Hi Meags,

Good question! I'm glad you asked that. It is important to know how to handle all the different options.

It would indeed be good to have a wide range of experiences as this will equip you to be able to cope with whatever is happening at a birth independent of the location and who the caregiver is.

Regarding doing births in a public hospital, the care would be slightly different as you may not know the mother birthing and also may never see her again after she has birthed and gone home.

In order to offer her any kind of care you would still be asking her her name so that you can talk to her and this is what you record on your birth sheet. Any other professional, midwife, nurse or doctor that is involved with and sees you supporting her can sign off on the sheet.

If the mother speaks your language you may be able to ask her a few more questions and note those down otherwise you do the best you can. Support is the same in whatever language because it is universal. One doesn't need to communicate verbally to support a mother in labour and birth. In fact true support is non verbal and felt. You are all doing the best that is possible in each situation that arises. Your summary of the birth experience will explain this in detail.

There are also many forms of support: pre, birth and post natal supporting and they can be done independently of each other or comprehensively depending on the situation. In most cases you would be building up a relationship prior to the birth so all the details will be collected beforehand but in the eventuality of supporting an unknown mother whatever details are collected will be sufficient.

I hope this helped clarify this for you and any others that may be thinking about this.

Take care and enjoy.

Love and sunshine

Lia

xxx