Gabrielle Targett - A Labour Of Love: A Guide To Natural Childbirth Without Fear

Published by

GABRIELLE TARGETT

PO Box 526

South Fremantle WA 6162

Phone (618) 9437 4827

Email info@alabouroflove.com.au

First published 2005

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the written permission from the author.

Copyright Gabrielle Targett 2011

Cover design Adrienne Zuvela

Cover photograph photolibrary (photographer Lori Adamski-Peek)

Internal design Lovedoris Designs

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-publication data

Targett, Gabrielle E, 1969.

A Labour of Love: A Guide to Natural Childbirth Without Fear.

Bibliography.

ISBN 9781921064593.

I dedicate this book to my Mother who conceived me, and to my Father who caught me when I was bornthank you for bringing me here, to do this wonderful work.

To my three beautiful children, Jaeosha, Ben and Jarrad who came into this world in the most peaceful way. I love you with all of my heart, and could not imagine my life without each and every one of you. Thank you for teaching me so many of the lessons of life though our journey together. May your lives be blessed with love, peace and happiness always.

And lastly, I dedicate this book to all the wonderful women and their partners who I have had the privilege of working with during pregnancy, labour, birth and beyond. You have taught me more than you will ever know, enabling me to write this book based on what I have observed and learnt over the years. I am humbled and honoured to have been a part of something so incredible. Thank you.

about the author

Gabrielle Targett has a degree in Physical Education and has been a qualified Fitness Leader for the last fourteen years, specialising in aqua-fitness instruction in the ante-natal and post-natal area. As well as teaching, she has presented many workshops and courses in aqua-fitness instruction and has been an assessor/examiner in the fitness industry for the past eight years. Her outstanding ability to speak publicly with honesty, humour and passion came from her many years of lecturing at TAFE.

Her greatest achievement came when she gave birth to three beautiful water babies in 1995, 1997 and 1999. After the birth of her son in 1997, she was first asked to attend a birth as a support person. It was at this time she fell in love with the idea of supporting a woman during birth. It wasnt until ten births and three years later that she realised the importance of the work she was doing as a doula (birth support person) and the impact it had on women and their birthing outcomes. It was at that point that she decided to document the births and write a book from her experiences.

In addition, Gaby decided to train as a childbirth educator. Gaby found that during her aqua natal deep-water running classes the exercise became secondary to the childbirth education she was providing during the one-hour session. So great was the need for education that Gaby decided to offer independent childbirth education classes privately on a weekly basis.

Following on from the need to educate others has been the need and desire to train other doulas to attend births, and in 2003 she ran the first doula training course in Western Australia.

In 2003, Gaby also designed and created a Doulas Down Under website to educate women and their partners about doulas. In 2004, Gabrielle attended the first Australian Doula conference in Sydney, followed by the 23rd Australian Homebirth conference where she co-presented a waterbirth section alongside her own midwife.

In 2005, Gaby launched her business, A Labour of Love, and released a pregnancy/labour range of products which can be purchased at www.alabouroflove.com.au . Soon to be released is a series of visualisations specifically for childbirth preparation, and a childbirth educational workbook.

foreword

One of my research participants told me that she paid her doctor a heap of money to prop up the wall. She thought he was terrific because in no way did he unnecessarily interfere with her birthing. The natural childbirth movement is about moving towards giving self-managed, safe and happy birthing totally back to women. It is also about giving men who know what they are doing an understanding of their vital role during natural birth, which is to see that women are free to have their babies happily and safely without any interference or any need to be concerned with what is happening in the world around them.

Gaby Targett, in her marvellously sensitive book, is moving western women back to the future in which pain will be rarely experienced and without need of any suppressive trance, let alone analgesia or anaesthetics. The mechanism for painless delivery has already been biologically built in by mother nature in her basic design for birthing. Blood loss, if it happens, will be minimal. Tearing will be very rare even with relatively large babies and it will not matter much whether babies choose to arrive head or tail first. This is how it is for a number of primitive peoples who, so far as birthing is concerned, are somewhat more civilised than we are.

In his book, The Scientification of Love , Michel Odent has said "some topics of research have been regarded as politically incorrect by the medical establishment, and have been deliberately neglected". So it is with Grantly Dick-Reads work. As his step-son, I find it very frustrating to see his writings so often misquoted and even distorted by people who will not search and accurately cite original documentation. In the introduction to the 2004 edition of Dick-Reads Childbirth Without Fear , Dr Odent has also said, "Had lessons been learned from Grantly Dick-Read, the epidemic of malpractice suits and their consequences might have been prevented". Gaby Targetts dream reflects my stepfathers and it delights me so much to see how well she appreciates and honours his original contribution to the achievement of natural childbirth.

Leigh Dick-Read, 2005

MAppSc., Father, Natural Childbirth Educator, Psychotherapist, PhD candidate researching natural childbirth

preface

The nine months of pregnancy is a time of adjustment, and acceptance of the life force within; a time of education and acceptance of the changing body, mind and spirit; and a time to celebrate the journey into a new life and the beautiful birth aheadnone of which have a place for self doubt or fear.

A labour of love takes a non-medical approach. My knowledge and training comes from attending many births throughout Western Australia. It is an open, honest account of information that women who are pregnant can use to create the type of birth experience they want. This book aims to empower women to believe in their bodies and themselves, so they may move forward through pregnancy feeling strong and excited about birth rather than anxious and fearful.