Confirmation bias
Bias: birth is natural … women who birth easily confirm it. Can’t fit in all those who don’t birth naturally. There has to be some blame attributed … either doctor at fault or woman.
Bias: Lots of unnecessary interventions … lots of ‘standards’ of medical care easily confirms this. Can’t fit in the fact that the vast majority of ‘interventions’ come from women not coping with labor and needing induction, augmentation, have tight crotch, delayed birth.
Bias:midwives aren’t medical … because they don’t have to become nurses first. Can’t fit in the fact that all their training is based on evidence based medical trends, techniques, skills, interpretations and guidelines of practice.
Bias:The medical profession is coming after them … based on the fact that high tech scientifically trained doctors can’t get their head wrapped around a group that is taking charge of birth and claims to be non-medical. Can’t fit in the fact that they are low tech scientifically trained professionals that fill in the gap women wanted … continuity of care and be cared for by another woman (who knows why!).
Bias:Think women know what they want for their birth … based on a small % of women who clearly can define where they want to birth and all the trimmings. Can’t get their head wrapped around the fact that the vast majority of women don’t have a clue what they want at their birth beyond a healthy baby and mother, feeling confident, having a pretty good experience and feel good about their birth afterwards. All the trimmings are superficial to most women and they couldn’t care less one way or another … and are simply ok with medical care.
Bias:Think the job of midwife is to serve women … based on the word ‘midwife’ = ‘with women’. Can’t get their head wrapped around they are setting up their profession to be filled with exhausted dedicated women who think they should be giving and giving and giving and that is what midwives should do
Bias:Think birth skills are rubbish and interfere with instinct … based on the small % of women who birth quite easily. Can’t get their head wrapped around the fact that all women who birth easily are always using one or more skill such as reminding themselves to relax or focused on their breathing. Not all women formally learn skills but they are always using them. We know this because women who have quick births and don’t use skills feel totally overwhelmed and out of control.
Bias:Think that what a woman ‘wants’ for her birth is the most important element based on a very small % of women who seem to know exactly what they want and somehow achieve that (Is that true? Do most women achieve in their birth what they wanted? I suspect fewer then is mentioned … even those first time mothers in those stats who had straightforward births. go back and match their Birth Plan to what actually happened) … Can’t get their head wrapped around the fact that most women identify what they ‘don’t want’ and that’s then taken as a ‘want’. For example … ‘don’t want pain relief’. OK but what do you want? Another example … ‘don’t want to be induced’. OK but what do you want? Another example … ‘don’t want cesarean, forceps, episiot. Ok but what do you want? And that leads into your focus right now … ‘if you don’t want this or that or you do want this or that, how are you going to prevent or achieve this or that?’
Bias: Believe a Partnership with Woman is the ideal relationship between midwives who identify as being ‘non-medical’ with pregnant Woman because that pairing is closest to the ‘natural’/traditional relationship. Can’t get their head around informing their clients about the Partnership … assume everyone knows and is acting in the most mutually responsible way. CAn’t get their head around the fact that women see midwives as professionally trained and have no ability to truly be in partnership. Can’t get their head around the fact that a true partnership is based on both parties have appropriate skills to meet the collaborative responsibilities. Can’t get their head around the fact that midwives willingly take on an unbalanced amount of responsibility but believe that by ‘listening’ to the woman that the partnership has been respected.
Bias: Believe traditional birth (prior to medical care) was ‘birth by a rice paddy easy’ based on being with some women who could do that easily. Can’t get their head around the reality that birth has always been safe and unsafe with many more problems existing during pregnancy/birth then in most of a woman’s life span.