Some time ago I commented that there are courses of preparation for childbirth that leave much to be desired, that do not prepare women adequately to confidently face the time of delivery.
I have attended four years ago explained the steps of a birth as a mechanical event in which the woman is only the baby's container. I should have recorded it to show what should not be taught in a pre-delivery course.
Apparently, at the Ejido Norte Health Center, Almeria, the maternal education classes taught by midwives are very different. They help future moms to have a more satisfactory birth experience. Pregnant women think that "these classes help you to take birth as something natural, to calm down and forget about fears," which is the ultimate goal of good birth preparation.
For some reason, El Ejido has one of the highest birth rates in Spain. Perhaps, the way in which women and men who are going to be fathers are prepared (because they also have a leading role) is one of the keys to increasing births and taking maternity / paternity more naturally.
One of the midwives comments that the mothers who prepare there "are less hours dilating because they are collaborating and know what is going to happen." And is that being well informed is one of the keys to good preparation for childbirth and consequently, for a good birth.
A first time does not know what she will face when giving birth to her first child, all the information we receive about that moment is through third parties, who have the responsibility of transmitting to future moms and dads that childbirth is a process natural in which professionals only control.
There are classes that do not get women to adopt a positive attitude towards childbirth, to take it as a physiological fact (which is what it is) in which she and the baby are protagonists. On the contrary, sometimes they only manage to misinform and confuse.
Fortunately, in recent times a trend towards more humanized births is making its way. More and more hospitals and midwives join this current that considers the time to give birth as a more natural act. We just have to help it spread through every corner.
