“The birthing experience is unlike any other in a woman’s life.  Years after her baby arrives, she remembers the months before birth and the minutes after as though they happened yesterday.  Just ask anyone who has shared in the stories of her mother or grandmother, sister or friend.  If a baby is in your future, chances are you are already thinking about the birth experience.  Choosing a nurse-midwife for your prenatal care and delivery is one way to assure this time is memorable for all the fright reasons.”  This quote is straight from the NOCH website regarding their midwifery services. 

By denying the right of the women in the community to choose what type of birth they want to experience the hospital has caused this community to revolt!  We will not just quietly stand by and let them remove this vital service for the families and future families of the Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg and surrounding areas.  We deserve answers and we deserve the right to choose our birth experiences. 

We are not going to “bash” doctors and especially not the ones that currently serve our community.  We need and respect them.  However, we also know that doctors are not always the best option for every pregnancy and every woman.  It has been shown time and time again that cesarean section, epidural, forceps and vacuum rates decrease when a midwife is present to manage the birthing experience.  Does this cut down on the amount of income that the hospital receives from a birth?  Yes it does.  Does that mean that we should stop using midwives?  No it does not!  Birthing is a natural process that the female body is made for.  Why are we always trying to medicalize birth?  Child birth is NOT a medical procedure!  We need to stop treating it as such.  By discontinuing the midwifery service at NOCH, the hospital administrators are telling the community that our birthing experiences do not matter to them, but our money does. 

Please take the time to support our petition to keep the midwifery service open at NOCH.  You may not have used a midwife or have any intention of doing so but we can all agree that if we allow the hospital to start taking our choices away on this matter that they will do it with other matters as well. 

Thank you to each and every one of our supporters and please take the time to check us out on Facebook as well for updated information about our cause.  Our Facebook group is called: Support NOCH midwives.