One More Gripe About my Midwife

I’m not complaining about my midwife. I don’t even have a midwife. I’m griping (probably) for the last time because I do not have a midwife.

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows the one thing I want most in this world is a midwife. I have been on the waiting list in Montreal since I was 5 weeks pregnant. I still couldn’t get a midwife. The best I can do is hire an underground midwife, but that’s one step further than I am willing to go.

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll also know that delivering my baby at the hospital was not my first choice. It was last on my list of places to deliver (save for maybe an elevator, cab or shopping mall). I considered doing it at home and I considered doing it at a birthing centre. I wanted to do it in the water.

Friends who have had hospital births, don’t take this as an attack. I don’t care that you had your baby in the hospital. I’m happy for you, especially if you had a good experience there. My point is that the choice of doctor vs. midwife/ hospital vs homebirth should be a personal one. It should be a choice that all women are presented with. But we are not. This is political and this is a problem.
     
Here are my thoughts, and I’m not alone in thinking them: Birth is the most normal and natural thing in the world. People have been doing it for millennia with relative ease, or else none of us would be here.  When there are no unnecessary medical interventions things tend to go pretty smoothly. It’s only the horror stories that we remember.

No one can guarantee the labor of this baby-to-be will be smooth sailing; we cannot predict these things. As I plan for my most natural birth, I am well aware that I could end up with an emergency C-section. Fine. I was willing to take my chances not at a hospital with the comfort that IVs, scalpels and life-support were a quick ambulance ride away. The reality is, I’m 27, in excellent health and there have been no problems with my pregnancy. Chances are the labor of this baby-to -be will indeed be smooth sailing.

I also believe the chances of this birth going smoothly would increase if I were able to have the baby in the comfort of my own home or in a birthing centre away from induction, medication, pressure and any other unnecessary medical interventions. Think of Ina May’s Sphincter Law and how difficult it is to get your business done when people are watching you. Much easier in private, much easier in a relaxed environment:

"I am most definitely not having a  “high risk” pregnancy. I don’t need an obstetrician and I don’t need to go to the hospital to have this baby. Except for, I have an obstetrician and I am having my baby at the hospital. And there’s not much I can do about it."
     
I am 29-weeks pregnant, and I’m coming to terms with the fact that my chances of getting a midwife are pretty slim. While 24 percent of Quebec parents say they’d like to have their baby in a birthing centre or at home with a midwife, only 1.6 percent actually do, according to Alex Roslin.
     
Quebec seems to be the most difficult place in Canada to get a midwife. There just aren’t enough of them. It’s not that the interest isn’t there, I’m sure, there just aren’t enough places to study midwifery. In Quebec or in Canada for that matter. There are six universities in the country where one can study to become a midwife. Three in Ontario, one in Manitoba, one in BC and one in Quebec.

Without a midwife, I cannot deliver this baby anywhere but under the flourescent lights of the hospital room and the watchful eye of obstetricians. It wouldn’t be legal, and though I trust in the birthing process, it’s not something I’m willing to do without a trained professional by my side. Unassisted childbirthers, all the power to you. You fascinate me. I’m just not there.

So, there it is. (Probably) my last gripe about not having a midwife. This is not a subject that will fade in importance for me once this baby is born. The right to a midwife whether you want to birth at home or in the hospital is one we all deserve.