TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Integrating Medical Intervention into a Natural Birth Plan A1 - Aristizabal, Michelle PY - 2018 T2 - Natural Labor and Birth: An Evidence-Based Guide to the Natural Birth Plan AB - The expression “life is what happens while you are busy making other plans,” often applies in both life and labor. Labor is frequently the initiation for parents into the reality that kids will most often do what they want, in the way they want, when they want and parental control and influence over them is limited. This recognition of the unpredictability of the labor process and a willingness to adapt one’s plan for labor in response to the situation is important for all women intending to labor naturally, as it helps reduce the negative feelings of disappointment or failure that may otherwise develop if the need for medical intervention arises. However, it is equally important for medical staff to recognize that helping laboring women maintain as much control over the process as possible reduces the likelihood that the birth will be traumatic for their patients or that their patients will suffer from postpartum depression and anxiety disorders.1 Too often, when a natural labor begins to veer off course, to borrow from another common expression, the baby is thrown out with the bath water. The decision to alter course and utilize any medical intervention in the labor process leads to a complete abandonment of all the intentions the parents had for their delivery and a uniform adoption of the traditional medical birth model. This tendency is not usually necessary and often leaves mothers feeling that they in some way failed or that their desired birth was taken from them. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/10/06 UR - obgyn.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1155167058 ER -