Midwifery
Midwives - The word midwife comes from Old English and means “with woman”.
Midwives
are health care professionals who are experts in women’s reproductive
health.
Choosing
a midwife to assist at your homebirth is a very important decision. It
is imperative that
you have a clear, comfortable connection with him
or her and that you feel safe with the choice
you have made. It’s
a good idea to speak to the available midwives who can assist you during
your pregnancy and birth experience to feel out the one who is right
for you.
Find out what qualifications and/or experience they have and different
situations they have dealt
with in their experiences. Currently there are state registered/endorsed midwives and lay midwives
legally operating on the homebirth circuit.
Their fees differ so you’ll need to ask them what they charge for
their services.
I have included on this site, a list of midwives operating in Northern
New South Wales
and Queensland with varying qualifications and experience
for you to contact.
practitioners who provide advice, care and support to the physical and emotional needs of expectant mothers and their families during the pre-conceptual, antenatal, intranatal and postnatal periods,
in normal low risk pregnancies and births. They also focus on the psychological aspects of how a mother feels about the pregnancy and birth and can assist in alleviating any fears or concerns that
may be present for the expectant mother.
A midwife will encourage participation of family members in the birth to support the mother and enhance both mother/baby bonding and family relationships generally. She will offer support and advice on the daily care of the baby, including feeding, bathing and sleeping.
She can also offer support and advice following events such as miscarriage, termination,
stillbirth, neonatal abnormality and neonatal death.
Midwives
offer a ‘woman-centred’ approach allowing the mother
freedom of choice in her birth journey, and continuity of care,
encouraging
the mother to follow her intuition and instincts, and let nature takes
it course. They strive to allow the mother a
natural birth experience.
While obstetricians are taught to "actively manage" labour,
midwives are taught not to intervene unless
necessary. Midwives refer
to obstetricians when a woman requires care beyond her or his areas of
expertise.
A
midwife is less likely to use medical technology and intervention such
us frequent electronic foetal monitoring, labour inducing
drugs, pain
medications, epidurals and episiotomies. They will encourage the
birthing woman to try alternative methods of pain
relief such as water
and physical positioning such as walking, rocking, leaning on a ball
or even dancing during labour.
Midwives are trained to recognize and handle
complications and abnormalities including
breech
birth and posterior position, using non-invasive techniques, and
if necessary will
consult a doctor. They are trained to identify high-risk
pregnancies and make referrals to
doctors and other medical specialists
where necessary.
Certified midwives are trained in basic life support
for a newborn and can effectively and competently
administer care for a baby until a paediatrician, neonatologist or
obstetrician is available, depending on the situation. Midwives are
not trained to perform C-sections and some can’t administer
drugs or anaesthesia but can suture if required.
In a home birth situation, if a transfer to hospital were required,
the midwife would accompany the mother and baby to the
hospital and continue
supporting the woman from there and beyond, where care extends to up
to a month after the baby is born.
Studies show that midwife supervised births of uncomplicated and low
risk patients produce happy, healthy outcomes
with fewer medical interventions
than average.
Most women I’ve spoken to have developed a very strong, emotional
bond with their midwife.
They are, after all doing the most important
job in the world, assisting you in safely bringing in a new life into
the world.