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Unassisted Births
The Pros and Cons of This New Birthing Trend
By Kelly Burgess
"My feeling is that it's really nice when the mom can be the mom and not have to be her own midwife and the dad can just be the dad," Rothman says.
Rothman does agree that the stress of a negative birth experience can impact labor, but she also thinks building a relationship with a birthing professional through the term of pregnancy can alleviate much of that stress. If every woman had a choice of a midwife-attended birth, had access to a midwife and was able to build that relationship over nine months, she could choose a birth with as little intervention as she wanted. Contrary to the belief that midwives are required to perform invasive procedures on laboring women, Rothman notes that "a midwife who is adhering to the midwifery standard of care will not do anything unless the woman agrees to it."
"I've had two children at home, but I would never consider being my own midwife," Rothman says. "If you give birth in the natural, normal way and Mom is completely relaxed she'll go to a place I like to call the 'birth planet' where you're just being your animal self and you shouldn't be thinking about things like tying off the cord, or maybe wondering if you should call 911. Even coyotes have a midwife in the pack that stands outside the hole to keep the other animals away. Bringing in a professional is something that's perfectly natural in our birthing history."
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