Taking the
Risk to Offer Home Births to Women in the Manning Valley
Patricia Hopkins is a Registered
Nurse and Midwife, a Child and Family Health Nurse, and
a Lactation Consultant. She has more than more than 17
years in Midwifery. She has long had a passion for complementary
therapies and home birthing.
For last 9 months, Patricia
has been practicing as an independent midwife in the Manning
region and also runs pregnancy and birth workshops with
a focus on birth as a natural part of life.
Patricia candidly shares her
journey of becoming an independent midwife.
Patricia: As a midwifery student in
1989, a home birth midwife came to do a presentation to
our group. This ignited my passion for home birth and
since then I have wanted to be a homebirth midwife. The
passion has never left me since.
Prior to moving to the Manning Valley five years ago,
I worked in a small eight bed maternity unit in Queanbeyan.
In this unit, midwives and GPs worked in partnership,
with the woman’s best interests at heart resulting
in very little intervention. For example, our caesarean-section
rates where only 4% in the early 90’s (when the
norm at other hospitals was as high as 12%). In this environment,
stretching the norm was common practice to the benefit
of mothers, babies and staff.
These were my formative years as a midwife, they instilled
in me the knowledge that the obstetric medical model of
care was only for the rare complicated pregnancies, and
not for normal low risk pregnancies.
Birth has become a medical event, and is often treated
as an illness, not the mere mammalian act of perpetuation
of the species Humans have made it more than that through
being blessed with the power of thought. Women need to
harness that thought power and make choices that empower
them in the one aspect of life that women have ultimate
power - childbirth.
Bearing children is an emotive and life changing event.
Women want the best for their babies. Yet, they have been
led to believe, through the use of fear tactics, that
to birth at home is unsafe. Mothers who consider home
birth are often made to feel that it is irresponsible
and unsafe for their unborn child.
However, the statistics on births at home are far more
attractive than those of hospital births, with the foetal
and maternal mortality and morbidity rates being lower
than those of hospital births. This is particularly evident
in the Netherlands, where there is a high rate of home
births.
So why is there so little information out there about
the benefits of home birth? Why is it not publicised in
the media as a low cost alternative that could relieve
the burgeoning costs of the public health system? These
are political issues about choices that women should have
in and around child birth, but rarely do, especially in
rural areas.
One of the biggest issues facing independent midwives
today is professional indemnity insurance. Over the Tasman,
our NZ neighbours have independent midwives working within
the hospital system to the benefit of all and is evidence
that there is a better model.
When I moved to the Manning Valley, I found myself working
as a midwife in an environment entirely different to the
one I had left in Queanbeyan. That time was one of changes
and transition. I found myself hungering for the style
of midwifery that home birthing could offer. I was the
midwife in the unit that was a little bit “out there”
and self-described as a “frustrated homebirth midwife.”
While I had the desire, I now needed the means and the
incentive. I didn’t have to wait long for that;
it came in the same package, ME. Not so very surprising
really – we are the creators of our own reality.
I literally became sick of work. I was burnt-out and no
longer able to maintain my health while doing shift work.
As I couldn’t be a midwife in the hospital unless
I did shift work, I left and got right out of midwifery.
When I did this, I realised how much midwifery meant
to me, not just midwifery, but the kind of midwifery that
empowers women, that instills in women the intrinsic knowledge
of birthing so they may enter into pregnancy with courage
and confidence making the time of birth a time of celebration,
not a time of fear or trepidation, allowing babies to
be born into a world that is rejoicing in their births.
I yearned for the midwifery that sends that message to
our daughters (no wonder I had three) and in turn strengthens
the tradition, that I fear is gradually eroding, that
of the folk lore handed down through the generations.
That was all it took. The opportunity to do my first
home birth then manifested. Wow, what an incredible journey.
I have met wonderful people, shared in their lives, and
been part of their families.
I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given
to offer this service and proud to be one of the few midwives
in Australia that face the fear of litigation and loss
of all they have worked for so that they can work in the
field of their passion and deliver a most needed and neglected
service.
Why would we want to take our babies out of their homes
for their birth day? Their first experience of the world
should be in familiar surroundings a place where mother
and baby feel safe and comfortable.
Note: Patricia is running pregnancy
and birth classes in February. See our Calendar
for more information. |
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