Blog 1 (Chapters 4 and 5)

For this first blog post I will be focusing on the various approaches to giving birth which is located on pages 94-99 of our textbook. When I think of giving birth, I think of laying on a hospital bed in extreme pain in a large hospital room full of doctors and nurses running around talking amongst themselves and looking at me with concern or boredom (this could be my first birth but it might be their 500th!). It was refreshing for me to read about various other birthing methods rather than the run-of-the-mill hospital births we typically hear about.
The first alternative approach to child birth is using Lamaze breathing and natural child birth, which means no pain medication. According to many mothers who have given birth naturally, these breathing techniques actually do work to make the pain of childbirth more acute and less stressful and tense.
The second birthing technique discussed is using a family birthing center. These centers are typically located near hospitals, but are located within their own small building comprised of various bedrooms decorated more as normal bedrooms than stark, white, hospital rooms. It is recommended that if a mother has a high-risk pregnancy that they plan to deliver within a hospital for safety reasons, however those mothers who have had no complications during their pregnancies are free to choose a family birthing center.
A third approach to giving birth is using a doula or older woman birthing coach who helps the mother through her birth by simply being present to provide support to her and her partner. The doula is not medically trained and may give conflicting and incorrect advice to mothers whose doctor's may advise another birthing method.
Considering the alternatives, I believe I would choose to deliver in a family birthing center so that I would be close to a hospital in case I had complications but I would not be stuck in a hospital room during one of the most wonderful and life-changing events a family can experience.