Empowering women - not as easy as you think

Thoughts to ponder on!

There are times it is difficult empowering women.... there is a fine line that you walk and the only way I find to walk it is to be true to yourself, let go of your ego and just state the facts and what you see.

As any midwife knows there are always two sides to a treatment and this is where the fundamental problem arises, because you can have several responses from the woman, and you as the midwife have to know which way the woman wants to go.....and often you will sense that...

Often women only get one side of the treatment, often a paternalistic point of view. Not that a doctor consciously chooses that, it is what the doctor feels is in the best interest of the woman... now how he puts across that treatment option is often to sway or dis empower the woman to his way of thinking rather than giving the woman the complete facts and allowing her to make that decision. Now why is that?

The second option of course is that the woman does get the compete treatment option from the doctor and then says "I don't know what to do, you make the decision"? now I understand this option and I can live with this option.... it is the first option I have problems with...here is an example....

A woman comes in with a query rupture of membranes...40/40 (she is due) not a convincing history of her waters breaking...she was lying in bed, knowing she wants to go to the loo.... gets up and feels a gush of fluid but she is unsure her waters have broken.... she waits several hours.. and then calls the hospital.... she is asked to put on a sanitary pad to see if any water leaks and come in to be assessed. She arrives several hours later, her pad is slightly wet so she is asked to lay down for 20 mins to see if any water is leaking (amniotic fluid)... the woman has an assessment...the fetal position is LOA, presentation-longitudinal, position-cephalic (head down) head ?3-4/5 palpable..(a high head) and a speculum examination is performed to see if there is any water pooling.... there is none...she then has a real time scan (ultrasound) which shows reduced amniotic fluid.... and on reviewing her notes it is noted that she is GBS positive... which means she needs IV antibiotics in labour... the woman is contracting irregularly 1:10..it is now 9 hours since query rupture of membranes....and early evening... the doctor recommends induction of labour (IOL)due to GBS positive, high head, and irregular contractions..... the woman is unconvinced... but her questions are dismissed by the doctor.....when the midwife attends the woman and asks what are we doing for you this evening... the woman is hesitate about the upcoming procedure... when she is asked to explain what is going to occur...she states "the doctor wants me to have the drip"...language is very important... if you are listening to women you hear the unspoken question or the resentment....the next question needs to be... "is that what you want?" she replies " what are my options, I would prefer to wait until the morning to see if I can go into normal labour", she was asked, did you discuss this with the doctor....she said yes.... but he said this is the best option, "you will not go into labour with the baby's head so high".....I would still like to wait said the woman... the midwife discussed it with the doctor and he repeated, his reasons as already stated..... now here is where the conflict lies..... how far do you push for the woman? yes I hear you say all the way.... but how many times do you do this and then the doctor walks in and speaks to the woman and she says to him ok do it......

In this instance the midwife sat and spoke to the woman asking what did she really want and why? and gave the woman the pros and cons for having the IOL now or waiting until the morning.....presenting all the evidence including information about her GBS status & ruptured membranes including the option not to accept (refuse the treatment option) the doctors treatment option and that all this information will be documented in her progress notes. The midwife left the woman to discuss her options with her family, the woman then made the decision to wait until the morning before having the drip. The doctor was notified and the information was documented in the clients progress notes. The woman had some dinner, was happy with her decision and went walking around the hospital for the next two hours.... when she returned she was contracting every 6 minutes... and they were lasting about 45 seconds... it was great......everyone was happy..... the woman went on to labour all night and birth in the morning... it was a vacuum extraction.... there was no induction....in this instance it all worked out well.... the empowering of the woman was because she was given all the information and the woman made her own choice knowing all the risks... she just wanted to wait until the morning..... it really was not a lot to ask... she was being monitored.... that is, pulse, temperature, IV antibiotics 4/24,she did not want to go home... just wait until the morning... to have her baby the way she had planned....

Sometimes I think as a midwife you need to choose the battle.... read the woman's Birth Plan, and most importantly listen to what the woman wants......

picture ref:http://mdean.tripod.com/justice.html