Doing midwifery between different belief systems

interventions in Norway. These changes have resulted in new ways of framing birth from: a normal woman's Life experience to a medical event. Caring for the birthing mother in a modern centralised ward, take place between two different belief- systems: a biomedical and a phenomenological. A phenomenological account of seven midwives' descriptions of skilled midwifery in a Norwegian high-technology tabour ward was carried out. The focus was on how skilled midwives experience their daily work between a biomedical and a phenomenological belief system. Three themes were identified: (1) sensing where the woman is in tabour, (2) being available for but not overbearing to the women and (3) being in a room of struggle. The findings are discussed from the perspective of being between these two belief-systems, with special focus on wise midwifery judgement as a way of managing the struggle. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.