Midwifery Today Community

 I'm hoping to get a little reassurance from some other midwives out there as sometimes this work can feel lonely.  I am becoming discouraged about how medicalized the field of midwifery has become where I am at.  I feel like midwives are transferring to OBs and the hospital way too much without trying other things first. 

Most midwives in my area will NOT try to treat a creeping blood pressure, they just risk them out. Most of them will not touch a VBAC with a 10-foot pole, let alone a twin or breech.  I feel like I'm hanging out on this limb while everyone else is clutching the tree trunk. 

I just need to hear from other midwives that VBACs are normal and that pregnancy is normal and that midwives are not only attending women who have no complications! Am I completely out of my mind?

Thanks,

MaBaa midwife

mabaa,

Welcome to MT and MTF.  Its pleasure to meet you and hope to stay you around.  Have no desire to pursue the path of becoming an doula or midwife because everything that it invovles.  Please don't even get me started on this.

At the same time highly recommend that you check out the rest of MT and MTF.  Also Our Bodies, Ourselves, The Boston Women's Health Book Collective and their companion website/blog as well.  Found its really helpful no matter what. At same time do recommend that you do additional learning and research besides the books and website I give you to give you. For more info on this.

Hope my recommendations do help you.

Good luck and etc.

Aloha MaBaa,

ok, you can hear it from me....

YBAC's  are NORMAL. 

Creeping BP is NORMAL and advocating controlling it is NORMAL

A woman over 35 is NORMAL,

twins, breeches  are variations of NORMAL

Women who gain more than 30lbs are NORMAL

Women who are pregnant and have other health issues too are NORMAL

Refusing an ultrasound is NORMAL

I am a homebirth midwfe, that's all I do, homebirths, 

About 20% of my mamas are ybacs.  I served a mama  who had her 5th baby at home in a tub in her livingroom with just me and papa and my apprentice in attendance who had had 4 cs's!  Yes 4!

I've got about 10 women on the books at this moment.  2 over 40 (one pg by invitro), 1 set of twins (invitro, with egg donor), 1 ybac, 1 mama pregnant with her 7th, 2 having their 2nd babe, 3 primips.  All of them wanting home waterbirths, one planning a tidepool birth.

Birth is normal, pregnancy is normal, loving being a midwife is normal, serving ALL women who desire  woman centered care with normalcy and decency and honor and striving to serve them, not the system, is not only normal and sane, it's just plain human.

You keep it up sister!!  Be the beacon of light for others to follow!

You are not alone!!

MaBaa, you are not alone.  I wish there were more of you and April to go around, however!  Keep your chin up. You can make a difference. And there's a difference between attending women with love and patience and practicing with fear.  What you are bringing to these families and especially these little ones is priceless and extremely precious.  Keep it up! (please)

And please keep posting here. This is a great community!  If you haven't done so, sign up for the free newsletter which will affirm your beliefs.  (Of course, we'd love you to subscribe to Midiwifery Today, too!)

 The main issue here is that, while hbac's are within my scope of practice at the state level, the state midwifery organization does not support them.  Same with twins and breeches.  I am one of only 3 or 4 midwives who do hbacs. The other 20 or so midwives in the area practice out of fear, including those who attend women who've had no variations of normal. 

I know I am a relatively young midwife having been in practice for about 5 years. How do you not fall into that trap of practicing from a place of fear? How do I stay true to my heart and practice traditional midwifery and not be coerced into practicing medical midwifery like my colleagues?

thank you all for your support!

MaBaa,

" How do I stay true to my heart and practice traditional midwifery?"  You do just that,,,,just that. Nothing more, nothing less,  Be your community's midwife.  You have to find your own voice. 

You can have a  soft voice and your actions can speak very loudly.

This helps me;  I always ask myself, what would my ancestors do?  I connect with them.

I don't think you are completely out of your mind at all! It can be difficult when you know science supports what you are offering, but your local midwifery community does not. Supporting VBACs is important and I am glad you are doing it!

Amen midwifea!!

keep doing what you do MaBaba..... how else will the knowledge be passed down... 

I am apprenticing right now and I too struggle with the midwifery community and how fear affects the way a client is treated ... We are put here to serve women.. not ignore their needs and push them onto someone who will not be thinking of thier best interest...

It makes my heart ache to see fellow apprentices and future midwives becoming so tunnel visioned and indoctrinated with fear to serve the OB ...

The first home birth I witnessed I was 9 years old.. and my mother was giving birth to her third baby... he had shoulder dystocia and she got a 4th degree tear,..... she refused to transport to the hospital and instead went to a fellow midwifes home who was also a nurse to supervise my mothers midwife stitch her up..... my mother healed very very well even more so then when the doc had stitched her up from my birth after her episiotomy....

I am sure that midwife was grateful to learn how to stitch a 4th degree tear should there ever be a time when a hospital wasn't an option..  what makes an OB so much greater a person that they only can learn how to handle higher risk clients???I have a brain, and books, and the ability to learn and a preceptor to learn from do I not???

Sorry I am pregnant and hormonal .. hopefully this makes some sense..lol

You are not crazy. It is hard, though, when your sisters are not supportive.

I feel if you are informing your clients of the range of options/practice, what your experience and thoughts are, give them resources to do their own research you have done informed consent. They need to make the decision about how they want to be cared for and you need to decide if you will participate. You can also be honest about the legal/political considerations as well. I think it's fine for parents to realize all that goes into making a decision and that if they ask you to go out on a limb (according to fears, prevailing current practices, etc.) then they ought to fully appreciate what you are doing.

True confessions- I have done a YBA3C, gone past 42 week due date, waited 4 hours for placenta (with only tablespoons! of blood loss!), waited 9 days with SROM (some labor every day until birth- fast!). Educated risks, careful monitoring, willing to change plans if mom or baby not well. There are lots of mw quietly going about the business of helping women.

The statistics are one consideration. What matters is the woman and baby in front of you and what you are really seeing.

Ha! Easy to say. Hard to do.