Women who are preparing to become mothers usually have many questions about the upcoming birth. Often they address them to doctors who are completely trusted. One of these doctors is a children's doctor, Candidate of Medical Sciences Yevgeny Komarovsky. He pays a lot of attention to childbirth in his books and TV programs, since the health of the baby largely depends on how the birth will take place.
Training
According to the doctor, a woman should pay special attention to preparing for childbirth. First of all, we are talking about psychological preparation. A woman should be calm, balanced, trust doctors and believe only in the best. But psychological preparation alone is not enough, you need to provide for various situations and not forget to take everything you need.
Komarovsky cites the following as necessary:
- documents (passport, medical policy, exchange card from the antenatal clinic, as well as the necessary certificates confirming that the husband is healthy if a partner birth is planned);
- notebook and pen;
- phone with charger;
- any book (so that there is something to read).
For the expectant mother, you will need the following things:
- washable slippers;
- two nightgowns;
- disposable underpants;
- non-wool socks;
- nursing bras;
- disposable diapers;
- cream for nipple cracks, baby cream.
For a child, Komarovsky recommends taking such a set:
- diapers for newborns;
- 3-4 thin diapers;
- 2-3 flannel diapers;
- 2 hats;
- sliders and undershirts (in small quantities and provided that the rules of stay in this hospital allow it);
- powder and baby cream.
It is not worth making bag collection to the maternity hospital a big problem. The minimum set is enough, the main thing is that the bag is assembled in advance, preferably a couple of weeks before giving birth, because at what point the child may "ask" out, it is difficult to predict. It will be good if a bag with things from 37-38 weeks of pregnancy will be at the door of the apartment, just in case.
Choosing a maternity hospital
Yevgeny Komarovsky considers positive the changes in recent years, when an alternative to state maternity hospitals appeared. Women now have every right to choose where to give birth to a child - in an ordinary maternity hospital, in it, but in a paid ward and under a service agreement, in a paid maternity hospital or a large perinatal center.
Joint childbirth is not a problem now: doctors agree to let the future father in, however, on the condition that he passes all the necessary tests in advance and thereby proves that he is completely healthy and cannot be a source of infection.
Evgeny Olegovich is not against home birth. At the same time, a woman should not have any complications of pregnancy, and a qualified doctor must carry out childbirth, and not a midwife neighbor. In this form, home births may well be, and there is nothing criminal in them.
Living together with a child should also be differentiated. If in the maternity hospital you are told that only “mother and child” wards are provided, do not rush to rejoice: the condition after childbirth can be difficult, postpartum depression can begin and in this position it will be difficult for a woman to take care of the child herself, which is already a few hours after giving birth will bring, put in a crib and entrust to her full care.
Today, pregnant women receive a birth certificate when they go on maternity leave. This document allows you to choose any obstetric institution (except private). A woman has a lot of time to ask about various maternity hospitals and perinatal centers, read reviews, talk with doctors and patients, and find out everything that interests her. What you need to know:
- how many mothers with children are in one ward (the less, the better for everyone);
- is there a possibility of both separate and joint stay (will the child be taken to the children's department if the woman feels bad or just wants to sleep);
- can her husband and close relatives visit her;
- is there a possibility of joint childbirth;
- what qualifications do doctors have;
- is there a well-equipped neonatal intensive care unit in the maternity hospital;
- what sanitary conditions have been created for women in labor (showers, toilets - in the ward or in a single copy for the whole floor).
If the answers completely satisfy your curiosity and meet your expectations, feel free to go to the chosen obstetric institution and sign an exchange card with the chief medical officer.
Staying in a maternity hospital - highlights
Komarovsky advises not to argue with doctors on every occasion, not to cite the articles read as an example, but to listen less to what they say around. Complicated medical terms, scary stories performed by roommates should not unsettle the woman in labor. Peace of mind is the ability to do the most important thing for your baby - keep breast milk.
Evgeny Olegovich advises to devote as much free time as possible to the condition of the breast and the establishment of lactation. The sooner a newborn baby is attached to the breast, the better for him, because his immunity with the ingestion of maternal colostrum will begin to strengthen literally from the first hours of life.
You should not look for diseases in a newborn that do not exist. If the child was not immediately attached to the breast in the delivery room, there is no need to think about it - most likely, there is no neonatologist on duty so that he can make a decision about attachment (if the birth happened at night), or the child needs preliminary diagnosis.
If the child turns yellow on the second or third day, this is also not a reason for worry, the physiological jaundice of newborns is a ubiquitous phenomenon. Sleeping too much? Okay, you're in luck and the kid is calm. Doesn't sleep much? Nothing pathological either, just a restless child, which also happens quite often.
There should be nothing that could make a woman mad. This is her preliminary psychological preparation for childbirth.
Contractual delivery
Understandably, the woman's desire to agree in advance with the doctor, "stimulate" him with a certain amount of money. But only here the results of contractual childbirth, according to Komarovsky, can be quite deplorable. There is no reason for a doctor who, by agreement, to take delivery, has no reason to come from home on his own duty and take the baby. Therefore, it will be more convenient for him to put the pregnant woman in the hospital in advance, and on the day of his next watch, apply stimulation of labor.
Very often, the birth does not go as expected. Evgeny Olegovich claims that nature does not tolerate violence, and only the baby himself knows at what moment he is best born. Forced childbirth, not at the request of the child, but at the behest of the "contractual" doctor, often ends with a weakness of labor forces, a prolonged anhydrous period, fetal hypoxia, and birth trauma. Is it worth carrying a baby, eating right and taking vitamins in order to ruin his health later with such "contractual" childbirth?
An agreement with an individual doctor has the right to exist only if it is agreed in advance that the doctor will arrive at any time of the day when the woman begins to give birth naturally, while the doctor should be “stimulated” not before the birth, but after.
Cesarean section
Evgeny Komarovsky argues that a cesarean section in itself is no worse and no better than a normal birth through a natural genital tract. If the doctor insists on having a caesarean section, then he has good reasons for this.
Another question is the general practice in a particular maternity hospital. There are obstetric institutions in which every second expectant mother is sent to the operating room simply because it is easier to carry out a cesarean than to give birth. It is quite easy to recognize such maternity hospitals based on reviews and official statistics in the regional Ministry of Health. Just compare the ratio of natural births to the number of cesareans.
If health permits, it is best to give birth naturally. This is undeniable. But if it so happened that a cesarean section was performed, do not worry and forbid yourself to think about the second or third child.
Natural childbirth after cesarean is quite possible, however, you will have to try to find a doctor who will undertake such a birth.
If you wait the required 2-3 years, if the scar on the uterus is sufficiently elastic and wealthy, then independent childbirth is not only possible, but also desirable.
After two cesarean sections, natural childbirth is usually not carried out, the risks of rupture of the uterus along the scar are too high, but this is not a reason to refuse to have children. Today in Russia, not only one, but also two, three and even four children are being successfully carried and given birth by caesarean section. And in European clinics, without panic and hysteria, they perform both the fifth and sixth cesarean sections (Victoria Beckham is the most vivid example).
Joint childbirth
Partner childbirth is voluntary, says Evgeny Komarovsky. You can treat them in different ways. On the one hand, this is the unity of the spouses, common aspirations, which is commendable. On the other hand, instead of helping a woman in labor in the delivery room, doctors often begin to provide first aid to a future father who has lost consciousness from shock. This does not add optimism to either the woman in labor or the medical staff.
Joint childbirth, according to Komarovsky, is a serious test for the feelings of the spouses. It often happens that after a joint stay in the birth room with all the anatomical and physiological details, men lose their sexual interest in their wife and, alas, they cannot do anything about it. Such consequences will not benefit the family and the born child. Therefore, a woman needs to think carefully before putting family life at such a risk.
It is not worth making and persuading a man to be present at the birth of his wife. If he is unwilling or afraid, this does not make him less courageous and does not diminish his love for his wife and unborn child. If the head of the family volunteers to "cheer" on his spouse in the delivery room, do not interfere with him. From the point of view of medicine, partner childbirth is neither useful nor harmful, therefore, the doctor does not seek to recommend them, but he also does not try to dissuade them from them.
Impact of the method of delivery on the health of the child
There are tons of articles and dubious scientific studies on the Internet that claim that babies born by caesarean section are more painful, less active, harder to learn and grow weak. Yevgeny Komarovsky claims that this is nothing more than speculation, far from science and medicine.
With adequate care during the first year of life, hardening and proper nutrition, the health of a child born through a caesarean section is no different from the health of a child born by a mother herself.
Late labor
There is no such thing as "late birth" in medicine. There is no uniform age at which childbirth would be considered late. In some countries, childbirth at the age of 20 is considered late, and in some women well over 40 give birth perfectly and feel completely happy and contented. It all depends on a particular country and its Ministry of Health.
In Russia, the age before menopause is considered the reproductive age. On average, this age lasts up to 42-44 years. Among the people, everyone who is over 36 years old is automatically ranked as late-bearing.
There is nothing shameful or dangerous in childbirth itself after 40 years. They differ little from childbirth at a younger age. If a woman's health is already undermined by chronic ailments, it is wiser to agree to a planned caesarean section than to insist on a natural birth.
Childbirth in adulthood is dangerous only because the child's risk of being born with congenital chromosomal abnormalities increases with the age of the mother, this is due to the aging of the germ cells of the parents, with a decrease in their quality. But prenatal diagnosis allows you to identify such cases even during pregnancy. Therefore, a woman needs to think not about the fact that she gives birth late, but about the fact that it is necessary to pay special attention to prenatal prenatal diagnosis.
School for pregnant women
Evgeny Komarovsky considers it very useful to attend courses or school for pregnant women at antenatal clinics, especially for those who are going to give birth to their first child. Such classes help a woman to understand well what awaits her in childbirth, what pains will be and how to behave in the delivery room, how to provide proper care for the baby in the first days after his birth.
In addition, the expectant mother will find like-minded people at such courses who will listen with genuine interest to the everyday problems and joys of a pregnant woman, understandable only to those who are just like her - to expectant mothers.
And in your free time, you can watch several videos in which Dr. Komarovsky gladly answers these and other questions of mothers - both future and present.
For what Dr. Komarovsky thinks about preparing for childbirth, see the next video.
