Birthing Choices

I wish to share with you a vision of woman-family centered maternity care that is possible for us here in Ottawa if we choose. So take a deep breath and dream with me...

First, The Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services outlines 5 principles which support, protect and promote mother-friendly maternity services which can be found online using this link - http://tinyurl.com/4a4zwd.

The same outline can be found in Marsden Wagner's latest book entitled Born in the USA-How a broken maternity system must be fixed to put women and children first, chapter eight, Vision of a better way to be born. The 5 principles are:

1. Normalcy: treat birth as a natural, healthy process.
2. Empowerment: provide the birthing woman and her family with supportive, sensitive and respectful care.
3. Autonomy: enable women to make decisions based on accurate information and provide access to the full range of options for care.
4. First, do no harm: avoid the routine use of tests, procedures, drugs and restrictions.
5. Responsibility: give evidence-based care used solely for the needs and in the interests of mothers and infants. (1:182)

The need to trust ourselves, our bodies and our babies is stronger now than it has ever been. Every woman, pregnancy, birth, and baby is unique – thus a one-size model of care does not fit all! It is our responsibility as a woman, as a mother and as a family to decide what's best for us individually. Whether this would be giving birth at home, in a hospital or birthing center, using Meditation, Visualization, Water therapy (hydrotherapy), or an epidural for strong sensations or simply standing, squatting or on hands in knees for birthing, this is about choices and what's right for you, your baby and your family.

In The Childbirth Activists' Handbook – How to get the childbirth options you want...in less than nine months, a signed Declaration of Independence is found. One particular paragraph caught my eye and reintegrates the freedom of choice in health care;

"...that parents are ordained by the laws of creation to assume responsibilities for childrearing and are, thereby, entitled to rights of participation and decision making in health care concerning their families; that where parents and professionals disagree, the wishes of the parents ought rightfully to prevail; that the moral and legal obligation of providers shall have been met upon their advising the parents of the available alternatives and their possible consequences, if known, ...that parents have the right to choose, what may seem to the professional, a wrong choice. We hold that the proper role of a professional is one of advisor, counselor, a possessor of technical skills, and advocate of health, and a promoter of patient self-determination, responsibility and independence." (2:22)

After all, this is a woman's experience of labour & birth and it is your child's Birth day!

References:

1. Marsden Wagner. BORN IN THE USA. How a broken maternity system must be fixed to put women and children first. University of California Press. Los Angeles, California. 2006.
2. Stewart David, Stewart Lee. The Childbirth Activists' handbook. How to get the childbirth options you want...in less than nine months. International Association of Parents & Professionals for Safe Alternatives in Childbirth (NAPSAC) Marble Hill. Colorado Springs. 1983.