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Vignette: A look into two of the birthing rooms.

The atmosphere in the birthing room during one observation was very intense, but still calm and filled with trust. The birthing woman was sitting like a queen in her bed; she had strong contractions and inhaled Entonox with silent breaths. Her mother and sister were there, holding her hands. The midwife was present at her side, occasionally listening to the baby’s heart by using a Pinard. She later described the ward as being very hectic that day, but in this room it was calm. When the researcher informed the woman that the study concerned midwives’ care, she said with a big smile that her midwife was wonderful: “You must pass her with distinction. She was breathing with me, and that made me calm”. ***** In another room, a multiparous woman had very painful contractions. The situation seemed rather chaotic, but the young midwife was calm and appeared to be in control. The woman lay in the bed, connected to a CTG monitor through a wire, and inhaled Entonox heavily. She screamed occasionally, but listened to the midwife. Her husband was at her side holding her hand, looking worried. The midwife had a plastic smock on and all the birthing utensils ready at a table. She urged the woman to try to relax and listen to her. While observing the CTG and the woman’s genitals, she asked the auxiliary nurse to call for the assisting midwife to hand her oxytocin. After a short while the baby’s head crowned. The midwife held her hands on the baby’s head and the woman’s perineum, and her face turned slightly red because of the effort. The baby was born, but didn’t cry immediately. The midwife put her hand on the baby’s chest and said everything was fine. She wiped the baby dry, soon he cried and the mother and father looked very happy. Within the next few minutes the midwife had taken care of the following duties: she took a blood test from the umbilical cord before cutting it, placed the baby onto the mother’s chest, checked the woman’s uterus by placing a hand on the abdomen, gave an injection with oxytocin, helped the placenta out, checked that the placenta was complete, and thereafter examined the woman’s genitals for possible tears. The midwife was focused and worked very quickly, but respectfully by sometimes apologising for disturbing the woman.