A pregnant friend of mine was commenting about her concern that she might go into labor suddenly while at church.
I tried to be reassuring and commented, “There’s probably like, 30 moms in the congregation. You’ll be in good hands.” At which point a nearby mother chimed in, “Just because we’ve been through it, doesn’t mean we know how to do it!”
Which makes me wonder: How good might a group of mothers (let’s say, 30 moms, like the scenario above,) be as unofficial midwives or delivery nurses for a pregnant first-time mother who unexpectedly goes into labor, should the situation require it - based off of no medical training, but firsthand delivery experience only?
(Assuming that getting the pregnant woman to a hospital isn’t an option, that there are no medical personnel around, and that there are no unusual circumstances such as amniotic-fluid-embolism or a C-section.)
A normal pregnancy with no complications? Pretty sure most people would be able to step up to the plate and deliver the baby without too much problem. That’s how it was generally centuries ago.
But you can never predict if there will or will not be complications, which is why the mortality rate among births is historically at an all time low. Sure there most likely won’t be any complications, but why take the risk? Go to a hospital. In most pregnancies your body will start giving you warning signs such that if you start labor while at church you should have plenty of time to get to the hospital.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
30 moms? Chances are at least one of them has a little medical training, and between all of them they probably have some ideas about what makes childbirth easier and more comfortable.
But for my kids, I wouldn’t trade 30 moms for a qualified OB and a fetal heart monitor, though.
There will definitely be at least one of 30 moms who has been to Lamaze or other pregnancy related classes and some better than average knowledge about birthing babies. It’s not like having a professional cab driver, but better than nothing.
I would also guess that if a group of people has 30 moms in it, there’s going to be someone (male, female, parent, or not) who has some suitable medical training, as in they’re a nurse or some kind of First Responder, or even a physician.
Missed edit window due to oven catching on fire.
Would you expect someone who had a colonoscopy or open-heart surgery to be able to perform these on other people? of course not. So why believe someone who has had a baby can somehow deliver one that is having complications? No complications, they deliver themselves.
A pregnant friend of mine was commenting about her concern that she might go into labor suddenly while at church. /QUOTE]
Simple solution from a practical man: She can’t just stay home this one time?
Why would church be a worse place to go into labour than home? Unless you were planning a home birth, which not many people do. You’ve still got to get to the hospital!
As it happens, I went into labour at church with baby #3. It was very convenient. We waited till the end of the service, tapped the song leader on the shoulder (she was going to look after the other kids for us), took her home with us, went to hospital, had baby. And I’m the woman who’s got PRECIPITATE LABOUR in big friendly letters across the top of my discharge sheet - only half a step removed from those people you hear about giving birth in taxis. 90% of the rest of the world has waaay more time to get themselves organised when they go into labour than I do!
And first pregnancies usually take a little longer than subsequent ones - on average.
Hasn’t your friend had a prenatal class? They go over the signs and the stages and the average times that each stage takes. The one I went to recommended keeping a garbage bag and a towel under your seat in the car. You know, in case you’re in the car when your water could be breaking soon, they could be used to protect the upholstery. (Yes, if you’re the one driving, you’ll need to pull over before hauling them out.)
I’m not understanding the problem with the church, specifically, unless she’s worried about not wanting to disturb the service. You can also go into labor at the grocery store or while walking to the mailbox.
Now if “concerned about” is code for not wanting to go to church within the delivery window, she has my permission to stay home. Sitting on a bench for an hour while the baby tap dances on your bladder has got to be no fun at all.
Back when I was a heavily pregnant woman, I did worry at times that my water might break in a horribly embarrassing public place, but I didn’t feel concerned that I’d be one of the tiny percentage of women whose labours are so fast that there’s no time to summon an ambulance or be driven to hospital. Was your friend actually worried about the former or the latter?
I wouldn’t be a lot of help to a woman in labour. I could help keep her calm while help was on its way, talk her through her breathing through contractions (we were taught deep, steady breaths rather than the rapid puffing associated with Lamaze in popular culture), but my birthing experiences don’t make me any better equipped to deal with the actual delivery than any other other random person.
One of my grandchildren was a home birth, and not a planned one, and I was there.
I feel like I did help a bit, but if I hadn’t been there, it just wouldn’t have mattered. Births like that are uncomplicated and all you have to do is catch the baby, basically. Note that they are slippery.
She might very well go into labor at church, or anywhere else she happens to be on that last day, which she will not know in advance is the last day. I don’t see why church would be any worse than anywhere else, and better than a lot of places (like say a rock concert where the cars are parked nose-to-tail in a giant parking lot and it’s basically FIFO).
Well, women that have given birth would be more likely to know it’s not an emergency and that the thing to do is to get in the car and drive to the hospital, stopping on the way home to pick up your bag.
I feel like the one way mothers might be useful is that they are less likely to be squeamish about what is happening, or reluctant to see another woman’s private areas. They are less likely to freak out if there is defecation. But some moms would be, and plenty of non-moms would not.
This. I’ve spoken to more than one OB, Midwife and/or Paramedic about the “delivery in a taxi” scenario, and they all agree that those are the best deliveries. Best as in they don’t tend to be complicated (and the OP ruled out complications in the hypothetical) and all the assistant needs to do is DON’T DROP THE BABY.
And studies agree - while having a precipitous labor may be associated with high blood pressure in the mother, it’s not associated with any increase in adverse events/complications for the mother or the baby. (Which might help to ease the OP’s friend’s anxiety.) Clinical Significance of Precipitous Labor - PMC
One advantage to a group of biological moms vs a different group of untrained laypersons is that biological moms are more likely to be aware that the placenta needs to be delivered after the baby. That’s something I honestly didn’t know before I had my own baby. Just never thought about it. So they might - might - stop to think that she shouldn’t start moving around much until that happens, just for cleanliness sake. But if they don’t, again, that’s unlikely to be a real issue. A precipitous birth rarely results in a retained placenta anyway, and nature’s own hormones help to ensure that mom doesn’t want to get up and start running laps in the first hour after birth.
People did not evolve to perform colonoscopies and open heart surgery. Women have delivered children for eons without the aid of medical personnel, some women (and men) who have experienced the process before should be in a better position to help than the average person who has no such experience. As everyone else notes the best solution is still to get help from trained medical personnel, but best solutions are not always available on demand.
