Episode 158 - The Four Tendencies in Birth: How Knowing Yourself Shapes Your Experience

Where you give birth matters — but environment is about much more than the room you give birth in. In this episode, I’m looking at what Environment really means within the SPACE Framework™ and how the physical and emotional environment around you can influence how you feel, respond and participate during labour. The people in the room, the atmosphere, privacy, noise, interruptions, lighting, equipment and the way you are spoken to can all become part of your birth environment. And sometimes t...

CONDITIONS - What are we asking your body to do within? In this episode, we're exploring the fourth word in my SPACE Framework™: Conditions. When we talk about preparing for birth, much of the focus is placed on what you can do. You can learn about the physiology of labour, understand what your body is doing, practise breathing and relaxation, think about movement, explore your options and prepare yourself for the experience ahead. But your body doesn't experience labour in isolation from eve...

ADVOCACY - Who protects your space when you can't? And why does that matter? In this episode, we're exploring the third word in my SPACE Framework™: Advocacy. When we think about advocacy in birth, it can be easy to imagine confrontation, challenging every decision or having a birth partner who is prepared to fight the maternity system. But advocacy is about something much more important than being the loudest person in the room. It is about protecting your autonomy. During labour, there may ...

PRIVACY: What Do You Need to Stop Feeling Observed? What does privacy actually mean during labour? In this episode, we move to the second word in the SPACE Framework™: Privacy. Privacy isn't simply about being alone or having a closed door. A woman can have people she trusts around her and still feel completely private, while being physically alone doesn't necessarily mean she feels unobserved or protected from interruption. During labour, a woman may gradually become less socially aware and ...

SAFETY: What Does Safety Actually Feel Like? What do we really mean when we talk about safety in birth? In this episode, I introduce the first word in the SPACE Framework™: Safety. When we talk about safe birth, we often think about physical or clinical safety, and of course, the wellbeing of both mother and baby matters enormously. But safety is not only about clinical observations, equipment or the ability to respond if something changes. A woman is also experiencing birth through her nervo...