NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There is no reason why pregnant women at low risk for complications during delivery should be denied fluids and food during labor, a new Cochrane research review concludes.
"Women should be free to eat and drink in labor, or not, as they wish," the authors of the review wrote in the Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research.
Among the industrialized nations of the world, the ones with the lowest infant and maternal mortality rates have one thing in common. They all have midwives attending more than 70% of the births. Many of these births are not even done in hospitals, but rather in free standing birthing centers or at home. In view of this fact, British Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt recently called upon the British government to
".challenge the assumption that the safest place to give birth is in a hospital and that homebirth can be dangerous."
Hewitt advocates a shift back to birth as a normal, non-medical event in the life of a woman.
When a birth occurs at home, the labor is allowed to progress just as nature intended: without unnecessary interventions. When that birth is attended by a qualified birth attendant such as a Certified Professional Midwife, the natural process is preserved without overlooking matters of safety.
Alondra Abigail Ramirez was born at 2pm, Friday June 26. She weighed 8lbs 2 oz and measured 18.5 inches. She was born at home with absolutely no medical intervention. It was the worst pain I have felt in my life but worth every second.
My contractions started on the 25th at about 9am. It's funny. People kept telling me that I would know when labor had started. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between my braxton hicks contractions and actual labor. Well, they were all right. I even told my husband that it felt different.
ewitt advocates a shift back to birth as a normal, non-medical event in the life of a woman..jpg)
My contractions started on the 25th at about 9am. It's funny. People kept telling me that I would know when labor had started. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between my braxton hicks contractions and actual labor. Well, they were all right. I even told my husband that it felt different.