Article on Dutch model of care

[Mel09]

I have a Dutch friend who was telling me this when she was out here at xmas...

She also said that after seeing what birth is like on tv, she was coming here to have her baboes!!! Not sure she really meant it, but she wanta an epi!!!

[canberramomma]

Many Nordic countries have tis sort of an attitude. I think the whole of the "Allied" countries could take a huge lesson from this sort of care for future generations, not to mention the generous parental leave and employer sponsored childcare options as a recognition that we need more people to have children to care for us in our old age!!!!

[Cricket]

We have a pretty decent baby bonus/child care supplement here, and a one year maternity leave, but the birth rate is still pretty low - 1.7 children per woman, if I'm not mistaken. Well below replacement.
Anyways, about the Dutch thing - my midwife said that the Dutch women (children of immigrants, not born in Holland) in their practice seem to have a much better attitude towards labour and birth than many of the others in their practice. And my midwife herself had a Dutch doctor, who, 25 years ago, allowed her to have a homebirth here, which he attended (as a GP) and allowed her children to be present. That would have been totally unheard of at that time! I wondered if it is because the Dutch are typically bigger people (no worries - I'm Dutch myself) and maybe have a little less trouble with labour? Just a thought. I know that the size of the woman isn't everything in labour, but I wondered if that might be a factor. Or maybe we're just a wonderfully enlightened bunch of people.
Where I live here in Ontario, the hospital doesn't offer epidurals either - only if you are going to need a c-section, or high forceps. Some women travel to the next big city to deliver because of that.

"In the netherlands it seems birth is treated as a private family event which a trained person helps with and not a medical event family members can witness"
What a concept! Now if only THAT would catch on here!

[Amie]

She also said that after seeing what birth is like on tv, she was coming here to have her baboes!!! Not sure she really meant it, but she wanta an epi!!!

Exactly! When have you ever seen a birth or birth-scenario in TV or a in a movie where the woman is calm, supported, confident? It's almost always a case of "ooh, I think I'm in labour" followed by a mercy-dash straight to the hospital where the heroic doctor states grimly "we gotta get this baby out or we're gonna lose them both", all amid much screaming and moaning and people yelling "STAT!". (ok, that was very soap opera-ish but you get the idea)

Now, I'm not saying that emergency situations don't occur. Of course they do. But the problem here is that, these days, many women's only experience of birth comes from what they have seen on TV/movies. There was a time when women were present at their sister's/friend's/cousin's birth and when women talked more about the realities of birth and it wasn't such a scary thing. In fact, birth was seen as the perfectly normal, beautiful process that it is.

So next time you are talking to a pregnant woman, tell her about an awesome birth-experience that you know of, whether it be your own or someone else's. Surely we all know at least one great story??...

(hmm, stepping off soap-box now... )