HAM - Hnutí za aktivní mateřství­

Creating a Positive Birth Experience

You can download whole brochure Creating a Positive Birth Experience here.

CREATING A POSITIVE BIRTH EXPERIENCE

Information regarding health care options

Countries in Central and Eastern Europe have significantly changed or “grown-up” over the last twenty years. The health care system, too, has changed for the better. We can choose from various types of care during pregnancy as well as during and after childbirth. We can choose freely. But are we not too stuck in the routine of previous years? Are we really able to choose the care that is best for us and our babies?

When you visit any maternity hospital in the Czech Republic today, the staff is likely to smile, telling you they respect women giving birth as much as possible, that they “routinely work with ‘Birthing Plans’” and that they support 24/7 contact between mothers and babies as well as breastfeeding. Mothers have every reason to be happy. But are they?

Generally, the most satisfied women are those who have not been preparing for the birth too much and have no requests that could be in conflict with the ways of the hospital. On the other hand, more knowledgeable women who have more specific ideas regarding their childbirths will definitely have problems in the hospital. They will be lectured a great deal that in the interest of the baby’s safety, they must undergo this and that – a long list of interventions and orders will follow. Moreover, they will be told that as mothers they have no right to decide on the childbirth as it is the doctors who are responsible for the outcome. It is not unusual to hear a (rather rhetorical) question: “With these requests of yours, why not give birth at home?”, or a threat, should the woman insist on her wishes: “You better go somewhere else.”

What do these requests involve usually? The majority of knowledgeable parents would expect today that the hospital would let them have their baby according to the most up-to-date expert recommendations based on reliable research – such as recommendations by the WHO. Free choice regarding the mother’s position during labour and delivery, interventions and medication only in justified cases and based on informed consent, a partner present during the birth as the woman wishes, leaving hospital when the parents want to, etc. and all this in an atmosphere of trust, no threat and knowing that the mother will always be respected.

Does this sound like mere utopia? An exceptional philosophy in some “alternative” hospitals? It is very sad because this should be absolutely natural. The WHO recommendations are not legally binding, but we still have laws. These give mothers an almost unlimited choice to decide on their bodies and babies and impose obligations on the medical staff to provide care in compliance with the currently available knowledge of medical science. In all medical facilities, women should be given complete and unbiased information resulting from the best available research so that they can decide, in a well-informed manner, on the care to be provided to them and their children. This is not always the case, whether due to lack of time, language barriers or other obstacles.

In a maternity hospital, it is possible to implement “your birth”, although sometimes at the cost of energy that would be better used for the mother and the baby. Nevertheless, we still recommend that you try and agree with the medical staff, especially when you are convinced that your decisions are right and also supported by scientific evidence. The strengthening experience of a normal childbirth and a harmonious beginning to your life with your baby are definitely worth it!

This text was written to support communication between mothers (or rather, parents) and caregivers during childbirth in a hospital and as a source of information about normal childbirth. And last, but not least – to encourage all women to perceive their pregnancy and childbirth as a joy and a gift and not to be afraid to choose and decide freely!

We wish you all a lot of patience and friendly negotiations. And, naturally, many happily born children!

Petra Sovová

Active Motherhood Movement