A lot has been written on midwives’ experience on women in labour, but there is little discussion on women’s experience at childbirth. Women fear giving birth in hospitals, due to mistreatment by health workers. Early 2011, the Minister for Public Health was reported in the local media to have wondered why women opted to deliver at home, despite hospitals offering delivery services. She suggested that research needs to be conducted to find out why few women were delivering in the hospitals. In a study conducted in Kisumu, majority of women though using Traditional Birth Attendant (TBAs) for delivery, acknowledged hospitals and skilled attendants as their preferred source of delivery care. This paper explores the experience of women at child birth with the midwife. The study was undertaken at Meru level 5 hospital using Exploratory/ Descriptive design. Post natal women who undergoing normal delivery were the target population. Purposive sampling was used to select fifteen participants from the post natal women who met the inclusion criteria for the study. Interviews were used to gather information from the participants, after which it was recorded with their consent. The following were the study findings; that some women in labour are physically and psychologically abused, they lack continuity of care, they are not prepared on what to expect during labour, they are never informed of findings after being examined, they do not establish a relationship with the caregivers, they feel that it is necessary to persevere despite the pain and finally it is fine to deliver while being watched by other women in labour. Despite those feelings, many of the participants said they were satisfied with the care received. There is need to adjust hospital policies to support the use of interventions proven to be of benefit to women during childbirth, and develop approaches that ensure changes in midwifery practice
Keywords: Antenatal Care, Hospital, Midwife, Postnatal Care, Traditional Birth Attendant.
