Re: [ozmidwifery] midwife is a midwife...?

[Susan Cudlipp]

Mary I agree totally with this - and say "Roll on the day"  I guess my only real point is that hospital based midwives seem often to be perceived as 'collaborating with the enemy' whereas the truth is that the vast majority are doing the best they can within the present system.  It would have been wonderful if that scared little 14 y.o. girl had had such support during her pregnancy that she was able to consider birth as an achievable goal.  She really did not believe it was going to happen, which is why she was shouting long and hard for a c/s.  Her first words as the babe arrived were; "Mum - I DID IT!!"  Which is why I described her birth as triumphant - it truly was, and in the circumstances I felt triumphant too. This young girl WAS empowered, even though her birth was 'medicalised' to a degree.  I'm no fan of epidurals and like the fact that we do very few of them where I work.  However, for some women they are a very useful tool, if used judiciously.  Some labours - with the best will in the world - are going to be very difficult, and it is a TOOL which can make a great deal of difference. (please - no hate mail!) I wish there was a stronger consumer demand for better care, our own birth centre closed mainly due to lack of consumer demand, which was very sad. We couldn't argue to keep it going for the small % of women who wanted it.  And from comments from others on this list this seems to be the case generally What do you do to change the attitude of the general public?   Why is it that c/s is so popular?  Why do women insist on being induced for no medical reason?  One girl recently wanted IOL as she was a few days overdue - the OB said to her -" you are not ready, your cervix is long and closed, your baby is OP, if I start the labour off it will probably be long, hard and painful" - Her response? I DON'T CARE! I want my baby out NOW   - (sigh)   Sue ----- Original Message ----- From: Mary Murphy To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 8:32 AM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] midwife is a midwife...? It seems to me that people think that a caseloading midwife never cares for people who are afraid of childbirth. (both men & women) The truth is, that many of my clients are just as frightened as those in "the system".  The difference is, that at each prenatal visit we talk about the issues and how to overcome them.  Because women have the opportunity to talk to "their" midwife(s), they are able to access strategies to help them.  Sometimes this doesn't happen and they go into labour still afraid.  However, they have by this time built up trust in their midwife that she will CARE for them and if necessary, take them to hospital if they need/want and epidural or anything else.  They are then able to accept the medicalization of their labour/birth as something they have really chosen for themselves. If they have overcome their fearz in labour (common) then they are empowered by their newly discovered strength. They also know that their midwife will not judge them, but accept the woman's choice.  That is the strength of a more personalised service.  The correct implementation of NMAP would give ALL women this kind of care and give ALL midwives the thrill of working in this very satisfying way.  Cheers, MM -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.