Serving birthing families

I want to continue to serve the families in my community.  I love being a midwife and I love the moms and babies who I am so honored to meet.  I heeded the call to midwifery because of that love and a need that I saw I could meet.  Recently, however, the calling has taken on a new life. 

Instead of concentrating on loving and caring for all the families who call on me, I find myself embroiled in a political and financial battlefield.  I truly believe that there is a midwife for every woman and that the more midwives there are, the more women will be served and the whole world will be a better place.  The political climate for midwifery is undergoing an assault.  This assault is being waged by our friendly neighborhood doctors and nurses.  Granted I am not speaking for all of them, but as heard in the public comment of the recent meeting of the OHLA, there is no shortage of folks who would love to see midwives completely banished from their (the medico's) kingdoms.  The accusations are made that midwives are un and under educated, that we can not possibly know enough about pregnancy to notice when a woman becomes ill and at  high risk for an out of hospital birth.  That we "dump" women on the doorsteps of the hospital emergency rooms when we transport them during an emergency and basically, we are not fit to care for pregnant women in any form.

This has really depressed me.  To add to that distress, is the current running through the community that somehow being licensed is being a traitor to true midwifery.  That licensing ruins midwives and that licensed midwives provide inadequate care of women because they may have rules to follow.  This also depresses me.
I truly only need to be concerned with pleasing my father in Heaven.  I do this by answering the call that was placed on my life and by serving families with as much love, compassion and humility as I can.  I became licensed so that women who could not afford to birth outside of the hospital could use their state insurance to pay me.  I also believe that by being referred to me through the referral pages provided by WIC and the health department I have been able to prevent hundreds of cesarean sections and the subsequent VBACs.  I do not expect to please the docs who are so worried about my "reckless" care of the breech, twins and VBAC moms I attend.  I do not expect to please my sister midwives who call for no licensing or no restrictions to licensing.  I know that pleasing everyone is completely impossible in any situation so this is not any different. 

I am concerned though, by the unrest among sister midwives across the nation.  There is so much emphasis placed on "who is right" that we are losing sight of what it is we are doing in the first place.  Serving birthing families.  Serve them as they call on you, serve them with what you have and what you know.  Serve them with honesty and compassion.  Serve them without putting down previous care providers or other providers in your area.  Support each other.  Help each other when you can.  Speak kindly and highly of each other and once in a while, you might even refer a family to another midwife.  Unity among the midwifery community will make a cord that is not easily broken.  Our cord is frayed and weak.  We can come together.  Put down your agendas and prejudices.  Open your hearts to your sister midwives as you open your hearts to the families you serve.  Put into practice in your lives what you instinctively know to do in your midwifery service.  Put all fear away....fear of rules, fear of authority, fear of change....fear of freedom.  Perfect love casts out all fear!!!  Love those who are in opposition to you, try to trust and be open and transparent.  Love, love, love.  I say again....LOVE!  This is our only defense.