Would you give birth in a midwifery led unit?

[BellyBelly]

I have nothing further to add to what I already have posted from the perspective of this topic, I think everything has been said. Like Schmickers has said and I will reiterate, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things and there is a process here where we welcome contact from you if you have a problem with a particular post, or you can use the report button if you want a post to be considered to be edited or whatever.

This forum isn't for everyone, each forum has it's 'theme' and community and I can tell you a load of women love it here, we are one of the biggest websites in Australia and proudly different from all the rest, which will not change. We all need to find where we feel comfortable and stick with it - no-one wants an all out war. So by people sticking with their 'cheersquads' everyone is happy. Some people don't like to be challenged and some people find it too hard to deal with self created guilt. It's an emotion you can only create yourself, like anger or whatever, all up to interpretation. Much too hard to look in the mirror, it's very confronting.

[~Raven~]

I voted that I would prefer to birth with midwifery led care. Unfortunatley for me I am deemed a "higher risk" due to previous retained placenta and PPH so I am unable to, even though I have since had a totally uncomplicated birth, it is still a reason for me not to be accepted.

I can dig that! Seeing that I am classed as a higher risk, I would be one of those women who need to have quick and easy access to an OB if the same thing were to happen again. Therefore while my first preference of choice how I birth cannot be, I need to make sure that my choices in relation to what happens are heard - hence birth plan and communication between myself, the OB and the midwife who will be on shift when I present to the hospital in labour.

As a first time mum all I cared about was having a private room to myself and as I had PHI then that's what I got, because lets face it, who would pay for PHI and not use it! That then goes hand in hand with engaging the services of an OB. There is no choice AT ALL through the private system.
Wouldn't it be grand if you could have midwifery led care in the hospital of your choice (public or private or birth centre) where the OB's are about (somewhere near but not in the same room as...) to ease everyones mind and come in if and when they are needed to do their thing.

I am very lucky in that I have a great OB who is gentle and has a knack for putting my mind at ease. From what I have read on this and other forums (and seen in real life working as a birth photographer!) he is a rare breed indeed.
Women that share their experiences are not scare mongering at all. They have been scarred and are sharing to help others be aware. Take it all on board and decide because what you have here is a fantastic resource! There was no BellyBelly about when I had my first baby. I didn't have the internet connected and I don't think it even occurred to me to look up stuff about birth online down at the library. I was given a few hand me down books from friends and that was the extent of my birthing education until I started ante-natal classes. Then it was all about what excercises to do and what drugs will be on offer. Nothing about real women and what they have been through!

[Smoke Jaguar]

It's funny, isn't it, that the women who crowd around a first time pregnant women and say "just take the drugs" are 'just being realistic', and those of us who advocate that birth can be beautiful, or at least not traumatic are 'scaremongerers'? I'd much rather have someone tell me that choosing midwife-led care will lead to a better outcome for normal pregnancy. But then, I've never been one to accept the 'mainstream' just cos it's there, being a square peg and all!
What I want to know is, what is it about NZ that led to them embracing this MW approach to pregnancy and birth that we can emulate? Or is 'it' something that can't be replicated in Australia? I find that hard to believe that 'it' is something exclusive to NZ society - I'll hold out hope!

[BellyBelly]

In New Zealand, its on Medicare so there is no cost as far as I know. So I guess it's combination of women who want that care and others giving it a go, followed by great word of mouth.

[Trillian]

Well while we have a PM who hasn't followed through on a Fed govt promise to direct more funds to the ABA (albeit by the previous govt but it wouldn't kill him to honor it himself) then I can't see it happening. Or maybe we could approach it from the 'old rivalry' POV and say how can we possibly let NZ have a better system than us LMAO.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Trillian, so true - this govt is more concerned with getting mothers back to work sooner and our children diverted to childcare for raising and nurturing than supporting women in doing it themselves (and shame on them for holding out on the ABA)! I think a huge factor is the power of the AMA and RANZCOG in Oz. Without them, midwives would surely be on the Medicare program by now, surely.
I DO like the idea of appealing to the govt that our colonial cousins are outdoing us in maternal and child health outcomes! Bring on the national pride factor

[tan32]

I have voted yes.
I gave birth to Lachlan in the birthing Unit at my local public hospital. I did not see one doctor, just a beautiful team of midwives through my whole pregnancy.

All my visits and tests were done with the midwives and a wonderful midwife delivered Lachlan.I would do this again and again.
I did use the midwife clinic with Hamish as well and had midwives deliver him once gain no dr in sight.

[tuckers daughter]

I just remembered why I don't participate in these forums.

Call me naive but I think having dissenting opinions and voicing them actually adds to the discussion.

If I want to hang out in a militant forum where opposing viewpoints aren't welcome then I can go hang out at MDC.

I couldn't agree more with the opinions expressed by Sass and Kuraiza in this thread. The constant push that women who don't chose midwife only birthing options are uninformed and giving in to the evil, male dominated medical industry is offensive.

I can't help but notice that any time a poster pushes a view that is in opposition to the prevailing wisdom of this forum they are jumped on by the "moderators" and "creator". There seems little impartiality and a considerable conflict of interests as the forum is established by the Belly Belly birthing centre. At first I thought this site was driven by a political line but I now realise it is driven by a corporate line. A forum is supposed to be a place where posters can battle out conflicting opinions, not a place that is dominated by the opinions of moderators and the sites creator. The fact that this forum is linked to a business demonstrates that vested interests are at work here.

[Lulu]

Actually it was the forum that created the Pregnancy Centre.

ETA - the Mods are only 'moderating' if they are writing in purple, other than that its personal viewpoints with about 8 million facts thrown in.

[Phteven]

I couldn't agree more with the opinions expressed by Sass and Kuraiza in this thread. The constant push that women who don't chose midwife only birthing options are uninformed and giving in to the evil, male dominated medical industry is offensive.

I can't help but notice that any time a poster pushes a view that is in opposition to the prevailing wisdom of this forum they are jumped on by the "moderators" and "creator". There seems little impartiality and a considerable conflict of interests as the forum is established by the Belly Belly birthing centre.

How do you account for my first post in this thread where I pointed out that I would opt for ob care?
I don't think I'm uniformed (and I doubt that other people see me as such) or giving in to evil and I wasn't jumped on by the moderators or the creator (although they're hot, hot, hot so it wouldn't be such a bad fate :P )
I don't think that any of the mod team think that all women should choose midwife care however I believe it's true to say that we all passionately believe that women should be free to make such a choice and should have access to the sources that will enable them to make an educated choice.

[fionas]

I'm a little disappointed that this thread seems to have become a battleground.

Yes, there are going to be passionate opinions. But can't we just all agree that it's best if women have as many options for birthing as possible from homebirth, to midwife care to private obs.

I really couldn't care less how other women choose to give birth AS LONG AS they're fully informed. I would support another woman's choice to have an elective caesarean just as much as I would support a woman's choice to have a homebirth provided that each had done their research.

Neither of those would be my personal choice but just as I would support other women's choice, I would expect other women to be supportive of my choice if I had made it through knowledge rather than ignorance.

I think, in the main, 99% of the BB community would agree - we see being here as a chance to hear other women's (and men's) opinions and then to make our own mind up. It's just that one person's "information" is another person's "militancy".

I'm going to have a cup of tea. I might even have a Bex and a lie down.

[MantaRay]

I really don't want to add fuel to any fires but I feel I have to point out the website and forums were here long before the pg centre. And the pg centre does not have mws, so I cannot see any commercial interests going on. And for the record, as moderators, we do not have to "toe a party line". We are all free to our own opinions and you will often find that we don't all agree on something. And if disagree we are free to say so, as you all are, in a respectful fashion.

Please could we keep this discussion on track. I would hate to see a really interesting thread closed due to people turning a debate into personal attacks and an inability to stay on topic.

[BellyBelly]

Interesting that both these newbies have popped up with the same post count!

I'd also like to point out that you will not see a site's creator so active on any other parenting site. They are there for business not passion. So where do the business interests lie? Mine is not. BellyBelly is just me, and I built it on my own.

[tuckers daughter]

Actually it was the forum that created the Pregnancy Centre.

ETA - the Mods are only 'moderating' if they are writing in purple, other than that its personal viewpoints with about 8 million facts thrown in.

Chicken or egg, it's a vested interest. A vested interest that provides insight to the opinions of the creator and moderators on this site.

And a moderator is only moderating when the write in purple ink? The moderator and creator have a line to push possibly influenced by a vested commercial interest.

[tuckers daughter]

Interesting that both these newbies have popped up with the same post count!

??? What does that mean? Is this part of a conspiracy now?

[christy]

Okay. It was previously posted to stay on the OT and not on personal attacks. BellyBelly has in their forum guidelines that publically debating a mods decision is worthy of an infraction. Please read the forum guidelines before posting again as we don't want to start editing posts. We want everyone to be able to express their opinions, even those of mods, admin or creators.
If you have an issue, please take it up with the moderating team off the boards.

[mummato3]

It's funny, isn't it, that the women who crowd around a first time pregnant women and say "just take the drugs" are 'just being realistic', and those of us who advocate that birth can be beautiful, or at least not traumatic are 'scaremongerers'? I'd much rather have someone tell me that choosing midwife-led care will lead to a better outcome for normal pregnancy. But then, I've never been one to accept the 'mainstream' just cos it's there, being a square peg and all!
What I want to know is, what is it about NZ that led to them embracing this MW approach to pregnancy and birth that we can emulate? Or is 'it' something that can't be replicated in Australia? I find that hard to believe that 'it' is something exclusive to NZ society - I'll hold out hope!

I have just written a paper for uni surrounding the whole NZ model of care and whats stopping it from happening here. There are realm of issues, but the closing quote in my paper was this 'Funding issues, the legal regulation of midwifery,and, closely related, the social and political power of the obstetric specialist -therapeutic regime' Reiger (2000)

Reference: Reiger,K. (2000) The politics of midwifery in Australia: tensions, debates and opportunities. Health Sociology Review. Vol 10:1 Jan 2000 pp53

[Freya]

First my waters were broken. This caused sudden, intense contractions (and I was having a back labour too for some reason). And because these pains hit while I was lying on my back being monitored, I wasn't dealing with it well. The anaestitist was there having just done a cs, and was about to leave, so I was pressured into an epidural with the "it's now or never" line and being told I would be in that much pain for at least 8 more hours (if they had read my file they would have known that my ob was expecting me to have a quick labour like my mum, and in fact I did have quick labours so the 8 hours was rubbish).

I had a similar experience BUT it was midwives instead of my OB. I was a first timer, they didnt listen to me telling them I needed to push because "first labours take a LONG time" so I asked for an epi as I was exhausted and scared I would crash out and end up with a c/s. It was only the anaesthesist telling them to listen to me and check dialation that showed them I was ready to push. Obviously I did not have the epi but what would have happened if I had of because the anaesthesist didnt care about anything but getting $$$ out of me for pain relief? So it goes both ways really. I think what situations like this really show is that medical birthing professionals (Midwives & OBs) have gotten so used to women being blind in birthing choices and information that when they come across someone who is informed, they just dont "hear" it so to speak.

I also just want to say that I have never seen Kelly or any of the mods berate or belittle a person for choosing OB care and intervention. BB and a majority of women using it are all about INFORMED CHOICES not bullying people into having natural births.