#1 Midwives have no rights apart from serving parents. Nobody wants to hear it, but it is true.
#2 Authentic midwifery is about serving mothers, not saving mothers or babies, from birth.
#3 Midwifery that incorporates, or is based on THE lie, is not authentic midwifery. I am interested in honoring and saving authentic midwifery because it serves parents WITHOUT adding risk or diminishing safety. (THE lie is that birth is a medical event. It rarely is. When it is, thank God we have medical facilities and medical personnel.)
#4 Midwives who believe that their presence, or drugs or gadgets make birth safe don't believe the same things that I do about birth. My beliefs are grounded in science and wholesale trust in the physiology of birth. So, when we talk about midwifery, we are often talking about something different.
#5 I believe that if you are going to call yourself a midwife, that you need to invest in a comprehensive education that includes the history of midwifery, nutrition, anatomy, physiology, terminology, normal labor and birth, the newborn, counseling and communication skills, some basic biology and microbiology, complementary studies, possible complications and how to prevent them, possible emergencies and how to recognize and respond appropriately. Of course there are many other things included in my curriculum. However, I do not believe that midwifery students need algebra, composition, chemistry, pharmacology.
2 comments:
With my first son I started care with a "midwife" group that delivered in a local hospital. The woman I saw (not a midwife but a MEDwife) didn't even look at me when she walked in the room, but stood with her back to me asking me questions off a piece of paper. She proceeded to assure me that I would have access to epidurals or any other modern convenience, never bothering to ask what kind of birth experience I was interested in. When I declined a pelvic, she was totally incensed, stating that she'd never had a patient refuse in her 27 years of experience. She couldn't pick up a heartbeat (I was 11 weeks), and didn't believe me when I assured her I had heard it the day before on my own doppler. In the end, I told her I'd like to look around a little before rescheduling, and she went off on me, ranting about how I didn't trust her. On walking out, the girl at the front desk said she didn't think I'd be allowed back! That's when I started planning my homebirth! First son came early and was born in the hospital, but last summer I had a my second son at home with a wonderful MIDwife, and it was beautiful.
Hi Carla,
I was wondering if you accepted any guest posting on your site. I couldn’t manage to find your email on the site. If you could get a hold of me at jeff@drugwatch.com, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks,
-Jeff
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