Last week I attended my first hospital birth as an IM and the last birth of 2024. Because of how the birth panned out my midwife buddy and I we separately did a 10h++ shift each to support the client throughout. It is one of the benefits of hiring an independent midwife, we are there every step of the way. And even when the main midwife, my colleague in this case, needs a break, the quality personalised care continues.
It was interesting to be back in a hospital environment after a couple of years away from it. There was a familiarity and almost a comforting feeling walking the long corridors once more. This was not a hospital I had worked at, but they all can look very similar. I remembered the camaraderie present in midwifery teams, the little guesses about who will deliver when/how, the certainty that you knew what you were doing because you were following the script, the safety of knowing the team was around in an emergency, or the shared responsibility that made complicated cases easier. I walked down to the cafeteria with my head high, for a moment feeling I worked there. But then I remembered the not so good things. The clicks, the gossip, the disrespect of women referred to as “room 2”, “the induction”, “the 36 weeker”; the pressure from colleagues to conform; the fear of the disapproval you would get from some doctors when presenting a case from a woman that had declined all sorts; the laughs when yet another “hypnobirther, tree hugging, mother earth” woman ended up with a CS disregarding their part in it.
While there I did not see any of those things, our client was treated with respect, her choices upheld, and her options presented clearly. However, I myself felt some disdain from some of the members (not all!!) when trying to retrieve my client’s placenta for encapsulation, which is a time sensitive issue. On the other hand, I was treated with respect by the midwives and doctors in the room, I let everyone know who I was and why I was there, but noone showed an interest in the alternative work we do, which leads me to believe we are still outcasts. Recently I have heard of IM colleagues being mistreated by their previous hospital trusts, which saddens me. Of course I am not there to speak of independent midwifery, the lead NHS midwives focused on building a relationship with our client which is great. My role was to make sure our client’s choices were respected, that she was given clear information, that she had a second opinion if she needed one, and to step in if I witnessed any unsafe practice.
Our client did amazingly. Her case is a gentle reminder that medical interventions have a time and place, that as IMs we are not fighting an “us against them” battle, that our homebirth expertise does not exclude medical help. And that day was also a reminder of the NHS midwife I once was, fresh, nice and a bit compliant!