Motherhood is the life sustaining miracle. It has been honored for millennia by societies both small and great. This innate process is both beautiful and awe inspiring.
The maternal health cascade represents the trajectory of intervention based motherhood. A modern pregnancy is treated like a medical condition or disease process. There are a multitude of fear based fallacies that create a very scary experience for the mother to be. It is rare for a birth to transpire without any sort of medical intervention. Cesarean sections are at an all time high.
Epidurals shut down the nervous system communication to the muscles needed for a successful birth. How can a mother push where she cannot feel? Contractions cease or slow down due to loss of communication. Pitocin is administered to bump up the contractions, which become unnaturally painful. The Maternal heart rate and blood pressure rises and the baby displays stress physiology.
The modern birth position is biomechanically disadvantageous, the angle of the pelvis lessens the diameter of the birth canal, forming another obstacle and creating more work for mom. At this point the option is to continue for hours of painful labor or to have a C-section. There are often forceful interventions like forceps, vacuum suction and episiotomies.
Cesarean Section is a major surgery where the baby is cut out of its’ mother. The doctors pull the baby out by the head and neck, which is the first spinal trauma of a child’s life and affects growth and development. The baby misses out on the vital compressive forces of the birth canal that stimulate breathing and other hormonal changes. The baby is then separated from mother due to the incisions. Recovery from modern birth often takes longer than natural birth, depending on the level of intervention.
Imagine a different path to motherhood under the care of a competent, experienced midwife, who understands and supports mothers in Natural Childbirth. Women are empowered by proven methods to control breathing and to ease the pain. Mothers become aware of their bodies needs and emotions. Labor times are often reduced. Moms are often able to recover much faster. They are able to have immediate skin to skin contact with their babies, without unnecessary separation, this stimulates the release of necessary hormones and bonds the baby and mother in a unique way.