We had an absolutely fabulous day on the 13th October at Hammersmith Hospital. Arranged by Jenny Smith, the Jentle Childbirth Study Day was a real success with over 50 attendees and masses of positive feedback – so thanks to Jenny and all those who spoke at the day and those that attended. It really was a very informative and interesting day.


There were a number of topics that were discussed the general theme running through was Empowering Women so that they could ensure that they had the best birth that they wanted in the circumstances.

The study day was opened by Professor Bennett, Charlotte’s. He started the day saying that whilst its an everyday activity for the maternity team, for the family the day that their child is born is probably the most important day of their lives and therefore it is vital to remember this at every birth.
He also said that whilst approx. 10% of women have a strong desire for a non interventional birth, the other 90% have no firm idea beforehand of how they want it to turn out, but that this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have a good birth experience. A good birth experience is whatever the mother wants it to be.

Prof Bennett spoke about his recent visit to a foreign maternity hospital where no husbands are allowed in the delivery suite and he cites that there is a huge problem of post-natal depression . He goes on to say that we do our best to make birth a good experience for everyone and this in turn should help women feel more positive about their births and hopefully reduce post natal depression which can be associated with women who feel ‘let down’ and a failure when they don’t get the birth they want.
According to Prof Bennett things are much improved in the UK -maternity services with birth centres being available for low risk women who are encouraged to have a “home from home” birthing experience. High risk women too can also be encouraged to mobilize with the invention of telemetry (wireless cardiotocograph monitoring) which can be used in birth pools for labour and underwater birth. The birth stool is very effective for the active second stage of labour (even in the birth pool it works well) until the baby’s head is visible, when a less gravitational postion is advocated to reduce perineal tearing. He cites that it is important to change the mindset of some midwives and obstetricians involved during pregnancy and childbirth, and that we need to support all those involved in maternity care to continue to strive for the best birth experience for women
He finished his opening speech with the Natural Caesarean Video, or as he likes to call it the Family Centred Caesarean. This is a new way of performing a caesarean (non- emergency). Prof Bennett believes that this sort of caesarean is much more family-centred approach and therefore helps women to achieve a positive birth experience.

If you would like to read more about the Natural Caesarean and watch the film there are 2 posts that might be of interest, this one for the Natural Caesarean film and this one for Natural Caesarean for Twins and Breech.