Ornament

The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Ornament

Nice Summary of Comfort Measures


Easy Steps to a Safer Pregnancy - View e-book or Download PDF - FREE!
An interactive resource for moms on easy steps they can take to reduce exposure to chemical toxins during pregnancy.

Other excellent resources about avoiding toxins during pregnancy

These are easy to read and understand and are beautifully presented.


OK, I'll give it a shot since I opened my big mouth, but I'm thinking you might have misunderstood and thought I meant DRUGS, when I don't. Oh, the docs now think narcotics are wonderful during labor, they don't take away the pain, but they allow you to rest and they let you push when the time comes. (And why do you need drugs to help you rest in the hospital? Because of the fear and anxiety their hypervigilance and attention to clocks is engendering!) Just what I always wanted, to be all doped up for the most awesome, most powerful, most inspiring moments of my entire life! I'm not kidding, for those of you out there who are gearing up for the pain. Giving birth undrugged was a peak experience. Out of this world. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. There is nothing else I can ever do that will compare. (But then I am a writer; masochist is part of the freaking job description.)

Comfort measures to get through labor without an epidural (not an exhaustive list!): (these are pain management approaches, not pain relief)

Cooking up this list sent me to some very nice books and now all my assignments are even later, and I'm so very glad! I got to sit and read Suzanne Arms this morning and look at her lovely photographs and remember how joyous it was to give birth in my own bed. How gloriously simple it was after all my planning and worry. But back to Suzanne, who tells us that labor pain has been demonized in the last 75 years or so as somehow less endurable that other kinds of pain. It's not true! Not only is labor pain endurable, uncounted women have accepted and survived it! My take is that if you have the courage to bring a child into the world with all that entails, you can discover the courage to labor and give birth ... all alone if you have to. What if you were trapped in a natural disaster? You'd give birth, you'd know what to do, you really would! You would not die just because there were no painkillers available. You know this is true in your heart of hearts. Remember: Courage is hanging on for one moment more. One moment.


This Web page is referenced from other pages containing related information about Waterbirth and Comfort Measures For Labor

 




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