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Tradition

It’s Scotland again this weekend - this time in Glasgow. It is a country of contrasts - we have midwives in this group who work in very rural areas around Aberdeen where epidurals are unknown and we have midwives from as far away as Liverpool as well as local units. There is also one man - a “childbirth therapist” from Israel who is currently living in Denmark. It is the usual diverse group !

Scotland is the home of diamorphine - almost every woman is given this opiate during labour which means that almost every baby gets a dose of heroin before they are born! At the same time, there is a huge amount of money being spent to increase the rate if breastfeeding in Scotland, but until they come to grips with the opiates being given to babies in utero, I can’t help thinking that this is going to be an uphill battle.

As I write this in my hotel, I am watching on TV out of the corner of my eye - the Trooping of the Colour for the Queens Birthday. It is a magnificent display that underlines the enormous longevity of tradition in the UK - they have been doing things in the same way for hundreds of years. As I watch the soldiers on parade, about the only thing that has moved on are their weapons - they are carrying semi-automatic weapons these days instead of swords. Seems like an analogy for the state of maternity care where the foot soldiers (midwives) have moved on to working with epidurals! Of course the choice of weapons is always dictated from above.....

Posted by andrea at June 15, 2003 06:09 AM

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