July 4, 2009
Labor and delivery; it brings joy but also pain for the woman.Obviously there is joy because of the newborn baby, but any woman will tell you, it was a source of unspeakable pain.
Well because of the pain that woman go through, there are two different schools of thought on how labor and delivery should happen. I am going to offer some perspective on one particular school of thought that I have gained first hand experience with by being a homebirth midwife San Diego.
There is the medical model for delivering babies which is tied in with using drugs to kill the pain, and sometimes c -sections to finish the delivery.
There is one other model, though not as common or accepted, but for those that practice it and believe in it, consider it a safer alternative for the woman.
That model is called the midwifery model.That is in obvious contrast with the usual medical model way of doing things.The medical model is where you rely heavily on medicine, while the midwifery model relies on the natural.Midwifery philosphy believes that pregnancy, labor, and delivery should happen as naturally as possible because it is a natural process.
This model is a profession practiced by midwives. Midwives San Diego are generally woman, who attend the birth, often times at the mother’s home.This midwife would help with some techniques that help the woman go through labor as naturally as possible without drugs.
Contrary to popular belief, the non-use of medicine actually allows the labor to happen much faster because most pain killers actually slows the labor down.
The midwife is a professional with a regulatory board that certifies and licenses the individual.
Although a lot of the times they are not a nurse or a doctor, a midwife sometimes is a nurse also.
Even though they are not formal doctors or nurses, they will have some medical equipment for emergencies like resuscitation devices and equipment for suturing.
So this describes what a midwife is and what midwifery is about in relation to pregnancy and delivery.
Their goals are to allow the birth and delivery to happen as naturally as possible. This reduces the likelihood of a c-section. Doesn’t allow you to be subject to invasive hospital procedures such as episiotomys.There will be less use of managing it with medical techniques such as breaking the water or using any types of drugs for the pregnancy.And the part woman love the most, usually labor and delivery happen much faster naturally.
Hopefully this article sheds some light on the benefits of midwifery and having a midwife for your pregnancy.At the very minimum, maybe it gives you some other options to think about and look into. Remember this is first hand knowledge from a San Diego midwife.
July 1, 2009
Having your baby at home? Who would even think of such a thing? Didn’t that just happen when there weren’t many hospitals and doctor’s had to go to the home to deliver babies?
Not quite. There are a growing number of women who have discovered the benefits of having your baby at home, or a homebirth as it is commonly called.
This practice of having your baby at home is called midwifery. Although not doctors or nurses, people in this line of work called midwifery are professionally regulated. I myself have seen the steady rise of homebirths through my practice as a San Diego certified midwife.
The people, generally women, who perform this line of work are called homebirth midwives. Midwives is the term most people are familiar with and means a person who helps during childbirth by providing support of the labor and delivery.
Now why a midwife is usually not a doctor or nurse is because the practice of having your baby at home, or midwifery is generally the belief that pregnancy and birth are natural normal events. This is contrasted with the medical model which believes that pregnancy and delivery should be accompanied by medicine to assist and improve the situation.
With that aside, lets look at why a lot of women are having babies at home rather than hospitals. What are the benefits that are causing women to have homebirths?
First, with the midwife’s continued presence, the labor time can actually be reduced. Most women don’t realize that the use of pain medications although seemingly helpful in regards to pain, actually slows the labor down. This really causes more pain and the labor actuallly lasts longer.
Second, midwifery practices actually causes a reduction in the need for forceps and other devices in a delivery. The process of naturally allowing the birh and delivery to occur is what causes the reduction of the need for those devices.
Third, cesarean delivery possbilities are reduced. Most cesareans are performed because during labor, somehow a consensus was made that a natural vaginal birth was not possible. Either because of the safety of the baby was in mind or the safety of the mother. When in reality the complication was created because the natural birth process wasn’t allowed to happen.
These are just 3 of the benefits of having a natural birth at home. There are a lot more benefits, but I am positive most women who are pregnant would say these are 3 huge benefits.
So although, most might consider it strange to want to have a child at home, studies have shown that allowing the natural birth process to happen is safer for the mother and the baby. With over 300 births attended as a homebirth midwife in San Diego, this has proven to be the case time and time again.