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Mubashira Abdur Raqeeb, M.D, shares some thought provoking reflections while being on the training journey with AMANI Birth:
- Allah has created the human body in the most perfect design, to birth and feed, so we must trust HIS design. Although birth is not without risk, Allah has provided many safety nets.
- Modern medicine, although many times working with good intention, tends to be a case of too much, too soon. No medicine has been proven completely safe for pregnancy, and pain can be managed naturally instead of opting for drugs.
- Many practices in modern medicine have had absurd origins (for e.g: lithotomy position). We have a right to refuse or consent to hospital "protocols"
- A birthing mother needs to choose her birthing partner (s) well ahead of time and need to "educate" them as well.
- Nutrition and exercise are the two most essential requirements over which the mothers have maximum control.
- Apart from being physically taxing, birth is emotionally taxing too. A mother needs to free herself of past issues to enter her labor with a clean slate.
- Mothers, educate yourselves! Making a birth plan and advocating is essential and not making a decision is actually a decision to hand over our bodies to the medical team. The mother alone bears the consequence of living with it.
- Birth consumerism: choosing a doctor and a hospital that best support our need is the most important step to ensure a natural birth. We must tie the camel first and then trust in Allah.
- Finally mothers need to understand that labor has a purpose. By forgoing pain either by choosing epidural for a vaginal birth or opting for C-section, the woman is basically rearranging her pre birth pain to post birth. However, if there are risks associated with the pregnancy, a mother may end up having a C-section, so keeping an open mind, accepting Allah's Qadr and keeping the goal for having a healthy mother and healthy baby will go a long way into having a positive birth experience.
Most low risk mothers are instinctively driven towards a natural birth.