Hi there first CTG is Cardiotocograph you may call it a fetal monitor or something similar, and to Sara I hope this works if you click the link it will take you to our NICE (national) guidelines which alot of units use, these are new guidelines hot off the press for intrapartum care, take a look its free but don't print it, it'll be 5 billion pages probably x http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG55

Ah, I see! Yes, all moms that go to the hospital have fetal heart tones monitored. I was a bit lucky with my baby, I had a nurse midwife who ordered the nurses to just do intermittent monitoring, which was different for the nurses, but it worked =) I didn't get in that bed at all until I started pushing!

Well done to you, and good for the nurse that ordered that xx

& so why did you get on the bed to start pushing? lol

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lol x cos thats what women do x uphill they like a challenge xx

lol!! cause they made me

hehe yeah see that alot, makes some of these mw's itchy if they not on bed for pushing and all fours is hilarious it still gets me..

I will be a hospital based midwife, if I manage to get a job at all. However, I hope that my practice will be evidence based and woman centred and I will fight against becoming hospitalised (I prefer the term medicalised) and will continue to work within the midwifery model, rather than medical model of care.

I termed it 'hospitalised' as that term was used to me in conversation with a very experienced midwife. She said midwives can get hospitalised, to me that meant not just the medicalised side but the institutionalised side of things.

Medicalised = practising the medical model of midwifery

Institutionalised = having worked at the same establishment and practising the same way for years, almost unwilling to change because 'thats how we do it here'.

You can argue that you can get institutionalised in a birth centre if you work there long enough and have a closed mind, which is true, however I was looking at two sides of the spectrum.

I was thinking how to me at this point in my training both sides of the spectrum seem daunting, the indepedence of the Independent Midwife allurs me I like the idea of the freedom but the lone responsibility scares me, whereas, the structured side of shifts and certain ways of doing things and fitting in with cliques makes me feel suffocated but I like the support network of other more experienced midwives and staff.

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I think there are definitely pros and cons of both sides. You will always have support in a hospital, whereas you may not independently (most mw's here do take someone with them to births, but a lot of times that other person is their assistant and there are times when you are probably very grateful for an extra set of skilled hands). Also, I would think, if you're real sick or whatever, it would probably be a lot easier getting someone to cover you at a hospital.

However, like you said, there's a bit of freedom when practicing independently. I like working in either structure, myself, but my distrust in the way "things are run" here in the States is making the path I've chosen look very nice. I'm not sure what I would do if I were in the UK (not knowing what it's like in hospitals there).