Posts Tagged ‘babies’

What is the best position for them to come out? This is important to know because by “best position” we mean the easier and safer for him and for you.

The best position for your baby to be born is, first of all, when you are in labor and, second, when he is upside down, with the back of the head slightly toward the front of your womb.

In this position, the baby perfectly fits into the curve of your pelvis and it is easy for him to move gently down during labor.

When it comes to the lower part of your pelvis, the baby turns his head a little so that the widest part of the head is in the widest part of your pelvis.

Then, the back of his head can slip down from your pelvic bone; his little face will pass through the perineum, which is the tissue between the back of the vagina and anus.

When the baby shows up from the vagina, he has the back of his head facing toward the front of your abdomen. He is looking backwards compared do you.

In this position the labor is often shorter and easier.

Some babies go down to the pelvis with the back of the head turned toward the spine of the mother. That is the opposite of what they usually do, with their back towards their mother’s womb.

This is called a POSTERIOR position and can lead to a series of events:

• Your bag is broken at the start of labor
• You have a lot of pain during and in between contractions
• The labor is slower
• You may need forceps or vacuum (a suction apparatus) to help your baby to be born.

The close proximity between the bones of the baby’s skull and the mother’s spine can be very uncomfortable. In this case, the best position for the labor is all four, with hands and feet. In this way, the baby is away from his mother’s relieving the back pain.

When he reaches the lower part of the pelvis, he needs to rotate 180 degrees to be in the best position for birth. This may take a long time, or he may decide that he will not turn! In this case, it will be born with the little face looking at his mother. Or he may need external help.

Birth has been reduced to a medical event. That’s why the World Health Organization launched in 1986 its recommendations for childbirth and newborn’s care.

The way the labor is being conducted today is harmful to women and babies. It turns us into hospital patients. Most women do not know it, but suffer this situation, without understanding why.

Nobody can be more interested in changing the model of obstetric care situation than us. Raising this issue, demanding change, information, taking charge: that is what we have to do. No one will do it for us.

Rescuing childbirth as a natural and physiological event starts with getting informed and aware. Women have to take responsibility and create positive partnerships with their health care professionals.
In doing so, women, their partners and family, will turn into active protagonists of the childbirth transformation model. It’s about relearning what a non-medical birth is and what it a physiological and really satisfactory one.

Giving birth the right place it’s deserves in our lives as women we are being adults and responsible towards our children and society’s future. For a gentle birth leads to a gentle world.