I encourage my Calmbirth couples to start having conversations with their caregivers about their preferences for pregnancy, birth and postpartum as early as possible.
This allows the establishment of rapport, development of trust, and open dialogue. It allows you to become familiar with the preferences and policies of your caregiver/place of birth, they become aware of your wishes, and this hopefully means there are less unknowns in labour.
Being a support person in labour is a HUGE role.
Think of yourself as the Sherpa helping her climb Mt.Everest, the fans at the MCG cheering on their sporting heros, the cheer squad running along side her as she crosses that marathon finish line.
You can make ALL the difference by knowing how to be an incredible support: Here’s 50 tips to guide you.
It was everything I could have asked for- intense and challenging but also empowering and joyful.
It’s part of the antenatal clinic checklist. To discuss a woman’s feeding preference.
“Are you planning on breastfeeding?”
The most common response I was usually given: “If I can”.
In Australian, our breastfeeding initiation rate at birth consistently sits above 95%. Data from the ABS (2020-2021) shows that by 2 months of age the rate of exclusively breastfed infants falls to approximately 75%, and then to approximately 66% at 4 months of age. What does this tell us? That women want to breastfeed. Yet something is happening in the early weeks and months, that results in this decline.
Did you know that about 1/2 of women who have had a child will have some level of prolapse? 1 in 5 women will need to seek professional support. That’s 20%!
I am one of those 1 in 5 women. And I’ve decided to share my story because just like with physiological birth, I feel like our ‘system’ does not support women’s pelvic health. There is not enough awareness, conversation, preventative strategies out there to support the needs of women in this space.
So I’m starting this conversation – with my prolapse story.