Just read Gothmum's post in the If You Didn't Tear What Position Were You In thread. It's an example of an institutionalised midwife. This midwife was threatening her with an episiotomy if she didn't hurry up. And this is a primip having a 4 hour labour!! Gothmum wisely *oops* kicked the midwife, ignored her and carried on pushing her baby out slowly and gently and succeeded in avoiding a tear.

I think many women rock up at the hospital anticipating and expecting warm, fuzzy midwife care. Sometimes, if they're lucky, they'll get it, because there's some extremely brave 'angel midwives' in the system putting their own necks on the line to help women who want to, to birth normally and dodge intervention.

But many women are not expecting such a snip-happy scenario with so many sharp objects flying around. Scalpels and scissors to cut the abdomen, or to cut the perineum, or to cut the cord, or to cut the foreskin. A lot of cutting going on. Many careproviders can't imagine how a birth can happen with no sharp objects and no cutting. But it can!

When Gloria Lemay stayed at our house (last week) she shared a lot of great stories. One of them was about a video she shows of some births she's attended, which she shows to trainee midwives to show how hands off you can be at a birth. Some of the midwives exclaim, "Oh - so you mean, REALLY hands off!" That couldn't understand how you care for a birthing woman without touching her or the baby at all. So, there are midwives and midwives.