2. • Historically, the term natural
childbirth has evolved to mean:
1) delivery outside in nature
2) home birth
3) nonhospital birth (birthing center)
4) facility birth-no medical intervention
(ie, no IV, meds)
5) facility birth without analgesia or
anesthesia
3. PREPARED CHILDBIRTH
• Preparation through education and
training prior to labor gives the
pregnant woman a method of coping
with the discomforts of labor and
delivery
• This method incorporates analgesia
and anesthesia into the process
• Dominates current culture in the
United States
4. Psychoprophylactic or Lamaze
Method
• Psychoprophylactic childbirth has a
rationale based on Pavlov's concept
of pain perception and his theory of
conditioned reflexes (the substitution
of favorable conditioned reflexes for
unfavorable ones)
• The Lamaze method is an example of
this technique.
5. • The woman is taught to replace
responses of restlessness, fear, and
the loss of control with more
controlled measures, which can
excite the cerebral cortex efficiently
to inhibit other stimuli such as pain
in labor.
• The mother-to-be is taught exercises
that strengthen the abdominal
muscles and relax the perineum.
6. • Various breathing techniques to help
the process of labor are practiced
• The woman is conditioned to
respond with respiratory measures
and disassociation or relaxation of
the uninvolved muscles, while
controlling her perception of the
stimuli associated with labor
7. The Bradley Method of Delivery
• “husband-coached childbirth”
• A coach may be any significant other
such as a friend, mother, sister,
boyfriend, aunt, grandmother, or
husband
• Involves the concepts of leading,
guiding, supporting, caring, and
fostering specific skills and
confidence
8. • Coaches attend classes and learn to
help the woman prior to initiation of
labor
• The coach serves as a conditioned
stimulus using the sound of his voice,
use of particular words, and
repetition of practice.
9. • Medications are not encouraged for
pain relief
• Relaxation is the core component
• Increased tolerance to pain is
accomplished by decreased mental
anxiety and fear, which ultimately
decreases the awareness of the pain
stimulus
• This occurs through cognitive and
physical rehearsal
11. Motivations for home delivery:
• Increases patient choices and
flexibility during the birth process
while decreasing patient separation
and fear of intrusive intervention
• Rising costs of hospitalization
12. • Desire to avoid such practices as
routine cesarean delivery for breech
presentation, episiotomy, forceps
delivery, oxytocin stimulation,
routine monitoring of the fetal heart
tones, and other practices associated
with facilities
• Risk of in-hospital infections; belief
that infant is immune to own-home
bacteria.
13. Contraindications:
• High-risk pregnancy
• History of:
• premature or postdate delivery in
previous or current pregnancy or
previous cesarean delivery
• Preeclampsia
• gestational diabetes
14. • Woman with medical, surgical, or
emotional complications
• Fetal complications
• cardiac anomalies
• placental abnormalities
15. Alternatives to home delivery:
• Family-centered hospital setting
• Birthing centers with adequate
facilities for emergency care for low-
risk women
16. Home Delivery is highly
discouraged by the DOH in
the Philippines due to
increased risk for maternal
and neonatal deaths.
