MIDWIFE: AN ALTERNATIVE PREGNANCY CARE PROVIDER
A midwife is a health caregiver in midwifery, a practice where expecting mothers are seen through their pregnancy, from prenatal care to attending the babys birth, and providing postpartum care to both mother and baby. Midwives specialize in pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period following, and they generally strive to teach women to enjoy their pregnancy while supporting a natural birth experience. However, midwives are trained to recognize potential problems and risks during a womans pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes, multiple fetuses, and pre-eclampsia and take responsibility for sending her to the correct special care provider. Midwives dont perform Cesarean section surgeries, but they are trained to handle sudden complications that may arise during or after birth with both mother and baby. They know basic life support and can care for the baby until the paramedics arrive or until able to get to the nearest hospital. In most, if not all, cases midwives have back-up physicians at nearby medical facilities waiting on-hand during a delivery in case anything goes wrong. In fact, 98 percent of births that midwives assist occur at the hospital, not at home or at a freestanding birth center.
The philosophy of midwives all over is that pregnancy is normal and natural and that there is no need to intervene in what a womans body is meant to do during childbirth. They view their role as supportive and focus a lot on the psychological aspects of the expectant mother, encouraging her to trust her instincts and educate herself about the many choices found within pregnancy, birth, and parenthood. During the prenatal period, midwives ask many questions and are there to answer questions or address concerns about any of the patients worries as well as educating her about the labor and delivery process. During labor, midwives allow women to walk around and change positions, like sitting on a birthing ball, taking a shower, or leaning on something for support, and they usually allow women to eat and drink. They may still use medical interventions like IV pain medications and electronic fetal monitoring, but they may work at a facility that isnt equipped to handle procedures like administering an epidural or dispending labor-inducing drugs.
History of midwifery
An Old English word that means with woman, a midwife has helped to deliver babies since the beginning of history there are references in ancient Hindu records, Roman and Greek manuscripts, and even the Bible. They mostly learned their trade through apprenticeship and traditions, and they were not trained in scientific advances like penicillin to treat infection or hygiene. Somewhere around 1560, midwives were required to become licensed in order to be able to practice in Paris, while English midwives didnt have to receive formal training until the 1900s; the American midwifery standards were adopted from the English model. The rate of births attended by midwives decreased when doctors started being trained in childbirth and obstetrics.
Midwife vs. obstetrician
While an obstetrician has been taught to specialize in illnesses related to childbirth and surgery like Cesarean sections while actively managing labor, a midwifes philosophy is that pregnancy is normal and natural, a woman knows her own body, and labor should proceed on its own without any unnecessary medical interventions.
Statistics show that if more women selected midwives as their primary caregivers instead of obstetricians, there would be less newborn deaths. In the United States today, there are more newborn deaths among live births than any country where midwives are still the norm for childbirth and just as many malpractice lawsuits because doctors are afraid to get sued for not taking an active role during childbirth. A medical doctor or obstetrician is more likely to use preventative testing and advanced medical technology like continual fetal monitoring and pain medications like epidurals as a standard part of pregnancy and labor.
In todays day and age, women assume there is no other care provider for pregnancy than an obstetrician, but midwifery is becoming a more common option for women with low-risk pregnancies. Still, only 7 percent of American babies are delivered by midwives while more than 70 percent of babies in Europe are born with a midwifes assistance.
