Taking good birth rural

"Garage" birth centre helps rural expectant mothers

 In most parts of the world, good birth seems to be available only to the elite. In Britain woman need to pay in the region of 4000 pounds to have a midwife that they know come to their home for a home birth. In Europe and New Zealand perhaps this kind of care is more available to those are not very wealthy. In most countries, however, during birth a woman is assisted by a midwife that is a stranger to her and most times birth is not a pleasant experience for woman or midwife.
Why is this so?

It has not always been like this. My mother was welcomed into the world by her Aunty Teen who was a midwife. In those days midwives attended the births of the babies in their town or village. In some areas, the midwife actually moved in with the family for the last month of the pregnancy and would cook meals, darn clothes and generally help out...wouldn't that be nice.

Then the world got more people and life got busier and everything got more expensive. As a result, not only did they close down all the little cottage hospitals where women used to have their babies with midwives that they knew, in many countries they also took away the community midwife too.
Although the community midwife does still exist in some countries, she now works in a large team and most times the woman is unclear who she will be having attend her when she goes into labour. This is often as unsatisfactory for the midwife as it is for the woman. Midwives like to know their clients and feel a connection with them and want to attend their births. Similarly, a woman may like a certain midwife and would like her to attend the birth too.

Because of the lack of finance and lack of midwives, we have now shifted care to be neither woman nor midwife friendly. Is this necessary? Is good care unaffordable?
Perhaps we need to look at it from a different angle, to find a new way.

This article describes the start of finding a way to bring back something old in a new way.