"well trained" midwife

[sarahkristy]

What does this mean?

How do you know what constitutes a well trained midwife?


Would you mind bearing with me and read my midwives credentials?
This is the first one..
I therefore went on to earn a doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine as well as a Masters in Oriental Medicine from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, a six-year, nationally accredited medical school in Portland, Oregon. After obtaining these degrees in 2004, I received additional clinical training in natural childbirth and earned my certification in midwifery. Currently, I am licensed by the state of Vermont as an acupuncturist, and as a Naturopathic doctor with a special endorsement to practice midwifery.

In order to be licensed as a naturopathic midwife in state of Vermont, I had to show evidence that I: received over 200 hours of coursework in Naturopathic Obstetrics; took part and assisted in at least 50 natural childbirths under the direct supervision of a licensed Naturopathic doctor; passed the Naturopathic Obstetrics board exam administered by the American College of Naturopathic Obstetricians (ACNO); and hold a current cardiopulmonary resuscitation certificate for adults and newborns as well as neonatal resuscitation certification.

Naturopathic midwives are not necessarily licensed midwives (LM) or certified professional midwives (CPM) unless they chose to sit for an exam offered by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). Currently, I have chosen not to attain the LM or CPM licensure.

This is the second one.

I am a Certified Professional Midwife through North American Registry of Midwives and a Licensed Midwife in the state of Vermont and have been attending births since 1997. While pursuing my Bachelors of Art at the University of Oregon, I completed training as a birth doula through DONA (Doula’s of North America.) Working as a doula, I realized this to be my life’s work and began a three-year traditional midwifery program with renowned Granny midwife Clare Loprinzi CPM. Following the traditional midwifery program, I continued my training through an apprenticeship in a busy birth center in Portland, Oregon specializing in water births. During that time, I also volunteered with Doula Circle, a program that provided doula services for teen mothers, a commitment that I currently maintain by offering childbirth education and support to families. In 2006, I moved with my husband and two sons to Vermont where I joined the midwifery practice with my long time friend and colleague, Dr. Katina Martin. A member of both the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) and Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), I am certified in both cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adults and newborns and neonatal resuscitation.


Thanks everyone.

Are there other important questions I should be asking?





btw... sorry to be peppering the board lately with sporadic posts. but you are all very helpful to me in this decision!!!

[BeagleMommy]

I'd ask what sort of "equipment" each would bring to a birth. Oxygen? Pitocin?
This is not necessarily more is always better, but for me, it helped me to get a feel for midwives I interviewed.

Knowing that she carries O2, for example, but has only had to use it once in ten years, would be comforting.

What percentage of women wind up with transfers to hospital? Of that number, what number wind up with c-sections?

I know there must be other questions of import, but my baby is calling!

HTH!

BTW, they both sound very well trained!

[karen1968]

They both sound very well educated and qualified. (And funny that they both trained in Portland! We have a very strong birth/natural medicine community here.)

I would be curious about the number of attended births for each, esp. as primary.

I would ask for references - previous clients/patients that you can talk to and ask questions of.

If there is a specific situation(s) that worries or scares you, ask them about - have they ever encountered it? What would they do in such a situation and why?

I'm always curious about why/when a midwife would transport a patient to hospital.

There are a million other questions you can ask...I'm sure there's more than one thread on this board with a list of questions (one may even be stickied at the top of the forum).

Aside from that, it may very well come down to personality and how you relate to each midwife. Does her philosophy and comfort level jibe with your own? That's the best test of all, IMO.

[Lit Chick]

The second sounds WAY more qualified. The first is not LM or CPM... so... ??? And she's only attended around 50 births? She sounds like she took a lot of classes but maybe does not have a lot of experience.
The second has a lot more real world qualifications, as opposed to classroom.

That said, you need interview. The first might have a lot more actual experience, or you might really click with her.

One of the things that sold me on my midwives were that they are LM, CPM, and have spent years abroad in villages where midwives were the ONLY way to have a baby. So, they were exposed to complications that a US MW would not be (because we have OBs and hospitals). I did not like asking about the scary stuff, but I was really happy that they had seen not only low-risk moms but moms in some less-than-optimal conditions.

[lunarlady]

Both seem fairly well trained, so I would interview them to see if one is a better personality match, or if maybe one has experience dealing with complications that might apply to you, like shoulder dissocia, hemmorage, or breech presentation. Good luck!

[laughymama]

I was very, very nosy about experience with transfers. Why her clients had transferred and how she handled the situation at hand.

I also would ask about attending breech births, twins, shoulder dystocia, hemorrhage and "sticky" babies.

[vermontmom]

I had a homebirth almost exactly one year ago with these two midwives and I can highly recommend them. They are very experienced. Not only that, but because one of them is a naturopath as well as a midwife, we continue to visit their practice for family medical issues. It's a wonderful balance. Oh, and one other thing - because it's a naturopathic practice, Vermont health insurance companies reimburse at a higher rate for a homebirth than if it was a midwife-assisted birth. It's a weird loophole in the system that worked in our favor!

[karen1968]

Originally Posted by vermontmom

I had a homebirth almost exactly one year ago with these two midwives and I can highly recommend them.

I did not realize these were two midwives in the same practice! I thought the OP was trying to decide between the two!

From what I've read, I would have NO problem hiring these professionals to be my midwives (barring any personality conflicts, of course)

[cileag]

For me, I wanted to a midwife with at last 400 or more births under her belt---knowing that many things happen only .5-1% of the time, I wanted my midwife to have seen complications more than just once hopefully. I found one who stopped counting after 1200! Numbers is obviously not the only thing, but it was something I considered.

[BlackSheepPDX]

Originally Posted by Lit Chick

The second sounds WAY more qualified. The first is not LM or CPM... so... ??? And she's only attended around 50 births? She sounds like she took a lot of classes but maybe does not have a lot of experience.
The second has a lot more real world qualifications, as opposed to classroom.

That said, you need interview. The first might have a lot more actual experience, or you might really click with her.

One of the things that sold me on my midwives were that they are LM, CPM, and have spent years abroad in villages where midwives were the ONLY way to have a baby. So, they were exposed to complications that a US MW would not be (because we have OBs and hospitals). I did not like asking about the scary stuff, but I was really happy that they had seen not only low-risk moms but moms in some less-than-optimal conditions.

An ND is a physician. She's specifying that she had to attend 50 births to qualify for her specialization credential. Not that she's only attended 50 births. She has no need for a LM/CPM because technically, she has a higher ranking credential than that already.

To the OP: Both sound very qualified. The next step are the questions other posters have suggested about scenarios/practical responses, and just seeing if you feel like you have a good rapport with the pair of them.

[Defenestrator]

Almost everything I've learned that makes me a good midwife today, I learned after my official training was completed.

All midiwfery training is, by its nature, basic. By talking to midwives about the qualities of their work in the post-training period, you can get a sense of how they will use their skills to help you.

[sarahkristy]

Yes, I agree that they both sound qualified and I've had three or four appointments with them aready and I also really love their apprenctices. I just wasn't sure what to compare them to since I've never been to other homebirth midwives.

They have both said they each have over ten years experience delivering babies but I would be curious how many complications they have seen.

Vermontmom...that is SO reassuring. I'd love to talk to you more about your experience.

Overall, I'm a little smitten with both of them because they are so calm and kind and I feel that I would be very comforted by their presence at my birth. Very unlike the CNM group I had at the hospital with my first birth. I did end up getting the CNM that I liked the best for the actual delivery but she wasn't there the whole time.

I know I wouldn't personally feel comfortable birthing at home for twins or breech and I think breech is illegal to deliver at home in VT anyway. I'll have to ask them about maybe a surprise breech/twin delivery, etc. I'm pretty sure we're not having twins though. :-)


Thank you everyone... right now they kinda seem like a dynamic duo and wanted to make sure it wasn't too good to be true.

I'm getting so excited for my baby to get here! It's going to be a long 5 months or so.