Making Decisions About Birth
Birth Matters specialises in helping people make informed decisions about their pregnancy and birth, in particular about careproviders and birthplaces which will match your preferences and in making other decisions such as about the pros and cons of medical interventions. Often, these choices can be part of a journey rather than a one-off decision, as you discover more about what your preferences are and what type of care is likely to meet these.
Our monthly information sessions and special public seminars are designed to help you find out more about pregnancy and birth, offer opportunities to hear about other people's experiences, and to ask questions in helping you make your own decision. Your experience of birth will last a lifetime, so it is well worth putting as much effort into thinking about your pregnancy and birth care as you would for other major life events such as buying a house or planning a wedding or major holiday.
The rest of the Birth Mattes website provides a wide range of information to help you work through these decisions. Click on the page links on the left side of the screen.
Another useful site is hosted by Childbirth Connection, an organisation founded in 1918, is a US national not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of maternity care. They promote safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care for all women and families and provide information, including the "Listening to Mothers" survey.They also provide a wealth of research information that can help you in making your own decisions. Their website includes the contents and full text of the current edition of the well-known Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (Oxford University Press, 2000 - courtesy of the authors: Murray Enkin, Marc J.N.C. Keirse, James Neilson, Caroline Crowther, Lelia Duley, Ellen Hodnett and Justus Hofmeyr).
In assessing the places where you might have your baby, or what the place you have already chosen, you may wish to look at our SA Birth Choices Guide, or to also check out some of the best practice recommendations of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (USA) guidelines to what you might want to consider in a birthplace. They also provide free download documents on Having a Baby? Ten Questions To Ask, and Are your Birth Classes Mother-Friendly?. Click here here for the downloads area of their site.