Wednesday, August 03, 2005

unscientific study

So I had a meeting with a new client tonight. We were chatting during our first prenatal meeting, discussing the type of birth she is hoping to have and we were talking about midwifery care. She is due at the end of August and will deliver in the hospital with a Nurse Midwife. She asked an interesting question tonight. What percentage of my clients were under the care of midwives? I had to stop and think and said I wasn't really sure, but I guessed around 60%. Then tonight I came home and figured it out. Here are the results of my completely unscientific study.

Number of births attended: 18
Number under midwifery care: 11 (roughly 61%)
Number under OB care: 7
Number who had epidurals: 9
Number who were unmedicated:9
Number of vaginal deliveries: 16
Number of c-sections: 2

Of those women who chose to get an epidural all of them were under the care of an OB. Only 2 of the women under the care of a midwife chose to have an epidural. Both women who had a c-section were under the care of an OB (although 1 was a breech presentation and was therefore a scheduled c-section). Interesting results, no? And I wasn't too far off my original guess of 60%.

1 Comments:

Blogger Milliner's Dream, a woman of many "hats"... said...

It is fascinating how our practices tend to follow a particular trend.

After 14 years, I have found myself with a practice in which my clients are almost completely planning hospital births (about 40 % of those with an OB and the rest with a family practice doc.)

I have discovered that, in my area, and for me, that's okay because it seems that my services and support may be even more necessary for those women.

Best wishes!
Hannah

August 06, 2005  

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