Working with the Mennonite?

[JoyNChrist]

Can anybody give me some information about their experiences working with Mennonite women and families?

I am seriously considering entering midwifery school in the fall. I am in Louisiana, which has a very low percentage of midwife-attended births, so I forsee that at first, I would not have many clients and may have to work very hard to educate the public in order to build a practice. However, we do live near a very large Mennonite population, and I think that may be an area in which I could ideally serve.

I don't have much contact with the Mennonite women right now, but there is a Mennonite-owned fishing pond that my husband and I often visit and I've spent some time talking with the owner's wife. From what I understand, most of the women labor at home as long as possible, then go to the hospital to deliver because there are no midwives in their community. Some women do choose UC, but apparently a baby died a couple years ago and it scared some women back to the hospital.

This seems like something I could certainly help with if I decide to pursue midwifery training. I'm wondering if you could share any experiences working with the Mennonite, and also wonder how I could contact them to see if midwife services would be something they were interested in.

TIA!

[Maggi315]

I work alot with the mennonite and amish, about 75% of my clients probably. If you decide to work with them as a midwife, you probably just need to leave your cards around at the stores they frequent. Sometimes it's hard for them to trust outsiders, you need to be respective of some of their beliefs that may be much different than your own, dress conservatively (no visible tattoos, piercings, weird hair colorings or styles, wear long skirts, no advocacy type shirts or bumper stickers, that kind of thing). They also tend to not want children at their prenatals or births (although not all, just depends, but most).

I love working with them, they love their children, tend to take care of themselves, follow my suggestions, are down to earth, work hard, etc.

You can pm me ifyou want for more info.