Always Learning

I learn something new about childbirth education at every birth I attend. I think it’s so beneficial to a childbirth educator, to also attend births. Hospital births, birth center births, and homebirths too. This last birth I was at, I was reminded, (and therefore will be reminding my upcoming students), that sometimes Mammas NEED to be TOLD the same thing over and over again in labor. We think if we say it once, they will hear it, and it will be enough. But Labor can be a stressful, and emotional time. And sometimes we need to be reminded of something over and over again, above and beyond what we think of as “Normal”. For example, When I was in labor with Hannah, I needed to hear over and over, “She’s safe, she’s healthy, her heart rate is great!” Not once, not twice, but every couple of minutes. My midwives and doulas did a great job at reminding me of that. This last birth I attended, was a fast and furious one, making it VERY intense and hard for Momma that last hour or so. Momma needed us to remind her OVER AND OVER, that “It was almost over, and that she was doing great”. If we weren’t saying it, she was asking for it to be said. A great reminder to support people in labor, just because we think it’s being said enough, doesn’t always mean it is to the laboring woman!