Second Stage - to push or not to push?

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Second Stage - to push or not to push?

This concept has its origin in the Active Management of Labour given to us by a group of Irish doctors in 1970s. Their belief was that every mother’s labour and birth has to fit within a certain time frame. This belief was carried on and is still very much in evidence in many of the maternity hospitals throughout the western world. A number of Calmbirth mothers have reported that when labouring in the hospital birthing suite their labour was disrupted by a midwife insisting on them inappropriately “pushing” when if fact they did not feel the urge to do so.

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Questions and Myths about Calmbirth

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Does a woman's preconceived idea of childbirth as painful inhibit her experience and affect the baby's experience of birth?

Belief controls biology via the emotions. i.e. when a woman believes that childbirth will be painful then the emotion of fear is triggered and it is the fear that alters the physiology as described above. Contemporary science demonstrates that the mother communicates with her baby biochemically. The same hormones that are released in the mother’s body by her fearful belief system (adrenaline) crosses the placenta and stimulates a similar response in the baby.

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Calmbirthing - Fear of Labour study

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Calmbirthing - Fear of Labour study

Women who have a fear of childbirth spend longer in labour than women who have no such fear, suggests new research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Between 5 and 20% of pregnant women have a fear of childbirth. Various factors have been associated with increased prevalence of fear of childbirth, including young maternal age, being a first-time mother, pre-existing psychological problems, lack of social support and a history of abuse or adverse obstetric events.

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Towards normal birth

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Towards normal birth

These are the results of the online surveys from couples who attended the Calmbirth Pre Natal Education Programme before the birth of their babies between June 2008 and August 2012.

The Calmbirth Pre Natal Education Programme has been shown to

  1. Reduce the use of interventions that women experience in labour, particulaly augmentation of labour and analgesia (see survey results below).
  2. Enhance satisfaction with care during pregnancy and childbirth including social and emotional aspects of care.  Women increased their confidence about birth and decreased their anxiety.
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