think it would have been different with a different midwife and my midwife this time was in the building but I only saw her for about 2 minutes.
I studied to be a doula 20 years ago, but I only ever worked as a postpartum doula and a breastfeeding counselor and birth educator. I also started a midwifery program but didn’t get very far. I’m currently refreshing my training as a doula, planning a couple other trainings and in talks to be a peer mentor and open a branch of a community midwifery school.
This is so important! It's often too late to walkback once certain interventions have happened and you're so right they often begin with "social pressure" and fear-based recommendations. I feel extremely lucky that I got into birthwork before I had my first child because the way women are pressured to do things as if there are no other options should be criminal in my opinion. Most of my births have been at home, but my last birth was at the hospital. One thing I wasn't expecting was for my team to try to pull my baby out of me when he was already coming out on his own and for the placenta to be pulled from me.
There's just so much to it and if you're not prepared it's almost like going into war with no protective gear or weapons in some cases. Your list is extremely helpful for dealing with potential interventions, even in the moment.
Ugh this is infuriating!! Again, so disappointed that you had this experience. What’s your role as a birth worker? And I wonder how we can advocate against these types of interventions (pulling of baby/placenta). Is documenting in your birth plan/goals sufficient??
What I didn’t have was a doula. I had a virtual doula, but my phone stopped working and I got a new one so I couldn’t access her. All I had was my husband and myself. So I think an informed, committed birth support like a midwife, doula or partner helps, but I feel like it can’t be just one. There’s just too much going on for one person(aside from the birthing person) to handle it all.
In my experience the birth plan was not even slightly considered, I had to fight for everything I wanted (or my husband did), I think it would have been different with a different midwife and my midwife this time was in the building but I only saw her for about 2 minutes.
I studied to be a doula 20 years ago, but I only ever worked as a postpartum doula and a breastfeeding counselor and birth educator. I also started a midwifery program but didn’t get very far. I’m currently refreshing my training as a doula, planning a couple other trainings and in talks to be a peer mentor and open a branch of a community midwifery school.