Betsy Hemler, Grand Forks, letter: Obstetrician, certified nurse-midwife best for pregnancy, birth care
September 1, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Grand Forks Herald
I have long believed that pregnant women get excellent care from an obstetrician/nurse-midwife team. The obstetrician provides specialized care if needed, the nurse-midwife provides care and focuses on education about pregnancy, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, etc. Continue Reading
Well over a century ago, my grandmother was a midwife on the ND prarie. Why? Because there were no MDs. They would have killed for a doctor then. Now, it seems there’s some romantic, 19th century idea that midwife’s offer some special craft.
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Doctors didn’t deliver babies back then, even when they were available. It was midwives who did this work. It was only during WWII that doctor’s got into the obstetrical business in a big way. The medical profession succeeded in medicalizing childbirth to the point that mdiwives were forbidden to practice. They are coming back, thank goodness, because they do offer this indivdualized attention that the medical establishment has no time to provide. In the 1940′s when doctor’s were seen as gods, women were strapped down, given drugs that were dangerous to their babies, weren’t told what was going on while their babies were yanked out with forcepts. Then they were sent home with their baby. At least now, it’s become more humane, but the midwife is crucial to the positive experience of birth for women. And unless you have been through it, you really don’t realize how important support and encouragement really is.
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Actually they did deliver babies. My mother and father were delivered by the same doctor, 1916 and 1915, respectively.
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