Would you give birth in a midwifery led unit?

[MantaRay]

Here is the irony. When pg the first time, I only considered using a private ob because I was worried about complications and wanted the "best care". The only complications I had were AS A RESULT of the interventions I had because I had a private ob and the "best care". Second time I did go the ob route again, but with loads more information and I did avoid the interventions and problems of the first birth. I doubt I'll have any more, but if I did I would LOVE the option of mw led care. For me, the biggest risk during labour is the interventions you can end up with in hossy!!

Why do midwives have to be a government funded option?

Kuraiza, why shouldn't they be? It would cost the government a lot less money to fund mws for homebirths and have fewer ob patients in hospitals. Not to mention what it would do for hospital waiting lists, and ob beds could be reduced and replaced with surgical beds.

[green01]

Of course I would rather have a midwive deliver my baby and be there for me, the hospital system can be so cold and unwelcome

[Raz_Mum]

My second child was born in RBWH through the Peguses program it is not a Birth center which I find out this week if have gotten in to that for my third child. The Peguses Group is All midwives.. I saw a Doctor once, then a group of ten midwives.. So when the time came for me to give birth, I went to the labor rooms and was not introduced to a stranger but one of those ten midwives I had seen in outpatients.. I felt it was a very good medium between the birth center and a doctor present. The only time a Doctor is called is if there is a real emergency the same as if you were in the Birth Center.. You do have to get into these groups early but at least you have more of a chance of having your baby your way...

Oh I forgot that for the main part one of those ten midwives also looks after you on the ward.. They do rotations between the out patients, Labor Ward and Maternity Ward... One day I had the Woman that Birthed my Daughter look after me in the ward.. We had a good time chatting about how quick she came

[green01]

Thats great, i really cant beleive that it could only be 10% of women wanting this

[Smoke Jaguar]

Something tells me the methodology for this 'study' is a little less than stringent!

[Antheia]

For sure! When this bub is born and for future bubs i'll have it no other way.

[lovin' oven]

I had my first child, a daughter, at my local public hospital (a large hospital) about 6 weeks ago, went through the antenatal clinic and had midwife care. I thought they did a great job and answered all my questions. Now I go to my local clinic for bub's checkups and the midwives there are very knowledgeable and supportive.

I would do the same thing again for the next baby (a bit further down the track) Midwives have extensive training and know as much as the obstetricians do. Only time a doctor was involved was during the delivery (I had an epidural with forceps delivery).

thumbs up for midwives!

[~ Mylitta ~]

When I started looking into birth centers and midwife care I was disappointed that I couldn't find anything I liked in my area. My best friend was booked into the RPA birth center in Sydney which we toured and it looked fantastic. When she actually went into labour it was unfortunately full, but when they took us over to the RPA labour ward I was amazed to find that the room and the facilities were almost identical to the birth center (only difference we could see was the bed). I was really hoping to find something as homely and welcoming in my area, but nothing I've seen even compares (please correct me if I'm wrong because I sincerely hope I am!).

My best friend and I also share a similar view of how we wanted to experience birth. We wanted the "expert" care of an obstetrician, with the hope that we would never have to use that care. In other words, we wanted something that resembled a homebirth, but with all the "safety nets" if you know what I mean.

When I am finally lucky enough to fall pregnant, I will definitely be looking into having a doula/midwife for the birth, and I think it is definitely something that sound be covered by health funds etc...

[SunnyRain]

It's a good point that a midwife led unit would (should) be cheaper and cost tax payers less. Unfortunately, in reality the government would impose so many restrictions and regulations that it would end up being an expense nightmare.

But it shouldn't be. The government is just rubbish and makes everything 10 times more complicated. Here's a local case of government-gone-stupid:

On the Gold Coast the government just stripped every hospital of their ability to provide labour or birthing spas until they write up all their procedures and methodologies which is both time consuming and costly for hospitals. The public-funded birth centre managed to get their procedures written so they got their plugs back (the government took away the spa plugs). I was planning on using the labour spas at my private hospital for pain relief but it's not an option any more.

I agree that midwife options and homebirth options should be easily available in Australia without restrictions, but the reality is they cost so much because of the government regulations. So I'm not advocating doing away with midwives or homebirths, I advocate doing away with government and that should solve everything. I would like my private health fund to cover homebirths.

Oooh I just had a thought. I was a technical writer for government back in the day (ahhh now it all falls into place). I should offer my services to the private hospitals to write up their spa procedures for them. Don't think I could do it in under 7 weeks, though. Not enough time for me to get back my spa privileges.

[Lenny]

As a New Zealander () I only ever really knew about midwifery lead care. I was really surprised that it wasn't the same here.
After all our troubles TTC I told my FS that I didn't want any more excessive interference when it came to the pregnancy & birth - so i was a bit anti seeing an Ob. Apparently the FS wrote this in his referral () and my Ob said "so, I hear you don't want me already, and we've only just met!".
But the Ob was loverly, loverly, loverly, and he just so happened to be at the hossie (doing an elective CS) when i was in labour so he peeked in and he was great and so happy to be part of our birth. If all OBs were like him there would be no problems. But the cost wasn't so high for us due to the safety net etc.
Next time...hmm, not sure what we'll do.

[M&A]

I would love to have midwife led care, even though I usually have GD during my pg's, I think that I could still enjoy forming a relationship with both a midwife and an OB and other allied health services to look after me and bub. I think midwives are better capable to look holistically after the family and could spend more time with us, rather than being processed like what tends to happen with OB's or public health.

[kateB]

I like the idea of having delivery with midwives being in charge, but with the back up there if needed. Not sure how practical that is, but Ashford (where, once we are pregnant, we are planning to go) seem very good at giving parents to be as much choice as possible. Let's hope so!

At the end of the day though, I want whatever will get bubs born with both me and bubs being safe as possible.

[MUMMY4LIFE]

During my 1st pregnancy, I saw a private OB(through a private practice)...2nd time around I did see an OB a few times during the pregnancy (mainly because I was having a 2nd C-section). The majority of the appointments I saw a midwife, which I didn't really like. Don't get me wrong, they were highly trained and were wonderful, but I saw a different midwife just about each and everytime and so towards the end of the pregnancy I just felt like a number. Comparing the 2 experiences, for me, I much rathered the personalised and one on one care of my OB (unfortunately he had moved interstate, by the time my second baby was on the way). Also because I didn't have many appointments with an OB 2nd time round, I hadn't had the chance to get to know the doctor who was going to be delivery my baby.It was much more beneficial and comforting with the birth of my first child, knowing the doctor who would be delivering my bundle of joy.....

[MantaRay]

Mummy4Life, if you read through the thread, you will notice that this is talking about continuous care with the same mws, similar to having your own ob, rather than just getting who is on shift.

[BellyBelly]

Again though, midwifery led care does not mean a hospital full of midwives. It means continuity of care from a midwife or a team of midwives who you meet at pre-natal checks.

[Alyssas_Mum]

I am currently seeing my GP who is a registered OB with the hospital im booked in at, I am bulk billed and dont have to pay for parking plus she is 10 minutes from home compared to if i went to the hospital to see the midwives where i would have to travel 1/2 hr and pay for parking. Only reason i chose OB over midwives was a convenience thing, if i didnt have to pay for parking or travel so far to the hosp then i would def go midwife care.

[Dasharity]

I would have this as my second option if i chicken out of a home birth

[Early Kids]

I would prefer to be part of the midwifery system If given the choice.... unfortunately I dont have that choice for my next pregnancy (too high risk)