Would you give birth in a midwifery led unit?

[Malyna]

Midwives for sure.

[~Kate~]

I chose yes! The midwifery care at my local hospital was in the same building as the rest of the hospital so if anything was to go wrong then I was right there. I missed out on being part of the group by 6 months with DD as they only just introduced it towards the end of my pregnancy. I would love to do it as I feel that a midwife is more into the birthing process and not the clinical aspect that drs are.
I did have to have an emergency c/s for her but was in the same spot. My middies cared for me extremely well thru pregnancy, birth and recovery.

[Sequoia]

I picked the OB/hospital option.

My OB was with me for the entire pushing stage. He is a wonderfully calm man who provided us with a fantastic level of care throughout our pregnancy.

In saying that, the MW I had was lovely (I met her the day before as I had cTG monitoring), but if I hadn't got to meet her previously to giving birth, I think it would have been luck of the draw.

Is there a way to combine MW/OB care in a hospital setting? I don't believe there is.

[canmum]

I had my daughter at the Canberra Birthing Centre which is run by midwives and it is brilliant! The midwives were sensational and I was so pleased with my experience. I had a great labour but unfortunately I had a retained placenta so had to have manual extraction and ended up having a stay in the hospital (attached to the centre) which I really did not enjoy. Go the midwifery programs, we need more of them! The waiting list to get into the Canberra one is crazy!

[Elizabeth1978]

I had an awfull experience with my first two with midwives, I had no continuance of care and both were hard labours and I was even told I had hours to go however bub decided to make her entrance while no one was around but my sister thank goodness, then I heamoraged also, then asked to leave 12 hrs later!!!!?????. After such a bad time we decided to pay for an obstetrician with our third.......WOW it was amazing, and after tearing the first two times I assumed it was a given but I felt so relaxed, in control and confidenet and told when to push and when not I did NOT tear!!!! Excellent birth, if I could have another birth experience like that I'd have more.

[buliej]

As I may be pregnant (via IVF...fingers crossed) and it may be twins (not so sure about this one!), and given that I'm older (will be 42 at birth assuming I am preg), I definitely want an OB.

[BellyBelly]

Older doesn't mean you need an Ob! If you can get pregnant, you can give birth too

Also you have to understand in midwifery led care its completely different to hospital midwives who work in shiftwork. I think because so many women don't understand midwifery led care because so little get to have it (i.e. small team of midwives and knowing one of the few who will be with you, seeing them at each visit). Nothing like hospital midwifery.

[SunnyRain]

The government doesn't actually "have" any money. There seems to be some confusion about this in general. It all comes out of each other's back pockets, and once it has trickled through the red tape and excessive madness of bureau-crazy, it ends up costing a lot more than it should. We never know the true cost of government funded medicine, but I'm going to hunt it down one day and shock everyone. How much are you really paying?

Why do midwives have to be a government funded option? I might be all over a private midwife in a home-birth situation (I voted undecided on this poll for this reason), but as a choice I would never, ever expect anyone else to pay for it.

Public hospitalisation is there for emergencies. A home birth option doesn't fall under the emergency umbrella no matter how you view it. It just doesn't.

Yes, I know how well received a libertarian's opinions are when it comes to health care ... but

[Mirandabelle]

I had planned to give birth in the FBC but various things led to this not being possible, and while the care I received under an OB was excellent, I would still prefer the midwivery model of care next time around. Unfortunately I'm under the impression that FBCs do not take VBACs in Vic, so I will be back with an OB when I'm ready for #2!

[Notchalk]

None of the options on this poll are for me... home birth all the way, baby!

[visitor1]

Id never pay to have an OB.....but with all 3 girls...i have seen the hospital...and 9/10 times i see an on duty OB and only see midwife twice in a whole pregnancy.

In labour i had midwives but always had the on duty OB deliver my first 2DD's

I feel safer with the OB's on duty....then i do with the midwives (even if they do all the work until the end..LOL).

Midwives wont see me the entire pregnancy cos to them...im a high risk....

[briggsy's girl]

The government doesn't actually "have" any money. There seems to be some confusion about this in general. It all comes out of each other's back pockets, and once it has trickled through the red tape and excessive madness of bureau-crazy, it ends up costing a lot more than it should. We never know the true cost of government funded medicine, but I'm going to hunt it down one day and shock everyone. How much are you really paying?

Why do midwives have to be a government funded option? I might be all over a private midwife in a home-birth situation (I voted undecided on this poll for this reason), but as a choice I would never, ever expect anyone else to pay for it.

Public hospitalisation is there for emergencies. A home birth option doesn't fall under the emergency umbrella no matter how you view it. It just doesn't.

Yes, I know how well received a libertarian's opinions are when it comes to health care ... but

i guess that depends on how you look at it - we all pay a medicare levy, which is there to fund public health care - so isn't this something that should be funded? public hospitalisation isn't there JUST for emergencies, it's for treatment of any condition deemed to require treatment - birth included. wouldn't it ultimately reduce the expenses on the public coffers? if the volume of "on call" ob's in the public system were ultimately reduced because they were only called upon when genuinely needed?

i'm not going to claim to know what cost there is to getting something like this happening, but the cost wasn't the question - it was whether we'd use it. i answered yes - as, in my mind, i've had every part of this journey "medicalised" and don't want to go down that path with giving birth - but i'd also like the back up of the birthing centre being near a hospital if an emergency arose.

i think there will always be a huge divide in the community whilst so many people continue to see birth as a medical procedure, not a natural progression of pregnancy (which can go wrong admittedly, but not as often as we're led to believe). i don't think that encouraging midwife led care, and using some of the tax dollars that we're handing over to pay for it is necessarily a bad thing!

[Amity]

Given my own personal circumstances (previous premmie and severe pre-eclampsia, plus two prior emergency c/s) I don't think a midwife-led unit would have me, even if I wanted to go there!

[Smoke Jaguar]

Kuraiza - if hospital births are for emergencies, we sure are in a hell of a pickle if most of our births are happening in that environment! No, the call for REAL choice by funding MW care and homebirths comes about because a lot of women go the 'free' option of the hospital to get a hospital birth, but to get a birth with no complications that costs even less than an medicalised birth, you have to pay through the nose. This is not 'choice'. It's a bitter pill to swallow to birth peacefully but expensively, when women who are happy to surrender themselves to medicos (or not happy to, whichever applies) pay nothing! Therefore, government-funded MW care births are a compromise in this situation. I took this compromise the first time with DS.
I loved my care at the Angliss and the continuity of care was excellent. I loved that I was able to have my waterbirth. I hated having to move from labouring at home, to transitioning upon arrival at the FBC. But at least I knew I was going to a 'safe' place, where they knew me and what I wanted for my birth experience
I reckon that dropping the Baby Bonus amount back to what it was last year and paying for normal births at home with MW's would be a forward step. I mean, you have a medicalised birth and you keep the whole BB afterwards, like a double-dip. You have a normal birth at home and lose all the BB in paying for MW's, none left for baby once it's here. Makes no sense.
Nelle: look up Midwives Naturally and you'll hopefully see who I mean. Not wanting to post her name here, just in case she wouldn't want it plastered over the net out of the midwife team context Obviously, she doesn't work alone!

[BellyBelly]

Homebirth is a form of midwifery led care! Midwife is the primary carer

[Trillian]

Is there a way to combine MW/OB care in a hospital setting? I don't believe there is.

Yes there is. The hospital where I birthed my four children was only a very small district hospital, having about 120-150 births a year. You are seen by your GP, who is also trained in obstetrics and then when the time comes, you get your choice of Dr attending - just like in a private setting only its in the public system. They are looking at changing the mode of care at that hospital so that it is mainly the midwives that do all the pre-natal care for 1 to ease the workload on already overworked rural GP's, who you would only see to have referrals for testing/scans etc and 2 because in a normal and uncomplicated pg and birth there is really no need for more specialised medical care. But this hospital is really what those in the city would call a birthing centre anyway.

[HOPRAH]

I was able to get into the Canberra Midwifery Unit this time and am STOCKED!!!!
The OB walked in and stitched me up and walked out again when I was at the hospital with DS.
My Doula and Midwife did everything.

[Smoke Jaguar]

I meant the midwife team context of Midwives Naturally, Kel My point was that she might prefer to be identified with her team, not sure how she feels about her name being posted as a stand alone MW (being that it's not how they operate!).