Pregnant Women With Disabilities Preparing For Childbirth

Some disabilities will impact pregnancy and childbirth. Disabled pregnant women who live in modern countries will have access to very sophisticated medical maternity care. Regardless of whether your disability will require more medical care is not the emphasis of this article.
In fact this article is more about what we all share in common, how we can all prepare our pregnant body for birth and what skills we can all use to work with our baby’s efforts to be born.

Notice nowhere in the above sentence was the word ‘natural’ birth mentioned. Certainly every single pregnant woman deserves and is entitled to a positive birth experience. There is no doubt there are many aspects of modern childbirth that would seem to be antithesis to having a positive birth. Women can feel like a piece of meat heading down a conveyor belt even if they appreciate the care and believe it’s necessary.

However here is where we can distinguish between what ‘they’ do and what ‘we’ do. Pregnancy is happening within our body even if we have a disability. This means we can prepare for the birth of our baby. And doesn’t it make sense that we prepare for birth during pregnancy? In fact there is a time in pregnancy when preparing for birth becomes obvious … from 24 weeks onward. Each week after 24 weeks the uterus becomes obviously bigger. The mind also becomes increasingly more focused on the ‘Big Day’.

Preparing for childbirth has transcends any disability you might have. Your role as a mother-to-be is to prepare your body to help your baby come out. Even if you will have a cesarean delivery, why not enjoy preparing for the birth. Your body is still planning on giving birth. Having a cesarean happens in the mind not in the body. All the birth changes still occur which means you can totally enjoy preparing your pregnant body for birth.

As you prepare your pregnant body for birth, you can also learn great birth skills and your partner can learn their equally important coaching skills such as Directed Breathing, the Pelvic Clock or Deep Touch Relaxation, Kate’s Cat, Hip Lift and Sacral Manoeuvre. As a woman with a disability, you will give birth just like the other 100% of pregnant women. This means all of us can have a great bag of childbirth skills whether we labour or not, whether we have a natural or medical birth, have an obstetrician or midwife or have a home or hospital birth.

Birth is birth and using your childbirth skills just enhances your birth experience and helps your baby’s efforts to be born. This is the most exciting thing we can do for ourselves and this leads to a positive birth at every single birth. Having a disability will impact your life you know that because you’re living with your disability. Yet preparing your pregnant body for birth then using your birth skills makes you exactly the same as every single woman who is pregnant and going to give birth. Ultimately, this one human experience is entirely ours to be fully experienced.

If you want to know more about Directed Breathing, the Pelvic Clock or Deep Touch Relaxation, Kate’s Cat, Hip Lift and Sacral Manoeuvre then visit http://www.birthingbetter.com and learn more about The Pink Kit Method For Birthing Better® the only childbirth preparation course that focuses entirely on birth skills for mothers and fathers for ALL births. Wintergreen, is a Trustee to Common Knowledge Trust which produces The Pink Kit. She is a childbirth communicator and communicates on the societal benefits of growing a skilled birthing population.