Proactive Support of Labor
The Challenge of Normal Childbirth

Gives step-by-step, evidence-based guidance on expert care and support during labor. Essential reading for obstetricians, midwives, nurses, and trainees.

Paul Reuwer (Author), Hein Bruinse (Author), Arie Franx (Author)

9781107426580, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 August 2015

216 pages, 16 b/w illus. 12 tables
24.6 x 18.9 x 1.3 cm, 0.45 kg

'This book is worthwhile reading for everybody involved in birth care, especially for junior staff with limited obstetric training … It is a good teaching resource in developing countries and provides a good starting point for cooperation between primary and secondary care providers.' Arie C. Glas, Bulletin of the Netherlands Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health

The right for every woman to have a 'natural' birth has been recognized for many years, yet surgical interventions continue to rise and, paradoxically, complaints and the degree of litigation for disappointing labor outcomes escalate. Proactive Support of Labor enhances professional skills by providing the expertise for preventing long labors - the root-cause of traumatic birth experiences and the cesarean pandemic. Step-by-step, evidence-based guidance on expert care and support during labor is given. Emphasis is placed on pre-labor education, personal attention, and well-defined birth planning – including strict diagnoses and timely corrective measures in abnormal labor – and constant audit of all procedures and outcomes. Striking a new balance between natural birth and intervention, and invariably enhancing women's satisfaction with the childbirth experience, the fully updated revision of this groundbreaking work will be essential reading for obstetricians, midwives, nurses, and trainees. For peer and reader reviews of the first edition see: www.proactivesupportoflabor.com.

Foreword to the first edition
Preface
Dedication
Web-links
1. General introduction
Part I. A Wake-up Call: 2. Medical excess in normal childbirth 3. Avoidable causes of failed labors
4. Harmful birth care practices
5. Destructive territorial disputes
6. Self-sustaining mechanisms
Part II. Back to Basics: 7. Forgotten lessons from nature
8. Elementary biophysics of birth
9. Definitions and verbal precision
10. First-stage labor revisited
11. Second-stage labor redefined
Part III. Proactive Support of Labor: 12. Leading principles
13. Nulliparous versus parous labor
14. Diagnosis of labor
15. Prevention of long labor
16. Personal attention and support
17. Amniotomy and oxytocin
18. Pre-labor preparation
19. Affective dimensions of labor pain
20. Pain relief re-examined
21. Dynamic dystocia unraveled
22. Obstructed labor
23. Curtailed use of induction
24. Safe care of the fetus
25. Organizational reforms
26 Implementation and ongoing audit cycle
27. External audit of procedures and outcomes
Index.

Subject Areas: Gynaecology & obstetrics [MJT]