The Health Care Options Available During Pregnancy

Being a midwife refers to a profession where the midwife would work in partnership with the women throughout her pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period. Not only is being a midwife women-centred, however, their role also includes ensuring the partner and family members are prepared and aware of the process. Within a women’s health, the midwife should focus on health, family planning, nutrition, domestic and other health issues as the main priority is the

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.

Midwives identify high risked pregnancies and they make referrals to doctors and other medical specialists.

In America, midwives attend less than 8% of all births and less than 1% of those occur outside a hospital. At the same time, the US

Public health is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘all organised measures to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population as a whole’ (WHO, 2015). Within this role of public health, the midwife has an essential role. They are in the best position to be able to guide

Although nurse midwives do complete the task of aiding in the delivery of newborns, “they also provide health care and wellness care to women, which may include family planning, gynecological checkups, and prenatal care” (nurse.org). Nurse midwives also assist along with physicians during c-sectional births. Certified Nurse Midwives or CNMs are advanced nurse practitioners; however, nurse midwives must earn an advanced degree, a special certification, and training in order to practice midwife duties. CNMs offer similar care to that of an OB/GYN doctor; therefore they make different financial earnings. “Nursing Economics, found that when midwives work in collaboration with physicians, the birth is less likely to end in a C-section” (nurse.org). If less c- sections are performed in hospitals, it could help lower the medical costs due to paying for medication during the labor and delivery, of a natural vaginal birth. To illustrate, nurse midwives should be more prevalent in hospitals, in order to lower the financial status of medical

 Before the child is born, the midwife offers emotional support to the woman carrying the baby about how to protect the unborn child.   They also protected the unborn child and the woman in a way.  They would have to warn the woman to not look at red objects because it would cause the child to be born in the wrong position.   The women’s role in the  Aztec civilization was to get married and become a housewife.

In the simplest terms, a midwife is someone, traditionally female, who assists women in childbirth. Yet, a midwife is much more than an assistant in the process of labor, but a strong, wise woman, capable of holding the lives of the mother and child. Throughout history, women have assisted each other through pregnancy and delivery. It was not until the discovery of new germ theories and the development of biomedicine that traditional midwifery has been pushed to the side. However, despite wishes of allopathic doctors, midwives have stood strong and remained present worldwide.

The midwife as distinguished by the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) (2016a) role is centred in a therapeutic relationship defined by “each woman’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural needs, expectations and context as defined by the woman herself” (para. 7). ACM position the midwife as the primary profession for quality maternity care founded during training, through the direction of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) “Code of Professional Conduct For Midwives In Australia” (CPC) and reinforced by the “Code of Ethics For Midwives In Australia” (ACM, 2015; NMBA, 2008a; 2008b). It is the boundaries in the NMBA “CPC” along with meeting the educational requirements of the “National Competency Standards For The Midwife” that direct the midwife to work in accordance with legislations and standards set by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to provide safe midwifery care for the community (AHPRA, 2015a, para. 4; NMBA, 2006). The principles of sound midwifery care are working with a woman-centred focus, whilst practicing reflectively and ethically ensuring women during the perinatal period are supported, guided, the newborn and infant cared for and the birth is conducted in a manner that accesses the safest environment (ACM, 2016b, para. 1-3; International Confederation of Midwives, 2011).

The philosophy of a midwife is to offer care that has been specially designed for women and their individualized reproductive needs. They strive to give every woman a multitude of various

There are many options available during pregnancy, so why would the mother want to choose a midwife? Midwifery is a natural approach to labor and delivery that offers a less intrusive kind of birthing environment, more birthing options, and midwives are able to accommodate the specific needs and wants of the mother. When a person has the correct information from a credible source regarding what a midwife really entails, the answer will be easy to decide. To get the correct information needed about midwifery, it is important to have various credible sources to validate the author’s claims, and to decide if the information presented will be useful to making the decision to choose a midwife. The sources below will be based off of these two standards.

A midwife is someone who is certified to deliver babies. They use a more natural form of techniques to provide for the families having babies so there are no complications. Midwives delegate a pregnancy by getting to know the family on a deeper level; they counsel parents about all aspects of a woman's life impacted by pregnancy and childbirth using exercise as a main focus, and use only natural birth methods. Midwives attend births in hospitals unless the mother wants different birthing process such as a home or water birth. Technically they are only allowed to handle low-risk pregnancies, if they did have a high-risk pregnancy on their hands they would have to refer the patient to an obstetrician. Mid wives are more common in most countries

Midwives provide advice, care and support for women and their babies during pregnancy, labour and the early postnatal period. They help women make their own decisions about the care and services they access. They care for newborn children, providing health education and parenting support immediately after delivery, until care is transferred to a health visitor. Midwives are personally responsible for the health of both mother and child and only

It was considered offensive for a man to be a part of the birthing process so it was tradition for prior mothers with extensive knowledge of herbal remedies to tend to other women during the delivery process of pregnancy. Long before medical journals or any form of education, midwives would pass their knowledge and skills down to other women on how to deliver a child. During the Colonial times, women were the only sex allowed in the delivery room, yet it was the doctors, men, that were writing information about delivering infants. As the population of doctors increased, and the popularity of hospitals emerged, more men started delivery infants. A midwifes’ social acceptance ranking in society varied in history from highly respected, to being persecuted for “witchcraft”, until laws dismissed witchcraft, and midwives were now becoming licensed. In most cases, around the 18th century, midwifery was monitored by religious or governmental institutions and collaboration with a male doctor was usually recommended until a woman was considered low risk for any medical interventions. This collaboration was mainly a precaution to ensure that the mother was receiving the best kind of care possible due to her specific needs and wants but with advances in pain relief and medical tools, being seen in a hospital with a doctor was a rising trend.

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