Midwife Role

THE ROLE OF THE MIDWIFE

One of the principal roles of the midwife in hypnobirthing consists in explaining the pregnant woman and her partner evidence-based information related to the gestation and childbirth in the antenatal period. According to Philips-Moore (2012), one of the principal anxieties of the expecting couples, apart from the fear associated with terrible stories heard about birth, is the named ‘fear of the unknown’. The author states that it can be enormously reduced when a professional explains the birthing process and the methods that the woman can use to help her body in going through it. He highlights the importance of providing fathers or birth partners with explanations about the whole process and how ‘to be part of the

Couples need to be explained the evidence regarding the ‘men-tal and emotional abilities of the unborn child’ (Philips-Moore, 2012). Babies’ five senses develop before birth and couples are encouraged to interact with them, stimulating their sensations by talking, massaging the abdomen or playing nice music. This has been demonstrated to affect the personality, emotional temperament and intelligence of babies (Philips-Moore,

Midwives are the professionals that pregnant women trust more because they are specialists. Our mind works associating and creating images of what we hear, so it is very important the words they choose and the way they say them. There are some words that are really internalized in daily vocabulary of the midwives, as ‘pain’, ‘con-traction’ or ‘push’. Navarro (2017) suggests changing them for softer ones, as ‘intense physical sensations’, ‘uterine wave’ or ‘help’, respectively.

During labour, it is very important to carefully read the couple’s birth plan to understand how they actually want to process to be. The objective is to offer an environment of calm, tranquillity and peace, maintaining the mother as relaxed as possible. NICE guidelines on intrapartum care (2014) should lead the continuous care.

Empathy is a crucial characteristic in the role of the midwife in general, but it is even more important when talking about hypnobirthing. It is key in creating effective communication, in both antenatal and birth periods, between the midwife and the mother-to-be, what generates a trusting relationship that can be decisive at the time of childbirth (Moloney and Gair, 2015;