Why mobility in labour matters...really, really matters!

Below is a link to a blog written by birth physiology expert Margaret Jowitt.  Margaret Jowitt is also the designer of the Osborne Kneeling Chair (see earlier posts in this blog), based on her unique understanding of the anatomy and physiology of birth.  Margaret has also written a book "Dynamic Positions in Birth" which expounds her theories and is probably one of the most important books on birth physiology to have been written for at least a century.

Her insights should change the way women are cared for and the whole design of institutional labour environments across the world.  Her work also has implications for the all-too commonplace intervention of Induction of Labour and the crude manner in which this is currently carried out.  Understanding the onset of labour may lead to much better ways of inducing labour rather than the dreadful beating of the uterus with syntocinon that currently occurs (in the small minority of cases where starting labour may be helpful to mother and/or baby).

This work needs to find its way into textbooks and the teaching of midwifery and medical students.  It is really a back-to-basics where the foundation of physical care is based on an understanding of anatomy and physiology. 

https://softbirth.com/new-model-uterine-function/

https://softbirth.com/hi-lo-birth-support-birthing-chair/ 

https://www.waterstones.com/book/dynamic-positions-in-birth/margaret-jowitt/9781780661155