With a little bit of experience under my belt, I decided to do a little piece on giving birth in the North... maybe fits well on my one year anniversary in Smith? How things can change in a year!
It wasn't many months after moving to Fort Smith we became pregnant. I was ecstatic, but at the same time terrified – my first baby, so far from family and friends, no doctors, hours from civilization, and I was pushing 40. That's right -- no doctors. Well, no regular doctors -- we have what are called locums -- they are here for monthly shifts, but no one that is here on any consistent basis. And definitely no hospital, obstetricians or specialists. Instead, and quite possibly better, we do have two permanent midwives who run an amazing birthing centre. Most women choose to use this service.
For the actual birth, there are two options -- at the birthing centre here in town or at the hospital in Yellowknife. If I was still in Ottawa, I'm sure I would have planned to give birth in a hospital like most people. However, with the amazing birthing centre we have here, and after preparing with my midwife, I couldn't imagine giving birth anywhere but Smith. Of course this choice is not without risks -- if anything goes wrong you will be medevaced to Yellowknife, which can take 3 hours from the decision point, and usually without the father. Still, for a low risk pregnancy, which I had, we felt that the benefits of staying in town were much greater. Unfortunately, I was late and was required to go to Yellowknife anyways (this is a requirement as if a baby is beyond 10 days, as there is no induction or much room for interventions in Smith). As many of you know, I was a wreck -- I really didn't want to go, but there was no choice.
We were surprised to learn that a partner is not covered under medical travel. Luckily, Rob was able to come with me, but many other families are not as lucky. All women from isolated communities must go to Yellowknife to birth (having a birthing centre like we do is not the norm, in fact I don't think there are any others) -- usually two weeks before the due date. For many of these, it means over 2 weeks on their own in a strange city. And some of these women are very young and may have never even been to a city before. Even for me, the culture shock of going from a small community with care providers that you know and trust to a hospital setting with rotating doctors and nurses was difficult.
We were back in Fort Smith almost 24 hours after Bowan was born (unfortunately no pictures of us getting on the plane -- it was too cold, and we were too wired). And it was at that point that I realized that a midwife is so much more than prenatal care and delivery. Gisela, our midwife, was indispensable -- at our door any time of day we needed, always available to provide a reassuring word on the phone (she even returned a call from the grocery store phone one time!), got us over a critical nursing hump, helped stave off jaundice, and looked after me as well. I’m not sure we would have gotten through the first week without her (especially with no family here).
As I have learned, it was a long road for our midwives to become recognized and to get funded (for a number of years they worked for whatever people could afford -- usually this meant barter). There is excellent coverage about their story in the local paper, Slave River Journal. You need to enter the guest username and password -- both srj -- to read the article. It's a good article, really.
Someone also put together a great video about the Fort Smith birthing centre - its called Northern Birthing on YouTube. Added bonus in the video -- some footage of our town.
Finally, some pics of Gisela with Bowan.
It wasn't many months after moving to Fort Smith we became pregnant. I was ecstatic, but at the same time terrified – my first baby, so far from family and friends, no doctors, hours from civilization, and I was pushing 40. That's right -- no doctors. Well, no regular doctors -- we have what are called locums -- they are here for monthly shifts, but no one that is here on any consistent basis. And definitely no hospital, obstetricians or specialists. Instead, and quite possibly better, we do have two permanent midwives who run an amazing birthing centre. Most women choose to use this service.
For the actual birth, there are two options -- at the birthing centre here in town or at the hospital in Yellowknife. If I was still in Ottawa, I'm sure I would have planned to give birth in a hospital like most people. However, with the amazing birthing centre we have here, and after preparing with my midwife, I couldn't imagine giving birth anywhere but Smith. Of course this choice is not without risks -- if anything goes wrong you will be medevaced to Yellowknife, which can take 3 hours from the decision point, and usually without the father. Still, for a low risk pregnancy, which I had, we felt that the benefits of staying in town were much greater. Unfortunately, I was late and was required to go to Yellowknife anyways (this is a requirement as if a baby is beyond 10 days, as there is no induction or much room for interventions in Smith). As many of you know, I was a wreck -- I really didn't want to go, but there was no choice.
We were surprised to learn that a partner is not covered under medical travel. Luckily, Rob was able to come with me, but many other families are not as lucky. All women from isolated communities must go to Yellowknife to birth (having a birthing centre like we do is not the norm, in fact I don't think there are any others) -- usually two weeks before the due date. For many of these, it means over 2 weeks on their own in a strange city. And some of these women are very young and may have never even been to a city before. Even for me, the culture shock of going from a small community with care providers that you know and trust to a hospital setting with rotating doctors and nurses was difficult.
We were back in Fort Smith almost 24 hours after Bowan was born (unfortunately no pictures of us getting on the plane -- it was too cold, and we were too wired). And it was at that point that I realized that a midwife is so much more than prenatal care and delivery. Gisela, our midwife, was indispensable -- at our door any time of day we needed, always available to provide a reassuring word on the phone (she even returned a call from the grocery store phone one time!), got us over a critical nursing hump, helped stave off jaundice, and looked after me as well. I’m not sure we would have gotten through the first week without her (especially with no family here).
As I have learned, it was a long road for our midwives to become recognized and to get funded (for a number of years they worked for whatever people could afford -- usually this meant barter). There is excellent coverage about their story in the local paper, Slave River Journal. You need to enter the guest username and password -- both srj -- to read the article. It's a good article, really.
Someone also put together a great video about the Fort Smith birthing centre - its called Northern Birthing on YouTube. Added bonus in the video -- some footage of our town.
Finally, some pics of Gisela with Bowan.
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