Gentle Birth.

When you think of Gentle Birth what words do you think of--calm, peaceful, smiles, joy, completeness, wholeness, tears, relief, powerful, quiet, confidence? When you think back to all of the birth experiences you have shared with women, what words do you think of? How many of these birth experiences are full of Gentle Birth words?

Does it really matter what the birth experience is like for the mother, the father, or the baby? Could many of our current problems with infants, children, adolescents, and adults begin at conception? What has happened in the last hundred years that has brought us here?

There is a biological plan for humans that has been perfected genetically over the last few million years. A plan that has physical growth linked closely to intellectual growth. The mind-brain of the human is designed for astonishing capacities. In our search for control over nature and in our love for technology this plan has gone awry. For example:

* Infant autism is increasing at an epidemic rate

* Schooling is becoming increasing unproductive and even hazardous[i]

How a child is nurtured in the womb and how the child is born--whether those experiences are stressful, peaceful, easy, smooth, painful, or violent--largely determines who he becomes and how he will view the world around him.[ii] Gentle Birth allows us to rediscover this biological plan. If we understand and cooperate with this plan we can, as health care professionals, successfully support childbearing families to their potential.

In the womb, the baby shares the mother's stress, anxiety, maltreatment and fear. Her body produces massive amounts of adrenal steroids that lock the infant into a free-floating state of anxiety. Imagine a fright that startles your entire body and not knowing why you feel that way? Infants locked into this continual stress or anxiety cannot develop intellectually or establish a bond with their mother. Physical growth takes place while intellectual growth struggles or slips farther and farther behind. These infants are prone to autism, childhood schizophrenia or become dysfunctional,[iii] If a woman is supported through her pregnancy, we help her reduce those feelings.

The biological plan allows an infant to move from a known matrix (the womb) to an unknown matrix (the mother's body) with confidence. The development of intelligence is based on a series of matrix formations and shifts. Only when the current matrix provides us with all that we need--energy, possibility, and a safe, protective place--can we go forward into exploration in the next matrix. In the womb, the infant prepares for his birth by establishing hormonal and psychological bonds with his mother. This bonding will provide the similarities between the womb and the new world outside.

In human life, there is a life-giving balance of stress and relaxation. Stress has largely become our enemy, as we have lost this balance. We live in a stress/stress mode and have forgotten the inner peace of true relaxation. Relaxation is almost impossible to attain in our culture unless it is chemically-induced with drugs, alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine. This imbalance creates a stressful time in pregnancy and birth.

Studies have shown that babies born in North American and European hospitals rarely smile and usually show a lack of intellectual response until ten to twelve weeks of age. Babies in cultures who were born at home, delivered by the mother herself or women helpers, and stayed with their mothers constantly, were very content. These mothers carried their infants in a sling next to their breasts continually and the baby fed and slept with her as needed. These mothers massaged, caressed, sang to, and fondled their infants. These infants were smiling from at least the fourth day after birth. They were alert, watchful, calm and rarely cried as all their needs were answered immediately: They sat upright (held by the forearms) with straight backs, with perfect head balance, and eyes focused intently. Blood analysis showed adrenal steroids connected with birth stress were gone by day four. Our babies generally have high levels of adrenal steroids at ten weeks, sleep massively, cry when awake, are often irritable and colicky, and seem frail and helpless.

The creation of life is the greatest of human acts. Successfully nurturing that life is the most fulfilling and rewarding gift a mother can give herself, her child, and the world. Motherhood provides a deep bonded relationship that lasts forever. At times this bond is more valuable than a successful career. Our retired population illustrates this secret. They rarely talk about their past careers, yet often talk about the children they have or the children they lost or never had. They mention children that rarely visit because the children lead very busy lives.

The Magical Child is a book that provides us with a description that could be easily adopted through support in our culture and communities.

In the last trimester, a pregnant mother (and she is a mother already, right from conception) hums or sings the same tunes or songs or talks aloud to her baby. She thinks positive and creative thoughts. Her unborn baby and she are great friends as they have been communicating through cues the baby sends her through movement. She works purposely through her pregnancy, with the help of her family and friends, to create a sense of calmness, peacefulness, and confidence. She needs the support of her partner for an anxiety-free pregnancy and journey into parenthood.

She begins and ends her day with quiet meditation, a quieting of the mind so she may tune into inner signals her baby is giving her. She prepares a proper birthing place--private, quiet, dimly lit, a place where there will be no possibility of intrusions or noise. She welcomes the signs of labor with rising anticipation and excitement. She has nowhere to travel to.

Her helpers in birth remain quiet and calm, giving strength and support when the mother shows the need. The mother uses the position of birthing adopted through thousands, perhaps millions of years, squatting or perhaps on her knees. This position aligns her with the earth, gravity and the muscles in her body work best in this position. She flows with the process. Labor also has a balance of stress and relaxation. She experiences a joyful response to a knowing body, and does the proper thing at the proper time. The pain is white in intensity and that intensity is equal to power, not hurt.

Her relaxed alertness keeps her supple as needed and her journey is quickly accomplished. The distance is remarkably short. As the baby's head appears the mother may support the baby to help it out and place him onto her belly, molding her baby to the very contours of the belly he has left. She does not touch her baby's head except to support as needed. She gently cradles her infant and lets him breathe when ready as there is no need to hurry. The baby is still drawing blood and oxygen from the mother through the cord. The transition is calm and gentle.

Safely on her belly, the baby begins to relax. The same heartbeat, the voice, the scent, all help the baby become familiar with his new environment. As the baby attempts the new sensation of breathing, he may cry a little and within a few minutes the breathing is regular and steady and mucous clears. As the baby climbs up towards the mother's nipple, the contact stimulates the placenta to send the final reserves of oxygen and blood to the baby.

At this point all the "extras" leave the room as the hour or so after birth is a magical and critical time in any new human's life. The love affair that began after conception begins again and works in strange and wonderful ways. Only in the second great bonding, many years later in the infant's life when he or she becomes an adult, will he or she enter into this same ecstasy.

As the baby extends its arms and legs to feel the mother's skin, the mother begins a slow, rhythmic caress stimulating the infant's entire body and massaging the creamy vernix into the infant's skin. This continual stimulation activates many physical processes--digestive, eliminative, sensory and those of the reticular formation. The birth stress that has flooded the baby's body prepares the baby for the massive learning that is taking place. The mother's instinctive nurturing quiets this stress, reduces the hormone production and furnishes the child with the basis of learning that stress is followed by relaxation. The baby finds that learning--the movement from the known to the unknown--can be joyful and peaceful.

The mother ignores the placenta discharging, having too many more important cues to respond to. The cord is cut at leisure. Suturing, tying, or clamping is not needed as the blood vessels have long since completed their assignment and shut down.

The mother may use a warm bath for the baby to help remind the baby of the environment he has left, and to help complete the stress/ relaxation cycle. As the baby floats in the warm water, gently supported by his mother, the baby truly awakens. The mind-body begins a rapid transition into the new world as this bath provides a familiar environment. The baby opens his eyes wide and those eyes register questions. Where am I? What place is this? The baby's hands are open wide and the baby relaxes. After a while, the mother dries the baby off and may nurse the baby again, further tightening the abdominal muscles. The early milk contains hormones that further the act of bonding and reduce the birth stress. The mother molds her infant to her, touching skin-to-skin, maintaining eye contact, and smiling, humming or singing a familiar song that her baby has heard many times before.

All elements of the world are introduced slowly, gently, and one at a time. Within hours the baby is smiling, knows his rightful place, and feels joyful and safe. There is much familiar for the baby to feel comfortable in this new world.

Within hours, the mother can begin her routines again. Her newborn is never separated, as mother knows abandonment is the most severe trauma to affect a newborn or child. She sleeps with her baby and greatly reduces the chance of SIDS. There isn't a sudden drop of blood sugar as nourishment is only inches away. As the mother carries her baby in a sling, the baby can feed many times a day without concern for the activity of the mother. The baby is used to movement and some noise and feels familiar in this environment. When the baby feels sensory overload, he drifts off to sleep and this movement is what helps the baby achieve relaxation. Carrying a baby throughout the day provides the ideal learning situation for the baby and the new mother.

The mother learns the baby's cues very quickly. The biological plan for intellectual growth coincides with the physical growth and there is a balance. The mother becomes the baby's conceptual channel for interacting and responding in this new world. The baby's system receives the right balance of stimuli to maintain alertness. The mother's breastmilk provides the accompanying hormones to produce a proper growth of proteins in the brain which provide ample growth of new neuron connections. This allows a synchronicity with the input of new information for the baby. The baby also follows the mother's cues and their rest and sleep patterns align together and they enjoy few sleepless nights.

The Benefits of Gentle Birth

The woman whose life is serene and fluid, who has few difficulties or emotional upheavals, will likely give birth to a baby who reflects those experiences. A woman who has a difficult time during pregnancy, worries much of the time, or is involved in some form of abuse will most likely give birth to a difficult or overactive child. This child may have trouble with food and elimination, be a colicky baby, and cry much of the time.

A woman's emotional state may also have some effect on her ability to absorb nourishment. Continued emotional stress or shock has been shown to cause physical defects, complications of pregnancy, prematurity, low birth weight, and toxemia.

The contractions during a natural birth stimulate the baby's skin, which in turn stimulates the gastrointestinal system, the genitourinary system and respiratory system to develop properly after birth. As the baby passes through the vagina, it receives chest compressions to induce pressure within the heart, circulatory system, lungs, and diaphram that remove the fluids. The baby needs to receive all the blood the placenta has to give.[iv]

The more pleasure a baby receives during birth the more likely he will develop normal sexual attitudes. The mutual stroking, hugging, kissing, whispers, and murmurs common in adult lovemaking have many parallels at birth and subsequent bonding behavior.

Gentle Birth and bonding after birth affects the relationships between mother and child. The mothering style is more instinctive, more nurturing, and the mother spends more time touching, holding and stroking her baby.[v] Breastfeeding automatically establishes some bonds. Breastfeeding mothers respond more readily to baby's cries as the prolactin hormone released during breastfeeding activates this response. This hormone also has a tranquilizing effect on the mother that helps her to adjust to the new pressures of having a new baby. Prolactin also suppresses ovulation with "pure breastfeeding" (no pacifiers, bottles or solid food). A bottlefeeding mother operates out of a different attitude. She responds with a schedule in mind. Breastfeeding babies cry less after age one as they have a better sense of personal power and have more mature methods of expression and use crying only for emergencies.

Breastfeeding answers the four great needs for bonding:

* holding, with the infant's body molding to the mother

* prolonged and steady eye contact

* smiling

* soothing sounds

Newborns have a physiological reflex for sucking when a nipple is placed in their mouth. The baby's brain has the built-in pattern to wait for stimulation of their lips.[vi]

Advantages for breastfed babies:

* better bone maturation and intellectual development

* protects the baby from asthma and other hereditary allergies

* avoidance of emotional disturbances

* reduced danger of hypertension later in life

* reduced need for tonsillectomy 

* reduced chance of hearing loss from use of tubes in ears

Disadvantages of formula feeding include diarrhea, colic, gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, meningitis, asthma, hives, allergies, pneumonia, eczema, obesity, arteriosclerosis, dermititis, growth retardation, hypocalcemic tetany, neonatal hypothyroidism, necrotizing enterocolitis, SIDS, and lead accumulations.

Breastfeeding instruction creates more work for the hospital staff and successful breastfeeding creates less work for the pediatrician.

Modern Obstetrics

Many of the procedures that take place in modern obstetrics do have a lasting effect on the mother and the baby. With all of these procedures, we must ask ourselves "Are we instilling fear, or are we developing confidence in the mother's ability to birth her baby?" Technology in birth should be reserved for emergencies. It can disrupt the harmony between the mother and her baby.

In research we find some surprising results. Three good references are: A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (Murray Enkin); Episiotomy and the Second Stage of Labour (Kitzinger and Simkin); and Male Practice (Robert Mendelsohn). Here are some of the statistics.

Induced labor can cause brain damage due to the lack of oxygen to the baby during the prolonged contractions. Induced labor has also been linked to sexual perversion as an adult. Induction rates in other countries are as low as 3 percent.

Cesarean sections deprive the baby of physical and psychological pleasure of a vaginal birth. The body receives no massaging or caressing through the vagina or immediately after birth. Many cesarean babies, children and adults are cuddle-hungry.[vii]

If the birth has been unusually painful for the baby, or if the baby has received many feelings of rejection or ambivalence from the mother, it can cause emotional problems, ulcers, depression, and even suicide.

No studies have demonstrated or even suggested that obstetrical medication improves normal functions. Do our babies, born in hospitals move from a soft, warm, dark, and completely nourishing place, into harsh, sensory overload? Are suctioning, eye drops, vitamin K injection, circumcision, heel lancing necessary? Even after the allotted bonding time, babies are whisked away for the new baby examination. "Mom needs her sleep, and the staff need to do their work!" Many theories are put forward that these treatments, during birth and after, account for this century's rise in abuse to children, a rise in sexual dysfunctions, and 80 percent of crib deaths in males.[viii] Vitamin K injections increase the chance of jaundice. Cutting the umbilical cord before it stops pulsating contributes to Rhesus Isoimunization.

The failure to return to the known matrix and stay there affects the baby forever. The body goes into shock and the mind that is set by nature for learning, shuts down. It takes up to ten weeks for this unstimulated and isolated baby to compensate. Very little development takes place.[ix]

Incorporating Gentle Birth theories into our practices will be challenging. Understanding the biological plan and creating awareness among the people who support child-bearing families is our future. There are many movements working to unravel the truth in modern obstetrics and create a new world view of the childbirth experience. The work we have done today, and the work we will continue to do is part of that movement.

In conclusion, I leave you with some inspiring quotes:

"In life, we are only given what we are able to handle and what we need to grow."[x]

"Parents that are given back the confidence that they are qualified to nurture--give birth and care for their own child--will find a sense of deeper intelligence of the heart, and sense of true responsibility in parenting."[xi]

"Parents can regain this confidence by supportive listeners who do not diagnose or label, but allow expression of all feelings. A continuum of support throughout pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum is essential. The bodyknowledge is there, but it has been clouded by messages that are not beneficial. We can help reduce and eliminate those messages and help parents give birth `emotionally-conscious.' They will gain in personal strength, inner resources, and depth of relationships."[xii]

The rewards we will gain as helpers in childbirth will be profound. By maintaining the harmony nature intended in Gentle Birth and by valuing and promoting the capacity to nurture we can nurture childbearing families into the year 2000.

[i] Joseph Chilton Pearce. 1977. The Magical Child. New York: Dutton.

[ii] Thomas Verny, MD, with John Kelly. 1988. The Secret Life of the Unborn Child. New York: Summit Books.

[iii] Ibid 1

[iv] Ashley Montague. 1977. Life Before Birth. New York: New American Library.

[v] Ibid 2

[vi] Ibid 1

[vii] Ibid 2

[viii] Ibid 2

[ix] Ibid 1

[x] Claudia Panuthos. 1984. Transformation Through Birth--A Woman's Guide. Westport, CT: Begin & Garvey.

[xi] Michael Mendizza. "Touch the Future," Spring 1996.

[xii] Ibid 10