Range of Services - Why Choose a Midwife?
Midwives are the primary care providers for women during their childbearing
years around the world. Midwifery is based on a strong belief in
the coalition between childbearing women and midwives, who together
follow the principles of informed choice and share a respect for
birth as a normal life event. The woman is the central and important
person during childbirth. Every woman has the right to make informed
decisions about where, how and with whom she will give birth.
Midwives are
considered to be experts in normal childbirth. The focus of midwifery
care is to promote a healthy pregnancy, labour, birth and newborn.
Much attention is given to prevention of complications and to early
diagnosis of beginning symptoms of complications with appropriate
intervention to prevent the problem from worsening whenever possible.
By the time a woman who is cared for by a midwife goes into labour,
she has had 9 months of comprehensive care in which she has learned
about the processes of labour and birth and has come to a greater
understanding of her own body. Through this approach, most midwife
deliveries are accomplished without intervention and with the woman
feeling confident and sure of her own body's abilities.
Midwives have
low cesarean section rates, low infection rates, short hospital
stays and high breast feeding rates. Women also express high satisfaction
with care from midwives. The low intervention rates and less time
in hospital mean a decrease in cost to the health care system.
Midwives have
standards that guide their practice when providing care and consulting
with or transferring care to a physician when appropriate. Midwives
consult with each other for unusual situations. When a woman is
no longer within the parameters of "normal", a physician is consulted.
If it is appropriate for care to be transferred to a physician,
the midwife will continue to attend the woman in a supportive role.
When a woman
chooses a midwife, she can expect to see her once a month until
8 months, twice a month during the eighth month and weekly until
the birth. Appointments are generally 50 minutes long and include
physical assessments of the mother and baby (blood pressure, urine
and fetal growth etc.). Most of each appointment is spent discussing
the mother's feelings and thoughts and answering questions about
the process of pregnancy. By the end of the pregnancy the topics
covered will include nutrition, healthy lifestyle changes, relief
of pregnancy discomforts, exercise, work adjustments, fetal development,
baby care, preparation for breastfeeding, feelings about labour
and delivery, home preparations for labour, birth and postpartum,
routine newborn testing, circumcision, relaxation, hospital procedures
to be expected, and signs and symptoms of labour.
The reasons for
choosing a midwife are many. Most often it is because the woman
sees herself as healthy and wishes to have a care provider who shares
that view. Frequently women wish to have as little intervention
in their pregnancies and births as possible and see midwives as
the care providers who can help them achieve that goal most readily.
Women wish to have the freedom to choose their care providers and
choose their birth site. They wish to be in charge of the decisions
about the births of their babies. Midwives are seen to be supportive
of this approach.
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