“It’s such an amazing thing to watch a baby being born,” says Meaghan Moon, a midwife living in Brandon, Man. “It never ceases to amaze me.”
Moon has been a midwife for more than 12 years. During that time, she has been involved with about 145 births.
She prefers delivering babies in home rather than at hospitals. It allows a mother to give birth in “her own space and her own environment. At the same time, I know there are people who are not ready to make that leap.”
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Within a year, Manitoba will bring in legislation that gives midwives the use of hospitals for delivering babies and caring for the mothers. The midwives will also be able to prescribe certain medications and to order laboratory tests.
However, before they have access to those services, midwives must pass an evaluation.
About 60 people have shown an interest in going through that process, said Dr. Carol Scurfield, chair of the province’s midwifery implementation council. After the evaluation and upgrading of their skills, the participants will have a written and oral exam. Those who pass can become licensed midwives in Manitoba.
Only 10 people will be taken through the process at a time, Scurfield said. It will be six-month process for each group so Manitoba could have its first licensed midwives as early as next July.
That may help to fill a niche in the province’s health-care system. Many rural hospitals are now referring maternity cases to city hospitals for delivery.
“I think people see midwives as an opportunity to bring the services closer to home,” Scurfield said. “We believe that once the midwives are there, demand won’t be a problem, especially in certain rural areas.”
The effort to legalize midwifery is welcome news to the Manitoba Women’s Institute. The institute believes midwifery should be a choice available to all women across rural Manitoba. It made its views known to the province and to regional health authorities last year.
“Midwives were here in the pioneer days,” said institute president Helen Rigby. “They taught one another and they provided a great service.”
