Medical Model of Care

Birth is often a mystery—at least that’s what we’re led to believe. But closer examination reveals basic physiological truths that underpin normal birth for both the mother and baby. Certain truisms can indicate risk, such as a pregnant woman’s prenatal nutrition and medical history, but, in the end, birth is a complex orchestration of hormones, […]

photo credit: Carmen Hibbins For most women, navigating pregnancy is difficult. There are decisions to be made: maternity care, labor preferences, place of birth, newborn care, breastfeeding, etc. Not to mention vaccines. Currently the CDC recommends the influenza vaccine for all pregnant women. When making the decision to accept or decline the flu vaccine, it’s important […]

Get ready for a major soapbox post. I get it. Those of us who choose to birth outside the box are different. We make choices that don’t necessarily follow mainstream society norms. Our choices may not be in alignment with what is embraced by the obstetrical model of care. Our choices may make medical professionals […]

People who have never given birth outside of a hospital may have no idea of the differences between hospital and out-of-hospital birth. What’s the big deal? You can have a natural birth in the hospital. Why would someone want to have their baby at a birth center or (gasp!) at home? The answer is not […]

…just having someone else calling the shots on things you may or may not care much about, hands your power over to that person or institution for the things you do very deeply care about.

On the eve of my 50th birthday, I just re-read my baby book. Yep, I know, when was the last time you did that? I figured, hey, I’m going to turn 50 tomorrow, so I thought I’d look at my baby book for a trip down memory lane. A few years ago, I wrote a […]

I was recently at a local birth circle. It was “Meet the Midwives” night, and I was one of the midwives asked to attend and answer questions about midwifery, home birth, and birth center care. One of the attendees asked this question: What’s the difference between the medical model and midwifery model of care?