Natural Births at Home and at Birthing Centers

Empowering Women with Natural Home Birth  

• Ignore the "well-intentioned" family & friend, etc naysayers!

• Believe in your body!
• Empower yourself with research!

• Practice meditation, low tonal sounds like Om, Figure 8 trance technique 

What is a Midwife?“Midwives are primary health care providers to women throughout the lifespan. This means that midwives perform physical exams, prescribe medications including contraceptive methods, order laboratory tests as needed, provide prenatal care, gynecological care, labor and birth care, as well as health education and counseling to women of all ages.”(American College of Nurse-Midwives).

  Benefits of Midwifery-led Care Compared to Obstetrician- or Family Physician-led Care

•Women who had a midwife as their lead provider = fewer interventions & less likely to deliver a premature baby.

•Less likely to have epidural painkiller, an episiotomy, or a delivery using instruments, such as a vacuum or forceps. (Pearson, Catherine).

•“Women may prefer a home birth over a hospital birth for a variety of reasons, including a desire for a low-intervention birth in a familiar environment surrounded by family and friends, and cultural or religious concerns” (MacDorman, Marian).

•Lower Cesarean Rates

Mother & Child Need Protection Against the Increase of the National Cesarean Rate

The national cesarean rate has increased seven-fold

“The nations leading professional obstetric societies conclude that women and babies have not benefited from this increase in cesarean section, which is overused.”

•Low priority of enhancing women's own abilities to give birth.

•Side effects of common labor interventions.

•Refusal to offer the informed choice of vaginal birth

•Casual attitudes about surgery and variation in professional practice style.

•Limited awareness of harms that are more likely with cesarean section.

“Cesarean section is a major surgical procedure that increases the likelihood of many types of harm for mothers and babies in comparison with vaginal birth. Short-term harms for mothers include increased risk of unintended surgical cuts, infection, blood clots, emergency hysterectomy, going back into the hospital, a challenging recovery, and death. Babies born by cesarean section are more likely to have breathing problems and to develop several chronic diseases: childhood-onset diabetes, allergies with cold-like symptoms, and asthma in childhood and beyond.”

•Incentives to practice in a manner that is efficient for providers. (such as financial incentives)

•Professional expectations for work-life balance. (Don’t want to attend at night births, schedule during weekdays, etc)
•Women's great trust in their maternity care. (Childbirth Connection).

Destruction of Granny Midwife

1700-1800s: In America mostly Black Women who’s skills passed on from mother to daughter over centuries & not only served as birth attendants but also as community healers

1900 - 1940s & beyond: Persecution & Prosecution

“They said the mother of their white Christ (blonde, blue-eyed,even in black-headed Spain) could never have been a black woman, because both the color black and the female sex were of the devil. We were evil witches to claim otherwise. We were witches; our word for healers. We brought their children into the world; we cured their sick; we washed and laid out the bodies of their dead. We were far from evil. We helped Life, and they did not like this at all. Whenever they saw our power it made them feel they had none” (Walker, 1989: 196).

(Bonaparte, Alicia).

Resurrection of Community Birth Workers

Promote positive images of natural birth

Training/certification is is affordable and short 34 month span: Certified Professional Midwives, & Licensed Midwives in TX. (direct entry midwives do not have get prior education in medical field as CNM)

program about 7k - no student loan debt

Salary 70k - 100k (Time, Forest). 

Hey! Have a question or comment about natural birth, midwives, and the like?

Works Cited

American College of Nurse-Midwives. Become a Midwife. http://www.midwife.org/Become-a-Midwife

Bonaparte, Alicia. The Persecution and Prosecution of the Granny Midwife In South Carolina, 1900-1940. http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07252007-122217/unrestricted/bonapartedissertation2007final.pdf

Childbirth Connection. National Partnership for Women & Families. Cesarean Section Why Is the National U.S. Cesarean Section Rate So High?. http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10456

MacDorman, Marian, T.J. Mathews, Eugene Declercq. Home Births in the United States, 1990–2009. 2012. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db84.htm

Pearson, Catherine. Midwifery Benefits? Improved Outcomes For Moms Who See Midwives, Review Finds. Huffington Post. 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/midwifery-benefits_n_3787058.html

Time, Forest. The Average Salary of Midwives. Demand Media. http://work.chron.com/average-salary-midwives-1017.html