Brochure - Nurses, Midwives, Dads and Doulas - FROM RONNIE Falcão's MIDWIFE ARCHIVES

The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Brochure - Nurses, Midwives, Dads and Doulas

Why Is Blue Cross raising rates in California by 39%? Perhaps it's because Blue Cross is a very bad business manager when it comes to paying for births. Blue Cross could cover homebirth midwives at in-network rates and pay about $6000. Or they could insist that in-network rates only apply to hospital births, where they pay $15,000 to $40,000 for a birth. Call Lilian at 303-831-2088 to encourage Anthem Blue Cross to upgrade their policy for better business and better birth.

Most women wonder what labor will be like and who will be there to provide physical and emotional support for her. In this pamphlet I will explore the various options available for the birthing women.

Nurses

Nurses who work on a maternity ward are a special breed. They are specifically trained to take care of you in the best medical way possible. They receive their orders from your Dr. And have the knowledge it takes to assess you physically as you progress through labor. Their duties include assessing you when you come to the hospital doing such things as:

settling you into your room
taking your vital signs
doing a vaginal exam to see what stage of labor you are in and calling the Dr. To report it.
hooking up a fetal monitor
inserting an IV and administering any medication
attending to her other patients

During labor they may or may not provide emotional and physical support, it depends on the nurse that is assigned to you and or the duties that they must perform. A study was done that showed that even with one nurse to each patient, nurses were only able to spend 6% of their time providing support to the laboring mother. While you are in labor the nurse may have to:

adjust your IV and fetal monitor
read and record your fetal monitor
record other factors such as your urine output etc.
go on her meal break or go home
help another nurse in another room
attend to her other patients

The time just before your baby is born is a very busy time for your nurse...she may have to:

call your Dr. or midwife
gather together all the equipment that the DR or midwife will need to use during and after the birth and the items needed for your baby.
if your hospital does not have labor/birthing rooms she will have to help bring you to the delivery room.
when the DR or midwife arrives she may have to be reading the fetal monitor, handing the Dr or midwife the instruments etc.

Immediately after the birth is another time when your nurse will have many things to do:

assess, clean, weigh, warm your baby
clean the room and put everything away
chart everything that just went on
massage your uterus
possibly have time to teach a little about breastfeeding.
attend to her other patients

Midwives

Midwives are wonderful people. Most do not use the medical model of care ( that birth is a medical process vs. Normal and natural)for birthing women. You should probably question your midwife as to how she works as some do go by the medical model of birth. They spend more time with you than a Dr does and just might be available to provide some labor support. But the midwife also has other duties that include but are not limited to:

doing vaginal exams to check your progress
checking with the nurse about the monitors etc.
checking on her other patients
setting up equipment to assist in the birth
doing all other things related to the birth
after the birth she may assist you with breastfeeding

Dads

Many partners want to be with the women they love during labor and be present during the birth of their baby. Since all men are different your baby's dad may:

take classes to help you through every stage of labor and the birth
not take classes but still want to help the mom
not want to do any physical comforting only emotional
not want to be there for labor but for the birth or visa versa
Not want to be there at all..the squeamish type
not able to be there
just wants to stay and hold your hand

The presence of your baby's dad is encouraged as it will help immensely with the bonding of you all as a family. Dads need encouragement, advice, snack breaks, sleep etc. If dad can't or isn't willing to provide labor support and the nurse and midwife is too busy who will ...

........Enter the Doula

A doula is a woman trained in labor support, who knows that birth is an awesome, empowering experience for a birthing women and her partner, and wants very much for you to have the birth experience that YOU want. The doula can:

meet with you before the birth and assist you with making a birth plan, and answer any birth related questions
stay with you for the whole time that you are in labor and for awhile after the birth
provide continuous physical, emotional and information support.
assist and support you after the birth with breastfeeding issues, baby care etc.

In other words, a doula
Mothers the Mother