I can’t quite remember when I first became interested in midwifery and homebirths, but I think it was a progressive curiosity that emerged several years ago. Soon after getting married and moving to Calgary I continued my research on midwifery and homebirths and was crushed when I learned that they had been covered in our previous home-province of Ontario but not in Alberta. Lucky for me, in April 2009 - not long after we started trying – Alberta finally caught up and approved the coverage of midwife care too! However, this recent change meant that I would be competing against a swarm of other open-minded preggo’s, all desperate for a birthing experience that differs from today’s norm. Since most people who know me, know that I pride myself in being Queen efficiency and highly competitive, let’s just say I was up to the challenge. I again did some internet research and learned that there were only three midwife agencies in Calgary (that I know of), each staffing a handful of midwives. After reading all of the bios, I was particularly drawn to the ‘Sage Passages’ team at Birth Partnership Midwives (http://birthpartnershipmidwives.com/sage/). So after applying to all the agencies the moment I had a positive test (literally), I was one of the lucky few to get through the waitlist…and even luckier to get my #1 choice!
I walked into my first midwife appointment with only the tidbits of knowledge I had gained from obsessively watching home and/or waterbirths on TLC’s ‘A Baby Story’, for the last several years. I was definitely interested in a homebirth (in fact, the day Ivan & I chose our house, I told him ‘now that’s a tub I can homebirth in!’), but wasn’t yet fully committed. At that point, I hadn’t yet done enough research myself to battle off “what if’s” from concerned family and friends in an educated way. But at some point during my 2nd trimester, our research taught us that not only are homebirths as safe as hospital births, but probably even ‘safer’ in the sense that hospitals often over-use sometimes unnecessary interventions such as forceps, vacuum, C-sections, episiotomy, inducing medication, and – the all powerful epidural (http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/181/6-7/359; http://www.bmj.com/content/330/7505/1416.full?ehom)
Now, let me just say that I realize some backs might be arched, and some feelings might be hurt, by moms who have experienced births involving some of the interventions I just mentioned. So let me clarify a few things:
1. I am not ‘against’ medical care for high risk pregnancies. Midwives will be the first to tell you that they respectfully turn this over to OBGYN’s who specialize in this field. However, since less than 5% of pregnancies are considered high risk, why would the remaining 95% of healthy low risk pregnancies be treated in the same way?
2. I am not ‘against’ delivery interventions altogether, and I definitely understand that there is a time and place for them. Even when working with low risk pregnancies, a midwife will gladly accompany you to the hospital in ambulance if she sees signs of distress in mom or babe during labour. However, a midwife’s view of fetal distress is far less conservative (and many, including me, would argue far more accurate) than the hospital’s view
3. Neither am I ‘against’ a woman’s right to choose whether or not she wishes to receive pain medication, such as an epidural, during labour. Some people have the misconception that natural childbirth advocates, like myself, are masochistic hippies who decline medication as a matter of principle and competition. Okay – I may be competitive, may be principled, and may even be turning into a hippy…but I definitely don’t seek pain for pleasure. The fact of the matter is that hospitals today rely on a downward spiral of inducing medications (such as pitocin) and pain medications (such as epidurals) that continue to counterbalance each other, make each other ‘necessary’, and most importantly – numb and confuse a woman’s intuitive connection with her body. In a nutshell: induction intensifies contractions to be more painful than in natural childbirth, often causing a woman to feel the need for an epidural – which numbs her, makes it hard to push, and therefore slows labour (thus leading to the cycle of needing yet more pitocin and more epidurals). There’s a great documentary by Ricki Lake (yup, I said Ricki Lake, the 90s talkshow host) that captures this topic far better than I can:
So whereas I don’t think less of women who chose pain medication – I do worry that many were not given enough information to make an educated choice…and that many are not given much of a choice at all, considering how paternalistic the hospital way of managing births can sometimes be.
Finally, I want to end by explaining that I realize I am generalizing when I talk about medically delivered births vs. midwife delivered births. The only way I know how to discuss the topic is to review the general trends I am aware of. I appreciate that there are some wonderful nurses and doctors who support women through positive hospital births just like there can be not-so-great midwives who may not be able to create serene homebirths. However, this blog is a summary of my personal overall opinion – take it or leave it : )
well said!
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