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Would You Be Happy With A Male Midwife?
I was watching a convocation a few days ago about the care received during labour and one mum was speaking out about how great her midwife was and that the fact he was a man puzzled a few mums. I admit I have yet to see a male midwife and it did make me wonder if I would feel comfy with one.
I suppose he will have just as much experience as a female midwife, I think for me it’s more of a sexist argument, you just don’t expect men to be midwives.
I know we as mothers suffer some rather undesirable and embarrassing symptoms thanks to pregnancy and I am not too sure I would want to sit and chat about my discharge or the amount of pee I was dribbling to a guy at antenatal appointments, especially if he was a good looking guy.
But if I was on the labour ward in pain and a male midwife was there offering me good old gas and air, I don’t think it would bother me, hey I am there to get a baby out and don’t really care who helps me do that, be it male or female.
I would be happy for a guy to cut my hair so why not deliver my baby? My consultant and doctor are both males too.
I do wonder how my husband would cope with a man there during my labour though… is it a male thing do you think?
In 2011 reports show only 3% of midwives were male.
What Are Your Views? Would You Be Happy With A Male Midwife?
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my mum had a male midwife with my sister in 1984 She said he was brilliant from start to finish n If i got to choice i would have a man no problem
I actually don’t think it would bother me, I mean they will have done the exact same training as a female midwife so one would assume they will be.just as good. I would see him as the person helping with pregnancy/birth rather than by gender.
I wrote in my birth plan for baby number 1 that I would no way have a male midwife, I was petrified about childbirth anyway and couldn’t think of anything worse. Now with number 4 due in 8 weeks and knowing what it’s all about I would have a male midwife, funny how you change your mind x
When i gave birth i told them i didn’t want any males there apart from my oh unless i had to have a c-section. From the age of 10-11 i haven’t trusted male dr’s simply from one appointment where i was getting pains in my right side where my appendix was and during the examination the dr who was male put his hands down a bit too far for my liking and he didnt need to. Since then i have refused to be seen by a male dr when i was 15 i was in hospital when i was 19 weeks pregnant and i refused to let a male dr examine me down below so had to wait for a female. And also since then i wont go into a taxi on my own even if its a female driver. I find it hard to trust people especially men
I wouldn’t be too bothered either way, they’re professionals and know their stuff whatever their gender x
I had a female midwife for all my antenatal appointments but when it came to labour i arrived at the hospital and was met by a male midwife. to be honest, i didnt mind. as long as someone was helping me thru it. he was kind, sensitive and noway as patronising as some female midwives ive spoke to during my two pregnancies. Some lady midwives think cos theyve been thru it no probs everyone can do it. i ended up being transferred to another hospital cos
Sorry…it published too soon. she was breech so i got transferred and he came with me in the ambulance. stayed in theatre where she came naturally. he had to go back to the local hospital but phoned 3 times thru the night to check on us as baby was in scbu and he came in next morning after his shift with some flowers and to see how we were. he was really caring and lovely. if i ever fell pregnant again i would opt for a male x
It wouldnt bother me to have a male midwife aslong as he knew what he was doing lol x
wouldnt bother me to be honest x
It really wouldn’t bother me tbh. If he’s qualified for the job then I’m happy. That’s all that matters
When i had my second child i had a female midwife but a male student doctor with us the whole time, he was brillaint. i had the birthing pool at first he was looking everywhere else around the room but at me, i just said to him surely seeing boobs is nothing when you are going to see a baby come out of me. in the end he was fab and cried when we let him hold our son it was the first birth he had taken part in
the first time i had a sweep it was a male doctor as the doctor who was supposed to be seeing to me was busy, i was very uncomfortable with it and my oh had to leave the room as he said he didnt like it at all
My midwife in lanza when had Joe was male, bout 20 stone and 40 yrs plus and he was fantastic, I wudnt mind at all, as long as he wasnt gorg lol
I don’t see why it should be a problem, after ll he will have the same training as a female. There are more and more female midwives that don’t have any children who therefore have no experience on childbirth etc and are basically nursing textbook so why not ? It doesn’t make them any less qualified. the other point is tbh when your in the throws of labour it could be an alien delivering your baby and you wouldn’t care less haha xxx
These comments are lovely, it’s nice to see positive comments for once. You see considerable opposition to male midwives online but in actual practise, its very rare for our care to be denied based purely on our gender, and usually there is a substantial reason… such as a past of sexual abuse or religious/cultural reasons.
It wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference to me. They’re a trained professional. At the end of the day all that’s important is safety of mum and baby.
I cant see a male midwife being a problem. they’ve all been trained to the same standards, and know what does on during pregnancy and birth. tbh its nice to see a man that doesnt think the whole carrying a baby is a woman’s job!
i had female midwives and a male dr i wasnt progressing and he came in a number of times to ‘check me’ he was fab and i didn’t care who had there arm up there as long if me and my baby was ok he ended up doing my c section and he was fab really encouraging and even took the time after to congratulate me and to give me the answers why i had to have one he was ace and i was very proud the fact he had decided to work in the maternity unit as to somewhere else x
Thinking about it now I wouldn’t be happy about it, but then again when in labour I think I’d have anyone who knows what they are doing to be there and just do it lol as long as me and baby are okay I don’t think I’d be too fussed x
Personally no, i didn’t mind the trainee anesthetist or the male doctors… but i think midwifes should be women! Its less embarrassing, a lot of them have been through it before themselves and understand the dignity factor! x
I can’t say whether it would or wouldn’t bother me as I’ve not been in the situation but i had loads of male docs examine me before my emergency c section so was kinda the same thing and it was to get my baby out safe so I wasn’t bothered x
I wouldnt be bothered by a male midwife…. just as long as he wasnt a fittie coz then id be self concious hah x
Would’nt bother me at all tbh. doesnt matter their sex aslong as they do their job properly x
i had a male midwife while in labour with Lewis , and to b honest he was fab n i found him the best midewife out of all 3 of my labours , he even thanked me as i left the ward for doing a good job n i was like. omg its u that I should b thanking not the other way round xx
No it wouldn’t bother me at all. They are all here to help. Not like a man has never seen my nuun before so it really wouldn’t bother me. X
I had a male midwife and it didn’t bother me at all xx
I wouldn’t mind at all if a male midwife delivered my baby!! surely he can do just as good a job as a female midwife x
I had a male midwife, I wasn’t bothered just wanted baby out lol x
i dont no i think i would prefer a female but then again i wouldnt say no to a male when in labour i wouldnt give a crap who got it out lol xx
if he was doin his job properly then no i wudnt mind at all
no i wuddnt mind just aslong as my baby arrived safely
Aslong as he knows what hes doing and my baby and me are safe then i wouldnt care if he was a octopus! lol x
tbf i’ve had worse ppl poking round down there
I guess the concept will always take anybody by surprise. No one really expects a male midwife, but I guess it all depends of what part of the world you live in. While it may seem weird for the U.S., it may be common in other countries… No idea where exactly, but either way as long as he has the same education as a women midwife, I would trust him in the same manner I would trust a women with my child to be born.
Aslong as my baby was looked after then why not? they all have the same training xx
Noooo thankyou. Lol. I just about let a male doctor touch my belly or me, I won’t let them examine me or anything. I feel very uncomfortable with it and freaks me out. I wouldn’t let a male midwife take care of me by choice no way, sorry but that’s just how I feel x
I get that they’re just as qualified as a female midwife and are probably just as lovely too, just not for me x
It wouldn’t bother me, they did all the trainning so they ant no diff to female nurse’s xx
As long as they help they can be any sex they want