Hindrances to Natural Birth #52 : Tickets

Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm pretty sure that if I were to ask you about some of the top hindrances to natural birth, 'tickets' would not be high on your list. Pitocin, lithotomy position, hospitals, a medical model of care, our culture of fear around birth: these are all pretty obvious. But I believe some of the real hindrances to natural birth may be somewhat more banal.

Labour is a shifty thing sometimes. One of the hormones that keep labour going - oxytocin - is considered to be a 'shy' hormone. It is not easily released under pressure. It is the hormone most intricately involved in lovemaking and released during orgasm. It is also the hormone that causes 'let down' or a fast flow of milk when breastfeeding. In short, oxytocin is the hormone of love, labour and lactation. 

Couples struggling to get pregnant who have to do the 'baby dance' on a particular day or even at a particular time will often attest that being 'forced' to make love on schedule kind of kills the vibe. 

Let's take it a bit further. Imagine you are in the middle of lovemaking and someone knocks on the door, peeks around it, and switches on the main light, just to check how you're doing. Are you there yet? Shall we check to see how far you've got to go? It seems to be taking some time. If you're not done in x amount of time we may need to help you along. I'll be back shortly. As you were. Toodles! 

Vibe. Officially. Dead.

Now that sounds ridiculous when applied to lovemaking, but the same hormone, oxytocin, is what induces and keeps labour going. 

So imagine: you are at the end of your pregnancy and your mom has booked her ticket from across the country, or across the globe, for the day before your expiration due date. She only has three weeks off work. The pressure is on. The clock is ticking.   

The thing is, when a pregnant mom has a perceived time limit within the labour process, her body is far less likely to release sufficient oxytocin to keep labour going effectively. On a larger scale, when a mom feels under pressure to go into labour to begin with, it actually makes it much harder for her to do so. 

And so she starts looking at induction options. Inductions can be helpful when there is a genuine medical need for them, but often then lead to a cascade of interventions as illustrated below.

There is lots I could say about inductions that would give some evidence for the diagram above - but that is a whole other post on its own! Let's rather look at some solutions to avoiding inductions altogether. Firstly, let people know that 'estimated due dates' are just that, estimates - there is about a 4-6 week window of 'normal'. I've got another post in this series looking at the notion of due dates as a hindrance to natural birth. I'll link to it here once it's up.


I know you get better prices if you book tickets long before the time and I know grannies-to-be would love to be around at the when babies are born - but I would really encourage you to find a way to not have time pressure around the time of your birth, especially if you are aiming to have a natural or low intervention birth.

Do you have creative ideas on how to avoid time pressure around your labour day? Please share them with us!

Debra's Testimonial

This was my first experience of a private hospital as a doula. I met Debra only a few weeks before the birth on the recommendation of a mutual friend, but we connected straight away!

Debra had an unplanned Caesarean birth after attempted induction. I'll be writing my story about this soon, but here is her story:

Not sure if you can see it here,
but mom is on the ball!

From the time we conceived, my husband and I read books, watched DVDs and sought advice from close friends and family. However, since none of our family were able to make the delivery or help us adjust to life after the birth, we still felt particularly nervous about whether we were always making the best choices for our family. 

This is where the famous Leigh joined our family of 3! I had never heard of a ‘doula’ or birthing ‘servant’ but from the day I met Leigh, she played an invaluable double role as both a passionate baby specialist and devoted friend. 

Leigh spent hours with us, answering our many questions regarding different natural birth pain relief options, emergency hospital procedures, breast verse bottle feeding… All our concerns were addressed. This made us feel confident and completely supported, knowing we could make well informed decisions concerning the safety and care of our baby Mpilo.

On the 6th of September Mpilo was due to be induced. Just in case he decided to arrive early, Leigh made sure we knew where she was at all times. Even if my contractions happen to start at 2am, she guaranteed to be there for us. What commitment! 

Armed with games, snacks, massage oils, stories and a medicine ball, Leigh was ready for anything that might occur on our special day. After 6 hours of trying to prepare for a natural birth, the doctor decided to conduct a C-section birth, due to my increasing BP and the circumference of Mpilo’s head. I would have panicked if Leigh was not there to speak with the medical team, offer us sensible advice and show compassion. 

During the C-section, Leigh talked me through the effects of the epidural, what the doctors were doing, how to recover from the procedure and took photographs, all while holding my hand. While I was in recovery, Leigh had already updated my husband on the success of the surgery, checked Mpilo was okay and organised for him to be exclusively breast feed.

The next day, Leigh was back to check on my recovery, to patiently answer more of my questions and help me effortlessly connect with Mpilo. Since then, Leigh continues to keep in regular contact with us. What a beautiful woman! What an amazing experience! 

Mpilo Samuel Nala, the name of our handsome baby boy, means ‘God’s desire is to give us abundant life’ (1 John 14). This is our testimony of His endless goodness to us. After sharing our baby journey with Leigh, our very own special doula, I would sincerely encourage every expecting mother to do as we did.

Did you have a doula for a caesarean birth? Would you recommend it?