You can still learn about your birth and alternative health care options by looking at the Resources pages. There is a great description of each category. There are also suggestions about birth in the menu options. Please take time to check them out. Our efforts have been to provide parents with the many places that birth can happen with midwives.
Midwives do practice in hospitals, free standing birth centers, and at home. It is critical that parents interview anyone they are considering hiring to attend their birth. Many make assumptions that all midwives support mother/baby led birth. That is not always the case. Much depends on the location of the birth. There are more rules to follow in hospitals.
Even if the hospital calls their maternity ward a family birthing center it can still be very intervention oriented. It depends on the personal beliefs of the midwife and how much they can bend the rules for the benefit of the birthing family! They also allow parents to choose if they want an epidural or to be induced. Without knowing the full risks and hazards of these they are often made to sound like there are NONE!
I always suggest every birthing couple hire a birth doula. They offer so much if they are educating them about all the decisions that will need to be made. If they simply support the parent’s decisions they are not supporting informed decisions. In my experience I have seen, especially first time parents, make decisions without any research. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to know what questions to ask providers based on no experience or comprehensive birth education.
First time parents are at the most risk. Chances of having and unnecassary c-section are very high. The US still has some of the highest c-cection rates world wide. Not as high as some countries that encourage elective sessions but the rates, if looked at could be around 10% for needed ones. Most births are low risk and should be considered that going into labor.
Sadly, possible law suites dictate what the birthing rules are in hospitals. I wish all birthing families were encouraged to trust birth and allow their babies to run the process. Our impression of life is often dictated by our birthing experience. While breastfeeding and baby wearing can go a long way toward healing birth trauma why can we just trust the birth process?
Best birth wishes!!!