Myriam's profile

Who am I?

AKA motivated Myriam, aged 25 years, always wanted to be a midwife.

I liked being a student, thriving on learning and commitment to egalitarian beliefs and values. Having knowledge to support my practice and implementing research evidence based guidelines and protocols are an important aspect of my midwifery ethos.

I dislike interventions, rituals and practices that are unnecessary or not supported by evidence or intuition. I am concerned with the lack of recognition of and support for the emotional needs of women in labour, as well as with over-use of the technocratic approach to birth: the "doing-to" instead of "being-with" woman in labour.

My opinion on normality:

Birth is a natural physiological process and should not be managed. Emotional support is as important as physical support. Midwives have to show 'kindness' and 'understanding'. A calm, caring, "home-like" setting will significantly reduce the likelihood of analgesia/anesthesia use, promote normal birth and reduce the rate of perineal trauma. It will also increase women's satisfaction and facilitate breastfeeding initiation. One-to-one care in labour is essential, and does have a beneficial effect on promoting normal birth.

Share my experience:

"I've always believed birth is normal until proven otherwise."

I recently qualified as a midwife and decided to move to London to practise in a busy delivery suite. During my midwifery education and training I had several opportunities to attend home births and also gained some experience of working in a birth centre and a busy delivery suite in an inner city area in the north of England.

I feel that I am well grounded in the theory and practice of midwifery and I am extremely motivated to facilitate and support women giving birth with minimal intervention. In my new role I am finding it difficult to support women in labour who want to be as active as possible and to let nature take its course. Several more experienced midwives appear to be set in their ways and are very subtle at suggesting that these women are in need of pain relief and should be monitored during labour.

I remain motivated and I am not discouraged easily; however, I start to feel a little unhappy and pressurised to conform. I won't, as in my heart I know my practice is safe and puts the woman at the centre of the care.