@robertnethromik Definitely not! I gave birth in a Northern California hospital staffed primarily by midwives, and they had no fear of deploying a variety of medical interventions if needed or requested.
(However, I was one of those loonies who wanted to do it sans epidural... But the decision was kind of made for me, because I was 9cm by the time we arrived at the hospital, so it was too late even if I had wanted one.)
@jeepdude Midwife is not a protected term in many states and anyone can call themselves a midwife. So maybe do a little more research before responding to a 6 month old comment.
@robertnethromik In many states in the US, a midwife is a legal term. Where I live (Michigan), a midwife must have at least a masters in nursing with additional training.
@robertnethromik There is a license for Nurse Midwives in the U.S., or at least, in NY. Certified Nurse Midwife. It's similar level to a Nurse Practitioner. Can have their own practice, even. Some states may not regulate it as much but we do here. Thankfully.
@pablo628 I'm sorry her piece brought up painful memories for you! I know it was a "long story short" but I really wish she'd had a little more time to go into the complexities of it. It really feels like we never hear anything but the most extreme versions of what happened during childbirth!
I totally agreed with her about the ridiculous bills though - I got charged for three days in the hospital nursery, even though it was closed due to COVID! And when I questioned it, I was told everyone is charged that whether they make use of the services or not! Like, wtf???
@pablo628 I knew I was OAD when I was pregnant and people kept telling me “You’ll forget how hard labor was and you’ll have more kids.” My kid is five. I still fucking remember.
I’m sorry you’re having a rough night. You have lots of people who feel similarly.
@gailitis Yesss! I honestly think everyone telling me “oh you’ll forget” made me internalize and remember it even more, like nope this was awful and I’m going to remember every f’ing second of it, I don’t want to forget this because I don’t want to do it ever again
