Childbirth is one of the most daunting things a mother will undergo in her life: It is at once terrifying and magical, powerful and delicate.
It is a monumental moment for everyone involved—Fiona MacArthur can attest to that. Having been a midwife for almost 30 years, she says “I love birth and babies, I love the women, I love all of it…”
In her Mama Mia article, she shares everything pregnant women needs to know.
Do good midwives have to be mothers?
“That’s a bit of a myth. You can have very empathetic women who’ve never had babies, and then women who’ve had lots but don’t have an empathetic bone in their body. Although usually, they are not midwives…”
The enemy of a trouble-free birth is one word: Fear
“Fear is your worst enemy… You really need to stop looking at [birth] like an exam and look at it like you’re designed to do it. You just have to have faith… women need to know that if they don’t get scared their hormones are going to run and their labor’s going to go faster.”
The person you want in the room with you is the calm one
“Having the husband in the room and using the husband as the main means of support is the biggest change in 30 years…That’s changed everything. He needs to be there, he needs to be the person looking into your eyes and telling you you’re amazing.”
If he can’t be there, choose a person who is calm, which, she says, makes mothers in law a little problematic to be in the same room.
Your midwife won’t remember you for ever, but they will do a great job of pretending they do
“You have to listen to what [former clients] say. I was at Big W the other day and this woman came up and said ‘You were there when I had her’, and pointed to her adult daughter, ‘And there when she had this one’, and pointed to the baby in her daughter’s arms… And I just said: ‘It’s so lovely to see you’. And it was lovely to see them. But I’m hopeless at names.”
Don’t listen to the horror stories
“We say, ‘Don’t let what they’re saying get stuck in your uterus.’ It’s their little moment of glory, their little moment of fame.”
Midwives really do care—a lot
“I feel very privileged to help people who are with their babies for such a short time...It's really, really important that we do everything we can to help them create moments they can take home with them, because they’re not taking their baby home with them. And we go to funerals. It's important.”