Your pregnancy, Your choices!
Guidelines for Hospitals
Each hospital has guidelines, or policies and procedures specific to maternity. Every single one of these has the words informed and consent. This means that nothing should occur without you knowing the pros and cons of each recommendation and that you should have options including saying no. While we do not have links to the local hospital you can find information online from Canterbury and Auckland. Please ask you LMC midwife if you would like a copy of the Southland Hospital guideline relevant to your individual situation.
Podcasts
There are many great podcasts with evidence based care, this may vary from hospital guidelines and policies. Maternity care is not a one sized fits all system, and just because there is a test, scan or recommendation based on a policy it does not mean that you have to say yes. What it does mean is that you need to know your options, the benefits and the risks that may occur and what you would like to do for your pregnancy.
Some useful podcasts are The Midwives Cauldron, The Great Birth Rebellion
Helpful Apps to Download
- BadgerNotes
- Mama Aroha
Referral Guidelines
These guidelines provide health practitioners with a list of conditions and recommended criteria about referring pregnant, birthing and postnatal women/people and babies for consultations with other clinicians, transferring clinical responsibility for care to specialists as well as transferring care in emergencies. It is very important to understand that guidelines are not law, they are recommendations for care levels with advisory information to make an informed decision and to give informed consent.