The Middle Ground

So before our class on Friday I had considered using a midwife instead of going to the hospital if I do in fact have a baby one day. I was still a little leary about the idea though. My thoughts are that if anything bad happened during the birth I would like to be in a hospital so they could take care of the issue right away. But like others I have been brought up to believe that the only place that can help you in an emergency is the hospital, and it is very difficult to change the way we think about this. Society jams it down our throats that the hospital is the only safe place for a birth, or any injury for that matter. Little do we know the things that happen behind the scenes. The documentary on friday really opened my eye's to the corruption and negitive atmosphere that surrounds the births done in hospitals. It mentioned in the documentary that a hospital is a business, it's just looking to get patience in and out as quickly as possible. For a mother trying to do what's best for her baby, this decision can be very difficult. Which is why I think its important to cosider a middle ground. There was an article in The Washington Post earlier this year discussing the growing middle ground between the midwife and the hospital. For instance Washington Hospital Center has certified nurses/midwives in their hospital. The patients are offered an unmedicated experience without the typical stirrups. Also the woman have free range of motions, are offered snacks and other things to make them feel at home. The midwives are their with the mother's talking them through the mental and physical aspects of pregnancy. The great part about all this is if the baby or mother does go into distress the hospital steps in to deliver the baby safely. There are a lot of positives to this process. The downfall right now is that the team of nurses only take low risk or no risk pregnancys, but the idea is growing and can hopefully become a norm in society soon!

Gretchen