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What is Active Childbirth?
Active childbirth means remaining in control of the choices you make during
your labour and birth. For many women it means being active in striving to
achieve a completely natural delivery without the use of drugs or analgesia.
How to Achieve It
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The first important step is to educate
yourself. Childbirth classes will give you knowledge of what is happening to
your body as you move through labour. This knowledge enables you to
relax. We know that nervous tension causes muscle tension, and that
muscle tension in the pelvic floor muscles prevents the baby from moving
downwards to allow labour to progress.
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The second important factor is to be an active
participant. It is YOUR childbirth! You must make choices about
what you want, and your birth attendants must support you in these choices,
unless there is a clear medical reason not to do so. In that case you
must feel free to question them so that ultimately you are part of each
decision.
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Thirdly, you need to be free to move about and
respond to your body as it progresses through labour.
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You also need to have a strategy for coping
with the contractions. It is helpful to see them as your allies in
getting the 'labour' part of childbirth done, and to avoid thinking of them
as pains. Some birth educators suggest that you mentally 'welcome'
each contraction. Having said this, they are painful, and having a bag
of tricks up your sleeve to cope will help you to set out with optimism.
Where does Obtens come in?
Obtens is part of your bag of tricks, along with
being active, posturing during contractions, massage, breathing, visualisation
(where you imagine a piece of music, or the taste of a lemon), a warm shower or
bath, or even self-hypnosis.
For more information on the Role of Obtens , click
on the button below.
[ Role of Obtens ] [ Obstetric Tens ] [ Obtens Booking ]
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