Improving The Childbirth Experience: What You Should Know

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Once upon a time, doctors were not always around or available in the United States to handle the care of pregnant women giving birth. However, today, the opposite is true. Obstetrics physicians are readily available today to provide prenatal and childbirth care to pregnant women and their unborn babies. As a result of the medicalization of pregnancy care, the experience can sometimes become clinical and cold, though. To find a balance between the personalized, non-medical care of the past and the medical care of the presence, child-bearing women need to know the options available to them for childbirth care so that they can improve their own experience with childbirth. Get to know some of these available options so that you can get the best possible experience. 

Family-Friendly Cesarean Procedures

In the United States, the cesarean (c-section) has become one of the most common methods of childbirth. This occurs for many reasons including medical emergencies, labor that does not progress quickly enough, or as an elective procedure.

Oftentimes, when a woman goes in for a C-section, she is heavily sedated and groggy (in addition to being numbed for the surgery). They also have their view of what is going on completely blocked and lose out on seeing their child as it is brought into the world. Additionally, the newborn baby is often whisked away for medical testing and care without the mother being allowed skin-to-skin contact to bond with the child immediately after birth. 

However, a trend is developing towards family-centered or family-friendly cesarean procedures. In such a procedure, the women is less sedated so she is aware and coherent. The curtain that blocks her abdomen is lowered so that she can see the monitor to view the c-section if she would like. And, of course, she can see her child as he or she is born. To make this procedure more family-centered, the sensors that monitor the mother's vital signs can be placed lower and on her sides so that the baby can be placed on her chest immediately after birth for the important skin-to-skin bonding experience. 

Midwife And Doula Care

Midwives and doulas are often thought of as alternatives to conventional medical care from an obstetrics physician. They are associated with home births, natural births, and the like. 

However, many women do not realize that they can have the best of both worlds in their childbirth care. Midwives and doulas are allowed to attend to women through their childbirth experience in a hospital setting, and can work alongside an attending physician and nursing staff. Medical care and alternative care can be used simultaneously to ensure holistic childbirth care, advocacy, and medical interventions if needed. So, do not think that you need to choose one or the other. You can have both. 

Improving the childbirth experience does not have to be a difficult task. It is all a matter of communicating what you want and need and hiring the right support staff to get you through the experience happily and safely. Talk to a professional like Triad OB-GYN PC for more information.


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