What do you think of when you hear a friend say ‘I was monitored during my labour’? It sounds restrictive, doesn’t it? It sounds negative, medical, maybe even unsettling. Well, what if we tried to change that perspective a little?
Monitoring your baby’s heart rate is actually a sign of reassuring you and your midwives that everything is ok. It’s also really, really important that women know that being monitored does not restrict your movement! Not at all! In this picture, I’m demonstrating how you can clearly be monitored at the same time as being active.
You can still use yoga, you can still sway your hips, open your pelvis, use comfortable positions for labour and you could even give birth like this, all while still being monitored!
Midwives will happily help you by moving equipment around in the room, and help to empower you to be active and get comfortable. This could mean leaning over a bed, a chair, your birth partner, sitting on a birthing ball or, like I am here, getting down on all fours (which is usually where a lot of women want to be). ALL while still attached to the monitor. Remember that your birth is YOUR birth.
Monitoring or no monitoring, use your body! That’s what it was designed to do!