Pregnancy may bring a rush of euphoric emotions for many women, but it can also mean nine months of paranoia and panic. We are fed so much information that the path from conception to labour can be fraught with confusion. Once that bump appears, everyone has an opinion on everything from the gender of your child to how you should live your life while carrying him or her.
And who knows what to believe? Last week, for instance, the long-held belief being that pregnancy triggers memory lapses dubbed “baby-brain” syndrome was debunked by a report in the British Journal of Psychiatry. According to a study by the Australian National University in Canberra, neither pregnancy nor motherhood damaged brain power, so being forgetful can no longer be blamed on the baby.
Then came the revelation from the supermodel Gisele Bündchen that she had sailed through labour, giving birth to her son in the bathtub at her Boston penthouse. “It wasn’t painful, not even a little bit,” said the 29-year-old Brazilian, right. “The whole time, my head was so focused — every contraction, the baby is closer, the baby is closer. ” So should all women be rushing to use birthing pools? Not necessarily. No evidence confirms that childbirth is less painful in water. “Birthing pools work for some,” says Maylyn Bonds, a midwife for Tommy’s, a charity that funds research into pregnancy problems. “They don’t help others.”
By Peta Bee Copyright 2010 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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