Birthing Options: Pregnant Women Have Many Choices

Especially in bigger towns and cities, many women have options for what type of childbirth class they want to take, or what type of labor support they want to have at birth. In the past 100 years, there have been lots of changes in our culture surrounding pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum periods. The following methods are a few of those which have been initiated and continued, have perhaps evolved over time, and have been used by many women. Usually, childbirth classes are blend of the following methods, but if you are looking to fill a particular need, seeking out a class or labor support person with one of these philosophies may be right for you.

The Lamaze Method: In 2001, Lamaze International published an updated position paper on teaching the Lamaze Philosophy. The Lamaze Method has become widely known as the Breathing Method of the 1960's. As new approaches have been taken to childbirth, they felt it was necessary to update their own philosophy of birth. You can find information about the Lamaze philosophy and method at www.lamaze-childbirth.com. The emphasis of Lamaze classes now lie in many comfort measures in addition to the original breathing method. The breathing methods include cleansing breaths, slow paced breathing, modified paced breathing and patterned paced breathing. They have also retired the birth coach and now highly recommend a birth doula to all "women who will give birth in a hospital environment that does not provide continuous emotional and physical support". Lamaze International also recommends that women plan to have labor tools such as a rocking chair, beanbags, and birth balls in their labor environment to assist them through the natural pain of labor. The paper concludes by saying that "birth does not change but over time, the environment in which birth takes place does change, and our understanding of both simplicity and complexity of birth deepens". This is why Lamaze preparation method has "evolved and will continue to evolve". It is therefore my opinion that Lamaze Preparation for Birth is still a good method to follow.