Paradigm Shift

As you know from a previous post we are having a home birth assisted by a midwife. Due to the nature of the situation I had been considering pain management techniques, since I will not be having an epidural or medical pain relief. I knew a little bit about hypnosis during childbirth so I decided to do more research about that. I also asked my midwife what she recommends.

She gave me some brochures for different providers for hypnosis during childbirth in our area. Two were for teachers that taught hypnosis and another one that was called Hypnobabies. I wanted to know what the difference was. I found that for hypnosis during childbirth you had to lay down and relax to be in the hypnosis. Hynobabies taught hypnotic anesthesia and eyes open hypnosis. These techniques made it possible to have completely pain free childbirth while still being able to walk and talk. Hypnobabies is also a complete childbirth class.

I signed up to take Hypnobabies from Laura Lund. It is a six week course. Taking this class has opened my eyes to many of the routine procedures hospitals do. In the classes, we have discussed how many of these procedures basically put you on a course to child birth failure. I always just thought you had to do what the hospital said and you had to follow their rules and that they knew best. I have come to realize that this is not the case.

Despite many studies and facts hospitals still continue to have routine procedures that, for normal pregnancies and births, have more risks than benefits to the mother and baby. One standard procedure that I found very interesting was the clamping and cutting of the cord. It wasn't something I gave much thought until our class at Hypnobabies.

This is my experience with clamping and cutting the cord; after the baby is born and the doctor suctioned the baby with a bulb syringe (another routine procedure) the baby was placed on my stomach and the doctor clamped (a clamp was put near the baby's skin and then the remaining blood in the cord was pushed back toward the placenta. The cord was then clamped again a few inches from the first clamp with a surgical clamp) the umbilical cord and handed my husband a pair of surgical scissors. My husband was then instructed to cut the cord between the two clamps.

Trusting the hospital like I did, I never thought this could actually be harmful to the baby. I am still unsure as to why they do this routinely, what benefits do they see to doing this? Some risks include:

• Asphysiation - after birth the baby is still learning to use it's lungs. They are not use to breathing in air and therefore do not function fully in bringing oxygen into the body. The umbilical cord, however, has oxygenated blood in it that is meant for the baby and, left intact, will continue to give the baby the oxygen it needs. If enough oxygen is not delivered to the baby's brain it may cause brain damage.
  
• Inadequate pulmonary perfusion - As your baby tries to breathe for the first time, additional blood volume is needed to fill the blood vessels that go to the lungs to pick up oxygen. If there's no blood flowing in from the umbilical cord, your baby may become hypovolemic, meaning it doesn't have enough blood.
• Educator Joseph Chilton Pearce in his book "Magical Child" makes reference to studies that were done on primates who gave birth in captivity and had early cord clamping. Autopsies of the primates showed that early cord clamping produced unusual lesions in the brains of the animals. These same lesions were also found in the brains of human infants when autopsied. (REFERENCE)

After a normal birth the baby should be allowed to stay attached to the mother through the umbilical cord. This also allows the baby and mother time to get to know each other and the baby to adjust to it's new surroundings in a very loving and gentle manner. When the umbilical cord stops pulsating and the placenta has been delivered, the cord can then be clamped (although not necessary, the cord will clamp itself when it is done delivering the blood) and then cut.

I will write later about other routine procedures that complicate birth and have a domino effect that can lead to unnecessary c-sections.