Let us hear the inside story......

__________________
Josie
StudentMidwife.NET Co-founder & Director

Oooh, I totally missed this thread!

I would. It's very difficult in some places and in others down right illegal, but we desperately need miwives and I think the more women we have coming to the profession, the faster change can be made.

The majority of women here are incredibly afraid of labor and delivery. I was, too. I think it's so sad that we're raised in fear of this time, which turns into us accepting every intervention that's convenient without asking what's best. I'd like to help change that perception. I admit that most women I talk to about natural birth have an instant negative reaction, "Oh no, I'm getting my epidural as I walk in the door," kinda thing, but I think that just knowing me and hearing me talk about it puts a bug in their ear and with that, change takes place. They may still have a very medicalized birth this time, but next time around, they may be interested in talking to "that strange hippie"

We definitely need more midwives here. I would very much encourage someone who is interested to seriously consider it!

Do you live in the Witchita as in 'we're going to Witchita....' Like Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes?!

What do you think has made women so scared of having 'natural' births over there?!

Kell xx

I would think that's the Wichita Only one I know of (there's a Wichita Falls in Texas, though)...

Fear of birth is something that's taken a long time...didn't happen overnight. At the turn of the century, doctors began realizing that there were a lot of women giving birth, and that midwives were in charge of what could possibly be a cash cow for them. So, campaigns began to make the midwives look dangerous and dirty. And hospital births became the vogue. Well, doctors hadn't learned very much about normal labor and delivery and thought a woman should stay flat on her back to make things easier for drs. As we know, this is much more painful.

So, I believe it was in the 20's that feminists started demanding availability of twilight sleep drugs to deal with the pain and indignity of birth. This made women absolutely loopy and I've heard some old nurses say it's like seeing a possessed person! They'd strap the moms down and knock em out, and drag out the baby. With so many women going through this, women lost faith in their bodies. We were conditioned to run to the hospital at the first sign of pain so the staff could "fix it" for us. My own mother told me that her one natural (meaning no drugs, she was still forced to stay in bed) birth was so excruciating, she thought she was going to die. This when I was pg with my first, nice, huh?

We're just raised in that society. The ones who spread that, I think, are probably the ones that never prepared and didn't listen to their bodies. Yes, it's awful if you fight it. Working with it, though, it's not something that is horrible. And, plus, everyone makes more money when there is fear involved.

__________________
Sasha, Doula, Mama, Wife, Student Midwife

Three little wild boys and one soldier husband