by Tania Mcloughlin

Created on: January 22, 2010   Last Updated: January 23, 2010

All women during pregnancy are bombarded with birth stories both good and bad about mothers, aunt’s, friends, sisters, friends of friends experiences of childbirth. While it feels for the sharers like they are shedding light on a usually taboo topic, it actually gives the mother no guidance as to the experience coming up in her life.

Below are the most important points to consider and take note of, the rest, will all fall into place from there.

1.     Your Body – Your Baby.

Although you might like to look into the laws and practices in your area about what most doctors and midwives expect of you in order to continue your support, most ‘routine’ practices, i.e. glucose test, ultrasound, other testing, vaginal exams, are actually something requiring consent and can be denied if you wish. I would suggest that you have your reasons for whatever you choose firmly in your mind, or on paper to support your choice.

2.     Informed Consent, or Informed Choice?

During childbirth, (or afterwards) are when these terms most often arise. While you are in labour, your body is still yours and cannot be touched without consent. The reason the other term Informed Choice has been added, is because too often, you will be given a statement “We need to do abc, because if you don’t xyz” even more often, no xyz is offered. So many women ‘consent’ although not wanting to, out of fear, of the unknown. What needs to happen, is balanced discussion or information sharing, i.e. “I’d like you to abc, because xyz, the alternative is def, or ghi, and i have some information on all these options.” This is needed because some doctors have routines they follow, because they like them, or find their own success in them, but it entirely leaves the birthing mother out of the experience. An example of this is scheduled and regular cervical exams, they often do nothing expect tell the professional where you are right now as far as dilationgoes. It does not tell when the baby will be born, how you are feeling, or how the baby is doing. What a vaginal and cervical exam does do is take you out of your birthing headspace, often move your positioning into an uncomfortable one, and can slow labour since your body’s reactions can be affected by your thoughts. The cervix is like a sphincter, leave it alone and it will act. Sometimes a vaginal exam can help, but too often, they are used before

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