These last few days have made me realise why i left the NHS. Not the Midwives... the doctors.
In the last week, I have seen the birth of one of my woman's 6th baby.
She has had 2 previous ceasarian sections for breech, but has birth 3 babies normally.
All she wanted was a chance to have a normal birth with this child, as she had vowed it was going to be her last.
The doctors threatened, bullied and tried to frighten my woman into agreeing to a c/s again.
One even withdrew care saying that he wasn't 'experienced enough' to look after her in labour. My woman is a very intelligent, and very private person, who did not take her choices lightly, and would never compromise the health of her baby or herself.. particularly with 5 other children to care for.
All of the Midwives.. including a very supportive Supervisor of Midwives, accepted her decision and eventually, so did a very kind and intelligent Consultant, who was honest about his concerns, but went along with her plan.
She birthed a beautiful girl last friday morning by emergency ceasarian section, after a labour at home and a very hairy transfer to hospital in the snow.
All of her decisions were her own, as was the choice of c/s... all she wanted was to be in control of her life and her decisions, and she got it.
I worry that she feels as if she let herself down by the decisions she made.. but I think she is a Goddess... a Diva and and a courageous example of what all women should be able to do.... make informed choices about their own lives, their own bodies and their own futures.
A colleague once quoted 'we are as brave as the women we care for' and i feel very brave and very proud of my woman's achievement.
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As midwives we advocate 'normal' birth, however, we must realise that for some women this event may be unlikely due to previous history or pre existing medical conditions, or indeed, through choice. CHOICE being the operative word. Womens' CHOICE. It is our professional duty to ensure women are given the relevant information to make decisions regarding their care, however it is the woman's PERCEPTION of the care she recieves that will influence whether she regards her birth experience to be a satisfactory one or not (this is regardless of whether she has a normal birth, assisted birth or operative birth). I'm not sure 'brave' is the right word to describe this woman as it implies she made decisions against what was considered the 'correct'decision to make...who are the medical profession to decide what is 'right' for any woman? As long as women are fully informed of options regarding their care, including possible consequences, most women have the intelligence to make their own minds up.Well done Marion and all those involved in advocating this woman's wishes. I'm sure, although the end result was not what she planned originally, she does not regret the choices she made and is thankful that she was supported enough to give it a go.
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