Learning Childbirth Skills
Contrary to popular belief, childbirth skills can be learned by pregnant women, their partners and anyone else who will be supporting women during childbirth. Most doctors and midwives (even home birth attendants) have trouble understanding this concept. Doctors and hospital staff offer drugs and epidurals if women are unable to cope, and midwives feel that labor and birth is an “intuitive” process that women need to “surrender” to and figure out how to cope with on their own. While intuition and surrender are important aspects of birthing effectively, women with skills report less pain, feel more in control of their bodies, and perceive their births as much more positive experiences.
There are some home birth attendants that require their clients to learn the childbirth skills outlined in “The Pink Kit Method for Birthing Better®”. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, statistics show that couples with skills have lower transport rates, and fewer interventions and C-sections when they do transfer to the hospital. Their goal with couples that want to birth at home is to make every effort to keep women’s risk factors as low as possible. Experience shows that skilled women tend to have shorter labors, less pain, less fatigue, and better outcomes. (Statistics - http://birthingbetter.com/about-us/statistics.html )
Husbands/partners are extremely important to this process. Fathers who know what to do during labor and birth have far more confidence in both the birth process and their ability to help their women get through it. The Pink Kit Method® is all about cultivating body awareness. Practicing the skills regularly allows both the woman and her partner to increase their ability to determine what is working to facilitate labor, and what is not working if labor slows down or the woman becomes “stuck” at a certain point.
The bottom line is: an unskilled woman is more likely to develop complications than a woman who has learned the skills ahead of time. Knowing how to use childbirth skills during labor and delivery is the most important aspect of taking responsibility for your birth – Some midwives will only work with couples who are committed to taking the time to learn these simple and effective skills and practice them regularly during the 3rd trimester.