When I found out I was pregnant I didn’t really know about [tag-ice]natural pregnancy and childbirth[/tag-ice]. I asked a close friend who delivered her baby and how she felt about the relationship she had with her caregiver and her experience during her birth. She was very happy with her experience and so I checked to see if he was in my network. He was and I made an appointment.
He was very nice man, a nice doctor and I really had no issues with him. Our appointments were 10 minutes long, he answered questions and was very nice.
I started attending my [tag-tec]childbirth classes[/tag-tec] and realized I had other options. I could see a midwife. I thought about making a change in caregivers for a while. I finally went to see the midwife. I met with her for a consultation and decided to change. She was in the same practice as the doctor ~ just a different building ~ and was covered by my insurance.
My decision to switch to a midwife was based on a few things. I thought I would get more time. I thought our appointments would be longer, I would have a better chance to get to know her and her to know me. I thought I would be provided with more natural ways to manage pregnancy symptoms. I thought I would been subject to LESS INTERVENTION come time to give birth. There is a Midwife Model of Care and I anticipated she would behave accordingly.
Here’s the thing ~ I should have ASKED ALL THOSE QUESTIONS because none of them happened.
What I failed to realize was this ~ there are two [tag-tec]different types of midwives[/tag-tec]. There’s the certified nurse midwife (CNM) and there are Direct-entry midwives. Here’s the difference, in my experience and opinion. A CNM is a lot like a doctor. They work out of a doctor’s office, they catch babies in the hospital, and mine had to have a “back up doctor” ( a doctor who would come in and help if problems arose).
My experience with a CNM was exactly the same as with the doctor. When I was “overdue” she told me she would be inducing me on Tuesday if I had not gone into labor. Her response to questions about heartburn and other pregnancy issues was always some kind of medication. In fact her demeanor and bedside manner where not as good as the doctor I had been seeing originally.
Here’s my experience with a direct entry midwife. When my water broke and I was not in active labor I went to my doula’s house to try and get labor started (we live an hour out of town). The midwife I wanted to have had moved to Colorado, but is friends with my doula so we were able to call her to consult throughout the day. She recommended homeopathics and natural options to try and get my labor started. She was kind and calm and not at all medically oriented. She did not encourage me to go to the hospital just because my water had broken, but provided me with empowering options I could use to labor on my own.
When we finally decided to go to the hospital 12 hours later, my labor was still not active, my midwife immediately started setting up the pitocin drip. When we refused the Pitocin she became angry and asked who was running this birth her or us? Well ~ the answer was us much to her dismay. She proceeded to leave for another birth, which was just fine with me, and did not come back to our room for another 7 or 8 hours. By which time we had labor quite active through natural methods only.
We experienced a number of complications, including Hanna getting stuck in my pelvis, and having scar tissue on my cervix not budging to let her through. In the end her “back up doctor” ended up delivering the baby. BTW ~ this back up doctor was AMAZING. In fact, I heard really good things about him during my pregnancy and wish I had chosen him instead of my midwife. He totally believes in the ability of a woman’s body to give birth, and let’s the mama do the work and give birth. He is basically there just to catch the baby.
It really goes to show you have to talk to the person on an individual basis. You are more likely to find a natural oriented person as a direct entry midwife, but you can find Doctors even that are the same way. It takes time to talk to them ~ which is usually hard to come by, knowing the right questions to ask, and being assertive enough to make them stop and answer your questions.
I realize this is just my experience with doctors and midwives and is based on only one experience. Childbirth Connection will provide you with a ton of non biased information about choosing a caregiver, as well as explain in much more detail the differences between the different types of midwives. It’s an awesome site filled with natural pregnancy and childbirth information. I would definitely bookmark it for future reference.
How did you choose your caregiver? Please come by the forum and share your story.
[tags]natural pregnancy, natural childbirth, choosing a caregiver, choosing a midwife, types of midwives, natural childbirth information, certified nurse midwife, CNM, direct entry midwife, midwife model of care[/tags]
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