Midwives and Midwifery Explained

By affilateguru, on July 29th, 2009

Pregnancy and delivery; a source of joy and pain for the woman.Obviously joy is involved with the new baby, but if you ask most woman, they will also describe it was a source of unspeakable pain.

Well it is because of that pain that there are two schools of thought on how pregnancy and delivery should be carried about. I am going to offer some perspective on one particular school of thought that I have gained first hand experience with by being a homebirth midwife San Diego.

There is the medical model for delivery which is associated with drugs to kill the pain, and sometimes cesarean to complete the delivery.

While there is a lesser known model, not as widely accepted, for those that have experienced it and believe in it, they consider it a safer alternative for the woman.

That model is the midwifery model as it is called.That is in obvious contrast with the usual medical model way of doing things.The medical model is where you rely heavily on medicine, while the midwifery model relies on the natural. Midwifery believes that pregnancy and delivery is a natural process and thus should be allowed to happen naturally.

This model is performed by a group called midwives. Midwives San Diego are generally woman, who attend the birth, often times at the mother’s home. This midwife would then assist the woman in trying to get through labor as naturally as possible without medicine.

Contrary to popular belief, the non-use of medicine actually allows the labor to happen much faster because most pain killers actually slows the labor down.

The midwife is a professional with a regulatory board that certifies and licenses the individual.

Although often not a doctor or nurse, some midwives can be nurses.

Even though they are not a doctor or nurse, they do carry with them some medical equipment, such as resuscitation devices and suturing equipment.

So this is what a midwife is and what midwifery is in regards to pregnancy and delivery.

Their goals are to let the labor and delivery happen as naturally possible.This reduced the need and use of a c-section.Does not subject you to hospital procedures that are invasive such as episiotomys. Less medical management like breaking the water or using drugs to slow or speed up the pregnancy.And the part woman love the most, usually labor and delivery happen much faster naturally.

Hopefully this was informative and helped you understand some of the benefits of midwifery and having a midwife there for your pregnancy.At the very least, it gives you some different options to look into and explore. Remember this is first hand knowledge from a San Diego midwife.