lamaze or french birth?

Hi,

I'm due to give birth in October, and I'm thinking of taking Lamaze or
having French birth (or water birth). Has anyone tried either of
these birthing methods? How was your experience with it?

Thanks,
Connie

helloconnie wrote:
Hi,

I'm due to give birth in October, and I'm thinking of taking Lamaze or
having French birth (or water birth). Has anyone tried either of
these birthing methods? How was your experience with it?

Thanks,
Connie

I had a water birth, which I can *highly* recommend, and I did the
breathing I learned in yoga classes (golden thread and birthing breath),
which also helped. I hope to find the time to post Skia's birth story
soon...

Karen

helloconnie wrote:
Hi,

I'm due to give birth in October, and I'm thinking of taking Lamaze or
having French birth (or water birth). Has anyone tried either of
these birthing methods? How was your experience with it?

You might want to look into a technique called the Bradley Method, which
is simpler and more effective than Lamaze.

I didn't have a water birth, as such, but I did spend my first stage in
the tub. I found it was very helpful in making it easier for me to
relax and breathe my way through the contractions - I'm definitely going
to do the same for my next birth. I don't think being in the tub for
second stage would have helped me, but it might very well help someone
else. (My second stage contractions were not painful, just extremely
hard work and quite overwhelming. Because they weren't painful, I don't
think being in water would have helped particularly. But this is unusual.)

Not sure what you mean by a French birth - is that another name for
water birth?


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

Sarah Vaughan wrote:

Not sure what you mean by a French birth - is that another name for
water birth?

Might mean Leboyer, but I'm not sure.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On Jun 15, 5:14 am, Karen wrote:
I had a water birth, which I can *highly* recommend, and I did the
breathing I learned in yoga classes (golden thread and birthing breath),
which also helped. I hope to find the time to post Skia's birth story
soon...

Karen

Thanks for the tip, Karen. I'm actually thinking of doing some yoga
when I reach third trimester. Do you think it's safe to do this just
by following instructions from a book?

Connie

Thanks for the tip, Sarah. I'll read on Bradley Method one of these
days. I'm not sure though if doctors in my country are happy to apply
it.

According to my pregnancy book, French birth is also water birth.

Best,
Connie

On Jun 17, 1:04 am, Sarah Vaughan wrote:
You might want to look into a technique called the Bradley Method, which
is simpler and more effective than Lamaze.

I didn't have a water birth, as such, but I did spend my first stage in
the tub. I found it was very helpful in making it easier for me to
relax and breathe my way through the contractions - I'm definitely going
to do the same for my next birth. I don't think being in the tub for
second stage would have helped me, but it might very well help someone
else. (My second stage contractions were not painful, just extremely
hard work and quite overwhelming. Because they weren't painful, I don't
think being in water would have helped particularly. But this is unusual.)

Not sure what you mean by a French birth - is that another name for
water birth?

All the best,

Sarah
--http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

Connie wrote:
Thanks for the tip, Sarah. I'll read on Bradley Method one of these
days. I'm not sure though if doctors in my country are happy to apply
it.

There's nothing for them to apply. You do the breathing and posture
yourself - all they have to do is be reasonably hands-off and
non-interventionist (of course, you do have to find a doctor who is
willing to take that approach, but then that's the case for Lamaze as well).

Which country are you in? I'm from the UK and the main book on the
Bradley Method wasn't available over here - it took the library weeks to
get it. I wouldn't leave it too late to try to get hold of it. ;-)


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

There's nothing for them to apply. You do the breathing and posture
yourself - all they have to do is be reasonably hands-off and
non-interventionist (of course, you do have to find a doctor who is
willing to take that approach, but then that's the case for Lamaze as
well).

I'll chime in about posture and Bradley here, whilst I understand the
reasoning behind the given posture being a position where total body
relaxation can be acheived, if it's also one where you feel the
contractions worse, the balance may come out worse overall. I very much
noticed in my 2nd labour that I felt things much much worse lieing down,
than sitting up, so the combination of using water and the Bradley
relaxation and visualisation should work quite well. Also, the Bradley
position for 2nd stage is just plain wrong, squatting is good, but
turning that into a seated squat looses an awful lot of movement and
space front to back and the disadvantages they describe of other
positions are also false - kneeling and sidelying are great positions
for birth. Also there pattern of breathing and pushing in the 2nd stage
is bizarre, they claim you can make only one effective push per
contraction, I disagree, there is probably some variation, but most
people seem to be able to do 2-3 per contaction. Finally, the length of
labour, it may well be more realistic than many tell you, but it doesn't
seem to accept that short labours do happen, which is plain incorrect.

I think if you use your brain, the relaxation and visualisation is very
helpful, I've used it lots since birth for other procedures, such as
having a mirena inserted. The explainations about how the uterus works
were very helpful, how the cervix is pulled back etc. The emotional
signs of labour are also very helpful and can really help prevent going
to the hospital too soon if you and your partner are familiar with them.

Anne

Connie wrote:
On Jun 15, 5:14 am, Karen wrote:

I had a water birth, which I can *highly* recommend, and I did the
breathing I learned in yoga classes (golden thread and birthing breath),
which also helped. I hope to find the time to post Skia's birth story
soon...

Karen


Thanks for the tip, Karen. I'm actually thinking of doing some yoga
when I reach third trimester. Do you think it's safe to do this just
by following instructions from a book?

Oh Oh *hops excitedly from one foot to the other* I'm taking a birthing
class that includes about an hour of yoga at the start and then
"technical" instructions for another 45 minutes (breathing, relaxation
techniques, and of course, how does this getting the baby out work
anyway kind of stuff).
It's really great, we started last Friday and I haven't felt so hm,
energized I guess would be the word, in a while.
None of the women in the class are having a first baby (4 of us are
having the second and two are having the third) so we kind of know what
to expect and just want to get a refresher course kind of thing.
I think if you can find a birthing class that includes yoga you should
really take it, it's much more fun to "exercise" with others and for me
it's nice to meet other soon to be mothers and share experiences.

That said, I think there are books about yoga during pregnancy, you
might want to check your local library, they might be able to help you
find what you're loking for and if you really like a book you can always
go out and buy it.

cu
nicole

In article . com,
says...
On Jun 15, 5:14 am, Karen wrote:
I had a water birth, which I can *highly* recommend, and I did the
breathing I learned in yoga classes (golden thread and birthing breath),
which also helped. I hope to find the time to post Skia's birth story
soon...

Karen

Thanks for the tip, Karen. I'm actually thinking of doing some yoga
when I reach third trimester. Do you think it's safe to do this just
by following instructions from a book?

Connie


I would suggest a Yoga in pregnancy type of book. There were at least a
dozen titles on Amazon.com

Larry