Fathers at birth are a regular occurrence in our western world and their presence is encouraged. But preparation is needed for them to gain the full benefit of the unfolding process of changing from a couple to becoming a family. Being with their partners at birth is a profoundly moving event for fathers.
I imagined how through the centuries, African people had been giving birth in their thatch roofed dwellings, now replaced by glistening tin roofs that do not insulate the home from the heat of the strong African sun. Almost akin to the hospitals and clinics where African women now give birth and that do not insulate them from the emotional and physical trauma of medicalized childbirth.
The obstetricians at Vincent Pallotti hospital have decided to no longer provide a back-up service for my practice. Apart from the loss of the medical back-up as a professional midwife, the greater loss is to mothers and women who are not able to choose this private hospital for medical back-up when they have chosen me as a professional midwife.