BIRTH DOULAS
What really happens during birth and how can a doula help? Sophie Brigstocke Doula; Doula course facilitator and breastfeeding supporter
What do we really know about birth? How are people affected by media representations of birth? How do the hormones of labour work and how are they inhibited? What choices do women have and how can a doula support them in their decision-making? What does continuity of care mean? Does a woman’s birth experience really matter? And what impact does birth have on the new baby?
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My introduction to birth physiology came on a nurturing birth doula course a couple of years after the birth of my two children. In supporting many families during birth I have seen first hand how impactful environment and those involved in birth can be. Becoming a nurturing birth course facilitator in 2012, and now running the company, with Florence Etienne-Jackson, I am privileged to talk about birthing hormones with new doulas as well as pregnant mothers.
How many lightbulb moments can you remember in your life? Those moments when suddenly everything slots into place, those jigsaw pieces re-arrange themselves and you see the whole picture for the first time. I see the same ‘eureka’ moment happening time and time again – with the individual women and families I work with to the groups of new doulas I teach, and I am both excited to see the moment happening and saddened that the awareness wasn’t there before. The moment I am talking about is around birth physiology – the understanding of how hormones work in labour and how they can be disturbed. If I ask a random group of people to describe what happens during birth then the most common responses involve contractions, waters breaking, dilation and pushing out a baby. With the amount of fearmongering stories that people like to tell, and our media’s obsession with drama, there will often be vivid and horrifying descriptions – of women screaming, lying on their backs with their feet in stirrups, begging for pain relief, of torture-like instruments being wielded by white-clad strangers, lots of blood, a rush to the operating theatre, of life and death situations. Just writing about it makes me feel nauseous and
fearful. However, it is incredibly rare in these conversations that anyone ever considers what is behind the physical sensations of birth. So, if we take a moment to look at what a woman’s body is doing during labour we can gain enormous clarity. The prime hormone of labour is oxytocin. The hormone of love. Produced in the hypothalamus, the mammalian part of the human brain, it produces strong, effective contractions of the uterus – in the earlier part of labour contracting the muscles of the uterus upwards to draw open the cervix – and in the later stages causing effective downward surges, helping to push the baby down and out of the birth canal. Endorphins, also produced in the same area of the brain, are released alongside oxytocin and are responsible for providing natural pain relief – nature’s friends working side by side – one generating strong physical feelings, the other any necessary relief. So, in theory all should be well. A woman will feel strong sensations but her body will provide a natural antidote. However, many women report feeling overwhelmed, in pain and/or out of control. So, what is happening and why is the body not able to deal more effectively with ‘pain’?
© Journal of holistic healthcare
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Volume 14 Issue 2 Summer 2017
