There are simply no words needed to explain what you’re about to see — a video from Birth POV demonstrating how easy it is to end up with a diagnosis of failure to progress during labour when giving birth in a hospital.
But, just in case you weren’t aware: privacy and safety is critical when you are giving birth.
Many birth advocates and professionals tell us that giving birth optimally requires a similar environment to making love: dimmed lights, quiet, no interruptions, no strangers and privacy. Just like a mother cat will hide in a quiet, dark place to give birth to her kittens, this is how the birth process — more specifically birth hormones — work optimally.
While many women believe a hospital is the best place to achieve safety, it certainly isn’t much of a place for privacy, familiar faces or interruptions. Hence a smooth, optimal birthing process can be hard to achieve.
In the article Undisturbed Labour – Why You Should Aim For One, BellyBelly’s birth contributor, Sam McCulloch explains:
“In the wild, if a labouring mammal is threatened during the first stage of labour, adrenaline is released, stopping labour so the mother is able to get away to a safe place. Humans have exactly the same stress response as other mammals.
The big difference is most of us give birth under bright lights, observation and constant disruption. Our brains cannot differentiate between a real threat (sabre tooth tiger) and an imagined one (noisy staff), so they begin to initiate the process of ‘fight or flight’. Stress hormones are released. Labour begins to falter and doesn’t progress.”
The diagnosis of failure to progress pins the blame of failure on the mother’s body, when it’s more often a case of failure to wait – and failure to provide an optimal birthing environment.
Dim lights, quiet, no strangers, no distractions and no interruptions are all in short supply in a hospital.
As you watch the clip below, it will provide you with a very simple explanation of why failure to progress is not as simple as a mother’s body being ‘broken’. In fact, even some doctors admit that failure to progress is vastly over diagnosed.
It’s time women demanded better care, which will result in much better outcomes for birth and beyond.
How Easy It Is To Fail To Progress During Labour?
Don’t forget to share the message with your friends – when more birthing women – paying customers – start demanding better, only then will things start getting better.
Recommended Reading: Also check out BellyBelly’s article, 8 Natural and Effective Tips For A ‘Stalled’ Labour and If Making Love Was Treated Like Birth – A Sadly Hilarious Video.
