Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hi Everyone,


This is just a heads up to remind you that this coming Thursday 24th, I will be hosting Aprils "ED Birthtalk" (this is the East Dulwich Positive birth group). It will be from 10am-12midday and anyone is welcome. It's held at my house in ED, so is walking distance for most, and babies/toddlers/children are very welcome. I will provide tea/coffee/biscuits/uneaten easter eggs etc.etc. and you just bring yourselves, your positive attitude and interest in all things birth related.


The topic this month is "Am I allowed", which I'm hoping will spark some debate. I have some aids to discussion that I'll provide otherwise we'll just see where the conversation takes us.


Please PM me for the address, otherwise I'll look forward to seeing as many of you as are interested and can make it on Thursday.


SW x

Haha, indeed!


But seriously... can positivity backfire if we try to tell ourselves that everything is grand, when in reality things are tough? Conversely, should negative thoughts, such as fears and anxieties, be entirely suppressed? Can we harness negative feelings as a source of energy towards a positive outcome in pregnancy and beyond? And/or how do we make positive affirmations that are realistic and productive?

V interesting saffron and I would love to explore this. In my experience the whole "positivity thing" is what made me crash in the end....i was so so so positive, prepared, open minded etc and it still went so very wrong. I wish that there had been if not as much but at least some focus during antenatal care which focused on intervention, emergencies, complications and those feelings that can come with such an experience. I am convinced that had some of these aspects been covered during my antenatal care I would have had a different story.


So i would say hell yea to feelings of negativity, fear and anxiety as if processed correctly they could certainly prevent or lessen the severity of birth trauma and associated PTSD and PND.

Yes it's a problem I think about a lot with teaching Antenatal Classes - how do I encourage a positive attitude toward labour and birth, whilst maintaing the sense that birth can be a time of scary and out-of-control type feelings/situations - and that's normal too? It's all so individual, but I agree that negative feelings processed correctly can be a healthy response to a difficult birth or a difficult aspect of it - whether it was difficult in reality or in perception.

The most useful (in fact the only useful) thing that I got from my antenatal classes (in Spain - not dissing the ones here) was that the midwife said clearly:


- some women have a more difficult birth than others for a whole load of reasons - and it might be you

- examine your attitude to pain during birth. Pain is usually the body's signal for when something goes wrong. Pain in labour is not anything going wrong so come up with another name for it.


That just struck me straight to the heart and kept me strong. I suppose it's, "Am I allowed to go beyond the normal ways we talk and think about birth?"


Wish I was there!

  • 1 month later...

Morning all,


A heads up for this coming Thursday - it's the last Thursday of the month (my that came around quickly) and so I will be hosting the East Dulwich 'Positive Birth' group. It will be an evening session this time so that those of you with daytime commitments can have the chance to come along. The topic is "CHOICE IN BIRTH" and I'm hoping that should provoke some interesting discussion. If anyone has any tips for how to promote choice, any tales of how their choices were, or weren't facilitated then bring them along!


So: East Dulwich 'Birth Talk" (Positive Birth); This Thursday, 7-9pm at my house - please PM for the address. Anyone and everyone who wants to spend a couple of hours discussing the sate of birth locally, nationally and globally is welcome.


SW x

On the topic of "choices":


Does concern over a 'blame culture' in health care prevent midwives from offering alternative or controversial birth choices, or accepting and supporting women who choose such options in birth? And, is there anything prospective parents can do to improve this?


I'm thinking particularly in light of the 'tend and befriend' instinct that's purported to replace the 'fight or flight' instinct in pregnancy and labour.

MP don't worry, there'll be another one next month. :) Thursday June 26th, it's a morning session though - 10am-12pm. And there'll be another evening session the month after that.


This months discussions were as interesting and informative as ever, ranging from the current school situation (well we are in ED after all ;) ) through to the topic at hand - what sort of choices are women presented with, touching on midwifery choices, and the incidence of burnout among Midwives. We discussed does the type of Midwifery care you get influence the choices you have? How to get the best out of the system; who gets the best care - private Obstetric lead care/NHS/Independent Midwife? Hospital guidelines and policies and the research that underphins them - how accurate is it? And so the evening flew by again. I hope to see those of you who couldn't make it this time at the next one (details above) Anyone is welcome, just PM me for the venue. :)


SWx

  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Having a BBQ (fingers crossed) in 2 weeks and need a small BBQ for veggie bits and any spare benches or garden tables and chairs to borrow to add to mine. Any going? Thanks in advance...
    • Oh dear, hope you are OK, I've had it three times and it was worse each time, but not a patch on many of those who got it before they vac' role out. Not commenting on the discussion as I got confused many days ago beyond the reminder that Corbyn would not compromise and the harm that could lead to him, the party and regards Brexit pre and post referendum the country.  Starmer goes too far the other way at times.  
    • I am  ill in bed with Covid. It's not that I "can't be bothered" to read things. I am feeling crap and don't have the mental  energy at the moment. I am not "brushing stuff aside and pleading ignorance." I am truthfully saying when I don't presently know enough about something to be able to comment. I have always been very careful to try to  differentiate between fact and opinion in both  my posts and other people's, and I am not clear what your point is. And I am certainly not trying to wind anybody up. This is a forum. If you don't want to respond to my posts, that's up to you. I'm not sure why you feel the need to announce it.   
    • @NewWave I know how you feel. Like you, I've lived and spent prolonged periods of time in some pretty crazy places and always thought I could handle a bunch of kids. But, no - they got to me and I was shaking like a leaf afterwards. That's what age does to us.  But I did engage with them, so bear that in mind.  My advice would be to never let anything like that stop you doing the things you love. I'm certainly not going to stop using the park, there's no way they get to take away our cherished spaces!  If you see them, just change tack and keep out of their way. My dog won't even go that way again, so that's that problem solved. (If I see them again, I'm going to keep taking photos from a safe distance). 
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...