Many Ways To The Same Goal

It is confusing. It is scary. It is overwhelming. When friends and family start discussing the birthing process, if you are not pregnant, you can just ignore all that is being said, but if you are on your way to being a mama and are not completely sure about the types of birthing, then you are likely to dive straight into a huge amount of stress. Take a deep breath, count backwards from 100 and promise to educate yourself. Here’s helping you along the way with all you need to know about the different types of birthing techniques.

- Priya Fonseca

Today, expectant parents can choose from a range of options on the type of birth they would like to go for. When considering birth options, the factors to think about include the place of birth; a natural or medicated birth; vaginal delivery and Caesarean section (C-section) delivery. According to Dr Sandhya Puri, MD (Bom) DGO, obstetrician, gynaecologist and laparoscopist, “There are two basic types of birthing. One is the vaginal delivery and the other the Caesarean section. Then we have different positions that can be used for a vaginal birth. There is also the assisted vaginal delivery that is required if the mother is unable to push out the baby herself or if there is too tight a fit. In these cases, we sometimes have to use forceps or a vacuum to assist in the birth of the baby.”

There are other relatively less commonly used techniques like water birth and hypnobirthing that come up as options invariably with very low-risk, normal pregnancies. Along with your partner, you need to review each option and, in conjunction with your doctor, plan a course of action best suited to you and your baby.

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