MIDWIFERY CARE

The term midwife means “with woman.” Midwives have been attending births for centuries and are documented in ancient Greek and Roman texts. In today’s setting, certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) have degrees beginning with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and then a graduate degree (master’s/doctorate), followed by national certification and state license, allowing a CNM to practice as an advance registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) and CNM. CNMs provide women with care from your first period until after menopause, plus all of the important health events in between, such as: general health care services, annual gynecologic exams, family planning needs, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, care during teenage years, care for pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum period and menopause care.

Women choose to partner with a midwife for their pregnancy and birth because:

• Midwives are patient, watchful guardians of normal birth and practice judicious use of medical intervention

• National and global research indicates that women who choose a nurse-midwife have lower rates of induction of labor, cesarean section, and perineal trauma, as well as higher rates of breastfeeding

• Certified nurse-midwives have full medication prescription authority and order diagnostic procedures when medically indicated

• Prenatal appointments with midwives tend to be longer than those with physicians, and midwives tend to spend more time by a woman’s side in labor

CNMs work with other members of the health care team, such as physicians and nurses, to provide the highest quality collaborative care. To this end, we have a practice agreement with the obstetricians of IslandHealth Primary Care 24th Street and WhidbeyHealth Women’s Care and work closely with them when collaboration or referral is indicated.

We have a deep respect for a woman’s choice regarding where she wants to give birth. We have chosen to offer birth at multiple hospital locations to allow for the widest array of medical and pain relief options for women in labor (including epidurals and nitrous oxide), as well as in the comfort of your home for low-risk pregnancies.

We are working on a new birth setting option for 2025!

What is a midwife?- A downloadable PDF created by the American College of Nurse Midwives

Midwifery Scope of Practice- A downloadable PDF created by the American College of Nurse Midwives

Standards for the Practice of Midwifery- A downloadable PDF created by the American College of Nurse Midwives

HOW IT WORKS

When you choose Anacortes Midwifery Care, you will have your prenatal clinic appointments in the Anacortes office.

If your care includes childbirth:

• You may choose to attend a 22 week and/or 32 week group prenatal care appointment

• Miranda & Kelly attend birth at IslandHealth

• Miranda has privileges at both hospitals and is available for back-up care at WhidbeyHealth if for some reason a back-up hospital location is required

• If your pregnancy remains low risk and you desire a home birth on North Whibey or Fidalgo Islands, you can choose to see Kelly (the primary home birth midwife)

• If a homebirth is planned, your 36 week prenatal appointment will be in your home

MIDWIFERY NEWS

NPR- Does A Larger Role For Midwives Mean Better Care? (February 22, 2018)

The Washington Post- To lower maternal and infant mortality rates, we need more midwives. Far from being anti-science, studies show, midwives lead to a healthier childbirth process. (Jan 16, 2019)

Parentdata.org- How Midwives May Improve Birth Outcomes- A look into the details of midwifery for hospital births (June 24 , 2024)

UW News- Low-risk moms face fewer complications with midwives. “Greater integration of midwives into U.S. hospitals' maternity services could help reduce interventions in labor, a study showed.”

Cochrane Review- Midwife-led continuity models of care compared with other models of care for women during pregnancy, birth and early parenting. “This review suggests that women who received midwife-led continuity models of care were less likely to experience intervention and more likely to be satisfied with their care with at least comparable adverse outcomes for women or their infants than women who received other models of care.”

The Lancet- The power of midwifery (part of a midwifery series published in 2014)

PubMed.gov- “In low-risk pregnancies, midwifery care in labor was associated with decreased intervention, decreased cesarean and operative vaginal births, and, in multiparous women, an increased risk for shoulder dystocia. Greater integration of midwifery care into maternity services in the United States may reduce intervention in labor and potentially even cesarean delivery, in low-risk pregnancies.” -Souter V, Nethery E, Kopas ML, Wurz H, Sitcov K, Caughey AB. Comparison of Midwifery and Obstetric Care in Low-Risk Hospital Births. Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Nov;134(5):1056-1065. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000003521. PMID: 31599830.

PubMed.gov- “Among women with low-risk pregnancies, midwifery care was associated with substantially fewer preterm births and labor interventions.” -Loewenberg Weisband Y, Klebanoff M, Gallo MF, Shoben A, Norris AH. Birth Outcomes of Women Using a Midwife versus Women Using a Physician for Prenatal Care. J Midwifery Womens Health. 2018 Jul;63(4):399-409. doi: 10.1111/jmwh.12750. Epub 2018 Jun 26. PMID: 29944777.

The Commonwealth Fund- Women in the U.S. More Likely to Die in Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Postpartum Than Women in Other High-Income Nations. Study of Women’s Health and Health Care in 11 Nations Also Finds Major Workforce Shortage, Especially Too Few Midwives, Undermines Maternal Health in U.S.