Working with a midwife the other evening, at a small regional hospital, where there was a 19yr old in labour. This young girl lived with her grandmother, her boyfriend was present (he lived with his Dad). She had no education, had not read any books about pregnancy or birthing but had managed quite a few 3D and 4D ultrasounds, just for pictures. It seems there is either the 35 + yr old, or the teenager! I don’t have many inbetween. I questioned the midwife about informing this young woman about essential options and choices. Her comment was that if this girl was so uneducated and therefore uninformed, let’s not bother. It was in the ‘too hard’ basket. Now the young woman no doubt came into hospital way too early, she had no idea what was happening, no connection with her baby, and no understanding of what was normal. She most certainly was not aware she had choices. I couldn’t help comparing this with a 35 + yr. old, who has no doubt ‘over’ read, ‘over’ researched, ‘over’ educated (that is possible when a woman has attended so many different pre-natal courses and is confused!) It is quite shocking to think that health professionals can treat these two demographics so differently. As a result, this young woman had way too many vaginal examinations, way too many CTG’s, way too little information given. We must be very careful about targeting our information and education to reach all women. After staying in hospital for about 14hrs, she had her membranes ruptured by a doctor, and birthed 25 minutes later. She is, apparently, happy. Whilst she had a very supportive grandmother who stayed with her the whole time, this could have been quite a different experience, if she had been supported throughout her pregnancy by a doula who could have educated, informed and influenced the course of the labour and birth.
