LABOUR AND BIRTH CHOICES
Understanding how birth works and the choices available to you!
The first step to a positive birth experience is getting yourself (and ideally your birth partner) clued up on what’s happening physiologically during labour.
From the hormones to the muscles, how they all interact and most importantly WHY they are SUCH an important part of labour! This is always the part that has people going ‘OH MY GOD! WHY DON’T THEY TEACH YOU THIS AT SCHOOL? WHY ISN’T THIS THE FIRST THING YOUR MIDWIFE TELLS YOU WHEN YOU’RE PREGNANT?’.
Believe me, this could change everything.. Use the search tool below, or start with our signature articles.
Place of Birth Choices
One of the first decisions you will make around your birth is both which trust to book your care with and where you would like to give birth. Did you know you can book you care under ANY hospital in the entire country if you wanted to? It doesn’t have to be your nearest. You don’t even have to see your GP first, most maternity units will have a ‘self referral’ system online.
Once you have ‘booked’ with the midwife you might start considering where you would actually like to be to give birth. You have three main options when accessing NHS care. Hospital (Labour Ward/ Delivery Suite), Birth Centre (Freestanding or attached) or home. You may also be considering private care, be that from an independent midwife or private obstetrician (These are likely to look like VERY different choices, so do your research first!). You are also within your rights to access no care at all, though I would urge you to consider that choice very carefully. All women should have the option to consider all places of birth, though some may be more suitable than other in some circumstances. Have a read around what these options may mean for your birth, and use the handy decision making tools in the next section to help you decide!
Many families using our Hypnobirthing course go on to plan a homebirth.. but occasionally people are discouraged or warned against the ideas using some pretty spectacular myths! These are probably the top 5 most common (but not the only) bits of utter nonsense I've heard about homebirth over the years- has anyone told them to you?
A ‘home from home’ environment either freestanding or attached to a hospital.
Whether you’re considering a home birth at this point or not, have a read to see what it might look like for you!
Wave goodbye to hypnobirthing and a positive birth then right? WRONG! If being on the Labour Ward feels like a safe and positive choice for you, then there is PLENTY you can do to make it positive.
Pain Relief Options
Whether you’re hoping to avoid it all, or jumping on anything you can get your hands on, it’s important to understand the risks and benefits of all your choices AND how you can make those choices positive!
More Birth Choices
Starting to think about what you might like your birth to look like? Who do you want there? Where do you want to be? What if you’re offered interventions? What can you to make things as positive as possible? Scroll through the many articles in the birth-ed® Hub for TONS of hints and tips to help you decide!
