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