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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Second, I have to vehemently disagree that desiring an epidural up front does not "fit" with the midwifery model.  I think access to midwifery care for lower risk pregnancies should be available to ALL women regardless of their pain relief preferences.  An epidural alone does not add significant enough risk to opt out all those women (obviously, as Wisdom will give you an epidural "when needed" without transferring your care mid-labor), many of whom could possibly have far fewer other interventions with midwifery care than with an OB. Why not try to improve care and deliveries for ALL women without judging them for their pain relief preferences? (Again FWIW, I did not/do not want an epidural, but not out of a generalized belief that "natural is better" -- it's mostly an irrational fear of needles in my spine, plus some more minor concern over the possible side effects on me, my labor, and my baby.  But if hydrogen peroxide/laughing gas were available here, I would ABSOLUTELY use it.  Would they boot me for that too?)
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I'm the person you quoted about not wanting tough love. But, I also disagree with you about epidural / midwife connection. Look, they are going for a non-medicated approach. I personally think it is not appropriate to say you want low intervention but yet you want the one intervention that MOST midwifes believe is a big part of the "cascade of interventions." If you want an epidural with otherwise low interventions, you should seek a high touch low intervention OP, get a doula, and advocate for yourself. But a midwife is not necessarily for you. And yes, personally I think this would go for laughing gas, too. Exception for epidural is when mom has labored for a long time and just needs to rest. I don't think midwives are de facto opposed to epidurals. but with most births, they believe they are not needed. I'm not sure why that is such an issue. [/quote]

Epidurals solely for pain relief come with complications. Midwives are the most practiced and familiar with complications that arise from non-medicated birth. It's not a judgement thing. It's a we-are-best-at-this-kind-of-birth thing. If you go into birth knowing you want anesthesia, you are sort of wasting their expertise and the strength of their model of care. If you just want to hold your baby right away and wait to cut the cord, agree with PP above - just get a doula and find an OB that'll support your plans.[/quote]

12:54 again.  And I have to say, I really hate this attitude, and it IS judgement.  Yes, epidurals (REGARDLESS of whether they are "solely" for pain relief or something else) come with complications.  However, recent studies indicate they do NOT increase c-section rates, just other interventions for example instrumental deliveries.  But aren't those exactly the kinds of interventions that midwives might be better positioned to avoid?  I'd love to see a study of epidural patients delivering with traditional OBs vs midwives and see if the complications rate holds steady.  I'm just saying, it's not a waste of their expertise at all to say, I want an epidural but I'd still like to avoid forceps so a midwife can help me with epidural timing and strength, labor and delivery positions, etc.  Many (most?) OBs just aren't very good at doing that sort of thing, and a doula can only do so much (especially in the face of an uncooperative OB).  To suggest that wanting an epidural means you JUST "want to hold your baby right away and wait to cut the cord" and relegating all those women to potentially worse, more intervention-prone care, is absolutely judgy.  If you value the midwifery model for "normal" births, surely you can agree that a woman with no other issues to start off, but who gets an epidural, is more likely to have a more successful vaginal birth than one with an OB, right? How is that a waste?

Again, I say this as someone who did NOT want an epidural (I labored for 12 hrs on the highest dose of pitocin without one, including FOUR HOURS of pushing! and damn right I'm proud of that), and I do generally believe that it's "better" to go without, just like I believe that breastfeeding is "better." But I still think that doesn't give us the right to  judge--and insult--informed women for making different choices.  [/quote]

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