Positive Birth Meeting, Sevenoaks
Home births, inductions, birth centre births, assisted births, calm births, shocking births....all experiences come together at the Positive Birth Movement Sevenoaks!
'Birth Planning' could not have been a more apt monthly topic for one of our new members who gave birth last week, unexpectedly at home.....in the living room....in her toddlers inflatable ball pool!
Which just goes to show that a) birth often doesn't go to plan and b) not going to plan isn't always a bad thing! "It was so normal," she said. "I don't know why we didn't just plan a home birth in the first place". Of course, with 6 home births between us in the room, that gave rise to some chat about the practical realities of home birth. It is a mess? (No). What about transferring if you need to? (Yep, easier to decide you want to be in hospital and move from home, than decide you want to say at home when you're booked into hospital).
And of course with such a spectrum of experience in the room - induced births, assisted births, epidurals, surprising births, calm births, subsequent births, and four births yet to happen - there was plenty to discuss when it came to birth planning. What did you include? Did anyone else listen? What happens when you give an English birth plan to Danish midwives? How much did your plans change from birth to birth? How is it different when you have midwives you know and love?
Almost inevitably, there were some less happy recollections too. And as I've come to recognise, these almost always arise from carelessness towards Mothers, rather than the experience of birth itself.
Last, but not least, we learnt that I have short arms, can only fit 6 of our 10 attendees into a selfie, and need a selfie-stick. Every day's a school day, right?!
Wanna get involved? If not, why not?! There's cake, there's tea, there's laughter, occasional tears, different experiences and opinions, information and resources. If you're pregnant you'd be mad to miss out!
Next meeting; Sunday 17th February, 1030am. Email me for details at charlie@thegoodbirthpractice.co.uk
