Dear Sheryl, I am also a student midwife, in Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. Like you I am doing a Bsc in midwifery and I am in my second year (the course is over 3 years, only 7 weeks holiday a year). I too, am very interested in the Australian model of midwifery care, and am going out to Sydney at Easter to see for myself first hand. Hopefully organised by a lovely midwife I met on this chatline. I feel midwifery in England has become as medicalised as U.S.A. with litigation being one of the main culprits. Here in Newcastle, we have a homebirth rate of 1%, and many women and their families are thrown off their doctor's surgery list if they insist on a homebirth. We have got some teams of midwives trying to provide continuity of care by doing antenatal,delivery and postnatal, but this service is not widely available and under threat due to lack of funding. I would enjoy swapping ideas and experiences with you Sheryl, Bye for now, Sadie. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
