the Internet Public Library
Pathfinder: Childbirth Options
General Information and Where to Start
This guide is designed for pregnant or soon-to-be pregnant women who want
to know more about their options for giving birth. There's so much
information available about birth -- books, videos, web pages -- how do
you know where to start? This Pathfinder will help clarify your choices
so that you can make the best decisions for you, your baby and your
family.
When it comes time to have your baby, there are three big choices that you
need to make:
- Who will attend me?
- Where will I have the birth?
- How do I want my delivery to go?
1. Choosing A Care Provider
In most locations, you have the option of giving birth with a
physician (an OB/GYN or a family practitioner) or a
midwife (either a nurse-midwife or a direct-entry
midwife). In addition, you can also choose to have a
doula or a monitrice with you during
labor.
A. Midwives are trained in normal birth (over 90% of all
pregnancies). They deliver babies in hospitals, birth centers or at home,
and are highly skilled at non-interventive care such as listening and
communication, and non-medical pain relief for labor and delivery.
-
- Resources About Midwife-Attended Birth:
B. Physicians are trained in abnormal birth, or birth
with complications. OB/GYN's are specially trained to deal with
pregnancy-related problems and surgical births. If your pregnancy is
termed "high-risk", such as in the case of high blood pressure or other
conditions, you will probably want to give birth with a physician.
-
- Resources About Physician-Attended Birth:
C. A doula is a woman who is trained in
supporting women in
childbirth. She provides emotional support, information and reassurance.
A monitrice is similar to a doula, except that she
provides clinical skills as well. Monitrices are usually nurses. Both
doulas and monitrices can be of great help during labor, especially if
you choose to birth with a physician.
-
- Resources About Doulas and Monitrices
2. Choosing A Birth Location
You have three choices for a birth site: at home, at a
hospital or at a free-standing birth
center.
-
- Resources for Birth Sites
3. Choices In Labor
The foundation of a good labor is a carefully considered birth plan. This
is simply a short document detailing the specific care measures,
interventions and procedures you do or do not want at your birth.
Birthplan.com
guides you through
the process of creating a birth plan, and helps explain why you would want
one.
The following books include information on how to write an effective birth
plan. All books about pregnancy are listed in the 618
section of your local library.
- Creating a Joyful Birth Experience by Lucia Capacchione
(Simon and Schuster, 1994).
- Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper (Inner Traditions
International, 1994).
- Pregnant Feelings by Rahima Baldwin (Celestial Arts,
1986).
- Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn by Simkin,
Keppler, and Whalley (Meadowbrook Press, 1991).
- Trust Your Body! Trust Your Baby! Childbirth Wisdom and Cesarean
Prevention by Andrea Frank Henkart (Bergin and Garvey, 1995).
This
site
details some specific choices which you may wish to consider for
your labor and delivery.
Water Birth:
- Giving
Birth
Underwater, sponsored by the Global Maternal/Child Health Association
(GMCHA), provides answers to questions, books, birth stories, rental tubs
and everything else you need for a water birth.
- Also visit the Waterbirth
Website.
- Here's the Yahoo! category listing about water
birth.
More Resources on Childbirth Options
Reviews
of 31 videos on birth, which you may be able to find at your
local library.
Birthstories.com
provides
a wealth of birth stories shared by moms in all circumstances of labor and
delivery.
Childbirth Bookstores -- these bookstores specially deal
in hard-to-find books for midwives and interested consumers:
Journals and Magazines on Birth
This pathfinder was created by Maggi R. Seymour