I have to agree with Robin. We run on such tight staffing that mostly we just don't have the staff to be responsible for toddlers. If they cannot do anything else with them we try our best but I believe that the midwife caring for the woman has responsibility enough for the wellbeing of the woman and the baby without taking on more. If there is time we try to get the social worker to help.
Judy
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Re: [Children Present at Births)
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 06:34:52 +1100
" Ifeel that it would be the midwives responsibility to help the family in this sort of case which would involve some assistance with the toddler regardless if they had planned to have him there or not."
You know, I find this statement REALLY scary. I dont mean to be picky ( except I am,) and I'm certainly not directing my thoughts at Rhonda ( although it seems like it), but I really worry about this attitude that seems to be developing within maternity units. And propagated by misguided managers who think it's good for business .
I've 'heard' this over and over in the past few years. Not just verbally, but by suggestion or presumption, or by the idea that midwives are caring for ' families'. How much more of a load can we hospital midwives carry? We have to worry about the woman, about the woman being swallowed by technology and protocol, by corporate management and crazy consumer ideals ( like it being okay to be too posh to push). We're being swallowed by paper work, doubled up with computer programs and bloody machines everywhere , and somewhere in the middle of that we're trying desperately to help a woman and her partner find meaning in their birth.
I said before that I love having children at a birth and I will do everything that I can to make the little one feel part of the party, but suggesting that we are responsible for them is just too much. Rhonda, I know entirely what you are getting at, there are many families I have met who have brought kids in because they have no support mechanism, and that's a sad thing in itself. But I dont want to be responsible for the child. I want to be with the woman. I want to worry about her, and her only, because if I get it wrong in the hospital system my arse is on the line.
Oh how I wish I was a homebirthing midwife. It seems a whole lot more manageable and satisfying.
Robin
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