Knowledge is Power!! Active Management of Labour and Irish Birth Statistics for 2012

It's so important to be informed when you go to give birth.

Here in Ireland, homebirth is not encouraged, some would say its not socially accepted and some would say its made near enough to impossible to have a homebirth here in Ireland. So, the vast majority give birth in Irish hospitals. I had both mine in hospital (The National Maternity Hospital) and had a fantastic experience using HypnoBirting. But you need to be informed...

In Ireland, the hospitals, guided by the HSE use a policy of Active Management of Labour. Active Managment was devised in The National Maternity Hospital here in Dublin in 1963 and is now used all over the world. You can get a detailed definititon here but in a nutshell, Active Management is a way of ensuring a woman labours for less then 12 hours - no matter what.

Without getting too detailed (I am not a medic!) and without medic bashing (I hugely respect midwives and some Doctors), this is the reason a lot of Irish births result in instrumental delievery and C- section.

Today AIMS Ireland (Association for the Improvement of Maternity Services in Ireland) released 2012 Birth statistics, obtained by freedom of information requests made on their behalf. The figures show huge disparencies between the 19 Irish maternity units.

The figures show that the hospital you choose has a huge bearing on how you'll eventually deliver your baby.

Its also particularly useful and important to have a look at these figures if you're hoping for a Vaginal Birth after a previous C Section (VBAC) as there is a huge difference between hospital's likelyhood to support you in that goal.

The figures are here - knowledge is power!

#aims #naturalbirth #csectionrateireland #instrumentaldelivery #hypnobirthingdublin #vbac