Midwife Assisted Birth
I admire midwives more than any other profession. They support normal physiological birth, for the most part, and treat women with respect during one of the most challenging and vulnerable times of their lives. There is no more important event in the life of a human being than birth. World-wide birth has become a human rights issue. This is due to the level of inappropriate medical intervention that happens during the birth process. While c-section rates are one of the bench marks for how intervention oriented a practitioner will be – this is not the only issue. There are other routine interventions that cause unnecessary harm. Emotional harm is not visible and often goes unnoticed.
Midwives often have to push the envelope with regard to laws and hospital protocol for families. How can anyone argue with better outcomes, less cost, and life long better health and happiness? Trained midwives can offer all these things. Myth, misunderstanding and lack of education, fear of pain, law suits, the insurance industry and power of the medical community all get in the way of families making better choices.
I say kudos to all midwives who support normal physiological birth. I am also grateful for the skills of the medical community when they are needed. There is no doubt that they are valuable when applied appropriately. Kudos to families who take the time and effort to research their options! Only through voting with our dollars will entrenched institutional systems change. In the mean time BirthLink will continue to offer education and services to families who want to have the best possible birth.