For more information, visit the I am a Midwife website at mana.org/IAAM or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

For more information, visit the I am a Midwife website at mana.org/IAAM or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

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IAAM presents a series of short videos featuring a diverse selection of midwives, practicing in different settings across the US and Canada, serving a variety of communities and speaking about a range of topics.

IAAM is meant to change the discourse about childbirth in the US–from fear to empowerment! IAAM is for potential consumers of midwifery, aspirant midwives and those engaged in the public discussion about transforming our system of maternity care in the US, including, of course, midwives!

Filmed, edited and co-produced by Nicolle Littrell of Woman in the Moon Films http://www.youtube.com/user/womaninthemoonfilms

“Like” IAAM on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-am-a-Midwife/276213905781972

Follow IAAM on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/iamamidwife

I am a Midwife includes an excerpt from “I Love Being a Midwife,” adapted by visionary and activist, Dr. Byllye Avery, founder of the Black Women’s Health Imperative and a Midwife, and presented it as gift to the Black Midwives and Healers of International Center for Traditional Childbearing http://www.ictcmidwives.org/
ICTC members have taught the song to MANA and other birth worker organizations, and the song has spread far and wide across the midwifery and birthing communities

Pain Management

The decrease in delivery pain provided by a water birth is second only to a hospital’s epidural anesthesia, which means that it’s extremely effective in reducing mom’s pain. Having a water birth is a better way to control pain than using any type of pain medication (except the epidural), and it’s undoubtedly the healthiest way. So if you’re hesitant to use drugs or anesthesia during your birth process, rest assured that you can avoid these potential dangers while keeping your pain under control naturally.

Avoidance of Epidural Anesthesia

Many moms-to-be decide against epidural anesthesia for a variety of reasons. A lot of those reasons have to do with the negative effects of an epidural on both mother and baby, so having a home or birth center water birth will enable you to avoid these effects entirely. Here are some of the complications linked to epidurals, all of which are less likely to occur in water births:

• Decreased uterine function and longer births
• Increased rate of operative deliveries (c-sections and use of forceps or vacuum extraction)
• Unsuccessful positioning of the fetus for normal birth, most likely caused by the epidural’s tendency to impede the mother’s pelvic muscle function
• Mother’s hypotension (low blood pressure), which can cause a dangerously low fetal heart rate
• Mother’s fever during labor, which often results in antibiotic treatment and longer hospitalization for the baby
• Mother’s inability to move or walk during labor, feel contractions, know when to push, and help the birth process along by using pelvic muscles.

Decreased Potential for Tearing

Women who give birth in the water have fewer tears occurring during the birthing process. This results in fewer stitches and a faster recovery time after delivery. The decrease in tears is most likely due to the mother’s ability to relax more successfully in the water. 

Better Mobility & Relaxation for Mom

Even when a new mom has been pregnant for what seems like an endless number of months and has dealt with the difficulty of moving her larger body through space, water has the effect of helping her feel mobile, comfortable, and even graceful again. That “weightless” feeling that results from being partially submerged in water helps her move throughout labor and delivery, enabling her to provide more assistance to the baby moving through the birth canal. The relaxing effects of a warm bath also help mom to feel less pain and stress, making the birthing process more comfortable for her and the baby.

Faster Birth with Fewer Complications

In the end, having a water birth means fewer complications (like c-sections and other drastic interventions) and tends to speed up the delivery process naturally. Because mom can control her muscles and respond to her contractions without feeling as much pain as she would with a “dry” birth, she can provide more pushing force to help the baby emerge faster. A shorter labor and delivery period can mean less pain, stress, and recovery time – what mom wouldn’t want that?

If you’re considering a water birth, your next step is to find a local birth center that provides this service or a midwife and doula who can come to your home, then find out about the processes and policies involved for each option. This can help you decide for certain whether or not you’re interested in having a water birth. 

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online degrees, and what it takes to succeed as a student getting an online masters degree from home. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

What we challenged the families is to think of Areas of Intimacy, as gradients, or degrees, instead of an all or nothing. As a couple we can look into these areas of intimacy and think about how we are doing within them. Perhaps we will find that one area is really strong and another is really weak. Then what we can do is put more effort into re-inforceing certain areas.

Consider these areas of intimacy:

As Parents: How we make decisions as parents (not the time we spend with our kids, but as a couple talking about how we parent)

Spiritual: We may share a religion, or a sacred process or thought or ritualize certain events or moments

Recreational: How we share having fun, what we like to do together

Asthetic: Our appreciation of what is beautiful to us

Crisis: Walking together through crisis, either an external crisis where we lean on the other or an internal relationship crisis where we are pulled together by our effort to reconcile and heal

Emotional: How we share, live and communicate our emotions

Sexual: How our sex life is lived, discussed and felt

When we consider intimacy by areas we can assess our balance or imbalance on a qualitative scale. We can work on enforcing certain areas and we will find that the better our intimacy gets in one area, the better it gets in another area. For example, if we agree that on saturday mornings we will bike ride together because we enjoy doing that, we will probably find that on saturday nights our sex gets better!

What we discussed in Family Circle (the first tuesday of every month at Luna Maya) was that during pregnancy couples can work on improving specific areas of intimacy so that when baby comes we can communicate our needs for intimacy as a couple, separate from the all consuming parenting.

If a couple has already had a baby and the couple feels astranged, perhaps they can check out these areas and see where there is possibility for improvement. Sometimes, its ok to pump milk, leave baby with grandma for a saturday morning so that mom and dad can have a bike ride and share some intimate time together.

It is important to remember that the new baby lives with two (sometimes) adults, and these two have a relationship that will immediately affect the baby. Lets give ourselves time as a couple to work on our areas of intimacy. We will teach our kids the importance of this and foster intimacy and communication among our newborns.

Read the original blog post here.

When you choose to have a natural pregnancy and childbirth you are choosing to play an important role in your own care, along side your chosen caregiver(s). With a midwife, you will have a wealth of resources to call upon to support each step of your pregnancy and birth, rather than being limited to medical intervention alone. The resources section of this Web site can help, too.

With the best options, knowledge, holistic care, and positive support you will be better suited to enable your body to do its work, and avoid unnecessary medical intervention. What more could you want for what you care about most?