Reproducing fear: the effect of birth stories on nulligravid women's birth preferences

Why mothers with midwifery-led vaginal births recommend that mode of birth: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine why mothers with midwifery-led vaginal births recommend giving birth vaginally.

METHOD

This qualitative study was conducted with 14 mothers who had a vaginal birth with midwives and recommended it to other women. The data were collected using an in-depth interview form and analysed with the thematic analysis technique.

RESULTS

The reasons why these mothers recommend vaginal birth (VB) are discussed under five main themes: 'positive birth experience, postpartum comfort, beliefs and values, body image, and sexual life'. VB is mainly recommended to other women for emotional, medical, religious, and socio-cultural reasons, including pleasure/excitement related to the birth, newborn, and maternity, birth satisfaction, absence of interventions, early physical activity, early discharge from the hospital, beliefs and values, body image (easy weight loss, no incision, etc.), and early and safe sex life in the postpartum period.

CONCLUSION

Vaginal birth is mainly recommended to other women for emotional, medical, religious, and socio-cultural reasons. To support similar favourable views of vaginal birth, it is necessary to prioritise midwifery care that upholds the physiology of childbirth, minimises unnecessary medical interventions, ensures ongoing physical and emotional support, and respects socio-cultural beliefs and values.

Difficulties in Adaptation of the Mother and Newborn via Cesarean Section versus Natural Birth-A Narrative Review

Birth is a physiological act that is part of the morpho-functional economy of the maternal body. Each stage in the act of birth has a predetermined pathway that is neurohormonally induced and morpho-functionally established through specific and characteristic adaptations. Like maternity, childbirth also has an important impact on the maternal body as a biological structure and psycho-emotional behavior. Cesarean section performed at the request of the mother with no medical underlying conditions besides the prolonged hospitalization risk can also cause breathing problems in children, delayed breastfeeding, and possible complications in a future pregnancy. Vaginal birth remains the path of choice for a physiological evolution pregnancy. Although erroneously considered safe and easy today, cesarean section delivery must remain an emergency procedure or a procedure recommended for pregnancies where birth is a risk to the mother and to the child, as cesarean section itself is a risk factor for negative outcomes for both mother and baby. This review summarizes the impact that both cesarean section and natural birth have on mother and newborn in their attempt to adapt to postpartum events and extrauterine life.