The following article appeared in the Huffington Post today.
Independent
Midwives, the only alternative to NHS maternity care available in the
UK, are currently under threat. This Monday – 25th March – they are
taking to the streets of London in protest at a E.U.Directive that requires all
registered health professionals to have mandatory insurance. Independent
Midwives (I.M’s) won’t be able to get this insurance – due to their low numbers
and the potentially high cost of claims the premiums would be prohibitively
expensive – and unless the Government answers their call to help them find a
workable solution, they face becoming illegal and extinct from October 2013.
I first came across I.M’s during my second
pregnancy in 2010. Having had a hospital forceps delivery with my first baby
that, both physically and emotionally, took a long time to recover from, I knew
the impact that a birth experience could have, and planned to have a home water
birth with baby number two. For me, home was the place where I would feel
safest, and where I felt this secure feeling would maximise my chances of birthing
without unpleasant intervention.
However, my local maternity system changed
during my second pregnancy. ‘Community Midwives’ became obsolete, and were
replaced by a ‘bank’ system in which you were seen for antenatals by one of a
large number of midwives from the area. I never met the same person twice. For
a home birth, I was told, there might not be a midwife available to come to me,
and even if there were, it was very likely that she would be a complete
stranger. Even the midwives themselves were dissatisfied, and warned me that it
also meant that the midwife sent to me in labour might have little or no
experience of home or water birth.
All of this added a new layer of anxiety on
top of my existing fears about a repeat ‘feet in stirrups’ experience. There
were so many unanswered questions about who would be sent to attend me at this
pivotal moment in my life. I felt this
really mattered, and was intrigued when a friend suggested I look into the
option of an Independent Midwife. After a few phonecalls, local I.M, ChrissyHustler, came to our house and spent a whole evening talking things through
with myself and my partner as our daughter slept upstairs. When she left, we
turned to each other and said, ‘Right, that’s decided then!’. There just seemed
no question of making other choice now that we had seen what Chrissy could
offer.
This turned out to be one of the best
decisions of our lives. Chrissy, and her colleague Caroline Baddiley, made the
birth of our second daughter a day that we will never forget – for all the
right reasons. In spite of my fears they gave me the confidence to trust my
body, and helped me to see birth as something safe and normal. They encouraged
me to allow my then two year old daughter to be a part of the experience, and
having her dip in and out of the room as I laboured, at one point with a bunch
of hedgerow flowers for me, was simply magical. It seemed the room was filled
with love that day, and I birthed my second daughter powerfully and joyfully
and without difficulty.
This wonderful service comes at a cost: an
I.M charges around £3000, which for some people would be out of the question.
However, in cases of hardship, I.M’s often lower their fees, offer barter
arrangements or allow spread payments. For others, it is perhaps a question of
priorities – a small sum in comparison to the amount many spend on weddings,
cars or holidays. In our case, although our income is relatively low, we felt
that this was an investment we were happy to make. A birth that empowered me as a woman and as a
mother, and that gave our baby the gentlest possible introduction to our family
and to the world – this was what we paid for, and this was what we got.
Independent Midwifery is a birth option
that needs saving. For starters, without it there will be no alternative to the
NHS, leaving a system that is already struggling and overstretched with a
monopoly on UK childbirth. With I.M’s currently the only place for women to
turn if they have ‘higher risk’ pregnancies, and, for example, they want to
deliver a breech baby or twins at home or naturally, the loss of I.M’s will
mean that birth options narrow and even risk disappearing completely.
Whatsmore, linking insurance to registration has worrying implications for
women birthing in the NHS too – for who knows what might happen once insurance
companies have a say in our childbirth choices?
If a solution can’t be found, and I.M’s
become illegal, this Autumn I’ll be one of the last UK women who are lucky
enough to enjoy what David Cameron has described as the ‘gold standard’ of
midwifery care. I’ll know my midwife, Tara Windmill Robson, isn’t insured, but,
having got to know her, I am certain that she is unlikely to be ‘negligent’ in
her care of me – I trust her. She is
passionate about birth, and gives me devoted, continuous care – which I think
makes you a lot less likely to make a mistake than an insurance policy ever
could. Let’s hope that the powers that be can understand this and find a way to
keep Independent Midwifery – and birth choice - alive for the women of the
future.
Take Action:
Petition the UK Government: click here
March and Protest in London on 25th March: Choose Your Midwife, Choose Your Birth
Facebook campaign group: Independent Midwives UK
More info on how the legislation will affect NHS midwives and women birthing in the NHS.
the cost of socialized medicine: one's liberty of choice!!
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