Reply To: Ladies would you consider homebirth?

Health, with all due respect…would you stop reiterating the same stale point? You don’t even have a point.

What you’re saying is that if we don’t like some of the things doctors do and dont do in birthing settings then we need to run to a different type of practitioner altogether?

IF I don’t like the way librarians catalgogue things, and I have a particular opinion on the way it should/could be done better, that doesn’t mean I don’t use libraries, or dont need libraries!

It means maybe there should be a review on what works and what doesn’t.

For example in our local Jewish Hospital they have re-built the delivery ward, calling it “The Family Birthing Center”. Its got a water tub, you can request an exercise ball for comfort measures in birthing, you can bring a doula, etc. etc. In fact the hospital has a big sign in the hall bearing the statement “Expect more from the birthing center”.

In rebuttle to what you said above about opting to use dr or midwife; having a midwife is not always an option. For example, Highrisk patients don’t have the option for midwifey care, which is reserved only for relatively low risk pregnancies. Besides for that, there are not enough midwives to go around, ask ppl who call upon conceiving how many months they sit on a waiting list in order to get a midwife. Even then there is no guarantee one will get one.

High risk prenancies and all pregnancies & deliveries deserve the best in healthcare. That doesnt have to be a compromise. Perhaps you’d like to define for us what means medicine and obstetrics. There is no doubt there are great Obstetricians. I absolutely love mine. And despite the fact that I am on the waiting list for a midwife, I actually might not even go with one, even if they do get around to calling me in. Because this dr. is “enlightened” to how birth works. THe woman is not a medical field machine.

However most of the people’s complaints with medical doctors is that they could be doing more, caring more, being more sensitive, which are all nice traits you expect to find in the crunchy granola scene, but then you’ve got to minus the medical expertise. So if someone wants medical expertise (and takes a dr) does that mean they have to compromise all the other facets of what a caregiver should be providing?

I would only agree with your argument if you were referring to folks who complain about mainstrem medicine and the pharaceutical approach, but don’t go to naturopaths and chinese herbalists.