The Joy of This

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Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time researching  homebirth and the midwifery model of care in the United States. I’ve discovered we’ve got some maturing to do. I feel that the natural childbirth movement is having some major growing pains.  We have been failing our mothers, and the excellent midwives who give homebirth a good name, because we’re allowing negligent midwives to practice (and teach us)!

Did you know that we don’t have a national and or reliable way of weeding out bad midwives?  Did you know that there are midwives who have lost babies at birth due to their own negligence and these midwives are still practicing? Did you know that there are loss mothers who have raised their voice at the injustice of their newborns’ death, and the mothers are the ones being shunned, not the midwives – whose negligent care caused the death of their babies?

I could cry, in fact I have cried.  I feel so deeply grieved by this. I love homebirth. I love the midwifery model of care, but I’m beginning to feel that we’re valuing the message and the look of homebirth more than the desire and effort it will take to see it blossom and grow into something strong, healthy, and stable.

We cannot ignore our need to change. As any healthy relationship moves forward in growth, there are times when we have to acknowledge our failings to each other – with love and care, so that the fruit of the relationship stays sweet. It’s time, birth lovers, it is imperatively… time.

Tags: Home birth, Midwifery