I follow a lot of midwifery related people on twitter, it's great, keeps you up to date with what's happening all over the world. With regard to helping women birth their babies, there is a theme running through most posts. Keep women off the bed, have good support, birth in water if you can and allay the fears. I agree with all of that, but sometimes you have to follow your instinct.
I was looking after a first time mum, whose partner was no longer on the scene. She had her sister and friend with her, both mothers themselves. One had had a pool birth at home and the other a hospital birth as was this one, the pool wasn't available due to a stupid hospital decision,( more of that another time! ) She was 36+ weeks and had gone into labour spontaneously, the baby looked a good size. She was sat out of bed ,on the birthing ball and all was going well. But she was as scared as I've seen anybody. She was approaching transition but we could all see that her body was going to shut down, every change of type of contraction just scared the whits out of her. I could see 2 different dynamics in the room. Her "pool birth" friend was calm, relaxed and did not say much. Her sister frantically rubbed her back, told her to calm down and she would be OK. How to break this situation? I asked what position she was most comfortable she was in just before she dropped off to sleep. On her side with pillows between her legs and underneath her tummy. The bed was arranged and she sank into it. We could all palpably feel the tension leave her and she stayed in that position till her lovely baby was born an hour later.
In general yes, stay off the bed, birth partners are vital, if they are the right ones. Sometimes beds are good places to birth a baby!
