The last four years, my growing interests and experiences in nursing lead me to endeavor becoming a midwife and a women’s health nurse practitioner. My past volunteer work in Doula services, has given me an inside view to many different birthing techniques and styles. In addition, to my work experiences in a home care setting, that has shown me a more personal side to healthcare. This is why; I believe many hospital births limit the control women have with decisions, such as, birthing positions, delivery time requirements, recovery times and artificial inductions. Furthermore, hospitals are unable to make the birthing and new baby experience personal like an ‘in-home’ birth. These decisions can make the birthing experience more enjoyable and successful with reducing the amount of complications during birth. Over the years, OBGYN’s have chose the safety procedures and techniques for laboring women during the birthing process. Women are frightened into having a caesarian birth or an induced labor verses a natural vaginal birth. While there are, certain incidences that a caesarian birth is needed, such as, when the baby is in a breeched position, fetal distress, cephalopelvic disproportion (a baby’s head is too large or a mother’s pelvis is too small for delivery) and/or uterine ruptures. All of these reasons are horrific medical emergencies where a caesarian birth would be the appropriate choice for the wellbeing of the baby and the mother, but the chances of these happening are in the low 10% of births. However, other times to expedite the birthing process when the cervix has not completely dilated doctors urge for a caesarian birth. Doctor’s first try inducing labor artificially, if inducing does not initiate the cervix to dilate properly before a certain time, doctors will begin an emergency caesarian. In my experiences, women who used doula’s who provide holistic birthing services and educating in techniques such as, in-home postpartum assistance, in-home visitations/pre and postnatal care, proper breathing, perineal massages, and exercises, such as, kegels, pelvic tilts, squats and the cobbler pose. These techniques reduced birthing complications and most women found the experience more enjoyable. In addition, using enhanced birthing positions that are more comfortable allows the laboring mother to move and use gravity instead of force to push. These positions can include water births, hands and knees, squats, and standing, that help with the prevention of perineal tears and a timely labor. Nonetheless, the birthing experience has improved over the last decade and hospitals are beginning to collaborate with birthing centers attempting to make hospital births more personal.
For any mother the birth of a newborn child can be a challenging experience. As nurses it is part of our job to ensure their experience is positive. We can help do this by providing the information they will need to affective care for their newborn. This information includes topics such as, breastfeeding, jaundice, when to call your doctor and even how to put your baby to sleep. When the parents have an understanding of these topics before discharge it can largely reduce their natural anxiety accompanied with the transition to parenthood. Health teaching for new parents is seen as such an important aspect of care on post-partum floors it is actually a necessary component that needs to be covered before the hospital can discharge the patients. At the moment the strategies most hospitals use in Durham Region are Video’s and Parenting Booklets that are primarily based in the English Language. In such a culturally diverse region this becomes a barrier to providing the health teaching to patients who do not speak English as a first language (ESL). This reflection will explore the challenges I faced when providing health teaching to an ESL patient as well as the importance of health teaching in the post-partum area.
When pregnant, many expecting mothers are faced with a very tough decision, the decision to have an epidural during labor or to have a natural birth. Both methods have negative and positive aspects. This topic has such conflicting views that about 50% of women decide to get an epidural when going into labor and the other 50% of women choose the alternative: natural childbirth. It is important for an expecting mother to look into both options thoroughly to ensure they make the best choice for both themselves and for their child. With all of the speculations circulating about both options, it is hard for mothers to see the truth about both epidurals and natural childbirth.
Neonatal nursing is a field of nursing designed especially for both newborns and infants up to 28 days old. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin”. Neonatal nurses are a vital part of the neonatal care team. These are trained professionals who concentrate on ensuring that the newborn infants under their care are able to survive whatever potential life threatening event they encounter. They treat infants that are born with a variety of life threatening issues that include instances of prematurity, congenital birth defects, surgery related problems, cardiac malformations, severe burns, or acute infection. Neonatal care in hospitals was always done by the nursing staff but it did not officially become a specialized medical field until well into 1960s. This was due to the numerous advancements in both medical care training and related technology that allowed for the improved treatment and survival rate of premature babies. According to the March of Dimes, one of every thirteen babies born in the United States annually suffers from low birth weight. This is a leading cause in 65% of infant deaths. Therefore, nurses play a very important role in providing round the clock care for these infants, those born with birth defects or other life threatening illness. In addition, these nurses also tend to healthy babies while their mothers recover from the birthing process. Prior to the advent of this specialized nursing field at risk newborn infants were mostly cared for by obstetricians and midwives who had limited resources to help them survive (Meeks 3).
...o find a balance between interventional and non-interventional birth. With this being said, I also understand that there are strict policies and protocols set in place, which I must abide to as a healthcare provider, in any birth setting. Unfortunately, these guidelines can be abused. Christiane Northrup, MD, a well recognized and respected obstetrician-gynecologist has gone as far as to tell her own daughters that they should not give birth in a hospital setting, with the safest place being home (Block, 2007, p. xxiii). Although I am not entirely against hospital births, I am a firm believe that normal, healthy pregnancies should be fully permissible to all midwives. However, high-risk pregnancies and births must remain the responsibility of skilled obstetricians. My heart’s desire is to do what is ultimately in the best interest of the mother, and her unborn child.
Since neonatal nursing is my special interest and field, I chose to write about the health care options which are available to parents having children in different hospitals throughout the world. With the state of the art technological advances in the neonatal units, there are so many options available for the care of newborn babies. I reviewed the neonatal units in Australia, Saudi Arabia, New York, Tokyo, Ireland, and California, and I have learned what It takes to run a neonatal intensive care unit all around the world.
How do you feel about home birth? When it comes to most peoples minds they most likely think that is just horde, and that they world never even think of baring there child that way. After reading this I hope that you will change you mind, or reconsider it. home birth is better then the hospital in many ways, and i'm going to share with you many of those ways with you. In the articular ( Midwifes alliance) is says, (Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health (JMWH), a landmark study** confirms that among low-risk women, planned home births result in low rates of interventions without an increase in adverse outcomes for mothers and babies. This study, which examines nearly 17,000 courses of midwife-led care, is the largest analysis of planned home birth in the U.S. ever published.The
Finding a practitioner to care for you during your pregnancy and the birth of your child is a very important task. Most people go to their family doctor. Unless your pregnancy is high risk that may not be necessary. Midwives offer care that is “lower-tech, less invasive, and less inclined toward intervention without a clear medical need.” says Jamie Cruz, author of “Call the Midwife”. Many women are uneducated on the benefits to selecting care from a midwife. Many times when expecting mothers discuss their options with their family doctor, the discussion of midwives is often avoided or the doctor will discourage the expecting mother from choosing a midwife. Midwives and doctors should work as a team and embrace each other, however due to
At home births are planned during the prenatal course when I women has met the criteria for low risk pregnancy. In the Netherlands, midwifery is a standard for of care, approximately 35% of all babies are born at home with midwives. In the United states less than 1% of births are done at home, researchers suggest that practitioners’ attitudes, resource availability, and community standards may influence the birth site options offered to women in the United states. In 1995 Floyd published a assessment of options and experiences with home births in the United Kingdom, discovered that home birth improved the experience and well-being of women, babies, and midwives. 226 midwives were asked their opinion on at home birth, 70% of them were favorable towards home birth, however “financial security, liability concerns, and lack of support from other maternity care providers (physicians and nurse-midwife peers) were barriers that affected the choice of practicing in an at home setting.” Home birth nurse-midwives are “looked” down on by hospital personnel, because of the higher risk of lawsuits than those who deliver in a hospital setting. The article finished off with stating “out-of-hospital maternity care
Unfortunately, though, some births do not go as planned. Complications in birth force doctors to use assistive devices to get the child out of the birthing canal. One of these devices is the forceps. These forceps are shaped like salad tongs and are used to guide the baby’s head out of the birth canal (Staff, 2012). They are generally used when the mother is too tired to proceed with the second stage of labor or when fetal stress is apparent, such as an irregular heartbeat (Ham, 2010). Forceps are not used until the head is at a +2 station or lower but not yet crowning (Ricci & Kyle, 2009). History of forceps use goes all the way back to 1720, when they were first introduced to aid in delivery (Germane & Rubenstein, 1989). While they are successful in some cases, many times they can lead to horrifying and fatal results. This paper will attempt to persuade the reader that the use of forceps during birth should be outlawed.
In this paper we discuss about a labouring women named Mary Doe who is experiencing prolonged labour, she is a singleton pregnancy and having irregular contractions. Poor progress in labour is very common and has many associated complications following it. Unfortunately poor progress is the leading cause for procedures such as c-sections, instrumental deliveries, artificial rupture of membranes, and use of epidural analgesia. Despite this there are strategies that midwives can provide to enhance progress in prolonged labour. These strategies include different postures/ positions, hydration, ambulation in the first stage, water immersion and continuous support by a midwife. This paper discusses potential outcomes Mary Doe may face due to prolonged labour and midwifery strategies to enhance labour progress.
A labor and delviery nurse has vast knowledge of the process and methods that are required for delivery and bring a new life into the world and is educated with the responsibilities of assiting the new born babies with their medical issues. Considering all the responsibilites needed to take on this career, such as assisting women with complications within the pregnancy, delivering a newborn and managing post birth issuses, the nurse must be professional in his or her work at all times. All people wishing to pursue the career of being a Labor and Delivery Nurse must also have good analytical skills, as part of there job to montior and analyze the mother and child (CollegeAtlas.org).
Chances are that terms such as “midwife” and “home birth” conjure up for you old-fashioned images of childbirth. These words may bring to mind scenes from old movies, but you’re not likely to associate them with the modern image of childbirth. Do you know anyone who has had a midwife-assisted birth or a home birth? Would you consider one?
I initially considered midwifery when I attended an antenatal scan with my auntie and heard the heartbeat of the unborn baby for the first time. Listening to discussions regarding health concerns and family support highlighted the importance of the midwife and mother relationship. Two years ago I was given the opportunity to be my mum’s birthing partner alongside my dad. I saw how the midwives interacted and were supportive through the birthing and decision making process. It was found that the baby was breach and the safe option was a caesarean section, and with the complications discussed mum was able to make the right decision. I attended pre and postnatal appointments and listened to the midwives offering advice and guidance, develop a birthing plan as well as check and monitor the health and wellbeing of mum. These first hand experiences have given me a deeper understanding of the role of a midwife and how communication and building trusting relationships is key during these emotional and vulnerable times for a woman, and inspired me to become a midwife.
Over the years birthing methods have changed a great deal. When technology wasn’t so advanced there was only one method of giving birth, vaginally non-medicated. However, in today’s society there are now more than one method of giving birth. In fact, there are three methods: Non-medicated vaginal delivery, medicated vaginal delivery and cesarean delivery, also known as c-section. In the cesarean delivery there is not much to prepare for before the operation, except maybe the procedure of the operation. A few things that will be discussed are: the process of cesarean delivery, reasons for this birthing method and a few reasons for why this birthing method is used. Also a question that many women have is whether or not they can vaginally deliver after a cesarean delivery, as well as the risks and benefits if it. Delivering a child by a c-section also has a few advantages and disadvantages for both the mother and child; this will also be discussed in more depth a bit later.
All things considered my first mother baby clinical went very well. I am more confident in the care I provided and will be providing throughout the next few weeks. If need be, the nurses were right there to answer questions or assist in my learning. I do know I have room for improvements, though I am aware it will take more practice. Having such cooperative patients and parents allowed me to take my time and be more thorough to ensure I was grasping concepts. As I continue to connect class content and what is seen in the hospital