Re: [ozmidwifery] birthing a still baby

[Jenny Cameron]

Hello Jo Women often say a dead baby feels cold inside of them. There are a few texts on women's experience of stillbirth. Jane Warland's The Midwife & the Bereaved Family is very good.Like all births each one is different, live or still. A woman's first birth is different to her second which is different to her third...and so on. Each birthing experience is unique and while there are principles that govern midwifery care in the instance of stillbirth, we have to approach each couple as unique each time. As well as experiencing birth, there is death to deal with. Physically birthing a dead baby is little different than a live baby. The baby undergoes the usual mechanisms in order to negotiate the birth canal. Depending on how long the baby has been dead, a dead baby is softer and more easily mouldable than a live baby therefore women rarely tear or require episiotomy. Also we need to be very gentle and careful handling a stillborn baby as the skin and underlying tissues may be very soft and fragile, macerated is the medical term. Hope this helps Jenny Jennifer Cameron FRCNA FACM ProMid Professional Midwifery Education  Service 0419 528 717 ----- Original Message ----- From: Dean & Jo To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 7:08 PM Subject: [ozmidwifery] birthing a still baby I am wondering if anyone knows of some text, essay, or writing of some sort by women (or a woman) who has birthed a live baby and a still baby and then written about the differences.  I know that sounds weird; but I was talking to someone who said she had heard from a woman who had experienced this scenario and the woman had said there was a difference between the two birth experiences –other than one baby had died.  I just don’t feel right in approaching this person for confidentiality issues. The context of the conversation was about how the child is an active participant in the birth process and birthing a still baby would be different to birthing a live one.  Knowing how traumatic and/or personal this is, I would not like to ask if anyone knows someone who has been there and done this- rather just ask if anyone has read anything before?   Am I making sense??? I have run out of coffee!!!!   Cheers Jo --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.799 / Virus Database: 543 - Release Date: 11/19/2004