Becoming a Midwife

[WifeofAnt]

I was looking for a midwife in Michigan for #2 (not pregnant yet!) and ran across the Michigan School of Traditional Midwifery.  I thought about becoming a midwife before I met my DH but at the time the only school I knew of was in Florida.

So... what are the steps in becoming a midwife?  Spell all the acronyms out for me like I'm a total noob.

THANK YOU!

(and if you don't like or don't know much about the MSTM, please feel free to plug in your favorite school)

[JamieCatheryn]

Midwives are usually either CNM (certified nurse midwives) or DEM (direct entry midwives), many DEM's get certified by the NARM (north american registry of midwives) as CPM's (certified professional midwives). Some go to schools others do distance ed, others some workshops or classes and mainly just study under their preceptor (midwife they apprentice under), all do apprenticeships and/or internships. Anatomy and Physiology undergraduate classes and often first aid CPR are usually pre-requisites before starting. Some states really only license DEM's who have gone to schools with certain accreditation so that can factor in to the choice. Becoming a CPM is more flexible as long as you get the training and experience there are many ways to it.

[phathui5]

Have you checked out the Birth Professionals forums here?

www.midwiferytoday.com is a fantastic resource. If you can swing it, they have a conference coming up in April in PA. I'm planning to scrape and save to pay for it. I was able to go to last year's conference and it was amazing.