Bellerose Birth

Great chart!

The More You Know: Options in Maternity Care - Midwifery week, Day 4

Considering a midwife? Want to learn more about how to choose a personalized healthcare provider for your pregnancy and childbirth experience. Whether pregnancy is viewed as an illness by some or a normal physiologic event by others, the real issue is what matters to the individual person/family! Are you receiving information and care that provides respectful and meaningful services? Learning about the landscape of maternity care options is a critical decision. And, one most spend less time thinking and planning for than purchasing a car. This is a lifelong event, one that doesn’t happen very many times in life, and those who surround you during key life events such as birth and death are never forgotten. Being engaged in creating the image of your surroundings and support team is critical.

Do you know the difference between services received from an ob/gyn, high-risk specialist, family physician, midwife and doula? Can they be complimentary? What about philosophy of care for healthy women? What are considered essential services to not just have a safe birth, but meaningfully respected and supported pregnancy and birth that also prepares you to transition to parenthood?

The following are resources that can help, with a focus on the Midwifery Model of Care. It is after all, National Midwifery Week.

A number one go-to, non-bias resource is Childbirth Connections. I send my adult kids and any of their friends to this resource for ALL kinds of information. In particular there is a section that describes types of midwives in the US. Until we have uniform regulation of the title and role, confusion will be problematic. It is your right to know as much as you can about any care provider you are paying. https://bit.ly/2so32CD

Birth by the Numbers is another excellent, non-biased website with data about many issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. Although there are many sections on this website that with data related to important topics, this link provides information on midwives, doulas and out-of-hospital births. Dr. Declercq, a Professor at Boston School of Public Health, provides a number of informative slide decks about midwives and their role in maternity care. https://bit.ly/2n3g8qb

Doesn’t a midwife and doula do the same thing? Doula’s, like midwives, have been engaged in supporting childbirth since the beginning of time. In fact, most artifact found dating back centuries demonstrate the common birth pose of a woman semi-squatting with a woman supporting her and the midwife in front ready to catch the baby. Evidence Based Birth provides a comprehensive review of the role of Doulas (a non-medical supportive role before, during and after birth) as well as many other evidence-based topics that may be of interest. https://evidencebasedbirth.com/the-evidence-for-doulas/

The following infographic designed by in Jan 2019 hopes to educate the public about the role of midwives and doulas. The resource generated over 70K interactions on social media in less than a week. Feel free to share with your friends. And, if interested in today’s random drawing for a set of specially designed, lasar cut, Midwifery-themed slate coasters, add a name of a FB friend in the comments section below before 10:30 pm cst.