Tell me it doesn't matter that my past midwife won't give me a copy of her notes from my birth (i.e., my chart). I've been asking for a year and she just won't. She said she'd mail them, but didn't. I even gave her postage. Then several months later she said she'd bring them over, but didn't. I offered to come pick them up. I offered to come pick up the original, make a copy, and bring the original back. But no luck.
The midwife is not trying to keep anything from me. Nothing bad happened during my birth; there's nothing to hide. I suspect I'm just not important enough to bother with or waste the time on. And midwifery was not regulated in my jurisdiction when I gave birth, so presumably there would be no rule that a midwife must provide records to clients--so there's not much I can do about it.
It makes me kind of mad and sad -- being denied my chart seems like the opposite of the midwifery model of care. And I'd really like to know some of the stuff in there -- like how many zillion times did she Doppler me, and what was my blood pressure like, and did I have 2 vaginal exams or 3, and for how long was I having those follow-on double and triple contractions? I just want to know. My memory of the whole experience is rather fuzzy/outside time/selective and I'd just like to know what "really" happened, from someone else's perspective. I am definitely a birth junkie, and I wanna know all the details from my own birth too!
Nonetheless, at this point I know I'm never going to see those notes, and I need to accept it. So please tell me that it doesn't matter what is in those notes and that it wouldn't change anything or make my experience better. Tell me that the details I'm interested in don't matter. Tell me it's not worth feeling frustrated over.
The midwife is not trying to keep anything from me. Nothing bad happened during my birth; there's nothing to hide. I suspect I'm just not important enough to bother with or waste the time on. And midwifery was not regulated in my jurisdiction when I gave birth, so presumably there would be no rule that a midwife must provide records to clients--so there's not much I can do about it.
It makes me kind of mad and sad -- being denied my chart seems like the opposite of the midwifery model of care. And I'd really like to know some of the stuff in there -- like how many zillion times did she Doppler me, and what was my blood pressure like, and did I have 2 vaginal exams or 3, and for how long was I having those follow-on double and triple contractions? I just want to know. My memory of the whole experience is rather fuzzy/outside time/selective and I'd just like to know what "really" happened, from someone else's perspective. I am definitely a birth junkie, and I wanna know all the details from my own birth too!
Nonetheless, at this point I know I'm never going to see those notes, and I need to accept it. So please tell me that it doesn't matter what is in those notes and that it wouldn't change anything or make my experience better. Tell me that the details I'm interested in don't matter. Tell me it's not worth feeling frustrated over.
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