Dear babymidwife,
I'm a 5 year old [with breaks due to number 3 offspring]. I
had the most wonderful, inspiring training in England: midwife led care
and mainly based in the community. For the last 6 months of my training
i was doing antenatal checks alone, taking women to hospital to care for
them in labour and for the birth [totally independently] and continuing
their care back in the community for 10 days.
I then worked in NZ for a bit and watched the fabulous independants at
work [they even cared for me despite major complications: baby with an
omphalocele] and now - believe it or not i work in a private hospital in
Australia. The frustrations i encounter are enormous but i've decided to
let my face be accepted first [nearly there] and then slowly work on the
system. Fortunately i've got into the antenatal classes and from there
can inform the women about childbirth the way it should be. Many women
here seem to think it's ok to have a c.section because you're scared or
the baby is a bit big [according to ultrasound] and it's great to have
an epidural as soon as you walk in the door for your induction at 37
weeks for social reasons [yours or the doctors].
Did you read about the senate enquiry into childbirth [nursing review
August]? The figures for the wealthiest and healthiest women of NSW
[horrendous c.section,IOL and episiotomy rates compared to the women
from the low socioeconomic groups]. Well it's the same here and the
women think that they're getting the best care-it's so sad.
I guess we just have to keep knocking away whenever we can. Nice to know
i'm not alone!
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