i want to use a midwife, but i have heard good and bad, any thought or stories?

Question

this is my third time being pregnant and i want to use the midwives? i did not use midwives for my first two births but i want to change something about my birth for this baby. i have heard alot of good thing about midwives but also some bad. does any one have some input on my situation? any stories to tell? i would love to hear them. thanks

Answer 1

i have had nothing but great experiences. i used a midwife group for my first child, and am doing so again (16 wks pregnant). they are nurturing, spend time with me, promote health and wellness, and do not seem so rushed, unlike the doctors. my labor was smooth and problem=free and the midwife was very professional. go for it!

Answer 2

I had a midwife attended homebirth (and my sister had three.) You can also have a midwife attended birth at a birthing center or in conjunction with a doctor at some hospitals.

The best thing about midwives, to me, is that they see birth as a natural process that they are there to help the mother with, not a medical procedure they are performing "on" the mother.

The biggest question I get about using a midwife is "what of someting goes wrong?" There are three ways of answering.

1) As a matter of fact, things did "go wrong". My son had a cord wrap, and I had difficulty with placental seperation. And what happened is that my midwives helped with the problems. Midwives are medical professionals, they aren't just cheerleaders. My midwife gave me contraction inducers to help pass the placenta (they do not give them to induce labor or speed the birth of the baby) helped me "breath out" a couple of contractions while they resolved the cord wrap, sutured a couple of minor tears in a surgically sterile field, and had oxygen on hand if needed. They used a portable fetal monitor to make sure everything was going well. Midwives are not an alternative to modern medicine, they use it.

2) Midwives are generally very aware of where their expertise ends, and plan with the mother for when and where a transfer to more intensive medical care should take place. My pregnacy was well monitored to see that it remained in the low risk catagory and when choosing a midwife I asked "what circumstances would make you recomend a hospital transfer" and chose one with a very clear and realistic answer.

3) Given equality of risk, avoiding standard interventions like IVs and strapped on fetal monitors allow the mother to move around and work with her labor, decreasing the chances of some things going wrong to begin with.

If you have a low risk pregnacy and are confident of your body's ability to handle the birthing process, a midwife could be a very good choice for you.

Answer 3

Some midwives are great, some are not. Just like doctors.

However unlike most doctors midwives respect rather than fear birth.

However in some areas the midwives are so overregulated as to become at best useless and at worst dangerous. Wheras doctors are allowed more latitude.

For example where I live a doctor can preform a breech birth, however they are not trained to do it and therefore it would be extremely dangerous. Midwives, even the ones trained to do breech births, who have done hundreds of breech births before regulation are now not allowed to do breech births and would loose their licence if they did.

Answer 4

Both my kids were delivered by midwives. It wasnt all that different then having a doctor do it EXCEPT midwives tend to be alot more supportive and treat you more like a friend during the process then a patient. I loved it.

PS: You can get medication using a midwife.

Answer 5

If you are worried you can use a midwife that works with a doctor who only takes over if medically necessary. I had a midwife with my 2nd delivery and felt a much better connection with her than I did with my doctor .

Answer 6

Make sure to choose a good midwife if you decide finally on bringing one.

I cannot tell you if they are better or not, but all I know is that all are grandparents were brought to this world, and they seem pretty healthy to me ;)