A few days ago we published an entry echoing the news of the publication, by the Ministry of Health and Social Policy, of a Clinical Practice Guide on Normal Delivery Care.
We have been reviewing this guide and one of the sensations it has caused us has been a great "finally". Finally, a guide that hospitals will receive with the recommendations that many mothers and fathers (and many professionals) have been asking for years. Finally, the mother is allowed to have a voice and vote in her birth and finally professionals are told to attend midwives who only intervene if necessary.
Seeing that we subscribe to many of the recommendations of this guide, we have thought that it would be interesting to gradually break it down to comment with our readers and readers on the different points that compose it. We start today talking about how it can affect the relationship between professionals and women in the birth process.
Self-confidence is essential when giving birth
When a woman thinks about the day of her birth, there are several concerns that appear in her mind: if everything will be fine, if the baby will be born healthy, if it will hurt a lot, if he will know how to do it, ...
The fear of the unknown and the fear of not being able to give birth (or mistrust in oneself), are limiting sensations that do not favor the birth process at all and that, rather, can help problems arise.
Childbirth is an act closely related to sexuality (well, not related, it is part of sexuality) and, just as in order to have sex we need a pleasant environment and a feeling of trust (and these are usually a disaster when you are pending other things), to give birth A woman needs to feel good about herself, believe she is capable of giving birth and also receive that trust from professionals.
It is for this reason that good communication between health professionals and women is essential for it to feel heard, understood and informed.
There is nothing worse than going to a health center and observing that they barely listen to you, that they do not take you into account when making decisions, that they do not explain just the answers to your questions and that sometimes they act and even speak as if you were not in front .
The most important thing for women is the deal
When a person values a healthcare professional, he considers two things (well, several, but mainly two): that he is a good professional and that he treats you well.
I remember when we had our first son Jon, being in the maternity ward, how nurses from different shifts were entering to leave medication or to do some cures for my wife.
Many of them came in and left a pill with a "look, here I leave you a pill for pain" and they were equally short and brief in all their performances.
A few others, however, took a little longer to leave because they told you "I bring you an ibuprofen, in case you have pain ... If it is not hurting you can wait a little if you want. Is everything going well, does the wound bother you?" Not that they did much more than the others, but when they left they felt that they had treated you well and some relatives rumored how good nurses they were.
In fact, if you ask people what they think of their doctor, most of them focus on explaining how it is (very nice, very dry or very nice) rather than valuing their work as a doctor.
By this I mean that people wish that those in front of us treat us with respect and more in such a unique and special moment as it is time to give birth. This is confirmed with studies that have assessed the satisfaction of women during childbirth. To everyone's surprise (or maybe not so much), Women tend to give more importance to the care of caregivers and to have felt heard and respected than to the childbirth itself (pain, medical interventions, etc.).
What should happen during a normal delivery
Women should be treated with the utmost respect, since, as we have said on several occasions, they are healthy women who arrive at the hospital with a physiological process for which they are (in principle and until proven otherwise) prepared, with intention to ask for help, or receive it, in case something goes wrong.
That is why they deserve to be heard and therefore they must be an active part of the whole process, receiving all the information they request and being treated as the real protagonists of the moment, who are together with their babies.
The professionals must be vigilant, available in case their action is necessary and they must establish a relationship of empathy with the mothers, so that they feel comfortable, calm and able to give birth to their babies.
Phrases such as "you don't know how to bid" or "come beautiful, don't complain so much," among many others that many mothers could explain, don't help in abolition to make the mother feel safe or confident and, worse, they are disrespectful.
Hopefully (we are sure of it), that little by little the situation is changing and all mothers can say "the best thing was that at all times I felt wrapped up and listened to".
Photos | Madaise, Dchasteen on Flickr On Babies and more | Published the new clinical practice guide on normal delivery care, "Women in childbirth should feel great, powerful." Interview with Dr. Emilio Santos (IV), what do you expect from healthcare staff during childbirth?
