Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
I think that a lot of the time there is a presumption of expertise from doula's or midwives based on their proximity to the mother. I have read, and experienced first-hand that they often feel compelled to give advice based on their anecdotal experience, but with very little recourse to medical advice or diagnostic technology.
A good anecdote from my recent experience: a friend of mine and her husband have different views on birth. He is a science teacher, and she is more of a home hippie type. She insisted on both a doula and midwife. Later in the pregnancy, the doula came over to their place on a Saturday to spend some time with the mother-to-be and give her stomach a massage. She said that based on how the baby felt in the womb that the fetus might have breached. My friend called the midwife, who came over, and confirmed the doula's "diagnosis."
My friend panics, and the doula/midwife combo, instead of taking her for an ultrasound, immediately start going through some of the less-invasive treatments for a breached baby.
On Monday, my friend's husband took her to the doctor, who sent her for an ultrasound, which gave her the all-clear.
Both of the above are being used increasingly as a substitute, and not a complement, to obstetrics medicine.
|
As someone that is currently going through a pregnancy with a midwife, I can tell you that from my experience, it is NOTHING like this. (Hell, maybe we just got a good midwife)...
But, our midwife is VERY medically trained (over 15 years as a delivery RN) and has never TOLD us what to do outside of regular medical techniques. For my wife and I, it allows us to sit down and have a conversation about things such as epidurals, Vitamin K, eye ointment, tearing, labour, etc, and make decisions on our with her advice. 99.9% of the time, she sides on the side of regular medicine.
I see it as dealing with a regular doctor, but instead of seeing a doctor for 4 minutes per checkup (this is a fact. Doctors see pregnant patience for FOUR minutes per appointment), we have a 30-60 minute, 1-on-1 appointment. The care we have received up to this point is 2nd to none.
We also have our choice to deliver in a hospital with the midwife doing the delivery, so it has nothing to do with having a home birth, either. It's about the care my wife gets.