Giving Birth With A Midwife: Myths Vs. Facts
Midwives have assisted and facilitated the births of billions of babies since the beginning of time. However, once the birth process became medicalized (not until the late 19th century!!!), the medical establishment downplayed the importance of midwife-centered care by advocating that the combination of anesthesia and “modern medicine” was better for the mother and baby.
5 Myths About Midwife-Assisted Labor & Deliveries
Fortunately, as the natural childbirth movement momentum grew in the 1960s, so did women’s interest in birthing with midwives, doulas, or even at home. Today, the research-based evidence is clear that not only are midwife-assisted births as safe (or safer) than an OB-assisted birth, mothers and babies tend to have better overall outcomes when we look at postpartum data - and that includes mothers who choose to labor at home - rather than in a hospital/birthing center - with a midwife.
For example, women who have midwives:
Tend to use fewer medical interventions during labor.
Are more satisfied with their prenatal, labor & delivery, and postpartum care.
Have lower rates of postpartum depression.
Use a midwife again for future pregnancies.
Even so, there is still a lingering social stigma around midwifery. Women who opt to use a midwife frequently receive questions, doubts, and even disdain from family members and friends. This can cause them to second-guess something that feels instinctively right to them.
I’ve worked with so many women who rave about midwives over the years that I want to spread the good word. And the best news is that because Western medicine recognizes the benefits of midwifery care, there’s no need to choose either/or. You can have both…
Myth 1: Having a midwife means you have to labor at home
Home births are definitely on the rise, but they aren’t the only way to enjoy the benefits of a midwife. Almost all of the labor/delivery rooms and birthing centers - in the Bay Area offer mothers the choice between an OB or a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM).
CNMs are registered nurses who’ve also gone on to pursue specialized midwifery training and certification. They work in partnership with OBs and private doulas to provide exceptional prenatal, labor/delivery, and postpartum care. So, there’s no need to choose. If you want to labor in a maternity ward or birthing center but know that midwifery care is the best option for you, limit where you go by places that offer certified nurse midwives.
Myth 2: Midwives have no formal education
Even before midwives could pursue a formal education, training, certification, or licensure of any kind, most midwives had a lifetime of life-based experience on their sides. Women serving as midwives always took their roles seriously and were typically apprenticed by a midwife for years before they delivered babies as midwives in their own right.
Today, midwives have access to ongoing education, training, and continuing education. There are several different “layers” of midwife licensing. Visit Midwife.org’s chart explaining the different types of midwife certification levels and related education/training. You should always choose a midwife with some certification level - and verify her registration online or with the certificate agency. Also, while hospitals only employ certified nurse midwives (CNMs), some CNMs also work as home birth midwives.
Myth 3: Using a midwife is really expensive
Fees vary from midwife to midwife. However, midwives charge exponentially less for their services than the typical hospital or birth center does. According to the Bay Area Home Birth Collective, the typical fees for a home birth assisted by a midwife range from $4000 to $6500 - and most PPO insurance companies pick up all or nearly all of that.
The typical cost of a hospital/birthing center birth is upwards of $18,000 - nearly $3000 of that tab is picked up by parents. So, in most cases, a midwife-assisted birth costs almost the same - or far less - for out-of-pocket payers.
Also, the midwife’s fee includes all of your prenatal visits, the labor/delivery, and at least six weeks of on-call postpartum care. That last piece is exceptional because the level of care a midwife (or doula) provides after your baby is born can feel lifesaving - supporting you through baby blues and recognizing signs of postpartum depression that might be missed otherwise. They are also automatic lactation consultants.
Myth 4: If anything goes wrong, there’s no doctor to handle it
The safety of the mother and baby is the top priority throughout pregnancy, labor, and delivery. So, many people fear that using a midwife means forgoing the security of a physician’s expertise.
First and foremost, midwives can handle all of the most common “risks” for newborns. They can unwrap cords from around the baby’s neck, provide oxygen to the mother or baby, stop hemorrhages, etc. Midwives have Doppler ultrasounds to monitor the baby’s heartbeat. Midwives are also the first to notice any sign that a delivery isn’t going as it should and accompany the mother to the hospital.
Certified nurse midwives assist births in clinical and birthing center environments where there are always OBs on-call. Again, it’s essential to go back to clinical findings that…“Midwifery clients experienced higher rates of spontaneous vaginal births, vaginal births after cesarean delivery and breastfeeding initiation, and lower rates of cesarean deliveries and instrumental births, with no increase in adverse neonatal outcomes.”
Myth 5: You can’t have pain medication if you use a midwife
It’s true that midwives and the women who choose them tend to prioritize natural, intervention-free options whenever possible. One of the reasons that women who have midwife-assisted births rely less on pain medications is that midwives provide continuous encouragement and physical and emotional support, and accommodate multiple position changes that provide relief. However, midwives also know that pain medication improves birth outcomes in many instances and are there to serve their clients.
If you choose to give birth in a hospital using a CNM, you’ll have access to all of the pain relief available to women who opt to use an OB. However, midwives who offer home birth services can provide significant pain relief to patients using Entonox (nitrous gas and air), pethidine, or diamorphine injections. All are legal, safe, and provide considerable pain relief.
Book Your Newborn Session With Lemonshoots & Tell Me About Your Midwife
One thing I know after almost a decade of taking photos of pregnant women and their precious newborns is that women who use midwives speak about them as “their heroes” and can’t imagine going through pregnancy, labor, or the postpartum period without them. Schedule your newborn session with Lemonshoots, and you’ll have lovely memories not only of your birth but of all the sweet first moments of your baby in this world.