October 1st, 2012
Jenna Fischer
Dalia Dulia/ Fotolia
This article on the Boston Channel website looks into the increasing popularity of nurse-midwives after a period of decline.
For example, a woman named Carla Tonks decided to switch to a nurse-midwife program when she was pregnant with her first child seven years ago. She hadn’t been impressed with her experience with the ob-gyn, especially the long waits at his office that resulted in actually seeing the ob-gyn for only 10 minutes.
She switched over to a nurse-midwife program and was much happier. She moved away from Massachusetts and became pregnant with her second child, and this time sought out a nurse-midwife in North Carolina, her new location. This experience went well too, and she kept up the trend with her third child after she returned to Massachusetts. In the article she pronounces herself “very happy” with nurse-midwives, and appreciates that they can spend more time with mothers-to-be.
Midwives, which were the rule until the mid-20th Century, are becoming more popular again. According to a report by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, 11.3 percent of vaginal births and 7.6 percent of all births were attended by either certified nurse midwives (CNMs) or certified midwives (CMs) in 2009. The number has risen each year since 1989. Certified midwives are not nurses but have Master’s degrees.
Anna Jaques offers nurse-midwives. Either type provides care to women during pregnancy, labor and birth, as well as during the postpartum period. They typically handle low-risk pregnancies.
“We do all the check-ups, all the prenatal care,” says Walsh, one of five nurse-midwives on staff at Anna Jaques. “If a complication arises, we consult with the physicians. They are always on call. If the patient needs a C-section, the physicians take over. But we are still in the operating room.”
Tonks said she did develop high blood pressure during her most recent pregnancy, but she decided not to transfer to a doctor’s care.
“The nurse-midwives can take on a lot more than you think,” she says.
Another plus was that over the course of her pregnancy, Tonks developed close relationships with all the nurse-midwives at the hospital, so if Walsh, for some reason, was unavailable at the time of delivery, Tonks would still know the person performing the delivery in her stead.