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Old September 10th 03, 01:41 PM
Stephanie
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Default Midwives & Home birth vs. an OB & hospital ?

"LSU Grad of '89" wrote in message .. .
OK, this really bothered me so I will share it in hopes that I am just too
used to the "modern" way. A woman at work is having hr first child, she's
~5months and has had no visits to an OB or Doctor. She is completely relying
on a midwife. She will have a natural birth at home with the midwife and
husband in attendance.

I just can't identify with it. I LIKE knowing I've done tests and
ultrasounds and stuff to make sure - with modern technology - that my baby
is progressing fine. I just don't believe that a midwife can catch
everything - right ?

Hope this isn't a flame starter, I just cannot identify with the natural at
home no doctors thing. Give me an epidural, no problem...Mother hood is
demanding enough without being a hero when you don't need to. Vicki is
right - no one hands you a medal after labor and says "you get a gold medal
for having the most pain !"

However, I completely understand that each person has a right to their own
method, and just because I cannot identify with this, it doesn't mean it's
wrong. I just have this nagging feeling that if it were me, I'd be concerned
that I wasn't doing the best I could do for my baby.



Then research would be your friend. The outcomes for natural,
midwifery based prenatal care and child birth are statistically quite
superior to the intervention based medical attitude for low risk
pregnancies. Best for baby means best outcome. People do not have
natural child birth because they want others to give them a round of
applause. They do it because they have done the research and see the
advantages to mother and baby.

I can't help worrying
for her but I don't know why...



Don't. Midwives are trained at identifying risk and referring to a doc
when risk increases.


I guess I can't imagine going through an
entire pregnancy without ever seeing a doctor when one has insurance and
access (can mid wives write prescriptions for prenatal tablets ?) My friend
works where I do and has excellent insurance...



I cannot imagine why you would want to pay extra money for
prescription prenatal vitamins when they are available as generic over
the counters for about 3/4 the price.

L.
DS, 5-25-01 & EDD 4-28-04