Midwives...

[orabshire]

I have a friend that is opting for a midwife in-home delivery. Did any of you have midwives? How do you all feel about planned in-home deliveries using midwives? I thought it was risky in case there was an emergency situation.

[Brenda]

I had a midwife, but my birth plan included the hospital birthing suite, and doctors for backup. It was the hospital's doctor that injured my daughter. I at no time felt unsafe with the midwife.
I don't know if this helps.
Brenda

[Francine_Litz]

Roy,

How good is the midwife? What is her success/fail rate? Has she injured any children? What does she do in the case of shoulder dystocia? Is she allowed to follow the woman to the hospital and be there with her in case of emergency? Who is the backup doctor? Does he come to the house or the hospital? How will the midwife assess for an emergency? What protocols does the midwife follow? Are they written? What emergencies has she come up against? Is the woman fit? Does she have any risk factors? Has anyone done a pelvimetry to see her pelvic outlet and if it can handle a birth. Will she have ultrasounds to check on the baby size/positioning? What plan of action will the midwife have for an emergency? How many cases of severe shoudler dystocia has she had? How were they resolved? Any deaths? Any brain injuries?...and keep on going with about a million questions.

There are so many home births that do just great and in many countries this is the normal thing to do (I have a friend in the Netherlands and home births is how they birth there unless it's a c-section).

Some midwives are great and some are horrible but it's no different with a doctor.

Who will ever know for sure if their birth will work out ok whether it's as hospital or home until it happens.

I'm sorry for sounding so negative - my child is going to have her 4th surgery and I was with a midwifery team that I once loved and trusted (hospital delivery). It's a very sad outcome.

good luck to your friends,
francine

[marymom]

How many people on this board besides me had their baby injured while giving birth at home?
that should speak for itself.

[marymom]

I just gotta add (being the homebirth advocate that I am )
homebirth midwives have different types of practices for the most part, than hospital based midwives.
They are not perfect, all apples arent perfect, but do apples taste good?
Empiracally speaking (statistically)
you stand a far better chance of birthing successfully, healthy baby,. healthy mom, positive bonding, when you are able to birth at home.
Every mother is not a homebirth candidate, some mothers need to have a medicalized birth, but for the most part, most women are able to birth naturally.
Interventions such as inductions, epidurals and constant fetal monitoring all carry weighted risks that often go unaddressed in hospital settings.
This information is consistent with my experience both with my own births and the births that I havc attended, feel free to email me for more info on sites This is my passion, peace on earth starts with birth, mom@bellsouth.net

[admin]

Not necessarily, but I would like to think so. I think there is a MUCH smaller percent of people who deliver at home, therefore there should be a MUCH smaller percentage of midwife home delivery injuries. I don't think making such an assumption would be accurate nor would it offer any indication of less homebirth injuries. Just my view.

Francine, where were those questions when I had my midwife that injured my baby at the hospital. I never asked one of them. Hindsight is 20/20. Although I often wonder if I had asked questions if things would have even gone any different. She would have assured me I was fine and everything was okay and probably would have still injured my baby. I guess that is something I will never know.

[Francine_Litz]

Birthing centers are an alternative - a half way point between home birth and hospital.

There is a birthing center in a town close that is amazing. It is a regular house - upstairs is their offices and downstairs is their birthing center. There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms. And basically you are birthing in a regular bedroom with a jacuzi tub in the bathroom. There is emergency equipment on one side and in closets (all safely tucked away) and they are right across the street from a great hospital. The midwives recently received the ability to go with you into the hospital if you had to get transferred due to an emergency. They know how to define high risk and they will discharge you from their care if it's above what they feel they can handle.

here's a link to their stuff and also a way to find another birth center
http://www.birthcenters.org/faqbirthcen ... bcbm.shtml

here's another great link
http://www.activebirthcentre.com/
and a good read would be Janet Balaska's book "Active Birth"

also - water births.... the ability to be in a tub when laboring is just tremendous...

I attended births at the birth center and have attended hospital births and they are different like night and day. The only thing that is really scary is what if something went wrong and you needed to act very fast and fast was just not available. Scary thoughts for me but only since I had Maia and hence the million questions.

Roy - here's another question: how do they assess for high risk and at what issues would cause the midwife to discharge the patient from a home birth plan?

[marymom]

laws really define the risks in Florida and ofcourse some midwives have personal additions, like if you dont "connect" -some HB(homebirth)midwives will not take you if you do not plan to breastfeed, as a health precaution, but those are not "legal" requirements(breastfeeding causes the release of oxytocin and prolactin and causes the uterus to contract to its normal size, also releases antidepression chemicals)...but the OBs are just now getting around to lecturing the "risks" of bottle feeding, only in the last 15 years or so, and many still to this day for instance will not tell you that to bottle feed is higher risk...
In Florida there are risk numbers assigned to potential complications, age, smoking, drugs/alcohol, high or low weight that sort of thing,
gestational diabetes is a very high risk factor and is monitored very carefully~ if the mom is unable to keep her sugar levels at a healthy level the midwife loses the ability to care for her, well not to care, she still cares, but to provide her a homebirth, -In my experience with local homebirth(HB) midwives this seems to provide incentive for mom and midwife to explore ways of keeping moms sugar level healthy, diet, garl;ic, exercise etc, the level of commitment to the homebirth actually can help here, I have been facinated by this aspect for obvious reasons,
It doesnt alwayts work tho- and if mom gets to a dangerous point she is transferred to MD/OB and sometimes even hospitalized untill sugar levels are under control, There are other issues, (risk factors) Im not a midwife but if youre interested I could perhaps have a HB midwife come to the board and answer some questions, actually, maybe I could get one of them to come to a chat sometime...
maybe...

[lizzyb]

...couple of other things to consider...

How far away from hospital do you live?
and be careful not to book a midwife who might live miles away, and would have to get to you along a notoriously congested road.

It's something you should seriously think about...I had my second child at home and it was absolute bliss compared to my first son's birth in hospital ; trouble was, my midwife was stuck in traffic and arrived at my home literally with seconds to spare!! Luckily, I'm not the panicky type, but my poor mother, who was also there, was beside herself....!!

My best of wishes for whatever you decide to do...good luck!!

Liz B :0)

[Krista :o)]

In Finland almost all deliveries are handeled by midwives. Of course usually in hospitals where doctors are also present.

I think it is important to see if there are any "red flags" present in the pregnancy. If not, I don't see why a home birth would be that "dangerous".

Because Suvi almost died when I gave bith to her, I would never consider home birth, but I understand why some people do.