A woman’s body is perfectly designed to give birth. The process of birth works best when interference is kept to a minimum, and the woman is supported by someone she loves and trusts. Intervention in the normal birth process disrupts the body’s natural responses, often resulting in more intervention, including surgery. Also our cultural conditioning, fear, and poor health habits work against our nature, making birth more difficult than it need be.
Perfect health is our natural state of being. When we work to align ourselves with natural laws, we regain our health and all functions of our bodies begin to work normally. This is a holistic, preventative approach to healing. This is the Midwifery Model of Care.
In Transformation Through Birth, Claudia Panuthos writes, “Healthy Mothers make Healthy Babies.” It’s simple. It works. When a woman is willing to let go of unhealthy patterns she can replace them with healthful ones. My role is to give her resources and strategies to create an healthy pregnancy and design her safe place to give birth.
A midwife is a specialist in normal birth. She does not deliver babies from their mothers or mothers from their labor. She quietly stands guard at the Gates of Life, as the process unfolds. An obstetrician, on the other hand, is a surgeon, a specialist in the complications and treatment of high-risk pregnancy and birth. A midwife views birth as normal and stays alert to complications. A doctor views birth as a potential for crisis and actively manages it before it can go wrong. This approach may be necessary for a few women, but the vast majority of women don’t need to be treated as if they were sick. We have created a world in which young mothers cannot give birth without surgery. That’s a problem. In Brazil and several other countries, the cesarean rate is 90%. That’s where we’re headed. That’s a nightmare.
The role of doctors and midwives are very different, yet complementary. But the roles are not interchangeable. When this becomes common knowledge, maternity care in this country will begin its healing process. Midwives and doctors should be working in a collaborative effort toward our common goal, healthy mothers and babies.