STOP ANSWERING ALL THE QUESTIONS IN LABOR…
Now that I got that off my chest, let’s get to it…
Mama, you shouldn’t be answering all of the questions when you are in labor. You need to be in your BIRTH ZONE. That means, undisturbed, at peace and focused on nothing but yourself.
I don’t know how many times I have gone into births where mama is being asked SO MANY UNNECESSARY QUESTIONS. It drives me insane since mama already did the work to complete the forms BEFORE going into labor.
One of the things I try to prepare all of my families for is to allow mama to stay in her birth zone and allow her birth team (even if that’s just her partner) to answer all of the questions for her.
Usually, these are work related or previous medical history questions (which we all know are already in her forms, but for some reason need to be answered in that very moment 🙄). Regardless of what they are, it is essential that if we can leave mama as uninterrupted as possible, she can continue to progress in labor.
As a birth team, we know her plan and can help advocate for those things for her without her needing to say a thing. Of course, there may be questions that mama must answer herself, but I have been so proud to see so many partners step in when the questions coming flying the minute they get into triage to allow mama to stay out of it.
Partners, you know your partner. You know what she wants (or at least you should). You know her SS# and where she works - you can do most of the talking. You can also gather the information for any consideration or suggestion and then discuss it with mama before giving a super quick answer. Time is always on your side.
Here’s the moral of this post: Partners, this is one way that being an advocate can look like. Making sure providers and support staff know to come to you with any requests and that you will consult with mama and come back with an answer after you’ve had time to discuss.
One of the biggest aspects of my Werk Your Birth course is that partners are strongly encouraged to take part in the entire thing. They must be as educated as mama. It’s a team experience.
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Also, shoutout to my hubby for doing this reel with me 😂