I'm writing an article for uni on the maternity reform and would like to include some interviews with women who have experienced a homebirth and/or are considering one in the future. How do you think the reforms will affect your care, epecially if the MW has to collaborate with a doc etc. I'd be particularly chuffed if someone who has had a VBAC, twins or breech bub at home would like to answer a few q's...but anyone is welcome! Please PM or reply on here
Ta,
Ally
hey i would love to chat to you :)
I had two normal births, the last one at home. I can't see any reason a GP would have had to disapprove of a HB, except for the slight PPH I had at the FBC, but we think in hindsight that the way DS shot out in the water gave me a big tug and caused that, rather than any other indication. Anyway, 2nd birth was normal as normal can be and I object to the principle that a GP gets final say on a woman's choice.
Midwives have been subservient to the politically more powerful league of obs and doctors since obs and docs organised themselves into colleges and guilds. Women, historically, didn't feel the need to collectivise midwifery because there was no need for it; it was women's business. When men decided they wanted 'in' they muscled women out and eventually made it so that women couldn't be doctors (way back when) and then, that midwifery wasn't important enough for a medical degree but important enough for men to have the final say adn totally monopolise obstetrics. At the same time as major advances were being made in surgical circles etc, maternal mortality and perinatal mortality where sky high in hospitals because of the contemptuous way birth was 'trained' and experimented with and its practitioners were doctors going through the motions to get to more 'important' medical procedures.
Fast forward to the 20th Century and there's money to be made from monopolising birth!
That's what I think of the history of relegating midwifery to requiring the supervision of a doctor. We think it's the natural order of things only because of this history, we think birth is only safe with the say so of a medico, but only because of the distinctly male trait of political organisation (women don't tend to organise like this because we don't tend to have power struggles over access to resources and accept interdependency and true collaboration much more readily).
There is no natural reason a doctor has to veto a HB. A trained and qualified midwife knows when to refer to specialised help and can do this well before a birth becomes a matter of life and death - the 'it can happen in seconds' line I copped from well-meaning GP's when they knew I was planning my homebirth. Obs and GP's get nervous about labour because they're not usually there from start to finish and mostly, don't know what a normal labour looks like or the distinct mannerisms and changes a woman displays during this whole process. A midwife does and can recognise when something is amiss.
According to the AMA, they don't support HB anyway, so how is a GP supposed to clear a HB with an independent midwife and not feel professional compromised? Will they not be breaching some kind of code of conduct or something? It's a major anomaly - the AMA pushed for this part of the legislation to be included (that a GP or Ob approve a HB) and no-one noticed the facetiousness of this? How arrogant to say that only they can approve one when their stance is not to approve them! It's not 'collaboration' they were after, it was a cut (or entire share) of the birth. The arrogance is in forcing the one-way 'collaboration' of a midwife. It makes a mockery of the real and tanglible experience and qualifications of independent midwives.
If I have another baby, I will be exploring EVERY avenue to cut out the docs unless they become necessary, and just have my one on one midwifery care.
HTH ;)
I had a homebirth in 2007 would love to talk to you about what these new regulations and collaboration means to women like me. I can tell you of instances where the local ob didn't approve of me having a homebirth and he definately didnt want to collaborate with my midwife.