“Lamaze” and “labor” have gone hand in hand for decades now as mothers and theirs before them have talked our ears off about their “Lamaze” breathing techniques.
“It’s huff-huff-poof!” my mother claims, only to then be corrected by my aunt, “No no, it’s ‘poof-poof-HAAA’.”
Yeah, okay.
Truth be told, Lamaze is so much more than tailoring your breathing to your birthing style. It is a constantly evolving set of labor coping strategies that has been around for ages which involves acupressure, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, use of hot and cold to cope with pain, massage, position changes, relaxation, visualization, vocalizing techniques and more.
The goal for the instructor of a Lamaze class is to empower both the woman and her family during the birthing process through education and practice. The education is not only focused on the pregnancy, labor and birth aspects, but also moves on to topics like postpartum care and breastfeeding.
MYTH: Lamaze classes teach you to dispel pain and allow you to have a pain-free labor.
Lamaze is a holistic practice, and is realistic about what it has to offer. No, Lamaze does not promise you a pain-free labor; Lamaze respects pain and acknowledges that the pain a woman feels during labor helps guide and protect her body. By no means do the instructors discourage the use of pain medication during birth. In fact, my Lamaze class is where I obtained most of the information on the drugs offered during labor. The key here is that Lamaze is used to promote a normal and natural birth through these 6 basic principles or Care Practices:
- Labor begins on its own
- Freedom of movement in labor
- Continuous labor support
- Freedom from routine interventions
- Spontaneous pushing in upright or gravity neutral positions
- No separation of mother and baby after birth with unlimited opportunities for breastfeeding
The key word here is “freedom” – freedom for a woman to allow her body to give her the appropriate uninterrupted cues that have been successfully delivering life since the dawn of time and the freedom to choose how her own personal birth will be. When creating your own birth plan, keep these 6 basic principles in mind and remember that these are both you and your unborn baby’s rights.
Oh, and keep on working on your “puff-puff-POOF” – it WILL come in handy!
