Why would I choose midwifery care over hospital / physician care?
Midwifery care provides care that is professional, health based, supportive of you as a healthy, young woman who is undergoing a normal, yet miraculous, life event and is proven to be just as effective in delivering healthy babies as the hospital in low risk pregnancies. If conditions present themselves that puts the mother at higher risk, the midwife is trained to recognize those conditions and consult or transfer for further care. Even if the mother needs to transfer care, the midwife remains with her to be her support, friend, advisor, and doula. Usually, no transfer is needed and the mother and father enjoy a much healthier and relaxed birth in the comfort of their own home or a home-like birthing center. Midwifery care is based upon a firm belief that birth is a normal life event that is designed to work beautifully when allowed to work as it should without unnecessary interventions that actually bring risks to birth and cause more problems for the mother and baby.
New mothers are often surprised to learn that physicians normally do not attend them during labor except for very brief checks and then appear briefly when the baby is about to deliver. Midwifery care is present, supporting and evaluating the mother and baby's health throughout the labor and birth.
Midwives support the normal design of your body to give birth. Many obstetrical practices routinely perform inductions before the mother's body is ready to deliver and readily perform cesarean surgeries. Today's cesarean section rate is 33% although the World Health Organization has stated that a healthy rate of cesarean surgery should not be over 15%. Midwives routinely deliver healthy mothers and babies with cesarean rates less than 10%.
What is the Licensed Midwife's training?
Licensed Midwives complete an approved training that covers all aspects of pregnancy and birth that fully prepares them for supporting normal pregnancy & birth and recognizing the abnormal signs that would signify the need for further consultation or referral. Licensed Midwives serve a clinical training period (apprenticeship) with other Licensed Midwives to learn the practical skills of birth and put the textbook study to the test. Licensed Midwives usually spend
3-4 years in study and apprenticeship before applying for licensing with SC DHEC.
Licensing in SC involves completion of the North American Registry of Midwives exam. South Carolina candidates have shown that their training has been exemplary by the high percentages of candidates that have successfully passed this exam in the years since its implementation.
Once licensed, midwives must continue training in contemporary issues regarding pregnancy and birth. Licensed Midwives also maintain certification in Neonatal Heart Resuscitation and CPR. Licensed Midwives also participate in peer review to learn from others and to hold themselves accountable to good midwifery practice. Midwifery is a lifelong education for the midwife.
How do I begin?
Schedule an introductory meeting with Susan and meet to discuss your birth desires. You may also meet at the birth center of your choice to have a tour of the birthing center. Once you have met and discussed your birth, a meeting will be scheduled to review your medical history and to start your prenatal care. Information will also be given regarding other care providers and resources in the community to help you have the safest, most informed pregnancy possible.
If you have already begun care with another care provider, it is simple to have records forwarded from the previous care provider to Susan and we will begin care from that point with monthly visits to 32 weeks, biweekly visits to 36 weeks, and weekly visits to birth.
What do you do at prenatal visits?
Midwives do a lot of health teaching in areas of good nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and pregnancy and birth education so that problems are prevented before they even start. The prenatal exam will include all of the things that are checked at a normal doctor's visit except for labs and ultrasound which are arranged with other sources of care. We check blood pressure, the urine for protein and glucose, abdominal palpation for size and position of the baby, fundal height measurement, maternal weight gain, edema, and screen for abnormal signs of potential problems. Our visits are scheduled for an hour to fully evaluate your health and answer your questions. We keep you fully informed of our findings so that you are an active participant in your care. Vaginal exams are kept to a minimum as dilation checks are usually unnecessary unless preterm labor is a concern or the mother is going post dates.
How is birth different with a midwife?
You are encouraged to follow your body's leading to push your baby into the world. You are encouraged to use different positions so that your baby can be born the easiest. You are not given an episiotomy (a cut to the vaginal area) that has been proven unnecessary to birth a baby. You are encouraged to drink fluids, have support persons present, take pictures, and do those things that would make your birth meaningful for you. Your baby is given to you immediately after birth and you are not separated as we perform the necessary checks on you and your baby to see that you are both healthy. Fathers can participate in delivery if desired. You can deliver in bed (or elsewhere) or in water. It is your birth and we are there to help you!
What are the benefits of having a waterbirth?
Water has been called the midwife's epidural and is very effective in helping the mother to relax thereby making her birth easier and faster. Water can provide warmth and support to the vaginal tissues helping them stretch during the birth.
Studies have shown that water birth is safe for mother and baby. Most women really like the use of water and choose it again for subsequent births. If you do not like the water or if the lack of gravity in the water slows your labor, you simply get out!
Can I have a waterbirth at home?
A portable tub can be brought to your home. A new tub liner is used at each birth and we provide you instructions for filling the tub and the few extra supplies that would be beneficial to have on hand. Extra towels, a plastic tablecloth or other protective floor material, a portable space heater (or other source of heat) are needed for a waterbirth in addition to the birth kit that the parents order to provide all of the other sterile supplies used at a birth.
Who files the birth certificate?
We do the necessary paperwork at your postpartum visit to file the birth certificate information and give you instructions on how to get a copy after it has been processed by vital records. There is also the choice of receiving your child's social security number at the same time.
|