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Birth environments

Many years ago, I heard Michel Odent famously say “the right place to give birth would be the right place to make love”. At the time I was little surprised, but I realised he was right - the same hormones that are working to make a fantastic love making experience are also working during the birth process to make it work well too.

This issue came up today, at the workshop I am facilitating in Northern Ireland. We had been watching a video “Giving Birth-Challenges and Choices” and afterwards a comment was made that is was “very American”. When I probed this reaction, it was explained that “Irish women wouldn’t take off their clothes like they did in the video”. In fact the woman in this video is fully clothed throughout and there are no intimate views. It transpired that some in the group felt that Irish women would never be as uninhibited as those in many videos, so I challenged them on this.

Reminding them that being instinctive is the basis of a physiological birth, and of the preceding discussion on the role of the hormones, especially oxytocin, during labour, I suggested that it was the environment that was at fault. I offered the observation that when women did feel safe, and undisturbed during labour they would, in many cases, quite naturally shed their clothes, just as they would when making love. There can come a point that clothes are a hindrance to spontaneous reaction and response, just as they are when making love.

One midwife said that she noticed this did happen when women gave birth at home. If we could create the right setting, women who had elected to go to hospital for labour may also be able to achieve the same freedoms and comfort that the home environment provides without effort. One thing that will definitely need to change, however, are some of the attitudes of hospital staff, who are uncomfortable, or perhaps unfamiliar with women’s instinctive labour behaviours.

We’ll explore the many ways that hospital environments can be modified to meet the needs of women during the program tomorrow. I’ve left the group with much food for thought tonight!

Posted by andrea at October 28, 2005 05:49 AM