Woman’s Hour and Birth Choice

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I’m not sure how many of you will have heard Woman’s Hour this morning where the subject was choice in birth. Once I got past Kirstie Allsop’s uncomfortable interview style, I found it interesting to listen to, amongst others, Belinda Phipps and Christine Hill discussing antenatal education. It is a subject close to my heart, given the work I do in preparing doula clients for birth, and also as I embark on antenatal class provision myself.  There seemed to be unequivocal agreement that antenatal classes are  good thing, but it is intriguing to note the divergence of opinion on what subjects are key to cover, and what can slip.
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The Babymoon

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Thankfully the furore surrounding the birth of  Prince George has finally died down and, with luck, Kate and William can get on with their lives without such an extreme media spotlight glaring.  They have entered that phase that has become known as “The Babymoon”.  This term was originally coined by the splendid anthropologist Sheila Kitzinger (who I saw last in Edinburgh in April – in her mid-eighties and as lucid and sharp as ever) to mean a time immediately after birth when the parents hunker down and spend time getting to know their baby.  In fact, it is believed that fathers find the transition to fatherhood far easier if they do spend two weeks minimum at home after the birth.  The babymoon term has been “stolen” by various travel companies to entice pregnant couples away to enjoy one last holiday together prior to the baby’s arrival, but we won’t dwell on that!
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