RE: [ozmidwifery] Midwifery-led units - warning, a bit of a rave!

[Vedrana Valčić]

Kind of like ‘mother friendly childbirth initiative’ (http://www.motherfriendly.org/MFCI/steps/), except ‘mother’ becomes ‘woman’ to include a midwife. Sounds nice.   -----Original Message----- From: owner-ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au [mailto:owner-ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au] On Behalf Of Jennifairy Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 5:25 AM To: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au Subject: [ozmidwifery] Midwifery-led units - warning, a bit of a rave!   ok, bear with me while I think out loud in your general direction.... well we have the 'baby friendly hospital initiative', so how about the 'woman friendly birth centre'? I mean, better still, 'the community' (representatives of) should really be heavily involved in this kind of primary care health structure (physical as well as intellectual), then it could be 'community-led birth centre'..... I think (right now this minute, subject to change without notice) that as long as we are identifying the structure (ie the physical space, not the governing body) with the politics of care provision (ie, who is the 'primary carer') then we are going to have confusion. I had a bit of a look at what constitutes 'midwifery-led care' & 'continuity of carer' etc, for an assignment at uni, & these terms encompass a whole range of different models of care - its not as clear cut as it seems! The definitions would seem to be consistent, but how it works out in practice 'on the coalface' (now theres a term that seriously needs an overhaul!) varies enormously. As I said, Im guessing that what we'd mostly like to see is the idea of a 'woman-led' birthing culture actually happening.... & that requires a shift in perception not only for Mr & Mrs Joe Average (boy, Im just piling up the dodgy metaphors arent I?) but for the PTB's within the 'health culture' ..... because that means moving away from the whole 'doctor as God' thing that goes with relinquishing responsibility = litigation etc, to actually believing that 'ordinary people' can take responsibility for thier health/care... as long as the 'ordinary people' wont or cant do that, there will be others who do, & where there is responsibility there is power, & where there is power there are  invariably individuals who are drawn to it..... Starhawk in her book Truth or Dare identifies 3 kinds of power in society - power-over ( backed by force or some other kind of control, deeply embedded in heirarchical structures, enables one individual to make decisions that affect others..); power-within ('empowerment', a sense of personal control & 'mindfullness'..); & power-with (influence, the power not to command, but to suggest & be listened to or not, to work with others for a common goal..).... & Im bringing this up because what I see is a clash of cultures, where midwives are 'traditionally' allied with women & their self-identified needs (power-with) rather than that of the institution which is all about heirarchy & control (power-over) because it was spawned from a militaristic culture.... So really we are talking different languages - the language of 'power-over' is  very different to that of 'power-with'.... & to come back circuitously to my point (its there somewhere!), the terms that keep being used ('midwifery-led care', 'medical-based model', even 'free-standing birthing unit') come from the language of 'power-over'.... because they all identify who is 'in control', who is in the 'power-over' position... um, Ive just looked at the time & Ive gotta run, thanx for bearing with me while I ramble incontinently, & I will leave you with one of my favorite definitions - madness is when you froth at the mouth; insanity is when you froth at the brain (sorry, has absolutely no bearing on this conversation, completely irrelevant, but for some reason I remembered it now - Im just a sharing kinda gal) jennifairy      > As I watched the 7.30 Report last night, that dreadful  > term "midwifery led  unit" kept springing up. I have a  > real problem with this term, as you can  read on My Diary:  >  > http://www.birthinternational.com/diary/index.html  >  > Can't we do better than this?  >  > Thinking caps on please!  >  > Andrea  >  > -----  > Andrea Robertson  > Birth International * ACE Graphics * Associates in  > Childbirth Education  >  > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > web: www.birthinternational.com -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.