Happy Memorial Day!

It's been a busy couple of weeks but I am taking a little time out to wish you all a Happy Memorial Day here in the states. Thank you to all our service men and women who have and continue to fight for our freedom every day. As I work myself crazy to finish this term I wish you all love, peace, and a safe return home soon to your loved ones if you are serving overseas.

All about midwives

So you've heard about a midwife but you're not quite sure who we are or what we do. This post is designed to answer some of those questions and provide you with links to more information describing the role of midwives. There is so many facets to midwifery and our role in birth and every single piece of information is not included here, but it is a general way for you to be able to learn more about midwives.

So what is a midwife? How are we trained? How are we different from physicians? If you've ever found yourself asking these questions fear not! I have some answers for you. Certified nurse midwives are

educated in both nursing and midwifery disciplines, earning graduate degrees and completing a midwifery education program through a school accredited by the ACME (Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education).  Following completion of such a program, a national certification exam given by the American Midwifery Certification Board (ACMB) must be passed in order to receive and practice under the title, CNM.  

What a midwife does 

Midwives differ from physicians in that we take a more "hands off" approach. Instead of trying to manage your body, we let your body do what comes natural. Take a look at this comparison on YouTube made by a pregnant woman: OB/GYN vs Midwife

Midwives practice in a variety of settings, including hospitals, private practices, birth centers, and within the home. 

Are midwives as safe as physicians?

That's a question I personally get a lot. Here are the facts:

he American Journal of Public Health published a statement that births attended by CNMs are as safe as those attended by physicians.

·         Women receiving care from physicians are three times more likely to receive an episiotomy and twice as likely to receive induction medications and/or cesarean sections than women being care for by midwives.

·         The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group found that midwife-led care is associated with several benefits for mothers and babies and had no adverse effects.

·         In matching study populations, midwives provide outcomes as safe as physicians with a lower rate of cesareans, use of oxytocin and epidurals as well as a lower rate of low birth weight infants. 

Another question I get is what is a birth center? 

Birth centers are home-like structure that may be free-standing, or located within an existing healthcare system, that offers care to low-risk women throughout pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Their program of care is based on the wellness ideology of pregnancy and birth being normal

·         Birth centers offer family-centered care of the healthy woman before, during, and after normal pregnancy, labor, and birth. Some of these facilities have their own laboratory services, offer child birth education, home visits, extra office visits if needed, and the initial newborn exams

·         Birth centers, through studies, have proven to have comparable intrapartum and neonatal mortality rates to those of low-risk hospital births. Birth centers are responsible for meeting regulations of the state in which they are located for licensure. These centers must follow stringent rules found in the National Standards for Birth Centers, through Continuous Quality Improvement Program for Birth Centers, and they must be accredited by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers.

Here in North Carolina, there are two birth centers, one in Chapel Hill and another in Statesville. 

Take a look around at these two wonderful birth centers!

Natural Beginnings Birth Center | Women's Birth & Wellness Center

Here are some great links to check out about midwifery:

I am a midwife

American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM)

American Association of Birth Centers (AABC)

My Best Birth

Why Chose a Midwife?

If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comments below!

Dude where is my degree!?!

Ok forgive my french but damn is school over yet? I'm on the verge of full on burn out mode. It could be the 9 hours of sleep I've gotten in the last 48 hours or the spring "itis" I've suddenly developed. It's way too nice to have all this work and studying to do! Surprisingly though I've managed to stay afloat this term and considering that we're halfway done with the spring term I consider that a major victory. Its an even bigger milestone to be passing all my classes and not have failed any exams.
For all of my non facebook friends this past week has been pretty awesome for me. Last week I finally heard back about the honor society and apparently I'm smart enough to join! :) And I've finally locked down my last preceptor. I'm very excited to be returning to the hospital where I first learned about midwifery and was trained as a doula. The midwife who has agreed to work with me is really sweet and the practice, schedule, teaching methods really agree with my personal philosophy on birth and my learning style. And if all that wasn't exciting enough, I turned 30 last Friday. Normally people aren't thrilled about crossing into the third decade but I've been looking forward to this birthday for the past year or so. I finally feel my actual age.
So anywho life continues. I'm working on my market research paper which involves surveying people in my community about their midwifery knowledge. I had hoped to do some in person surveying but it looks like that won't happen, so I'll have to settle for other methods. I'm hoping the local doctors will be open to helping me out and not making things too difficult. Intrapartum is probably my favorite class-difficult but I feel like I'm learning a lot. Definitely makes you think about how we treat women as they progress through labor and delivery.
Next week I register for my last term of formal classes. All advanced classes so I'll probably be bald by the end of that term, only to trek back to Kentucky for clinical bound which frankly, is scaring the hell out of me right now. Despite that horrible fear though I am excited to be completing this part of the journey and I'm looking forward to the next phase.