Posted on 02/25/2020 10:11:15 PM PST by Ozguy1945
When I was a registered midwife in Australia (for just over 3 decades, interspersed with time in Indonesia), I learnt many interesting things.
Attitudes to the presence of a male in the profession were open and warmer in Catholic hospitals than in public hospitals. Generally speaking Catholic hospitals had a touch of warmth in most things compared to the secular places.
Vietnamese people were also very open to a male presence in midwifery compared with any other ethnic group. The Vietnamese men were the ones least likely to be uncomfortable if the midwife was a male.
It was probably a little more common for men to be uncomfortable with a male midwife for their wives than it was for the woman to be uncomfortable. It was harder for the husband to object.
Some women responded much better to me simply because I was male than they would have responded to a female.
Does anyone else have any experience of or opinions about crossing traditional gender barriers in birthing situations?
Does anyone else have any...opinions about crossing traditional gender barriers in birthing situations?
Yeah, my opinion is that this is the silliest thread to be posted to FR in a looooonnnnggg time :)
But that’s just me :)
It’s as close as you’re gonna get...
Pretty cool helping bring life into this world.
2010 huh?
Huh? Midwifery? On FR?
You gotta admit dude, this is weirder than Q.
I saw a nurse midwife all the way through my second pregnancy. When the time came, an obstetrician I didn’t know delivered the baby. I suppose he was the one unlucky enough to be on call on New Years.
Oh, and the midwife was nurse Ratchet. No kidding.
Yeah, right? Midwives? This is The United States of America in the 21st. century for crying out loud. It’s not 1840.
Male obstetricians deliver babies all the time. Why would a male midwife be any different? The only question is the person’s qualifications and level of caring.
There was a real tom-turkey of an OB on shift when I went to the hospital for my 7th delivery. (Telling a woman in labor that she shouldn’t have “gotten herself pregnant” is pretty crass.) Fortunately, a decent person arrived for the next shift and actually delivered the baby.
Up until the mid eighties in the US most of the obstetricians in the US were male.
Midwives are really cool. They have many tools at their disposal and have an intimate knowledge of the people and the process. Many ‘complicated’ births are rendered uncomplicated by the presence of a midwife.
My birthing experience was a nightmare from one end to the other. The O.B. nurse was so impatient to get me into bed she closed and locked my cosmetics case with my thumb still in it. The nurses were all bitches.
To be a Nurse-Midwife in the US requires
Well my daughter's an Operating Room nurse and she says CNM's absolutely do work in L&D.
Then again, she works in a hospital in Virginia. Maybe NJ forbids it, like pumping your own gas...
An amazing name. There are always a few midwives who do have Nurse Ratchet personalities but not many in the many places I have worked.
I was very lucky to work among that group of people for so long.
Did the Nurse Ratchet you met say anything about her name?
Yes.
That’s freedom of speech for you.
Yes.
Life always has limitations.
But the best bits are great.
Yes.
Life always has limitations.
But the best bits are great.
I watched from the waiting room.
Yeah, I'm old fashioned kind of guy.
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