Why I won't be watching One Born Every Minute

Another popular Facebook post -

When this show first started airing in the UK I was working in London in as a NICU nurse. I loved watching it, I thought "great real life stories on babies being born" and it is what spurred my enthusiasm to become a midwife one day. However, over the last few years I have realise that although this is 'reality TV' it is not reality, or at least birth doesn't need to be like this.

Following on from yesterday's conversation that society has been conditioned to believe that we need to sleep train our babies - I believe we've also been conditioned to believe that birth is so dangerous that it ALWAYS needs to be done in the hospital and that intervention is somewhat expected. But that is not actually true. We would not have survived as a species if it was

Now I know I might be slammed for saying this, that there may be some of you who say "if we weren't in hospital my baby and I could have died" - I'm not judging you, that's your story, I wasn't there so I'm not saying you're wrong. And I know that a birth full of intervention can be a positive experience.

But if you're expecting a baby it maybe doesn't need to be your story

When we change the way we give birth, the way we birth changes - Marie Mongan (found of the HypnoBirthing course)

Please keep in mind that shows like One Born Every Minute, and movies or TV shows that show birthing scenes, need to make it as dramatic as possible. In the case of reality-tv they edit hundreds, maybe even thousands, of hours of footage to get just one hour of a TV show.....

What I would really love to see is a reality TV show that follows home birthers or those birthing in birth centres or one that focuses on birth as normal bodily function that sometimes needs help.

I acknowledge that some intervention is sometimes needed, but as I said in my post about a week ago do we really need a 35% cesarean rate and almost 50% induction rate in 21st century Australia....?

You can read the comments on the post here - you can see that the theme is being educated/informed increases the chances of having a positive experience

A couple of days after I did this post a page follower sent me this photo

Since I haven't watched the show she explained that in the scene the doctor is explaining the risks of a vaginal breech birth. I learned through the comments that she had left the private system where they would not even entertain the idea of her having a vaginal birth. Here is she is at a public hospital, at their breech birth clinic. Via a commenter I learned that she did very well advocating for herself.

But take a moment to really look at his posture and put yourself in her position - it would be quite intimitated to have someone standing over you like this, especially when discussing possibly poor outcomes for your baby.

I have seen this happen numerous times. Health care professionals walk into a room, barely introduce themselves and give information that leaves little room for discussion, let alone refusal.

In the HypnoBirthing classes we discuss how to make informed decisions about tests and procedures that may be suggested during pregnancy or birth. We say to use the acryom 'BRAINS' - the S stands for 'space'. I believe that this is the most important step - once all the information has been gathered, as your care provider for space to make a decision. Depending in the situation this may be a few minutes to a few days or even weeks. If you have the time I would highly recommend doing your on research (ie reading) on the subject to see what the general conscensus is on it. I have compiled a list of websites and books that I believe contains very good information. You can find it here.

Also keep in mind that the WHO has labeled continuity of care with a known midwife (ie the same midwife cares for you from pregnancy to post birth) the 'Gold Standard' of maternity care. Having a continuity of care with a midwife can reduce unnecessary intervention, increase positive experiences, and reduced adverse outcomes (such as preterm birth and stillbirths).

I would really love to help you understand your amazing birthing body and give you tools and options to have a positive experience - www.cherishedparenting.com.au/hypnobirthing-classes-perth. I am also able to provide antenatal and postnatal midwifery care - www.cherishedparenting.com.au/private-midwife-perth