What are partner births?
Partner childbirth is childbirth with an assistant. Contrary to popular belief, it's not just the husband who can help during childbirth. At the request of a woman, anyone from close relatives can be nearby. Women often want to give birth with their mother.
During childbirth, both practical help and psychological support are important. Of course, if a woman arrives at the birth alone, she will not be left without help. An experienced midwife will be with her, who will talk about breathing techniques for pain relief, if necessary, help the woman move around the delivery room, bring water and massage. However, it is important for many to feel the support of a loved one.
There are many positive aspects to having a partner in childbirth with her husband. As a result of participating in childbirth, men often notice a faster awakening of the paternal instinct, and relationships between spouses are strengthened through joint experiences. However, in order for joint childbirth to be a joy for both spouses, careful preparation is necessary.
Preparing for a partner birth with her husband
Preparation for partner childbirth can be divided into three stages:
- Making a decision.
- Psychological training – information and education (special courses, literature, reviews of experienced couples).
- Practical training (taking tests, choosing a maternity hospital, etc.).
Under no circumstances should a partner (especially if it is the husband) be forced to attend the birth. Making decisions about partner births should be joint, voluntary and informed. Otherwise, a woman will have to be distracted from her feelings during childbirth by the possibly negative feelings of her partner, to calm him down when everything should be just the opposite.
After the partners have come to a mutual agreement, thorough information and psychological preparation is necessary. It is best to visit courses for pregnant women. With this format of training, live communication with qualified specialists takes place, there is an opportunity to ask questions of interest, participate in practical exercises. No online resource can replace this.
Next, you need to clarify at the hospital where you plan to give birth, which tests and how long before delivery should be given to the partner, and at what time to conclude a contract for a partner birth.
List of documents from the partner for joint delivery at the EMC maternity hospital:
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Fluorography performed no earlier than 6 months before delivery;
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HIV 1/2 antibodies + p24 antigen;
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Total antibodies to treponema pallidum;
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Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen (HBsAg);
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Antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV IgG).\
How are partner births
Before entering the delivery room, the partner is given sterile clothes. In the maternity ward, the doctor shows where the partner can be located so as not to create obstacles to the work of the medical staff.
How can a man help in childbirth?
- Measure the duration of contractions and the time intervals between them.
- Hold the woman in labor by the hand, give her water, wipe off the sweat.
- To help a woman breathe properly during childbirth.
- Help to take birth positions.
- Do analgesic and relaxing massage.
- Escort her to the bathroom.
- Call a doctor if necessary.
- Provide psychological support during childbirth.
Our doctors talk in detail about how to do analgesic massage as part of the classes of the School of Moms. However, there are several well-known techniques:
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Sacrum area: circular movements without lifting the palm of your hand from the lower back.
- Place 2 fists on the side vertices of the Michaelis diamond and scroll through these points, "opening outward".
Immediately after the birth of the baby, they put it on the mother's stomach, after which, at the request of the partner, he can take the baby in his arms and cut the umbilical cord. If the birth was uneventful, the partner can escort the mother and baby to the ward.
Advantages of joint delivery at the EMC clinic
The maternity hospital of the European Medical Center has created the most comfortable conditions for both mothers and their partners. If the partner is tired or feels unwell during childbirth, he can stay in a comfortable waiting room with sofas, a TV, and tea or coffee. After giving birth, the partner can stay in the hospital with the young mother all the time, take part in caring for the baby, and if the couple chose to stay in a luxury studio or two-room apartment, then spend the night in the hospital.
In the maternity hospital of the European Medical Center, partner births are possible for both natural and operative births. There are no fundamental restrictions.
The opinion of psychologists about joint childbirth with her husband
Commented by psychiatrist, psychotherapist, Olga Knyazeva:
In general, we support the idea of partner births. This practice has been established in developed countries for a long time, and indeed demonstrates many positive effects. However, there are some cases where we recommend that a couple consider their decision more carefully. This usually refers to childbirth with her husband. Such arguments include:
- Psychological characteristics of men (intolerance to the type of blood, impressionability, intolerance to helplessness and suffering of a loved one, etc.). An impressionable, anxious, emotionally unstable man, prone to panic about his health and the health of his loved ones, "fainting at the sight of wounds and blood" can sometimes form a fear of intimate relations with his beloved after childbirth.
- Unwillingness or inability to undergo preparation for childbirth and to know some of the normal nuances of childbirth (in this case, the husband may simply unknowingly interfere with the process, worry, worry and provoke anxiety in the expectant mother).
- The presence of conflicts in the family, quarrels, lack of mutual understanding (possibly deterioration of relations).
- Certain beliefs of a woman who understands that during childbirth she may look unattractive, helpless, weak and pathetic – "I should always look 100% in front of my husband", "I have to cope with everything myself", "childbirth is a purely feminine matter", etc.
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