is there a magic number?

[monarn]

I interviewed a homebirth midwife the other day and I liked her but my dh more than me was concerned about her experience, she has been a midwife for a little more than 2 years, and a doula/apprentice/assistant for the past 17 years, she has been to a ton of births but has been the primary for about 80 women.
So I am curious if you have a "magic number" of births you would want your midwife to attend.

[riaketty]

Our first midwife had only attended 3 births solo. It did make me doubt her a little, but honestly, they can't attend births if nobody lets them! I was pleased with her, but honestly, she has a lot to learn about being a professional (late for appointments, forgot things, etc.)

The midwife we have now is practically a goddess in this city. You mention midwives and everyone goes "Oh, her!". She's got a ton of births under her belt (at least 5-6 years, I think.) and she's a wonderful, supportive person. I'm excited to work with her.

[Full Heart]

I wonder if you interviewed my mw! She had only done 2 births since getting her license before taking me (she was also a doula for years before that). No magic number for me, its about the woman. I do have to say I did not have a good experience with some mws who had been practicing for years. They got burned out. They didn't care as much. Experience only goes so far.

[monarn]

Originally Posted by Full Heart

I wonder if you interviewed my mw! She had only done 2 births since getting her license before taking me (she was also a doula for years before that). No magic number for me, its about the woman. I do have to say I did not have a good experience with some mws who had been practicing for years. They got burned out. They didn't care as much. Experience only goes so far.

who was your midwife? or do you not want to say? I am in az too

[Belle]

Our midwives have attended about 400 births. We really loved them. But to tell the truth if we have another baby we might consider hiring the mw who was their apprentice at the time. We really clicked with her.

[library lady]

For me, I don't think there is a magic number in terms of births attended. The number that I am most interested in is transfer rate. How many of those births ended up in transfers? What are the reasons for transferring? If a midwife can't spout off the transfer rater and tell you why she typically transfers, then I don't want her. If a midwife has only attended two births and both ended in a transfer, then that is an automatic no. I am more about personality, overall philosophy, interventions, reasons for transferring, and reasons for discontinuing care.

[mommathea]

Originally Posted by monarn

I interviewed a homebirth midwife the other day and I liked her but my dh more than me was concerned about her experience, she has been a midwife for a little more than 2 years, and a doula/apprentice/assistant for the past 17 years, she has been to a ton of births but has been the primary for about 80 women.
So I am curious if you have a "magic number" of births you would want your midwife to attend.

It sounds like you interviewed my midwife.
It was totaly fine with me. Before becoming a midwife she was a paramedic, then an apprentice, assistant, did her training in a hospital where she saw and worked with complications. I completly trust her ability.

[1972momma]

My midwife is kind of a "star" in our community, too (a major metropolitan city). We hired her because of her reputation and, once we met her in person, her obvious competence and dedication.

She's been in private practice as a homebirth midwife for more than 10 years, so I actually never thought to ask her how many births she's attended, lol!

All of that said, personally I need someone very, very experienced to feel comfortable. Not everyone does. Let us know what you decide!

[slave2myprincess]

This is my first HB that i am trying to plan. And i don't think there is a magic number that i am looking for. My main concern is how many transfers and why ? What is her back up plan and what does she do in case of an emergency ? And also some other things will play into factor (personality and philosophy). I just want to be confident that by picking that particular midwife i will have a positive birth experience.

[Kim919]

I don't think there is a "magic" number... however when I interviewed my midwife I felt/feel a GREAT deal of respect & trust in her knowing she has delivered almost 900 babies. (and she limits herself to 4 due dates per month-so that figure was accumulated over a number of years-I think well over 30) Her backup midwife is much younger (i'm guessing 25ish) and while I really like her, I know I feel safer with the more experienced help. If you have more midwives to interview-go ahead. Pick the one you feel most confident in and ignore the number.

[StoriesInTheSoil]

I don't think there is a specific number that would make me more or less comfortable with a MW. I wanted specific answers to my questions though. I know a lot about birth and midwifery from my research and I had very specific things I was looking for when I asked each of the questions I asked in my initial interview and I think that my MW's HUGE amount of experience helped those answers to mesh with what I was looking for well.

Did that make sense? LOL

[Rockies5]

I didn't have a specific # either. I think my first homebirth birth was the first my mw attended as the primary. It was more about her and her heart and her inherent knowledge then anything else.

What I would suggest though, if that unless you really feel drawn that this is the right choice, to keep interviewing.

It may be that there is another reason that you are unsure about her, one you can't put your finger on yet.

goodluck!!

[srlpenny]

We just had our first homebirth and it was very important to my husband that we have a very experienced, licensed (having passed the CNM exam in NY) MW.
So we hired a great MW w/ 20+ years of experience, however if we have another baby I will definitely directly hire her assistant, a CPM, directly. I just clicked really well with her and since she's the only one who was at my birth anyways my dh is now completely cool with it.

[janasmama]

Originally Posted by library lady

For me, I don't think there is a magic number in terms of births attended. The number that I am most interested in is transfer rate. How many of those births ended up in transfers? What are the reasons for transferring? If a midwife can't spout off the transfer rater and tell you why she typically transfers, then I don't want her. If a midwife has only attended two births and both ended in a transfer, then that is an automatic no. I am more about personality, overall philosophy, interventions, reasons for transferring, and reasons for discontinuing care.

I agree that there isn't a magic number but if a mw has attended a small amount of births then there really isn't an accurate transfer rate so for a mw with only 80 births as primary caregiver, I wouldn't really expect a transfer rate.

I might ask her what reasons she has transferred for or what complications she has handled on her own.

Our mw with our second only had about 80 births but had attended a lot and used to be a paramedic. Our mw's with our first had hundreds of births if not thousands and I felt just as safe with our second mw.

[Arwyn]

I would want my midwife to have the equivalent of a CPM:

I. As an active participant, you must attend a minimum of 20 births.

II. Functioning in the role of primary midwife* under supervision, you must attend a minimum of an additional 20 births:

A. A minimum of 10 of the 20 births attended as primary under supervision must be in homes or other out-of-hospital settings; and

B. A minimum of 3 of the 20 births attended as primary under supervision must be with women for whom you have provided primary care during at least 4 prenatal visits, birth, newborn exam and 1 postpartum exam.

C. At least 10 of the 20 primary births must have occurred within three years of application submission.

III. Functioning in the role of primary midwife* under supervision, you must document:

A. 75 prenatal exams, including 20 initial exams;

B. 20 newborn exams; and

C. 40 postpartum exams.

If I were their first solo, or in their first year of soloing, I'd probably want to know she had backup/consultation with a more exprienced midwife.

[MommyMidwife]

I have helped catch babies for around 5 years. But I have only been a licensed midwife since November of 07.
My apprentice has helped catch babies for 14 years but she isn't a midwife yet...
I think it just depends on who you are comfortable with and if they can answer your questions and give you referrals and so on.
jeni

[library lady]

Originally Posted by janasmama

I agree that there isn't a magic number but if a mw has attended a small amount of births then there really isn't an accurate transfer rate so for a mw with only 80 births as primary caregiver, I wouldn't really expect a transfer rate.

I might ask her what reasons she has transferred for or what complications she has handled on her own.

Our mw with our second only had about 80 births but had attended a lot and used to be a paramedic. Our mw's with our first had hundreds of births if not thousands and I felt just as safe with our second mw.

Even with a small amount of births, they should be able to tell you why they would transfer and still be able to answer your questions directly. I interviewed a midwife at a birthing center and when I asked about the transfer rate, she wouldn't give me a straight answer. All she would tell me is that she didn't like to give up patients.


When I asked her reasons for transferring, she again skirted the question. This is a birthing center and they have problem done thousands of births. She should have been able to give an approximation at the very least. She could have given an example of her most recent transfer. I don't care how many births you have attended. If you can't answer all of my questions directly, then I do not want you as my care provider. The things that are important vary from person to person. I created a huge list of things that were important to me when interviewing the midwife and I had to have satisfactory answers to those questions/concerns.