Rankin Inlet Birthing Project: outcome of primipara deliveries.

Within the Rankin Inlet Birthing Project, primipara (first baby) prenatals were not offered midwifery-assisted, elective delivery because of the unknown outcome of an untried pelvis. No data of primipara outcomes of Canadian northern populations have been published to allow comparisons. Over 36% of the Rankin Inlet Birthing Project prenatal population were primipara. A review of primipara outcomes from November 1993 to December 1995 indicated that 19 (38.7%) of 49 primipara deliveries were complicated. However, 13 (68.4%) of the 19 were anticipated to be complicated and would have been referred to hospital for delivery. A complication was defined as anything which could not have been managed by midwives in an isolated community health center, e.g., pregnancy-induced hypertension, labor induction by artificial means, fourth degree tears, anything other than a spontaneous vaginal delivery, or any newborn requiring more than a minimum of resuscitative measures.