Marc Palmer

Certainly in the UK, many people do not know that you can have an independent midwife. This is not the same as having normal private treatment – it’s not about queue jumping, your baby’s coming anyway! My wife and I happily fell into using independent midwives for both our children, and the experience was life changing not to mention worth every penny. Men – don’t you dare think of this as a luxury or pampering for your wife, it is the best thing you can do for you, your wife and your child!

Independent midwives that you fund yourselves are in general able to give you a far more dedicated service that state-funded NHS midwives. Prices vary but around £2000 is the ball park depending on when you take them on and your circumstances. They’re also typically experts who see the work as their vocation, and do everything they can to make the birth experience as good as possible for all concerned. It’s natural to think that state services do this, but sadly this is often not the case for a range of reasons.

Birth the world over is increasingly medicalised – hospitals are places for the sick or injured, so why are women made to feel that birth is inherently dangerous and risky these days?

Anyway, like all things if you want them to go well you need to put the work in. This includes antenatal exercises, good nutrition and keeping fit. Despite the work put in, my wife and I still consider ourselves to be extremely lucky to have had two faultless home births without any pain relief or post-birth issues.

If you’re interested and in the UK you should look up the Independent Midwives Association to find some local to you. If you want to get an idea of the kind of thing you can expect have a look at the Wessex Independent Midwives site which I managed to launch after a rather long gestation period. There’s some great birth stories and information up there.

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