A Finnish company is trying to deliver a more relaxing birth experience to area expectant mothers.
Summa Akron City Hospital is the first maternity unit in the United States to offer the Relaxbirth chair from Finland for low-risk pregnant women to use during labor and delivery.
The 800-pound, motorized device can be moved from room to room to offer patients the opportunity to sit, lean, stand, squat, rock, lie sideways or apply counterpressure to the back — whatever position is most comfortable during the labor process.
The device was the brainchild of a Finnish midwife who wanted to let women choose optimal positions during labor and delivery, Relaxbirth Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Jukka-Pekka Luostarinen said in a phone interview from Finland.
“It’s giving the mothers a more empowered and more active way of delivering their baby,” he said.
Studies have shown an upright position during labor can shorten pushing time, reduce birth canal trauma to the mother and lower the need for forceps or vacuum extractors, said Jennifer Doyle, Summa’s perinatal outreach educator.
“Gravity is your friend in labor and delivery,” she said. “By being upright, you expand the pelvic diameter by about 30 percent.”
Relaxbirth provided the device and training to Summa for free as part of a feasibility study to determine its ease of use by patients and staff.
A total of 30 low-risk patients will participate in the pilot study.
Summa researchers also want to compare the births of the 30 women who use the device to the deliveries of 30 similar patients who don’t use Relaxbirth to look for differences in their experiences, Doyle said.
To use the device in the study, expectant mothers must be ages 18 to 40 without high blood pressure, diabetes, pre-term labor or other known risk factors. Patients must be full-term (between 37 and 41 weeks gestation) and expecting only one baby who is in the head-down position.
When Eileen Walters, 36, of Tallmadge, recently gave birth to her third child, Van Alexander Walters, at City Hospital, she agreed to be the first patient there to try the Relaxbirth device.
Walters prefers to deliver her children naturally — without any anesthesia — so she was looking for help to stay upright and distracted.
“I felt like this might help give me something else to focus on,” she said. “I was able to try some different positions I couldn’t hold as well on my own.”
She said the device was “very unusual looking” and took up the floor space of a twin bed, much to her surprise.
“I do think it helped me assume some positions for a longer length of time than I would have been able to do on my own,” she said. “They were helpful positions that relieved some of the pressures and relieved some of the pain and took my mind off some of the uncomfortable part of labor.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to having it brought in again with another labor. I would be willing to use it again.”
The Finnish company forged its relationship with Summa after company officials visited the region about a year ago through Akron’s BioFinland Technology Bridge Initiative. The “bridge” is one of the city’s efforts to attract investment from foreign companies.
“It’s just another example that the bridges are working and the companies are coming,” said Bob Anthony, director of entrepreneurial services — life sciences at the Akron Global Business Accelerator, the city’s downtown business incubator.
The business accelerator is involved in the city’s technology bridge initiative.
Relaxbirth wants to expand from Finland into larger market, particularly the United States, Luostarinen said. The U.S. price for the device and program training still is being determined.
The company could establish a U.S. presence in Akron if things go well, he said.
“We aim to improve the childbirth experience around the world,” he said.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/CherylPowellABJ.