Female or Male Midwife?

BirthConnection
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Wow 103 votes! Thanks for your votes everyone :) Keep them coming, I think its a great topic of discussion.

I have to say as someone who always preferred females to males in the medical profession and who was terrified about having to deal with this when giving birth, when it came down to it everything was totally fine. I was hospitalised at 37 weeks 2 days with pre eclampsia and had many male doctors dealing with me (students also) and I have to say they were all lovely. By the end so many people had seen down there that it really didn't bother me anymore. When I was in labour someone had to come in to give someone something or to take my lunch tray and they apologised to me and said "Don't worry I won't look" to which I said "Ah don't worry, everyone else has seen down there", lol. So I guess what I'm saying is to those of you who haven't been there and do worry about it, things can change :) I've known some lovely, lovely men and if they were midwives well I think that would be tops. So once again, I have to say yes, I would have no problem whatsoever.

Hi Alan

I'm sure plenty of others have said the same as I'm about to say, but I'll repeat it anyway!!

My obstetrician is male and the most caring health professional I've ever dealt with. I also found he takes a very 'hands off' approach to unnecessary interference during pg and birth (he was also my gf's ob so I have feedback on natural and c/s birth). Much less likely to manhandle anything! Also much more sympathetic to my various complaints/ailments than anyone else (including my DP!). I chose him based on a recommendation from a former ob and didn't even consider gender.

I would imagine the majority of women would base their decision on a health professional in the same way.

All the best and good luck working for yourself!

Agreed, gender has little to do with my decisions on healthcare providers. Good practitioners develop good reputations and that speaks for itself.

I just thought I would share why I too am in the minority (thankfully)

I am totally uncomfortable with men in general after some horrid past experiences. So most definitely not the norm, but as has been said by others, I would be far more happy with a male midwife I had confidence in than a female I did not trust.

Also, there is (by all reports) a great independant male midwife opperating the SW of WA. The positivity of everything I have heard is just great, and word of mouth is powerful! I'm sure you will do very well indeed.

I think a male midwife would be great, I don't know if others would agree but I kinda think that men are more attentive in attending womens issues. from my own experience with a female GP, I found that it was males who took my "women only" things more seriously. I kinda feel that a female can become a bit relaxed about it all. I think a a man who takes on a role that is going to involve seeing only female patients is there because they have a real special intrest in that area & will have a true passion for the job. I know that females in these roles have passion as well, don't get me wrong.
That my opinion anyway.

I had a male midwife at hospital recently, not for the birth but for prelabour visit to hospital, have to say it was strange at first but i got over that pretty fast, i think its more strange because i was just so used to it being a female dominant area

I have had male nurses before in general hospital setting and i prefer them

Best of luck in your decision, word of mouth is a great tool so i feel ppl will start your business off just by telling others of there experiences with you, i dont feel your gender will play a huge role at all in the end

No problem here either... My GP is a male, as were half of the surgical team when alexa was born....

Good luck... I am sure you will be very sucessful...

There was a male midwife at our hospital... in fact we were told there were 2 at our classes but i only saw the one. I can honestly say that i preferred him to any ob or midwife that i had ever seen there and i always had my fingers crossed that i would get him for appointments and when bub was born.

The reason for this was simple. He always treated us with respect, he was honest, caring and very straight forward. He gave off the feeling that he knew what he was on about and he wouldnt stuff you around with all the airy fairy stuff. Simple, honest straight to the point answers but always took our feelings into account and made sure we knew what was going on.

Come to Bendigo!!! :lol:

Oh here is another good point about having a male midwife. I have seen some really LONG nails on midwifes.

Hi Alan, I just wanted to say it's really important for a midwife to be both professionally excellent, but also heart-centred. I still remember my horrible hospital stay alone as a child post-tonsillectomy was made better by a single, male, nurse, who showed me more kindness and gentleness than all of the other staff put together. If you fit the bill for both criteria, then I would hire without consideration of gender.

You might like to do some networking with your local homebirthing group and get some feedback from them as well.
Regards - and all the very best with your new venture!
:-)