Tess and Sam
© Uwe Kitzinger

"An important element in using immersion in water for labour and possibly for the birth of the baby is that it provides an effective way of helping the woman cope with the pain of labour, and gives back control of birth to the woman herself. Yet there is more to it even than that. It seems to create an entirely different environment and atmosphere for a woman giving birth, as it does also for the midwife caring for her. Birth takes place in a quiet room, with personal care from a midwife who is concerned to support the normal physiological process of birth.

Knee-jerk reactions to waterbirth make the existence of double standards quite patent. Waterbirth is seen as unnatural and hazardous, and urgent investigation is demanded into the dangers that women create for their babies when they do not submit to obstetric guidance and agree to be delivered in the conventional way. Yet many of the interventions that have been introduced by obstetricians have not been subjected to randomised controlled trials, and remain inadequately researched. Epidural anaesthesia, despite reported hazards, and possible long term morbidity for the mother continues unchallenged. This is understandable, because epidurals fit neatly into the existing medical paradigm. It is difficult to ignore the possibility that the attempt to suppress the use of water for labour and birth is also an attempt to dominate the birth environment, and to prevent a woman and her midwife being in control of the birth process. The use of water in childbirth requires systematic evaluation, but so does the use of epidural anaesthesia and other procedures in routine use, such as the interventions necessary for the active management of labour.''

From:

The UKCC has decided that assistance at waterbirth is part of the duties of a midwife and is not “special treatment” (Position Statement on Waterbirths, 1994). So each midwife needs to be confident that she has the skills to help women give birth in water.

We often hear of midwives who are uncertain about waterbirth because they feel they are not up-to-date with the latest research and of hospitals where, when a certain midwife is not on duty, women are dissuaded from waterbirth.

The International Waterbirth Movement is now offering workshops, addressing theory and practical skills, by one of England's most experienced waterbirth midwives, Ethel Burns. She has assisted at more than 500 waterbirths and has done research into waterbirth and aromatherapy. She explores issues of safety, pain relief, mothers' satisfaction and good midwifery practice.

For more information on these workshops, please send your address and contact details to Sheila Kitzinger

A web site dedicated to those who believe that pregnancy and childbirth are not a medical procedure but a gentle natural process.
Products include well thought out ethically manufactured inflatable birth pools to purchase.

The cost is £25 including post packing & VAT.
Available only from:
Oxford Medical Illustration.
John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford
OX3 9DU
UK

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