Vertical labor - pros and cons
Vertical childbirth is a method of giving birth in which the woman in labor does not lie on an armchair, table or bed, but is in an upright position - standing or sitting. Nowadays, more and more often you can find advice for pregnant women to spend standing up as much of the time of labor as possible, at least during the entire period of opening, and possibly even pushing. Some experts go further, arguing that the third stage of labor, expulsion of the fetus, is more physiological in an upright position.
Despite its current "non-traditional" for us, vertical childbirth is one of the traditional types of genera for representatives of many cultures. This type of childbirth was practiced very widely in Europe, before the introduction of the fashion for the horizontal position of a woman in labor among the French aristocracy in the 18th century. Then, as an imitation, this method, as more "noble", spread throughout European countries, displacing vertical childbirth from practice, which looked less "elegant".
Meanwhile, the benefits of vertical labor are clear to both the woman in labor and the fetus. The main thing is that in an upright position the uterus does not squeeze the great vessels - the aorta and the inferior vena cava, which always happens in late pregnancy in the supine position. Insufficient blood circulation badly affects the woman in labor, whose labor may become sluggish or take on a different pathological character. It is even worse for the fetus, which begins to experience hypoxia - a lack of oxygen. Fetal hypoxia during childbirth is a very dangerous condition, fraught with the occurrence of birth injuries of varying severity, leading up to cerebral palsy, and in especially severe cases, death.
During vertical childbirth, nature itself helps the fetus to go through the birth canal, because in addition to its own efforts, the force of attraction of the earth also acts. Due to the fact that the child travels easier, vertical labor usually lasts a little less than in a horizontal position. In addition, in this case, there is less pain, according to the reviews of those women in labor who had the opportunity to compare vertical and normal labor, much less, so much so that they refused anesthesia.
According to medical statistics, labor injuries in women giving birth lying down make up an average of 5%, and in women who have chosen vertical birth - 1%. In the first case, the perineal incision had to be done by 25% of women in labor (a quarter of all!), In the second only 5%.
The disadvantage of this method is that it is more difficult for the doctor to control the birth process when the birth takes place in an upright position. In this case, most of the control falls on the woman in labor herself. However, if something does not go according to plan during labor, you can always transfer vertical labor to normal, horizontal labor.
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