2011 - Talk Birth

Active Birth in the Hospital (2011-08-31 09:41)
[1]
One of the inspiring images in ICAN of Atlanta’s ”Laboring on the Monitors” slideshow.
The vast majority of my birth class clients are women desiring a natural birth in a hospital setting. My
classes are based on active birth and include a lot of resources for using your body during labor and working
with gravity to help birth your baby. Sometimes I feel like active birth and hospital birth are incompatible—
i.e. the woman’s need for activity runs smack dab into the hospital’s need for passivity (i.e. ”lie still and be
monitored”). So, I was delighted to discover [2]this awesome series of photos from ICAN of Atlanta of VBAC
mothers laboring on the monitors. It IS possible to remain active and upright, even while experiencing
continuous fetal monitoring.
In my own classes, we talk about how to use a hospital bed without lying down—the idea that a hospital
bed can become a tool you can use while actively birthing your baby. Here is a pdf handout on the
subject:[3]How to Use a Hospital Bed without Lying Down. In this handout, I offer these tips for using the
bed as an active assistant, rather than a place to be ”tied down”:
While being monitored and/or receiving IV fluids that limit mobility, try:
• Sitting on a birth ball and leaning on bed
• Sitting on bed
• Sitting on bed and lean over ball (also on bed)
• Kneeling on bed
• Hands and knees on bed
• Standing up and leaning on bed
• Leaning back of bed up and resting against it on your knees
• Bringing a beanbag chair, putting it on the bed and draping over it (can also make ”nest” with pillows)
• Partner sitting on bed and woman leaning on him/supported squats with him
• Partner sitting behind woman on bed (with back leaned up as far as it will go)
While giving birth, try:
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