When Sharon Drees, the Latonia-based mother of four daughters ““ ages 5, 3, 1 and 3 weeks ““ decided she wanted to have natural childbirths for her babies’ deliveries, she chose to see a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) for her care.
“I wanted someone to be there with me the entire time I was laboring, to coach me through,” she said.
Once she started seeing the midwives of St. Elizabeth Physicians during her office visits, though, Drees realized labor coaching was just one of the many benefits midwives provide.
What They Do
Certified nurse midwives are master’s degree-prepared, board-certified nurses who specialize in well-women care, pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum newborn care.
What They Don’t Do
They don’t ride around on horseback or deliver babies in the woods, said Christy Ganshirt, a CNM with St. Elizabeth, as some people believe.
Another misconception: Midwives don’t only see women when they’re pregnant. Their patients run the age gamut from 12 to 100. And midwives can prescribe medicine, the same medications their physician counterparts can prescribe.
So, What’s the Difference?
Although midwives work together with physicians in their practice, they offer a different approach to care.
They usually aren’t equipped to treat high-risk patients and, instead, send high-risk patients to a physician to receive the necessary care, but they are experts on providing care for a healthy woman’s spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being.
In fact, they often spend time with patients during an office visit just talking about how things are going at home.
“It’s a more holistic way of focusing on health,” said Lisa Downton, a CNM with St. Elizabeth.
Midwives believe that pregnancy is a time of wellness and, although they will support women who choose to have an epidural, they encourage low intervention during childbirth when it comes to medications and monitoring, focusing instead on natural tools to promote labor, such as birthing balls, walking or sitting in a tub.
They do deliver babies at the hospital, though, so if something goes wrong, the technology and physicians are close by.
Another difference between midwives and physicians is that a midwife will arrive at the hospital at the same time you do, so he or she is there to coach you through the birthing process.
Because of their belief in low intervention, Ganshirt said, midwives actually are more cost-effective than physicians, adding that midwives’ C-section rates are about a third of the national average.
And midwives provide options.
After educating their patients on available choices, midwives strive to put the decision-making into the patient’s hands.
In the case of a pregnant patient, “It’s ultimately their baby, their body and their responsibility,” Ganshirt said.
Is a Midwife Right for You?
Choosing between a midwife and a physician isn’t unlike other choices people have to make in their everyday lives, Ganshirt said.
“Customers are becoming savvier, and they do have choices,” she said. “They can either choose the option where they go in, have their exam and very little time for questions and answers, or they can choose the option with a provider who will do all of those things but also listen to them.”
For Drees, that midwife difference has been important.
“As a patient, I’ve always felt very valued,” she said. “The personal care you receive throughout the entire process is second to none. I would recommend a midwife to anyone.”
