Ina May Gaskin Birth Matters Summary

I believe as a Midwifery Student at Australian Catholic University (ACU) that childbirth is a natural life process. Within my philosophy, my aim is to provide a women-centred care based on evidence- based practice. Also the importance of supporting women with cultural variation, social circumstance and understanding other specific needs throughout the woman’s pregnancy. The women-centred care is an essential quality to a midwife as it ensure that the women is educated in healthy lifestyle choices within pregnancy, childbirth and during parenthood. This relationship of “women-centred care” is the key to midwifery practices as Australian College of Midwives (2009) refers to the philosophy of maternity care that promotes a holistic approach by recognising each women’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural needs. In retrospect, it is important to reflect on your past experiences during your midwifery practice but also your life beyond midwifery.

This essay demonstrates significant factors, a midwife and the women may face within Australian public hospitals. As a midwife the key skills are understanding of what supports and impacts the normal physiological process of labour and birth. This essay will discuss two influencing factors that have a negative effect on the normal progress of labour and birth. This will be seen, firstly by discussing the cultural and environmental impacts of labour and birth. Then, examining how the midwife may best support and facilitate the adverse effects of normal physiological process. This essay also discusses a positive labour and birth environment within the Australian standard model of care.

Robin Yates’s paper, “Pregnancy and Childbirth, The 1800’s vs. Now: What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting,” was filled with many clear points on the advancement of labor and medicine since the 1800s. This essay was filled with interesting and grabbing facts; however, the structure of the essay needs more support.

When Sarah was out of the bed and standing her whole attitude changed, she was more comfortable and relaxed. Sarah went on to give birth on her hands and knees, there were no complications and the perineum was intact. The student felt that through the use of different positions, listening and observing, she had empowered Sarah to have a normal birth. The two specific topics the author will analyse are positions in labour and the role the midwife plays in facilitating choice.

For hundred of years, women have wrestled with their womanhood, bodies, and what it means to be a woman in our society. Being a woman comes with a wonderful and empowering responsibility--giving birth. What sets us aside from other countries is that the process and expectations of giving birth has changed in our society; coming from midwifery, as it has always been since the early times, to hospitals where it is now expected to give birth at. Midwifery was a common practice in delivering babies in

Most Americans associate hospitals to be the standard place where women can give birth. However, women did not always deliver in hospitals. Gynecology, the medical practice dealing with the female reproductive system, did not emerge until the early nineteenth century. Before doctors came along, women used to hire midwives to deliver babies in the comfort of their own homes. In this paper I will examine the social, political, and scientific implications of how giving birth has transitioned from being a midwife’s job into that of a doctor’s. Furthermore, I will attempt to show how these implications intersect together to make birth a feminist issue. To support my argument, I will be referencing Tina Cassidy’s “The Dawn of the Doctors,” Abby Epstein’s documentary film The Business of Being Born, and Eesha Pandit’s article “America’s secret history of forced sterilization: Remembering a disturbing and not-so-distant past.” I argue that the processes surrounding birth are intersectional feminist issues because they are often manipulated by male figures pursuing money and authority, which ultimately compromises women’s health and power of choice.

Despite the generational birth and childhood struggles as depicted in Three Generations of Native American women’s birth experience by Joy Harjo, The Black Mountain, 1977 by Donald Antrim shows a different type relationship between generations. The young native women experience reflects a struggling time of teenage pregnancy. The author expression that the woman made was “I was a poor, mixed-blood woman heavy with a child who would suffer the struggle of poverty, the legacy of loss.” (Nadlehaft, 2008 pg.126).

Thank you for your substantive analysis of the assigned material and your contribution to the discourse. I really enjoyed reading how you compared the views presented in the Birth House and the Dawn of Doctors. As you and Jennifer both cited, the lack of equality for women was certainly the central theme presented throughout each assigned text. Additionally, your statement that “doctors were not the same as midwives in the way that they did not take the time to care about the mother as a whole”, was also insightful and very true. Unfortunately, this practice continues to be present. Just as Parte was known for having “women deliver lying down in bed— as position that made his work easier— rather than on a birth stool, which made the

This paper is an evaluation of philosophical and sociological underpinnings within Australian maternity services. The information was researched from observational studies of six articles connected to the medicalisation of childbirth that is associated with low risk pregnant women. The objective for this paper is to review key theoretical arguments related to the reference of homebirth and midwifery services and against barriers to home birthing and the underlying discussion of freedom of choice. The interrelations between dominant themes were incorporated. This paper reports on the findings of “Preparing for birth”, “Birth expectation barriers and emasculation of midwifery” and finally the “Trajectory of Australian Health Policies”.

Culture is an enormous part of our lives. It can affect every part of our daily living from our health, nutrition, religious beliefs, and communication, to even how one is expected to think and behave. This paper explores various cultural beliefs on childbirth and specifically childbirth positions from three different cultures, Chinese, Indian, and American. The basic differences in cultures permeates one’s perspective on birth and is part of why certain beliefs and restrictions are present. How one brings new life into the world is steeped in traditions unique to each culture.

More “western” means of birth historically shared many similarities with Indigenous traditional birthing, but though medicalization this changed and our modern system was developed. Birth used to be expected to occur at the home, “It was only through the medicalization of women’s bodies that the credibility and knowledge of midwives and traditional healers was forcibly lost” (Shaw, Pp., 525, 2013). In contemporary “western” births, prior to birth pregnant women are advised to create a birth plan and eat and exercise properly as well as to go to prenatal classes. Birth and pregnancy is often seen as something that needs to be controlled and is sometimes treated as a condition, which puts most of the pressure and accountability on the mother

A common concept in the US is that a woman 's job is the have control of her body. Likewise, a woman 's experience with her pregnancy and childbirth has often been scrutinized by society. In "Beyond Control: Body and Self in Women’s Childbearing Narratives", Sharon K. Carter focuses on a woman’s experience of having control over their body during their pregnancy. Her thesis works around the body/self relationship that women create for themselves during pregnancy and childbirth. (Carter, 2010) She also details how society views a woman’s control over their body and how this perception translates to their period of pregnancy and childbirth. Throughout the article, Carter gives readers the underlying impression that she does not believe a woman has control of their body during their pregnancy but may have some control of their body during childbirth.

The beginning stages of life start with prenatal development. This is the most essential part of the human development process. Prenatal care for a woman starts from the egg is fertilized until the actually delivery of the new born. When it comes to prenatal development, there are many concerns in care. Some of the main areas of concern are the actually care that woman received while being in this stage. Most writing and viewpoints that are shined on this topic are for the advancement and importance in prenatal care. The general population has desire to know more about what can be done to assure a health child at birth. What I will be sharing is different reading on the topic of adequate prenatal care and its success and results. I have gather information from serval different scholarly journals and published books upon this topic. I will go in and analyze the data and information that is given from each article and break down what is essential to know.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the role of the labor and delivery nurse to the “maternal role attainment - becoming a mother” model. The model (MRA) was proposed by nursing theorist Ramona T. Mercer in 1991 to guide nurses in implementing the nursing process while providing care to the non-traditional mother. Revised in 1995 to “Becoming a Mother”, this model soon proved useful for nurses to access, concentrate on, and attend to the needs of all new mothers. New mothers experience various stressors such as an ill infant, their own health, financial strains, and postpartum depression. This model is evidenced- based and incorporates the four global nursing concepts into it. The importance of this model is the provisions it makes for mother-infant bonding that affects the health and development of individuals and families throughout the lifespan (Role Attainment, 2005). For the professional nurse in labor and delivery, the model has significant use aiding the impact that labor and delivery nurses have on new mothers perceiving and attaining their maternal role.

In order to complete birth process with a healthy delivery childbearing mothers have an option to either use a medical doctor or a midwife. Whilst today the majority of births assisted by a physician, a traditional midwifery practice recognized around the world and has been practiced for many centuries before. Midwives took care of women before they become pregnant, during pregnancy, facilitated delivery and play a pivotal role in assisting young mother after the child was born. Groundbreaking transformation that healthcare is experiencing today gives a chance for midwifery practice to become an important provider of women’s healthcare.