Childbirth has become medical mayhem with impatient doctors and multitasking nurses flitting around flickering neon rooms in germy hospitals.
It is a wonder any baby chooses to leave the womb.
Midwives have delivered healthy babies for centuries and are still the best option, despite what practitioners of “modern medicine” try to sell.
Most women just want a healthy baby without surgery. The chance of having a caesarean section can be reduced by a midwife filled with knowledge and skills providing soothing encouragement.
Midwives are there to listen to the woman’s body, while obstetricians are simply there to manage the childbirth. Catherine Taylor’s book, “Giving Birth: A Journey into the World of Mothers and Midwives” shows that the United States has approximately 6,000 nurse-midwives and about 33,000 obstetricians. The Dutch have the lowest percentage of babies and mothers who die or are injured during childbirth. They also have the lowest rate of medical intervention during deliveries and their midwives deliver 70 percent of their babies. One in three of those births take place at home.
Midwives are specialized to deliver healthy babies. Certified nurse midwives are employed in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, birthing centers, public health departments, community health centers and private practice.
“A certified nurse-midwife (CNM) is an advanced nurse practitioner who specializes in providing pregnancy, birth and postpartum care to families,” according to a UCSD Health System statement. “She may also offer well-woman care, family planning and other services. All CNM’s are registered nurses and have graduated from a Master’s level specializing nurse-midwifery. They are accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, have passed a national certification exam and meet strict requirements set by state health agencies.”
Risk of experiencing an infant death is 19 percent lower for births attended by certified-nurse midwives than for births attended by physicians. Risk of neonatal mortality (infant death in the first 28 days of life) is 33 percent lower and the risk of delivering a low birth weight baby is 31 percent lower with a midwife attendant.
Midwives are able to accurately assess the health of their pregnancies and the state of their labors. Women have been birthing babies for all of human time and it is a process that does not need to be altered.
Home birth means no other patients, no schedules and no one going off shifts. No ugly butt-revealing robes. Women are the center of the birth, not a hospital crew. Every mother deserves a midwife.
Obstetricians can use natural methods and offer some midwife skills, but there is a higher chance of caesarean surgery.
“Certified nurse-midwife patients have shorter lengths of stay, fewer NICU admission, lower C-section rates, fewer low-birth-weight infants and higher breastfeeding rates,” said Tonia Moore-Davis, a clinical practice manager of nurse-midwifery at Vanderbilt School of Nursing.
Elective induction is one of the causes of low-birth rate and a low birth weight baby has a much higher rate of dying within the first year. To improve birth we must care about mothers and babies. We need to show the country we want to save our babies and the outcomes.
Our high tech medical world has shaped the way we define birth because it focuses on the things that can go wrong. Although 93 percent of births in America take place in a hospital, the World Health Organization concluded that the “preferred location for most births is outside the hospital, either at home or in a birthing center.”
A woman can choose to birth with an obstetrician and still choose a natural method, but why not choose the best of the best?