The Birth Attendants That Help An Expectant Mother

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.

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.

As an adult student I have learned to appreciate the peaceful, yet exhilarating moment when my mind engages with an author 's thoughts on a page. To say the least, Born in the USA has been life changing. I treasured the information it provided, the optimism for my choice in profession, and the desire to push our current birthing environments further towards a safe and respectful place. To begin with, I am disheartened by the purposeful rebellion doctors in America possess toward Midwives and informed birth. I have experienced their contempt firsthand and it just strengthens my stance on maternal rights. Page 19 of “Born in the USA” states, “The Reciprocal Natural Childbirth Index” exemplifying the patronizing attitude toward self-education. If the leaders of the American healthcare system are not encouraging education, then what hope is there for anyone to make knowledgeable choices? As Marsden Wagner said, “I also learned much about the profession, including the fact that in every other highly industrialized country, midwives are highly valued health care professionals.” This makes me wonder what are we gaining stifling midwifery care?

In the United States giving birth has become medicalized and it is because the medical community has convinced women that having a baby in a medical facility is mandatory and better for the baby. Medial birth is not natural birth. The American populace is uneducated about the natural process of labor. The overwhelming amount of women having babies in hospitals is unique to the United States. Most other nations including first world nations, women give birth in the presence of midwives rather than a doctor. According to experts documented in the film, “The United States has the second worst newborn death rate in the developed world.” Also “The US has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among all industrializes countries.” The makers of this film link those fact with the common practice of hospital birthing. According to the film makers, Doctors should only be used in high risk pregnancy and births.

After watching The Business of Being Born I was very shocked at the statistics stated throughout the link. One of the most shocking things from the link is that the United States is one of the less developed countries when it comes to childbirth and the health of the child. In Europe and Japan, midwives attend over seventy percent of the births, while in the United States, less than eight percent attend midwives. Maternity care in the United States is in crisis and midwives are trying to change the birthing process. Women in the United States are convinced that the vast majority of them do not know how to birth a child. One term that I thought was interesting was the term designer birth, which makes me directly think of women in New York City.

Obstetricians and midwives both have a standard that they all need to be aware of and know when working with women in antenatal, birth and post natal. They need to both be able to help assist the women in choosing a mode of care that is suitable for her needs. (Ranzcog.edu.au, 2011)

　　Nancy Dye’s, History of Childbirth in America, explores the social evolution of childbirth by breaking it into three stages: before the 18th century, late 18th century to 1919, and the 1920s on. In the first stage, pregnancy is a social event that is attended to by midwives and female friends and relatives.[ Nancy Dye, History of Childbirth in America. (1980), 97-108.] It was the pinnacle of femininity and the power women held. The midwife, who was not seen as a medical professional would see to everything in the pregnant woman’s home where the birth would take place by natural means.[ Dye, History of Child Birth in America, 97-108] Even though this was seen as a happy moment it was crowded with the cultural emphasis on the likelihood of pain and death that brought fear and confusion to women.[ Dye, History of Child Birth in America, 97-108] This stage in the history of childbirth is important to understand because it is this era that acts as a foundation for the rest to come. Also, as the stages are followed through one will

As medicine has advanced greatly over the centuries, a large amount of people across the globe would suggest that a baby should be delivered in a hospital setting. A hospital birth has many, if not the most, positive aspects to its approach. As far as experience, knowledge, accessibility, and safety goes it is top notch. It takes twelve years to become an Obstetrician after graduating high school. At this point in time, one has learned and gained immense wisdom and knowledge about the human body studying the course of pre-medicine and medicine. Not only has an Obstetrician gained educational knowledge

In the United States, midwives attend less than 8 percent of all births. In Europe and Japan, midwives attend over 70 percent (New Line Home Entertainment). People say that midwives are not needed in today’s world because of the abundance of nurses and doctors. This may be true, but the United States has the second worst infant mortality rate and one of the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Hospitals and other health professional places are tricking women into thinking that they need an induced labor, an epidural, or even a cesarean section, but they really do not. The documentary The Business of Being Born dives into the history of birthing in the United States, the labor process at a hospital, as well as the role of

Before Obstetricians & Gynecologist (OB/GYNs) there was Midwives. Midwives was on one of the earliest form of care for women. Midwives was considered “women's work”; they attended every birth throughout America. Every culture has a midwife even if they do not call it that. As the new medical specialty emerged, obstetrics, physicians began taking over the delivery of new babies to came which cause midwives jobs to decrease. There are two type of midwives, nurse - midwives and lay midwives. Nurse midwives assist with the deliver of the baby under close supervision of the physician. Lay midwives assist the deliver of a baby on their own. Today nurse midwives are registered nurses (RN) who are trained to deliver babies with physician supervision.

Midwifery is a term that is not heard of much now because of the advances in medical technology. Midwifery is the practice of helping or assisting women during the pregnancy including during childbirth and the postpartum period. Midwifes are typically associated with home births, but can actually be used in a hospital setting. Midwifes are used all over the world and are usually the most experienced worker attending, but in many places in the United States ,such as Alabama, midwifery is illegal. Giving birth in hospitals are thought to be safer than using a midwife and birthing a child at home.With that being stated it is certainly a shock with midwifery being illegal in most states that the United States is only listed 21st in countries with the lowest infant mortality rate. Midwiferytoday.com is a website amd printed magazine that advocates for the practice of midwifery. Shea Richland, a now retired midwife and childbirth educator, has one article on midwiferytoday.com. The title of her article is Birth Rape: Another Midwife’s Story. The violent title is enough to make anyone shy away from reading it, but the title is a good reflection of the article. Shea Richland wrote the article to tell about her experiences in life, and also to explain what pushed her to becoming a midwife.

Pursuing a career as a Certified Nurse Midwife(CNM) is an excellent educational avenue to take for any nurse with a specialized interest in labor and delivery. It is a profession centered around providing individualized care to women and their reproductive needs. A Midwife offers a holistic approach to medicine by eliminating unnecessary medical interventions in the hopes of achieving a natural customized birthing experience. The topics that will be covered in this research paper include a definition of the position, qualities they should possess and their role as a healthcare provider, academic qualifications, where they can work, other healthcare professionals they work with, and the overall job outlook and salary. “When a woman births, not only is a baby being born but so is a mother.

A woman, pregnant for the first time, tells her doctor that she would like to have a scheduled cesarean, to avoid experiencing the pain of labor. This is a common discussion that takes place and more often the physician is giving his consent. What happened to cesarean births being a choice when all efforts have failed? More than 4 million women give birth in the United States each year and slightly more than one-third of these women give birth by cesarean section (King, 2012). It is the most frequent surgery performed in the United States for

Hearing the word midwife leaves many people thinking of unprofessional, inexperienced women who help deliver babies naturally, without the help of medication. In truth, nurse-midwives are registered nurses who have attended additional schooling for women’s health and are taught to make women feel as comfortable as possible. In the beginning, remedies were the females’ legacies, their “birthright”; these females were known as “wise-women by the people, witches of charlatans by authorities”. (Ehrenreich, 1973). “Females were wanderers, traveling from one place to another, healing the sick and wounded.” (Ehrenreich 1973). These women were among the first human healers and they were especially helpful when it came to childbearing. The midwives