“S. has spent her
entire midwifery career at [an Oregon
hospital].... She developed a woman-centered practice with a noninterventive
philosophy. She has never been to a homebirth.... S.'s devotion to the
protection of normal labor and birth is bolstered by her consistent attention
to research in medicine and obstetrics. However, the things I saw her do to
make a birth in a hospital labor and delivery ward home-like were simple and
basic. For one, she took the monitor out of the room. It was surprising to me,
a midwife who has attended many hundreds of home and hospital births, how much
difference this made. It felt different than just not using the monitor. It was
gone. The room was simplified, the energy purified.
She went on to create a
private space for the parents. On the floor behind the hospital bed a futon was
placed, and a large cushion was added for comfort and support. The door to the
room was closed and access monitored by the midwife. I was reminded of Dr.
Michel Odent's advice to decrease the adrenaline levels in the laboring mother
by providing a quiet, private place with the lights turned down low, the kind
of place animals seek out for their births.”
~ Marion Toepke McLean
excerpted from her column,
"Marion's
Message"
Midwifery Today Issue 50
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