Hw 42

After watching The Business Of Being Born and doing independent research I still had pressing questions about midwives and birthing centers. From the movie and our class discussions I gathered a vibe that midwives didn’t like hospitals and were against most of the practices that hospitals preformed on a women while they were in labor. I wanted to find out why then would a midwife want to work in a birthing center that was located in a hospital rather than work in a private birthing center. Didn’t they want to get away from hospital practices? This question could not be answered by research alone; I needed to interview a midwife that had made this choice for herself.

I went to my local birthing center at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital to get some of my questions answered by a midwife. I didn’t call ahead and didn’t have an appointment with a midwife but I was able to walk in and go to the birthing center on the 11th floor. It seemed strange and a little scary that I was never questioned about where I was going. Could anyone just walk in and do whatever they want? When I got out of the elevator, the sign on the wall said in big letters St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Birthing Center Welcome. This sign made me feel better after exiting a giant silver bright elevator that made me feel like I was locked in a prison. After seeing this sign I heard nothing. I was confused, was I in the wrong place? I expected to hear tons of talking, yelling and people moving all around but it was silent. I walked around the bland white hallways of the 11th floor and no one was there. It felt deserted. I finally saw a cleaning lady and found out that all the doors are locked and you need to buzz for entry. This was to make sure that no unauthorized personnel entered the baby areas as they called it. I buzzed the birthing center but no one was there, I could not believe it. A nurse came to the door and told me that no midwives were there and I could check the 12th floor where hospital births happen. The door shut and my jaw dropped. When the door was opened there was still no sound. Were birthing centers really that unpopular or that uncommon of a practice? This hospital gave up a whole floor to make a birthing center and there was not one patient?

When I got to the 12th floor it was quite again. This is not what they show in the movies. I walked down the hall and found a door where everyone was, located. I asked the anesthesiologist, who was sitting at the front desk, if I could talk to a midwife for a school project. He told me he would check and brought me a nurse. I repeated my clam to the nurse and she looked worried and skeptical. I asked her why she chose to work in a hospital and not a birthing center and she said she couldn’t answer that and told me she would get a midwife for me. I thought I had hit a dead end but after ten minutes she came back with Sandy, a licensed midwife of more than 35 years. She said she just delivered a baby but was glad to talk to me. I was delighted and shocked, sweating at the brow. I asked her why she chooses to work in a birthing center that is located in a hospital and not at a private birthing center? Her response was simple, I can be the midwife in the birthing center but if anything goes wrong I have a hospital one floor above ready for any emergency. It’s the best of both worlds. I was astonished it was that simple. Because of my preconceived notions about midwives I assumed it was a job issue or money issue. Unlike the midwife in The Business Of Being Born, Sandy was glade to have the hospital at her disposal.

I asked Sandy about all the other nightmarish hospital atrocities that I thought she would be against like inducing pregnancy, c-section, pain drugs, heart monitors and the beds with leg holders but she was for all of it and said it all has a purpose if it is needed. I was puzzled by her response. I stated that the rate of c-sections had risen dramatically over the past ten years and that I thought that the feelings of all midwives were that they were against them. She shut me down, stating that c-sections don’t just happen; two doctors have to agree that it’s a necessary procedure and while the rise in c-sections has occurred so have the number of malpractice lawsuits. Doctors are scared of malpractice lawsuits and losing their job. They would rather do the c-section and have a better chance of delivering a healthy baby then risk the baby dying because they didn’t. This made sense and I asked her if she approved of pain drugs? “Yes” she said in a perky voice; if you need them get them. I got all my questions answered and thanked Sandy for all her time.

Going into my interview I had a set view on midwives that was wrong but it was ok because through my questions I discovered another side of midwives that I didn’t know. I came into this interview with a set list of questions and left all of them answered.