" especially those who book into a Birth Centre because they want to avoid a medicalised birth and then discover along the way that they could actually give birth at home quite safely." What happens is that along the way they discover some restrictive protocol that excludes them from the Birth Centre. Our only BC in W.A. does not allow waterbirth and does not accept VBACs
I didn't realise that your Birth Centre was so restrictive! I can't imagine why they won't do waterbirths - this is a staple of Birth Centre care. Sounds like the consumers in Perth need to take some action around this issue - why should they miss out in WA when women elsewhere can have this kind of birth in hospital birth centres with no problems?
You certainly need to have your CMWA program - it is clearly the only real alternative to regular hospital care. I trust all your efforts to save and extend this great service willbe successful. Perhaps you can see why the extension of the Birth Centre care from hospitals like St George and RHW to home based care is not such an issue for us - the policies that govern the Birth Centres in their units are already pretty flexible and inclusive.
I well remember meeting the obstetricians in Perth "en masse" at a meeting I organised some years ago for Murray Enkina nd Marsden Wagner. My impression then was of a bunch of cowboys who cared not for women but very much their own power and status. Seems not much has changed!
Andrea
----- Andrea Robertson Birth International * ACE Graphics * Associates in Childbirth Education
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