Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Gillian Woodward.
Voice 2
And I’m Roger Basick. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Voice 1
You are a young woman living in the mountains of Kaokoland, Namibia. You are poor and pregnant. The nearest hospital is over an hour away. You cannot afford the hospital anyway. You are scared. You have never been pregnant. You do not know what to do. You are afraid you will lose your baby. You are scared you might die in childbirth. You have so many questions with no one to ask. What do you do? Who will help you? There is probably only one person who can help. She is called a midwife.
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is about midwives. We look at the different services they provide to pregnant women. We examine the debate surrounding midwifery. We talk about why some pregnant women prefer working with a midwife rather than a hospital. We discuss the rise in popularity of midwives.
Voice 1
The word “midwife” means “with woman.” Until about two hundred years ago, the person that was with a pregnant woman during birth was a midwife. Midwives are even mentioned in the book of Exodus in the Bible. They go to women’s homes and check on them during pregnancy. They deliver their babies. Midwives gained their knowledge through experience. They also learned from other midwives. They had limited formal training. They did not receive much, if any, pay.
Voice 2
When the professional medical community realized they could make money from childbirth, they took control. They said midwives did not know enough to deliver babies safely. All over the world, male doctors took over the practice of childbirth.
Voice 1
Male doctors replaced female midwives in the United States in the nineteenth century. By the 1960s, 97% of births in the United States occurred in hospitals.
Voice 2
But things began to change. The Women’s Liberation Movement became popular around the world from the 1960s to the 1980s. Women pushed for equal treatment and opportunities in areas like employment and family. Midwives started receiving formal training. Midwifery schools opened. Midwives started gaining more respect and trust.
Voice 1
Today, midwives in the United States handle over 430,000 births each year. In Germany, midwives attend 700,000 births a year. In England, midwives attend over 230,000 births a year.
Voice 2
There are many reasons why women are now choosing to use a midwife. One of the biggest reasons is control. Kay Lineweaver’s first baby was breech. Her baby’s buttocks or feet would come out first rather than the head. Lineweaver’s doctor would not allow her to give birth naturally. He made her have a cesarean section. He cut through Lineweaver’s stomach to deliver the baby.
Lineweaver said:
Voice 3
“The doctor would not even give me the option.”
Voice 1
Lineweaver said the birth process was like a bad dream. She did not feel like she was in control. For her second baby, she was determined to have a natural birth. But the doctor told her that the scar from her surgery could tear. A natural birth could damage her uterus. This could threaten her life or her baby’s life. No doctor at any hospital in her area would allow her to have a natural birth. So, she chose a midwife to deliver her baby. The midwife allowed Lineweaver to have a natural birth. Her child’s birth was easy and successful. In fact, Lineweaver said the environment was calmer than when she had her first child at the hospital. Lineweaver said:
Voice 3
“I am a big believer that how you are brought into this world helps shape the person that you become.”
Voice 2
By using a midwife, the mother can have her baby in the comfort of her own home. She gets more time with a midwife during her pregnancy. She may only get fifteen minutes with a doctor during a hospital visit. But she could get an hour with a midwife. During a midwife-assisted birth, she can have her entire family nearby. If she chooses, she can have a pool birth. This is when she stays in water during the delivery. This process can make birthing easier, calmer, and even less painful.
Voice 1
Some groups, like the Amish, prefer using midwives to deliver their babies. This special group of Christians tries to live simply and plainly. They farm for a living. They build their own houses and barns. They dress in traditional, dark clothes. The Amish do not use cars, electricity, or phones. They travel by horse and wagon. They work and marry within their communities.
Voice 2
The Amish believe that childbirth is a natural process. They think that labor should happen with as little medical care as possible. A midwife offers a woman more private, personal care than a hospital setting. The midwife can visit them on their farm. It is difficult for the Amish to travel back and forth to a hospital since they do not use cars.
Voice 1
The Amish do not have much money. Often, hospitals charge more than midwives. The Amish usually have large families with eight to twelve children. Using a hospital for each birth would be expensive.
Voice 2
Tracey Moore has worked as a midwife in Kentucky for over twenty years. She serves several Amish communities. She has attended 1,200 births. The Amish communities completely trust Moore. Some see her as part of their families. She gives them extra attention that a doctor would not have time to offer. She once cared for a woman named Laura who might have seemed rude to others because of how she answered questions. But Moore spent extra time with her. She got to know her. She noticed that Laura suffered from hearing difficulties. Moore helped Laura get hearing aids that changed her life.
Voice 1
Because Moore knows the Amish communities so well, she can suggest specific diet plans for each expectant mother. She knows what and how they farm. She can change her advice to make sure the mother gets enough vitamins during her pregnancy.
Voice 2
Moore went to see another Amish woman named Edith. While visiting her, Moore discovered that Edith’s daughter was severely anemic. She had a low number of red blood cells which challenged her oxygen supply. Moore recognized that the daughter needed extra care. Moore said:
Voice 4
“By bringing healthcare into the home and understanding their culture, I was able to fit my care to their actual needs. Midwifery carries the care to the client.”
Voice 1
Do you know someone who used a midwife to deliver their baby? Would you consider using a midwife rather than a hospital? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightrnglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Voice 2
The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No A.I., or artificial intelligence, was used in this program. Spotlight programs are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live. This program is called, “Call the Midwife.”
Voice 1
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
Question
Do you know someone who used a midwife to deliver their baby? Would you consider using a midwife rather than a hospital?
I am Severino Ramos. I am from Brazil and I live in São Paulo City.
Dear spotlight team, Roger Basick, Gillian Woodward, Peter Anderson, and Michio Ozaki
How are things with you?
Call the Midwife
First, I would like to thank you for bringing us that important and complex subject. Thanks!
Question 1 –
Do you know someone who used a midwife to deliver their baby?
Yes, I do.
Here in my country there are many women who prefer to give birth to their babies at home than at a hospital. Also, many of those women had not the choice to go to the hospital to give birth to their babies because they live a very faraway from the City and a hospital.
In addition, in the northeast and north of my country there are a lot of far communities that are very far from the town and a hospital. So, it is a very common actions the women to give birth their babies at their homes with their trust midwives.
Furthermore, some women have the condition to pay their childbirths at a shophisticated hospital to give birth their babies, but they prefer to give birth to their babies at home.
Why? Because many of them prefer their total private at that important moment of their lives. They are nearby a trust woman – midwife who were chosen by their to help them in that important moment, and a person who they know well.
Also, they are nearby their families such as their husband, mother, grandparents, friends, etc. It is the reason!
Question 2 –
Would you consider using a midwife rather than a hospital?
Yes, I would.
The most important is the trust that that mother has to the midwife, her comfort during that important moment of her life, the total private that she will feel, and together with her family such as her husband, her mother, her grandparents, true friends, etc.
However, the hospital has total condition to take care and to offer healthcare to that woman during her childbirth in case of health complications during her childbirth Like: Hemorrhage (severe bleeding.) It often occurs after the placenta is delivered if the uterus does not contract properly or due to tears.
Infection: Postpartum infection such as those a C. incision, the uterus or urinary tract. Good hygiene practices can help prevent them.
Hypertensive Disorders: like preeclampsia and eclampsia (high blood pressure). So, they can lead to strocke.
Obstructed labor and Dystocia: Often that happens due to the baby’s position and size.
Placental Problems: Issues like placenta previa.
And others health problems can occur during the childbirth.
Finally, it is very important to do a prenatal during the pregnacy with a doctor, and an obstetrician to looks after that woman who is pregnant. So, that important doctor will do blood test, ultrasound, etc to take care of that woman and her baby.
The last comment: Midwives are very important people to help women at labor of childbirths. So, they have to know each other very well before and during the mother’s pregnancy to avoid complications during the childbirth.
Furthermore, here in my country the Police are able to help women in case of childbirth in the streets or other places. Congratulations Brazilian Police!
Also, I have watched on TV screen when I am watching FORO TV N+ Mexico Television – Televisa news, many important actions on the Mexico streets, where a group of Police have helped some women to give birth of their babies on the streets, on a car, at a shop mall, etc. Also, in Mexico country, there are a lot of midwives. Congratulations Mexico’s Police for that important action. Congratulations Mexico’s midwives.
Thank you very much and stay with God.
My gratitude.
Severino Ramos
Thanks
Very useful lesson
You are welcome!
Hello,
No, I don’t know anyone who has used a midwife to have her baby.
When I have my baby, I went to the hospital. I didn’t even know that you could call a midwife and she would come to your home to help you give birth.
Now that I have this information- although I’m not going to have more children- I might consider the possibility of calling a midwife, but only if the baby were in the right position and nothing seemed likely to go wrong.
Yes I know
Yes I consider that from now
HELLO, My mother had 10 babies all of them had been birthed by midwives , 2 of them pasted away during birth
Christmas is approaching, with the sound of bagpipes, colorful lights, Christmas trees, and streets filled with cheering people. The joy of Christmas embraces children and adults alike, and for two thousand years, it has spanned the centuries with the same message of peace and hope. Best wishes to the Spotlight team and all its English students.
Thank you and best wishes to you, too!
HI, this is ebaa from the UAE
I’m pregrnant, currently 30 weeks, honestly I was thinking about my childbirth while I was reading the text and I never imagine I would use a midwife for that, absolutely I prefer hospitals and believe the staff thier will be fully quilified and well trained to deal with any emergency case might occure during delivery.
Actually I heavn’t heard about a woman who used a midwife for decades, but I saw an instagram blogger living in the US who used a midwife to deliver her 8 babies inside her barn and I was very shocked to see that for the first time
Thank you for this interesting topic.
When thinking about it, here in the Middle East we used to have many midwives in the past.
But with recent developments, I see that most people now give birth in hospitals instead of relying on midwives to deliver their babies.
Thank you.
I’m male but i can answer.
About first question,yes i know someone who used midwife and this person is my ahnt
About second question,No because in my opinion the hospital is more caring and safer.