A new QUT study highlights factors that promote and inhibit "normal" birth

July 24, 2018

A research conducted by Yvette Miller, Associate Professor, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, surveyed nearly 6,000 women about their experiences. delivery in Queensland, Australia

. they do not know that their choice of maternity, place of birth, the way their baby is supervised during work and the position during labor and delivery would affect their work and birth.

"We do this type of research mainly to give women" Normal "birth" was defined as unbadisted badl birth without induction of labor, epidural or general anesthesia, forceps or episiotomy.

"We partnered with the Queensland Birth, Death and Marriage Registry to survey nearly 6,000 women who gave birth in Queensland over a four-month period. Women reported the characteristics of their experience alongside the four aspects of normal childbirth: early labor, use of anesthetics, birth pattern and use of episiotomy

"Only 28 7% of women had a "normal" birth. "Our badysis revealed that those who had received shared GP care, standard public care, continuing care of public midwives, or private midwifery care were more likely to have a "normal" birth than women in private obstetric care. found that women had a higher chance of a "normal" birth if:

• they lived outside major cities
• could move freely throughout labor
• received continuity of care Labor and Birth
• did not have procedures to increase their work (like having their "broken waters" or a drip Oxytocin)
• did not have their baby continually monitored electronically during labor
• or gave birth to flat. "

and Several More Medical intervention rates in labor and delivery have steadily increased in most middle- and high-income countries in recent decades, unlike most women. The badysis of 23 studies published around the world revealed that only 13.8% of women expressed a preference for cesarean birth compared to badl delivery. "

" Our Other research has shown that many Queensland women are neither informed nor involved in decisions regarding the use of medical procedures that may affect their birth experience and results.

"Women are particularly misinformed about how the type of motherhood that they choose early in their pregnancy can affect their chances of having the type of work and birth that they want . "

" Queensland released the Qld Maternity and Neonatal Clinical Guideline: normal birth, and other states have similar broad guidelines. Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada are among the countries that have recently issued guidelines to increase normal births.

"The ethics of current guidelines is that birth is a normal physiological process and not a medical problem.