Mindful Motherhood

Mindfulness can reduce the risk of stress-induced complications in birth. HAZEL SILLVER spoke to Sussex-based doula Riga Forbes, who has written a book about this empowering practice

- Riga Forbes

HAVING a child is a beautiful female act, which is at the heart of matriarchal culture. But whereas once many of our ancestors worshipped fertility goddesses and viewed birth as a quiet private process governed by the mother, in the modern world labour can often be a highly medicalised spotlight moment, which many women find disempowering, and sometimes frightening.

When I came into the world, my mother had been given so much medication that she passed out and then came round in excruciating pain with no control over her contractions, and I was yanked out with forceps. One would hope that today birth is a smoother ride, but a female friend’s recent experience involved being shouted at throughout her labour by a male obstetrician.

Increasingly, many mums-to-be are turning to birth companions (known as ‘doulas’) to aid them in avoiding such experiences and hopefully have a very positive labour. The doula is there throughout the birth to provide caring physical and emotional support, alongside the midwives and obstetricians who look after the important medical process.

The doula also supports the mother through her pregnancy, providing emotional support, practical information and sometimes techniques to help her prepare for more relaxing birth. “When a woman gives birth, she naturally produces the relaxant hormone oxytocin, which enables the womb to contract, but fear and stress create adrenaline which can interfere with its work, and so may delay or complicate the labour,” says doula Riga Forbes, who is based in Lewes.