It's Your Birth Right!!

While many people may celebrate today as Cinco de Mayo with a few margaritas, I celebrate today as The International Day of the Midwife. Midwives are the protectors of safe and normal birth worldwide.  I am all too proud to be among the ranks of women (and some men) who call themselves midwives and who are dedicated to improving the health of women and infants.  If you are pregnant, if you are thinking about becoming pregnant, if you know someone who is pregnant and you still believe that midwives are a thing of the past or only for people who want an un-medicated birth at home it’s time for you to do some research. 

Study after study has shown time and again that the midwifery model of care is the best care for low risk pregnant women.   The Cochrane Data Base, one of the most respected resources of research worldwide confirms this.  The Madison Birth Center has an excellent page that talks about evidence based care and gives the stats on the GREAT work midwives do.

So now the question on your mind may be… “What is the Midwifery Model of Care and why should I care?”  Our Bodies Ourselves Health Resource Center has a wonderful article that explains it very clearly. The bottom line… Physicians are experts in pathology and midwives are experts in normal pregnancy.  Unless you are ill and have some real pathology the midwifery model of care is for you. It is important to note that some pathology is found or “diagnosed” due to the unnecessary use of increased testing and surveillance created and used by the medical model of care.  Many women are frightened into early induction or more invasive surveillance due to something that may “possibly” be wrong only to go on to deliver a healthy normal newborn.  It is also important to understand that the midwifery “model of care” can be practiced by any one. There are physicians, both family practice doctors and obstetricians who practice the midwifery model of care. It is equally important to understand that there are some midwives who practice a more medical model of birth.  And while some women with real pathology may need medical management even moderate and high risk women can benefit from aspects of the midwifery model of care. 

When all of this technical stuff is said and done, one of the most important distinctions to be made between midwives and most obstetricians is the reason they choose the profession and how they came to be midwives. For me and for every midwife I know, it is most certainly a calling.  Ask a midwife why she is a midwife and she will tell you things like “I had no choice; it is what I was called to do.”  She will say there is nothing else she would rather do.  She may tell you it is her destiny, her passion, or her purpose.  I asked an obstetrician once why he picked obstetrics.  He told me “It’s the best of both worlds. It’s the only specialty where you can be a general medical doctor and do surgery.”  Really?

Choose wisely my birthing sisters. Choose the midwifery model of care because your birth depends on it!!  

Don’t forget to Hug a Midwife Today!!  And since this post is coming to you so late in the evening… if it’s your thing, go out and have a Margarita in honor of all the midwives you know!!!

In Birth and Love
Nicole