“I hired a Midwife – so I know she will be supportive, wonderful, help me have an ideal birth.”
Take your head out of the sand! It isn’t that easy. Just because you hired a Midwife does not mean that she will support what you want.
Choose your care provider carefully.
Choosing your care provider carefully is just as important if you are choosing a Midwife.
Just because you hired a midwife doesn’t mean she will automatically be the right choice!
It is just as important to
- ask questions
- check referrals
- follow your intuition
regardless of if you have hired an OB or Midwife.
Certain Techniques Questionable
Here are a few interesting posts about Midwives trained in a certain technique and boy I can tell you I would NOT want one of these midwives at my birth.
I love this post by a midwife reminding moms that they need to ask midwives questions and they need to watch out for red flags. http://midwiferyramblings.blogspot.com/2011/01/art-of-deceit.html
Followed up with
http://mandalamom.blogspot.com/2010/12/power-birth-not-to-be-confused-with.html
There are some midwives I know who are NOT trained in this method, but I still wouldn’t choose them to be my care provider – so it isn’t about methods, it is about so many different things and only you can know the important ones to YOU!
How can you know if your midwife is the right one for you?
Click here to help find out!
Thank you for the first link – my sister is pregnant and in the process of choosing her midwife, and I think it will be super helpful for her.
The second link turned my stomach. I wasn’t aware that there are “midwives” who practice this way. It makes my heart hurt to think of women expecting a gentle birth and getting something like that. 🙁
Ugh, this is so true. My little sister had a not so great midwife. I’ve been to a lot of births and I was her doula/birth partner because her husband was out of the country. Even I was shocked at the brusqueness and just general unsupportive nature of the midwife.
Everyone has there off days for sure, but it was not a good experience for my sister. She eventually went to the hospital and I was so glad because the L&D nurses were so much more supportive and caring than the midwife had been.
Afterwards, we started a website where people could review their birth team (much like yelp) so that other moms could help to spread the word about who they loved or didn’t. There is a good article there on how to interview a midwife http://naturallyborn.net/midwives-and-doulas-articles/1141-im-interviewing-midwives-what-should-i-ask
Thanks for being candid about this topic, the more informed moms can be the better theor birth experience will be 🙂