Describe how history and culture influence birth today.
A. History of Birth
1. Significant events in U.S. Childbirth History
2. History of Childbirth Education
B. Evolution of Birth Choices
1. The shift from home and midwives to hospitals and doctors.
2. Current state of maternity care: Listening to Mother’s Survey
3. Effects of medicalized birth
Explain how the Lamaze Mission and Fundamentals of Pregnancy and Birth promote and support the physiologic model of normal childbirth.
A. Lamaze Mission and Vision
1. To advance safe and healthy pregnancy, birth, and early parenting through evidence-based education and advocacy.
2. Knowledgeable parents making informed decisions.
B. Lamaze Fundamentals for Pregnancy
C. Lamaze Fundamentals for Birth
D. What is meant by “normal birth”?
1. Characteristics and disruptions
2. Hormonal physiology of childbearing: evidence and implications for women, babies, and maternity care.
3. Updates from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM). (2014). Obstetric care consensus: Safe prevention of the primary cesarean delivery
E. How childbirth education can promote and support normal birth
Identify the role of pain during labor and strategies to increase a woman’s confidence in her ability to give birth.
A. Pain in Labor is unique
P – Purposeful
A – Anticipated
I – Intermittent
N – Normal
B. Dr. Grantly Dick-Reads: Fear-Tension-Pain Cycle
C. Communication and Shared Decision-Making Increases Confidence
Summarize the Lamaze Six Healthy Birth Practices and their benefits to laboring women and their infants
A. Lamaze Six Healthy Birth Practices
a. Let labor begin on its own
b. Walk, move around, and change positions throughout labor
c. Bring a loved one, friend, or doula for continuous support.
d. Avoid interventions that are not medically necessary.
e. Avoid giving birth on your back and follow your body’s urges to push.
f. Keep baby and mother together- it’s best for the mother, baby, and breastfeeding.