Consumers Supporting Midwifery Care

Sound Off Responses To “Midwifery Cuts” article (Ottawa Citizen, November 2003)

Name: N. Gagnon
Occupation: doula & civil servant
Location: Ottawa

As someone who has been involved in the birth community here in Ottawa for several years now I have witnessed time and time again the incredible level of care midwives provide to their clients. Their time, understanding, individualized care, support and professionalism is what draws expectant parents to them and leaves them with a feelings that for them their is no better option. Having a midwifery assisted birth may not be in everyone’s plans but it should always remain an option for those who so deeply want it. For those who may not have had a chance to witness or experience all that midwives provide and to see the satisfaction on a parents face who has, it is truly difficult to judge it’s merits. Being put on a waiting list for midwifery care here it Ottawa is a reality for many parents, one which come with a great deal of anxiety. We must ensure that this does not become a reality for more!
Name: Tara
Location: Ottawa

Disgraceful. Midwives play an incredibly important role and should continue to be supported to the benefit of our city’s families.
Name: Madeleine Lapointe-Millar
Occupation: homemaker/researcher
Location: Ottawa

Regarding the cuts to midwife availability: This is not only another affront to women and their choice about their bodies and their medical care, but an absurdity. As has been well proven in almost all european and world medical systems, midwifery is the best possible option for safe childbirth, and by far the least expensive option. This strikes me as not only an absurd decision, but a very biased and discriminatory one.
Name: anonymous
Occupation: Administration Clerk
Location: Ottawa

I thought that the idea of midwives was so that one could deliver at home?! This is not what I would want, in case there were complications. We are lucky to live in an age and area with accessible medical services.
Name: Shawn
Occupation: Project Manager
Location: Ottawa

I can’t understand why some hospital official (committee) would restrict access to midwives! This is ludicrous. My wife has had 2 extremely successful births at the hospital using a midwife. A midwife is much more in tune with families, especially expectant mother’s during the entire ordeal, and I only have absolute praise for their profession! There is no logical reason to limit access to midwives in our community hospital(s), there is already a long waiting list to have a midwife ‘assigned’ to you in the first place, and by cutting these other positions, where does it leave expectant mothers? Agreed there is always at-home births available, but especially for 1st timers, the comfort of a hospital adds a certain level of reassurance to the new parents. In my opinion, the people who made this decision are definitely not concerned for the well being of a safe, traditional practice within our Community.
Name: Manon Turcotte
Occupation: Cultural Project Manager
Location: Ottawa

In a system where doctors and nurses are overworked, midwives offer an alternative to women who prefer more personal, hands on attention. The time midwives spend with their patients reduce the time women spend at their doctors offices, consequently reducing their workload. By cutting the privileges of 3 midwives, how much is a hospital really going to save?
Name: John P
Occupation: Hospital Worker
Location: Sudbury

Why do we need any midwives anyway? Cut them out all together and put the funding from this bloated governemt waste program into more ostetricians and obstetrical nurses . Don’t believe for a minute that a midwife saves the system any money. Calculate the amount of births delivered by midwives in one year by there salary, benefits and cost to educate as well as keeping their school(s) open and you will find that it is much more cost efficent with doctors and nurses. This doesn’t even take into account the cost of medical errors from missed or delayed diagnosis. If midwives want to practice in their client’s homes then let them, but now they want to be in the hospitals too. What was the point? They were suppose to be delivering babies at home! I have nothing against midwives, just against government bureaucracy pulling the wool over our eyes telling this program is for one thing when it is really for another. I don’t see the logic ,cost savings, or safety. This is another affront to women’s health care making them see midwives instaed of safe effective hospital births by fully trained doctors and nurses.I would like to see unbiased statistics on 1. how many midwives graduate in a year. 2. The cost to educate them and provide benefits 3.The cost of running their school(s)4. infant health and mortality rates of midwife childbirth verses hospital birth from obstetrician/obstsrical nurse care.
Name: Val Bercovici

It would be very elightening to see the rationale behind this decision. Although we had good experiences in the Ottawa Hospital with nurse and doctor-assited deliveries of our first two children, we used a mid-wiffery group for our third (at home) and were incredibly pleased with their knowledge, skill, professionalism and support. This decision seems counter-intuitive and represents a real loss of service for expectant couples in Ottawa. Shame….
Name: JP
Occupation: Forester
Location: Ottawa

Incredible! My wife and I are expecting our first this Christmas – our midwifery care is amazing and it will be unfortunate if other couples are unable to access alternative care. Very disappointed!
Name: Anneke van Nooten
Occupation: homemaker/student
Location: Ottawa

What a backwards move! Midwife-assisted births have comparable or lower rates of intervention than those births occurring in the medical system. Midwives save Canadians money, along with providing women and babies an invaluable service. This is absolutely the wrong direction to be moving in. Countries like Sweden and Holland, which have lower infant mortality rates than Canada, have midwives as the primary caregiver for the vast majority of their births. Midwifery is considered an essential service just about everywhere except North America, and the U.S. has an even higher infant mortality rate than Canada does. At least 2/3 of all births world wide are assisted by a midwife and it is time that Canada began to move in that direction. The care provided by a midwife cannot be matched by the majority of our overworked doctors. Women who avail themselves of the services of a midwife spend less time in hospital, if they go there at all, and they tend to use less costly interventions. If the hospitals are wanting to save money then they should be looking somewhere else. We already have too few midwives with hospital privileges. Investing more money in midwives is the right thing to do for Canadian women and babies. Thank you for listening, from a well-informed former midwife client and mother of 3 healthy kids who were born at home.
Name: Larry McDermott
Occupation: Mayor and Execuitve Director
Location: Lanark Ontario

Four of my five children were delivered by midwives and I have been involved in commmunity health programs in Central America and Africa were the midwife plays an essential role in the delivery of health care. Finally, as the Canadian Mayoral representative to the Pan American Health Organization initiative for healthy community health care delivery through municipalities, midwives play a fundamental role not only in bringing children into this world with professionalism, love and an appreciation for a holistic approach to health care. As a politician, I know there are other areas to cut first without sacrificing our commitment to this quality health care service. In fact, we should be expanding our commitment to midwifery in Ontario.
Name: Genevieve Brunet
Occupation: Senior Permits Advior and Doula
Location: Ottawa Ontario

Regrettably, the committee thinks withdrawing midwives is a convenient way to cut cost. Nowadays women are no longer celebrated as being pregnant but rather treated as if they have a disease, midwives give something an obstetrician can’t/won’t do; Let women rejoice in their bodies. Giving birth a remarkable achievement and having a midwife helps you appreciate pregnancy on all fronts: emotionally, physically & mentally. They prepare you with care and affection. You never feel rushed in their office and you also never feel scared. Giving birth is such a private experience and women have a right to choose where they give birth and with who they feel comfortable. Why take that away from women? Will forcing women to birth at home if they want a midwife really cut costs? Not really, they still get paid. Is it fair? NO, it’s my body, my pregnancy, my baby! As a Canadian citizen, who pays a lot of taxes, I believe it’s my right to birth in a hospital with a midwife if I choose too.
Name: Sue
Occupation: Daycare provider
Location: Ottawa

My midwife was the BEST thing I did. Unlike most overworked family doctor, she MADE time for me. If I had a 2 o’clock, I went in at 2, did not wait around, was made comfortable. I never felt rushed and she answered all my questions, took time to appease my fears and provided me with books, videos and other useful stuff for free. I had her office number, her house number, her pager and cell numbers. I could reach her at anytime. She came to my house and stayed with me until it was time to go to the hospital. I did not have to guess and go and be turned back home. She was supportive, understanding and worked very well with the nurses and other hospital staff. Since I ended up having a c-section after a long and difficult labor, I never regretted choosing to give birth IN a hospital, WITH the help of a midwife. Cutting them out is wrong. I don’t believe for a moment it’s going to “cut costs” in any way. Maybe it will just make more money available for high-ranking bureaucrats. WE will never see that money and will have lost a precious service.
Name: R

I agree with the cuts.Midwifery was supposed to save the system money by increasing home births and by providing a cheaper healthcare alternative.Most births take place in the hospital-so the saving is not there.Many firsttime births end up with a transfer of care to the obstetrician thereby costing the system more money.Government pays the Dr. And the midwife.Maybe the system needs to be reviewed and all first time moms should be excluded from midwifery care or have a type of shared care but not in hospital.there is two sides to every story andwe the public do not always have all the facts. R
Name: shannon
Occupation: mother and student
Location: Ottawa

When midwifery was legislated in Ontario in 1994, midwives were given the right to attend births at home, in hospital and in birth centres. Perhaps part of the solution to the Ottawa Hospital’s cash crisis is to re-open the Birth Centre at its Riverside campus, have all the births attended by midwives and thereby “decant” midwives from the tertiary care facilities at the General and Civic into their own care facility. A 1990 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that 15% of Ottawa-area women would choose to give birth in a birth centre, while just under 3% were comfortable with home births. Since the new SARS-related protocols have taken effect, I’m sure that 15% would increase with the addition of a birth centre option.
Name: VL
Occupation: civil servant
Location: North Bay

This is another shocking display of the short-sightedness of so many hospital administrators. I gave birth to my first child with midwives in Ottawa, and I am preparing to give birth to my second child with midwives in North Bay. I had the experience of dealing with an OB in the city for a short time and there is absolutely no comparison in the quality of care and service provided. The comments by John P. in Sudbury only reinforce to me that there remains a great deal of sheer ignorance around the role of a midwife. Women are not “made” to see midwives. It is their choice, in part, for more consistent quality and continuity of care. I don’t know any OB’s that come to your house in the early stages of labour, who stay with you throughout your labour and delivery or who remain in constant contact throughout the first 6 weeks of post-partum recovery (including phone calls, coming to the house, etc.). Most women I know are lucky if they even HAVE the same OB that they have been seeing for 9 months to deliver their baby. John P. speaks of cost of educating midwifes – what about the cost in educating physicians? I suspect the hospital officials who are making these unfortunate decisions in Ottawa are as uninformed as so many others, such as John P., appear to be.
Name: Liz Spencer
Occupation: geologist
Location: Ottawa

It has been clearly shown in many studies that for a typical low-risk pregnancy & labour midwives provide vastly superior labour support in hospital than the typical OB/nurse combination, leading to minimal medical interventions, minimal drug use (eg the Ottawa Hospital has a scandalous 90% epidural rate), fewer personel involved in the birth, shorter stays in hopsital for mum & baby (midwives do post-partum home visits, unlike OBs) and thus much lower cost overall. In addition, in many cultures represented in our multi-cultural society, the involvement of a male OB during labour & birth is totally inappropriate – is the Ottawa Hospital replacing midwives with new female OBs? Finally, given the emergence of SARS and similar viruses, hospital policy needs to focus on keeping patients in hospital for a minimum length of time, the involvement of as few medical staff as possible, and all at the lowest cost possible. I fail to see how this ‘no-midwife’ strategy is helping any of these goals.
Name: Robyn Brehaut
Occupation: Doula
Location: Ottawa

I am amazed that the OTtawa Hospital is using the excuse that midwives are costing them money. I guess they are in the sense that less interventions, drugs and surgeries are needed. Is this a bad thing? What is the realy priority of the Ottawa Hospital? Do they want pregnant women using more of their “services” so they make more money? As far as the government is concerned, midwives save taxpayer dollars for providing the wonderful, empowering service they provide. Isn’t this something we should all be supporting? Do we really want to encourage our mothers, sisters, daughters,and friends to take the risk interventions create for mothers and babies, and condone having unecessary massive abdominal surgery to give birth? It just doesn’t seem safe or logical. Concerned Mother
Name: Mona Fortier
Occupation: Vice-President, Public Affairs
Location: Solugik Public Affairs

Women in Ottawa want and deserve the right to choose who attends their births and where. With its new “vision”, The Ottawa Hospital is threatening this right. As it stands, in any given month there are 20 women on the waiting list for midwifery care in Ottawa. It is obvious that it would be logical to increase access to midwives rather than reduce it. As a consumer, I ask that the Ottawa Hospital to do all within its power to ensure that women in Ottawa continue to enjoy the right to choose midwifery care. The Ottawa Hospital must respond to the needs of women in Ottawa and guarantee privileges to midwives. In order to show its support, the Ottawa Hospital could renew privileges for the three midwives concerned.
Name: Shannon Smith
Occupation: mother
Location: Ottawa

I agree with many who have posted their disappointment at The Ottawa Hospital’s recent decision to get rid of 3 midwives. It is shameful that they feel that they can take away the right of women in Ottawa to choose midwifery care for their births.
Name: Leslie Ashton
Occupation: RN
Location: Ottawa

Perhaps an unbiased, non-partisan allocation of hospital privileges is an option to consider? By cutting much needed midwives at The Ottawa Hospital, women have their choices in childbirth needlessly and unjustifiably taken from them. This results in deliberately increasing care costs (NOT savings!) at taxpayers’ expense, with physicians benefitting financially (they earn $1000 more per delivery compared to a midwife attended birth). Where is the accountability to the taxpaying consumer? It makes no-cents! Leslie Ashton, RN Ottawa
Name: Julie La Salle
Occupation: administrator
Location: Blackburn Hamlet

How disgraceful of the Ottawa Hospital to refuse to renew priviledges to the three midwives. One of them was my second for the birth of my youngest daughter, and she contributed greatly to making it a beautiful experience. I have the priviledge of having had 2 midwife assisted home births and would never even think of going to an OB/GYN for prenatal or delivery care. Their philosophy of care is just too invasive. They treat childbirth and deliveries as dangerous situations where the baby must be wrestled out of the woman’s body in order to save both. Childbirth is the most natural occurance in the world, otherwise the human race would have died out a long time ago-something midwives believe and support. I seriously think its time for the Riverside hospital to re-open its birthing centre, and this time, lets put midwives in charge of it. Women need to have choices, this is but one of them. Only we can ensure that we keep the decision making power, decisions over our bodies, our health and our Children.
Name: Lynne
Occupation: Engineer / Recent new Mom
Location: Ottawa

As a new Mom of a 4-week old child, I can say that the midwifery care I received pre- and post- natally was the best health care I have ever received. I do believe I saved the hospital money, as I was only there for 5 hours and did not “use up” a postpartum room – we were home 4 hours after the birth. The absurdity of this decision is that it is not going to change how many women in Ottawa get pregnant!! If women can’t find a midwife, they will be force to find an (overworked) OB – and still deliver in the hospital. Let’s keep the midwives and offer **choice** to the women of Ottawa.
Name: Amanda
Occupation: Student/Mom
Location: Ottawa-West

I think this is horrid! The quality of care recieved with a midwife is 10000 times better than the OB care I got with our first child! If anything, they should be letting more midwives in!
Name: Bonnie Annis
Occupation: mother
Location: Ontario

Pitiful. Do doctors really think that just by closing the door to midwives that women are going to come running back to them? Women know the kind of care they get from midwives, and aren’t willing to “settle” for something else.
Name: Aniko
Occupation: Mommy and business owner
Location: Ottawa

As someone who has had 4 wonderful midwife-attended births, I am appalled that the Ottawa Hospital plans to not renew priviledges for 3 midwives. How can the Ottawa Hospital justify cutting a service where at least 20 women per month are added to waiting lists and scores of others are turned away? There is clear demand for midwifery care. One comment to previous posters who say that homebirth or hospital birth isn’t as safe as births with an obstetrician: Get your facts straight. Studies show that in low risk births, homebirth is just as safe, if not *safer* than an OB-assisted birth in hospital.
Name: Sheila McIntyre
Occupation: University Professor
Location: Ottawa

Doctors fear midwives because midwives are better caregivers for pregnant women. Until the 19th century, all babies were caught by midwives & other loving women. (In most communities, newly arrived doctors had far higher mortality rates than the traditional midwives.) In the UK, midwives & doctors work well together, just as nurse practictioners & doctors do here. I have nothing against doctors & I am not advocating going back to 18th cent medical care for disease – but pregnancy is not a disease. For most low-risk births, midwifery care is superior because midwives devote themselves to a few clients with whom they spend many hours. I have had two midwife-assisted births (one at hospital & one at home) and my care was exceptional. I saved the system money because I never had an epidural, oxytocin, nursing care, etc — with the second baby, I never set foot inside the traditional medical system. The Ottawa Hospital is trying to force women to give birth with an OB — you should stop & ask why they feel so threatened by our freedom to choose…
Name: S.
Occupation: Childcare
Location: Rockland

John P: Midwives get paid by birth and not by the hour. It’s likely your wages over nine months are MUCH higher then what they recieive. Agruing midwives education cost is ridiculous. A doctor can do your job too. Why not cut all nursing positions as well and only hire people with medical degrees? As a man you couldn’t possibly understand the birthing process as intimately as the woman who’ve experienced it. The difference between midwifery care and obstetrical care is night and day. You can barely get an appointment with a “good” doctor these days (if you can even find one accepting new patients). Handing low risk births over to midwives would free up more time for Doctors to spend with patients who really NEED them. Or maybe it IS all about a physicians paycheck and has nothing to do with quality of care. I had to chuckle at your “Fully train nurses” comment. One of these “Fully trained obstetrical nurses” told me my 11 pound 4 ounce (at birth) son was malnourished and would starve if I didn’t suppliment with formula since obviously there was no milk in my breasts. (less then 2days PP) How’s that for educated?
Name: Katherine Power
Occupation: entrepreneur
Location: Ottawa

I can’t believe how short-sighted the hospital is being in deciding to cut midwifery care. They should be doing the opposite since women face such long waiting lists and often can’t get a midwife in time for their delivery. I’m convinced this is pressure coming from the doctors rather than a ‘budget’ issue for the hospital since all the evidence out there suggests it costs the hospital a lot less when women use midwives for their deliveries. I hope the hospital sees the error of their ways and reverses their decision.
Name: Christine Faveri
Occupation: consultant, doula
Location: Chelsea, Quebec

I recently supported a woman giving birth in an Ottawa hospital. Despite her desire to have a natural delivery, the doctor on call prescribed intervention that required the ongoing presence of one-two nurses, continual fetal monitoring, and IV. After a few hours, we were able to turn off the machines and her labour progressed naturally. The medical intervention was never necessary. Midwife-assisted hosptial births shift the power in the delivery room back to the woman, where it should be. Most women, not doctors, deliver their own babies. And by the way, my client’s baby was born into the waiting hands of myself and a nurse – the doctor didn’t make it.
Name: Kory
Location: Kanata

We need more midwives, not less! It hard to understand what rationale the Ottawa Hospital is using to deny women the choice of a midwife-assisted birth. These births cost the health care system less, not more. Women who use midwives are often more satisfied, feel better prepared for birth and have less medical interventions than those using medical doctors. When obstetricians and family doctors are already overburdened in Ottawa, how can the hospital justify taking actions to limit the ability of midwives to help relieve the overload for low-risk births?
Name: L Brown
Occupation: DND
Location: Ottawa

Even though the Provincial and Municipal governments state they want to save money and improve the quality of health services, there appear to be ‘other forces’ within the healthcare system that are pushing a subversive agenda which has no merit – namely to discourage the increased availability of midwives in Ottawa hosipitals. This is incredible considering the cost to the Provincial government is $1,000.00 less per delivery by a midwife versus a physician.
Name: Lauren
Occupation: Mother
Location: Ottawa

I am deeply disappointed by this illogical and insensitive decision. How can this be justified as a cost-saving measure when the average midwife-attended hospital birth costs close to $1000 less than a physician-attended one? Limiting a woman’s choice of place of birth contradicts a woman’s rights. In my experience, a midwifery team offered wonderful support, professional assistance, and a sense of empowerment for me and my husband. I have recommended this route to several pregnant women and look forward to my next birth at the Ottawa Hospital with my midwife. By the way, we were in and out in one day, required no additional hospital personnel, and were discharged within four hours of the birth. SUCCESS!!
Name: kaeli Van Regan
Occupation: dance teacher
Location:

I don’t think that cost saving is a good enough reason to make midwifery care inaccesible to women. Perhaps it would be more cost effective to limit the amount of doctors available and increase the number of midwives. The later option seems as ludicrous as the former. Instead of reducing options to women there should be a plan put in place whereby hospitals are able to meet the demand for midwifery care.
Name: Liz Briggs
Occupation:
Location: Old Ottawa East

I sincerely hope that the Ottawa Hospital does not go ahead with their plan to not renew privileges to three Ottawa Midwives. I was lucky enough to be able to have a midwife for the birth of my second child (my first was born in Toronto – also with a midwife). I honestly cannot say what I would have done if I had not been able to have a midwife here in Ottawa. I can’t say enough good things about the care that I received. Having a midwife allowed my partner and I to be completely involved in all of the decisions made throughout my pregnancy, birth and postpartum. My eldest daughter was included in the whole process in a way that I believe could never have happened had I had an OB/GYN. The fact that there are waiting lists for midwives here in Ottawa tells me that there is a need for MORE hospital privileges for midwives, not LESS. I believe that women should have the right to choose the caregiver that they want – whether it be midwife, family doctor or obstetrician.
Name: Holly R
Occupation: researcher/mom
Location: ottawa

Ridiculous!! Midwifery care has been the only exemplary health care service I have ever experienced in this province. I would do it again, and recommend it, in a heartbeat. I was considered a low risk patient, but I had to go to hospital in the end. I am thankful my midwives had privileges there. Ottawa Hospital: support and expand midwifery care!!
Name: Gill Sippert
Occupation: Program coordinator
Location: Ottawa

I was very dissapointed to learn of the intended cuts to privilages for midwives at the Ottawa Hospital. I have worked with childbearing women and their families in this community for the past seven years, and athough there is still work to be done, I have been impressed by the steps that the Ottawa hospital has made toward supporting a family centered approach to childbirth. That being said, it seems ludicrous to me that in an establishment priding itself on this progression and on evidenced based practice, would eschew the clear evidence that midwifery is desired by our community, costs less that conventional obstetrical care and has the added bonus of fewer interventions. I would like to see the Ottawa Hospital build on past acomplishments and encourage the issuing of more privilages rather than cutting back the already underrepresented midwifery services.
Name: Doris Belland
Occupation: Wellness Consultation
Location: Westboro

This is a clear step backwards for our already-maligned medical system. Midwives are an enormous asset to women who wish to avoid a medicalized approach to something as natural as childbirth. My husband and I are expecting our first child (due any day now) and we have been using the services of a midwife. We are absolutely delighted with every aspect of our care to date: the care is personal, quick (no time wasted in waiting rooms), informative, thorough and humane. I can’t imagine going through pregnancy any other way, and I have been lauding midwifery services to all my friends and colleagues from the very beginning. Instead of cutting back on midwifery access, we should be doubling and tripling it so that more women and couples have access to this remarkable service. (Interestingly, my sister, who is an OB/GYN agrees.) Shame on the Ottawa Hospital for its penny-wise-pound-foolish decision. If this is really about costs, then it wouldn’t take long to identify many areas of truly wasted taxpayer dollars. Midwifery services are certainly not among them and I urge the hospital to reverse its decision.
Name: Judi Pearl
Occupation: mother & stage manager
Location: ottawa

Shame on the Ottawa Hospital for being so short-sighted in the matter of renewing privileges for midwives. They should be increasing the number of midwife-attended births, not decreasing. The care I received from my midwife was by far the best health care I have ever received in my life. I did not have the option of giving birth at home because of minor complications, but at the hospital with my midwife I used up far fewer hospital resources than I would have with an OB/GYN. Ottawa area mothers deserve choice not only in who attends their births but in where they choose to give birth, and if they are shut out from the Ottawa Hospital, midwife-assisted births will have nowhere else to go, and will end up costing the health care system more if they have to transfer to an already overworked OB/GYN.
Name: K.S.
Occupation: Student Midwife
Location: Ottawa

It is obvious, from some of these postings, that more public education needs to be done. It is a shame that even doctors, nurses, and others in healthcare still have little understanding of the scope of midwifery practice, the long term health benefits to both mother and child, how we are paid, etc… This lack of education just promotes ignorance and rumor speading. For all of you, consumers and supporters of midwifery in Ottawa-keep up the fight!! As a class of 2005 graduate, I sincerely hope that I can work in my home community of Ottawa. Who does the Ottawa Hospital think is going to care for the ‘normal pregnant women’ they plan to get rid of? Families in Ottawa are still going to have children! OBs and nurses are already overworked, obstetric patients already have lengthy waits for their 10 minute appointments, besides don’t women want to know who is going to be at their birth? I can’t see anything positive for families coming out of this decision! Let’s keep educating and hopefully Ottawa families won’t be denied the personalised care they deserve!
Name: Kate Green

It is really scary that the Ottawa Hospital is decreasing the availability of Hospital priviledges for midwives. The Midwives are a vital part of health care systems in many countries and have only inrecent years become part of the ‘official’ Canadian /Ontarian system. If my midwife had not had hospital priviledges, I might have lost my first daughter ( a fabulous 4.75 year old now) and more recently might have not made it through my second delivery just this last March. Midwives must have access to Hospitals for deliveries.
Name: Nili Kaplan-Myrth
Occupation: social scientist
Location: Ottawa

I have experienced a hospital birth attended by an obstetrician and then, three years later, a home birth attended by a wonderful midwife from the Ottawa Midwifery Collective. My experience with the midwife was incredible: Prenatal visits were spent discussing options and procedures, sometimes for as long as 45 minutes. My husband and I always felt that we were able to make informed decisions about prenatal and postnatal care. The birth itself was a positive experience because we were empowered to decide where to give birth (home/hospital) and we had control over the types of interventions that occurred. I cannot stress enough the extent to which I was impressed by the care offered by the midwife. All women should have the opportunity to work with a midwife if they so desire. It is shocking to me that midwives may lose their hospital privileges.