Thought for the week....

"Treating normal labours as though they are complicated is a self fulfilling prophecy" Judith Rook

What do you think? It seems that in my relatively short time as an antenatal teacher with a small popualtion of families I have taught over the years, ( apx 16 yrs) that complications in labour seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Why is that? Debriefing births with the couples I have taught it seems that often labour is rushed, assumptions are made, occasionally by health professionsals, that the mother will not be able to cope with the pain.. "you can't possibly be in labour you are too calm", no it's too soon to push (without checking!) and the classic "oh dear you are ONLY 2 cm dilated..."

Do you have any experiences to share where you had a complicated labour but in hindsight you think perhaps it could have been avoided? Or were you able to avoid a compliocated labour even though it felt self fulfilled?