Posted by Melissa Maimann on Jul 5, 2009 in
Birth,
Midwifery For further information, contact Melissa Maimann at Essential Birth Consulting.
OK, so we know home birth (with a midwife) will be illegal after 2010, unless it is via one of 2 or 3 public home birth programs currently being offered in the State (and only to a select few women).
So I’ve had a look through the legislation to identify areas of concern. I’d like to share with you what I have found:
For the purposes of this Act, a person is an eligible midwife if the person:
(3) Without limiting the requirements that may be specified in regulations made for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), those requirements may include one or more of the following: (a) a requirement to hold particular qualifications in midwifery; (b) a requirement to have particular experience in midwifery; (c) a requirement to be credentialled by a particular body.
Qualifications – great. “particular experience” is worrisome. Does this “experience” mean that the midwife must have worked for x number of years in a hospital? Does it mean she will have had to have worked in hospital continuity of acre models? What about the private midwives who practice continuity of care as the only form of their practice?
(1) The Minister may approve a common form of undertaking to be given by an eligible midwife who wishes to become a participating midwife under this Act. Without limiting the generality of subsection (2), the common form of undertaking may make provision for any of the following matters: (a) the kinds of service to which the undertaking relates; (b) a specification of the premises at which the eligible midwife provides services of a kind to which the undertaking relates; (c) an assurance by the eligible midwife that the fee to be charged by him or her for a service that is covered by an item that is expressed to relate to a service provided by a participating midwife will not, except in the circumstances specified in the undertaking in accordance with paragraph (d), exceed the appropriate fee stated in the item; (d) increases of specified amounts in the maximum fee that may be charged under paragraph (c) in respect of services provided in circumstances specified in the undertaking.
So, the government can decide what services we provide (maybe no care of women post 42 weeks, no VBACs etc). And we cannot, as I had been assured, charge over and above the medicare rebate. I’m not sure how we can go 1-2 hour long antenatal visits for a mere $16. That would not even cover petrol. Let alone travel time. Maybe we’ll need to do what obetetricians do and book 20-30 women a month. Sorry if we miss your birth. And, please have your baby via induction as it really will help us to schedule appointments and other births.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Maternity Services Review, Midwifery, Midwifery services
Posted by Melissa Maimann on Jul 5, 2009 in
Birth,
Caesarean,
Obstetrics For further information, contact Melissa Maimann at Essential Birth Consulting.
Link
… babies born by Caesarean section experience changes to the DNA pool in their white blood cells, which could be connected to altered stress levels during this method of delivery …
It is thought that these genetic changes, which differ from normal vaginal deliveries, could explain why people delivered by C-section are more susceptible to immunological diseases such as diabetes and asthma in later life, when those genetic changes combine with environmental triggers.
… “Delivery by C-section has been associated with increased allergy, diabetes and leukaemia risks” … “Although the underlying cause is unknown, our theory is that altered birth conditions could cause a genetic imprint in the immune cells that could play a role later in life.
… As the diseases that tend to be more common in people delivered by C-section are connected with the immune system, we decided to focus our research on early DNA changes to the white blood cells.”
The authors point out that the reason why DNA-methylation is higher after C-section deliveries is still unclear and further research is needed. “Animal studies have shown that negative stress around birth affects methylation of the genes and therefore it is reasonable to believe that the differences in DNAmethylation that we found in human infants are linked to differences in birth stress. “We know that the stress of being born is fundamentally different after planned Csection compared to normal vaginal delivery. When babies are delivered by Csection, they are unprepared for the birth and can become more stressed after delivery than before. This is different to a normal vaginal delivery, where the stress gradually builds up before the actual birth, helping the baby to start breathing and quickly adapt to the new environment outside the womb.”
… “C-section delivery is rapidly increasing worldwide and is currently the most common surgical procedure among women of child-bearing age. Until recently, the long-term consequences of this mode of delivery had not been studied. However, reports that link C-section deliveries with increased risk for different diseases in later life are now emerging. Our results provide the first pieces of evidence that early ‘epigenetic’ programming of the immune system may have a role to play.” The authors feel that their discovery could make a significant contribution to the ongoing debate about the health issues around C-section deliveries.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Babies, birth, Birth choices, Birth trauma, Caesarean, hospital birth, intervention, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals, VBAC, women's rights