Labor and Delivery with Midwifery

Pregnancy and delivery; a source of joy and pain for the woman.  Obviously joy because of the new baby, but ask any woman, and they will tell you a source of unspeakable pain.

Well because there is that pain involved, two schools of thought have come about on how to deal with labor and delivery.  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 called the midwifery model.That model is the exact opposite of the medical model which is usually used.  Where the medical model relies heavily on medicine, hence "medical", midwifery 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 a profession practiced by midwives. Midwives San Diego are generally woman, who attend the birth, often times at the mother’s home.This midwife would help with some techniques that help the woman go through labor as naturally as possible without drugs.

Contrary to most people's opinion, when medicine is not used during labor, it allows the labor to proceed much faster without the use of drugs to slow the labor down.

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

Although a lot of the times they are not a nurse or a doctor, a midwife sometimes is a nurse also.

Even though they are not formal doctors or nurses, they will have some medical equipment for emergencies like resuscitation devices and equipment for suturing.

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

Their objective is to let the labor and delivery to occur as naturally as possible.This makes the likelihood of a c-section less likely.  Doesn't allow you to be subject to invasive hospital procedures such as episiotomys.  Less medical management like breaking the water or using drugs to slow or speed up the pregnancy.And for the woman the best part of all is that labor and delivery usually happen quicker naturally.

Hopefully this article sheds some light on the benefits of midwifery and having a midwife for your pregnancy.  At the very least, hopefully it gives you more options to explore.  Remember this is first hand knowledge from a San Diego midwife.

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