Birth in Irish CultureELIZABETH P. MOORE

MIDWIFERY SCIENCE I

Early Practitioners◦ In some of the earliest recorded times in what became Ireland, women were acknowledged as being

able to contribute much to the society of her Tuath, or local community.

◦ Women were able to practice as the physicians of the time, which were known as Banliaig Tuaithe.

◦ These “women physicians” were more likely to be involved in midwifery and long term care of the ill, more like modern nursing.

◦ These skills were valued by their society, and gave them an identity apart from those of a daughter or wife.

BRIGHID

Goddesses◦ As in many early cultures, the Irish had a large amount of deities, who were all looked to for guidance in

particular daily deeds or difficulties.

◦ These gods and goddesses were all part of a group known as the Tuatha de Danann.

◦ Brighid is the most well known of the healing goddesses, but there is mention of several others, including one known as Airmid, thought to be an herbal healer, and a member of a family of healing gods.

◦ Brighid later became the Christian Saint Bridget.

Superstitions and Folklore

Some of these …

Oatmeal was given to the mother when the baby had been born, a piece of iron or a cinder (aingeal) concealed in the baby's dress; the tongs placed across the cradle; unsalted butter was placed in the baby's mouth; or a red ribbon was tied across the cradle

A pregnant woman shouldn't enter a graveyard in case she twisted her foot on a grave, then the child would be born with a clubfoot (cam reilge)

.

One did not speak well of a newborn, as the fairies might come to claim it.

My personal favorite, since my birthday just happens to be May first is:

Animals or humans born on May Day were said to be assured of good luck.

Catholic Ireland

Religion Ireland is a Catholic country and this religion is most definitely a factor in reproductive healthcare. Families were encouraged to have as many children as possible. Since this is a small country, large families became difficult as farmers ran out of land. This helped lead to emigration, along with the potato famine.

From 1935-1978 it was illegal to purchase contraceptives by normal means in the Republic, although it was legal to have them. This legal loophole for all attempts and purposes made birth control unavailable for most citizens.

The Health (Family Planning) Act of 1985 made these products available at pharmacists’.

Abortion remains illegal here. Controversy lay in the matter of what constitutes a true matter of saving the mother’s life, which is the only instance in which the loss of fetal life is legally allowed.

Recent controversy over the death of a pregnant woman, who many believe might have been saved by medical care she was denied due to possible harm to her unborn child, has brought this subject to world-wide news.

Sad Facts Since Ireland is a Catholic country. It is somewhat difficult to determine exactly who is responsible for some past atrocities; The government, the religion, both, or neither?

One particularly nasty bit of history is the infamous Magdalene Laundry.

Girls and women with sometimes only suspected sexual activity outside of marriage, or who were unmarried and pregnant were sent to religious order ran industrial laundries. Many women died there, never again being free, having worked in virtual slavery. The babies born there were adopted without the mother’s permission. By the time the laundries closed in 1996, it is believed over 300,000 women were imprisoned there by the Sisters of Mercy.

For more than sixty years, a brutal procedure was used on birthing women in Ireland. Symphysiotomy cracked open the laboring woman’s pelvis, and was almost always done without her consent. This procedure was done up until the 1990s, and some believe it was done instead of a cesarean section which some considered to be a form of birth control.

British model of Midwifery

Ireland was apart of the United Kingdom until it was declared a Republic in 1922 after years of bloody revolt. It is not surprising, then, that it has supported midwifery care for women when part of the UK, and till this day.

Midwives would do many of the births in Ireland at home, with the help and support of doctors.

When any complication, that could not be handled at home arose, the midwife could send for the ambulance, and the woman and her infant could be transported to the local maternity hospital for advanced care.

Much of Ireland is and was rural, and midwives and doctors worked together to make maternity care available to all families.

.

Modern Irish Midwives

Midwifery Training Today’s Irish midwives must be accepted into a University program for training.

Candidates must have successfully completed a secondary school education, and have passed several different exams in order to even apply for acceptance.

Midwives may enter was is considered to be a Direct Entry path, which is four years of a college level program, or may finish a nursing degree and then go on to further specialized studies in midwifery.

A great majority of Irish midwives work in a hospital setting in Ireland today.

In order to be allowed to work in a homebirth setting, more training is required of Irish midwives than the normal schooling.

Difficulties Although most Irish citizens would agree that “ midwives are the backbone of maternity care in Ireland”, they continue to fight for development of better services for those they serve.

The midwives powers are limited by the government Health Boards, which are dominated by doctors.

Midwives do not have their own governing body, but are represented under the Nursing Board

Hospital Birth

As in most of the industrialized world, most births in Ireland occur in hospitals today.

Every woman in Ireland is able to receive obstetrical and/or midwifery care by either private insurance or through Ireland’s public health care system, the Health Service Executive. These services are available dependent on residency and financial ability.

Irish hospitals generally only allow one support person in with the laboring woman. This is usually the father.

Doulas are being recognized more and more in Ireland, but many hospitals will make the doula and the mother’s support person in one at a time, which many mothers find frustrating.

Birth Supporters

As with many countries, families in Ireland are not content with the easily available choices for birthing site and/or attendant. Many wish to see midwives work more autonomously, and have homebirth be more available for all mothers who qualify as healthy and low-risk.

Several groups have begun to give them a voice towards change.

These include:

Informed Birth Ireland http://informedbirthireland.com/prenatal.htm and

HomeBirth Association of Ireland http://www.homebirth.ie/

“The HBA lobbies and makes submissions to the relevant authorities, urging them to provide more information on home birth, to reintroduce practical domiciliary midwifery and to integrate nationwide domiciliary care into the maternity services”

Homebirth providers A few limited home birth services are provided by hospitals in Ireland.

The majority of homebirth families are served by Self Employed Community Midwives. These midwives with several years more training gained after their initial education. They are registered with the government Health Service Executive, but are self-employed.

Most of the 200 homebirths yearly in Ireland are attended by these practitioners.

Breastfeeding

Sadly, although the government has made it beneficial for women to breastfeed, with laws to protect the mother’s need to have special concessions at work in order to continue successfully, less than 50% of Irish women are breastfeeding when they leave the hospital.

Birth in the First World In researching this topic, it became obvious that many of the difficulties faced by birthing families were similar no matter where they were in the industrialized world.

Sadly, midwives must continually stay on top of legislation, and fight as advocates for birthing women and their families.

References Ireland.net http://www.from-ireland.net/custom.php?id=1

The Triads of Ireland, Todd Lecture Series vol XIII, Kuno Meyer, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 1906

Irish Birth Myths http://www.from-ireland.net/custom.php?id=1

Birth Petition http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103342

HomeBirth Association of Ireland http://www.homebirth.ie/

The Irish Nursing Board http://www.nursingboard.ie/en/homepage.aspx

Irish Home Birth http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=18045

Ireland: No Country for Pregnant Women Association for Improvements in Maternity Services http://nocountryforpregnantwomen.blogspot.com/2013/03/realise-your-rights-birth-of-aimsi.html?spref=fb

Woman Condemns Barbaric Procedure http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/woman-condemns-barbaric-procedure-29177072.html

References Informed Birth Ireland http://informedbirthireland.com/prenatal.htm

http://www.rcm.org.uk/midwives/features/the-midwives-act-1902-an-historical-landmark/

http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/what.htm

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/after_your_baby_is_born/breastfeeding.html

Cuidiu Irish Childhood Trust http://www.cuidiu-ict.ie/

http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/victoria-white/the-birth-industry-makes-pregnant-women-passive-and-powerless-226019.html

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/woman-condemns-barbaric-procedure-29177072.html