This is a repost of a comment that "Regretful's Father" said,
Regretful's Father said...
I have been considering this post for some time now, so here goes. As the father of "Regretful" I can tell you that as a man, husband, father and now Grandfather, I have never felt so helpless. I am a guy who "fixes" things. In the hospital immediately after the birth, I could not fix my precious baby granddaughter. I could not fix my daughter's deep hurt and anguish. I could not fix my son-in-law's obvious pain. I could not fix the pain of watching the two new grandmothers try to console each other. I was helpless, helpless. All I could do is Pray.When I got home I went to Paula's web site and read how wonderful she was and all of the beautiful pictures of successful home births. I got angry, I GOT ANGRY. I AM STILL ANGRY.I went to the California state midwife licensing web site and after some difficulty finally found Paula's licensing information, pretty straight forward, current license number etc. I then went to the California licensing web site for Registered Nursing. Wow, what a difference! Same basic information regarding the licensing with one exception, "Disciplinary Actions". Not listed on the Midwives license web site. Something to hide here? I then went to the several midwife associations I could find, nothing negative or even cautionary for the "researching" mother to be. The sad conclusion, unless the new mother to be is somewhat cynical, web sites or blogs of this nature do not "pop up" and are at least hard to find, resulting in an unreasonable and uninformed expectation of a blissful birth experience for the new mother. Unfortunately, for my family, it ain't so.What I did "experience" at the hospital is the "miracle" of today's technology. A technology that hopefully helped "fix" my grand daughter in some way. I "experienced" the amazing tender care by an unbelievable crew of dedicated professionals. One RN assigned to my granddaughter I will forever remember. He was the one guy who did the most to "fix" my granddaughter. Simply amazing young man.As I now watch my granddaughter grow I wonder when the next bomb is going to drop? Will we all have to worry about her future development forever? I can't "fix" that either.My regret.......FOREVER!.......is........I did not challenge my daughter on her birthing decision before this family nightmare occured.My one REQUEST of the custodian of this blog, Please do what you can to have this blog or website "pop up" for those new "mothers to be" to help educate or offer an alternative view.
August 27, 2009 6:07 PM
From the Blog Moderator:
I am so sorry that you had to go through this experience with your family. I truly hope that no one else has to go through the unecessary hurt and anger that you felt. I do want to clarify again that it is not midwifery that is to blame for what occurred. Midwifery and home birth are still safe and a viable option for those with healthy pregnancies. Where the problem occurs is in making sure that those who are receiving a license as a midwife are properly educated, tested, and proven as providers. They must know, without doubt, how to deal with an emergency situation properly. They must know when is an appropriate time to transfer to hospital care. They must know proper resuscitation measures and have appropriate equipment present in case of an emergency. If they do not have those precautions, and do not fully have the skills required during an emergency, then, unfortunately, they will be unprepared during an emergency.
There are a lot of midwives out there who are very well educated, very well informed, very knowledgeable, very experienced with emergencies, and are very prepared for the unexpected. Those midwives are proven in that they HAVE dealt with those emergencies and come out the other side of them with a good outcome. Those are the midwives I would trust with my body, my baby, and my birth. Unfortunately in some of Paula's cases, the families don't know who is who until AFTER the birth experience. That is why I created this blog- to let those who are doing their research know that there are people out there who are unhappy, to say the very least. Let people make an informed decision. If they see the truths about Paula's work and still decide to hire her, that is their decision. I just hope it turns them around to more experienced midwives who have nothing to hide and no pride bubble to pop.
2 comments:
I agree with this grandfather in that there MUST be a way to be allowed to research more effectively when planning a birth at home. As one who has worked in childbirth for many years, I can attest to the fact that when a bad outcome happens to YOU, statistics mean NOTHING. I know that with the right support team you can have a perfectly safe and lovely birth at home...or at the hospital. But how can families know what they are getting? I have seen some horrible things happen in a hospital - you aren't always safe there either.
It's time to get the word out and work to make things better!!
What I hope comes of this is:
1. Licensing for midwives becomes more comprehensive and harder to attain than the current status.
2. There is a public forum, perhaps on the internet, allowing families to research hard data such as outcomes, transports, and so on.
3. The process for complaints becomes more streamlined and works faster.
For now, there is the Birth Survey - link posted elsewhere on this blog - for individuals to rate their care provider.
And as a childbirth professional, I will no longer keep my mouth shut about what I know. There is a fear of being charged with libel and/or being blacklisted when one speaks out about doctors or midwives, but I will take that chance from now on.
I looked up her name on the Board of Registered Nursing website License search page and did not find her. Can you direct me to the link where it shows her disciplinary actions? It would be more believable that way.
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