Emmea12uk

hmmmm, that is weird one. here they would never induce you because someone is going away. You just get the next person who is available. In most parts of the UK they practically tell you to expect your own MW not to be there.

pepperflake

Midwives are hard to come by in the US. There is actually only one within 2 hours of me so it's her or an OB.

Emmea12uk

wow really?? we have teams here of hundreds of them. Maybe yours are more specilised than ours. We don't get to choose which mw or whether we would before a obs or doc.

pepperflake

We don't have a national insurance system here. It's all about making money. It's probably not as financially rewarding to go into midwifery here because there isn't much money to be made off of natural births. It costs about 1/4 of a hospital birth, if that. They are also looked down upon by the rest of the medical community. They are nurses who have a specialty in midwifery.

I was really lucky with my DD to live near a birthing center with 3 full time midwives and several students. That was in 1999. People still think I'm crazy for using midwives and not using drugs. I know only one person who also used a midwife and I'm what people here would call a hippy. So even my so called hippy, all natural, vegan/vegetarian friends think I'm a nut job

I found this:
In 2003, approximately 8.0% of births were attended by midwives, more than double the 1990 rate of 3.9%. In six states (Alaska, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont), rates were at least twice as high as the national rate.

SOURCE: National Vital Statistics System, Natality File 2003. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm.


My midwife didn't even know about gas and air. We have such a backwards medical philosophy in the US- and you have to pay for it out of pocket

Emmea12uk

wow! I must say I think i would prefer that kind of birth! I dont get a choice here at the moment because LO has SB, but my original choice was a midwife lead unit here. All natural.

I guess if you have spent a fortune on insurance over there, you want the best your money can buy.

Good luck with your birth...i think you have made the right choice! And i can now see why you would be induced if your MW is going away! I think i would opt for that too!

Michele1026

Living in the US, and honestly I never even thought to have a MW, All my friends have had OB's deliver there children and for me with the Anemia, Crohns Disease and now the GD im High Risk. So there really was no option for me , Crazy how different it is in different places of the world huh... One thing we all are going to have is a healthy child ! Amen to that !
I have another Non-Stress test on Tues along with another OB appt where they will be putting me on Meds for the GD. I hope the medicine dont make me sick that is the last thing I need right now for my stress levels.