18. Paramedic & student midwife Ruth's birth stories — choosing midwifery-led care within a private hospital followed by private midwifery care and a speedy homebirth

Birth Choices

In this episode we speak with paramedic and fellow student midwife, Ruth, about her experience of choosing her care provider and place of birth in her first and second pregnancies, receiving care from private midwives with admitting rights in a private hospital in Brisbane, and then after being unable to find that same model in Melbourne, choosing to birth at home with the support of private midwives (and an unofficial backup plan with a supportive OB). Ruth talks us through her marathon first labour, and how morphine (while deviating from her plan) allowed her to get the rest she needed before birthing her first daughter in the pool.

Ruth speaks so eloquently about her experience, including of postpartum haemorrhage and the experience of having a big and otherwise well baby in the special care nursery. For her second birth, after being unable to find a similar model of care, Ruth chose to birth at home with private midwives.

She takes us through that decision and the considerations given her history of PPH, and the fast but intense labour and waterbirth of her second daughter. We talk about the experience of continuity, the experience of good postpartum care both in hospital and then at home, and the importance of thinking about what you want out of birth and choosing your care providers and place of birth with that in mind.

Links:

• Study comparing outcomes among women who begin labour intending to birth at home vs those intending to give birth in hospital: Reitsma, A., Simioni, J., Brunton, G., Kaufman, K., & Hutton, E. K. (2020). Maternal outcomes and birth interventions among women who begin labour intending to give birth at home compared to women of low obstetrical risk who intend to give birth in hospital: A systematic review and meta-analyses. EClinicalMedicine, 21, 100319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100319
• Kindred Midwifery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology (Ruth's Brisbane care providers)
• MAMA Midwives (Ruth's Melbourne care providers)