Choosing a Midwife: What You Need to Know

• What is your education background?
• Are your services covered by my insurance?
• Where do you attend births? In the hospital? Birth center? Home?
• Who will you consult with if I have complications during my care with you?
• What is your rate of intervention during birth, such as for c-sections or inductions?
• What techniques do you offer to support women who want natural childbirth?
• Are pain medications an option? If so, what are they? Are epidurals an option?

These are just a few questions to consider. A new education initiative, Our Moment of Truth: A New Understanding of Midwifery Care, provides additional recommendations on questions to ask your potential health care or maternity care provider. Visit http://ourmomentoftruth.midwife.org/Choose-a-Midwife for questions to add to your list.

9. Can midwives work in hospitals?
A common myth that the Our Moment of Truth initiative aims to set straight is that midwives only deliver babies at home. The truth is that because many women who choose a midwife for their care wish to deliver their babies in a hospital, many hospitals in the United States offer an in-house midwifery service. In 2010 about 90 percent of births attended by midwives in the United States were in hospitals. And because midwives are dedicated to one-on-one care, many practice in more than one setting to help ensure that women have access to the range of services they need or desire and to allow for specific health considerations.

10. Can midwives provide pain medication or do you have to have a natural labor if you choose to work with a midwife?
Another common midwifery myth that Our Moment of Truth aims to debunk is that all women who choose to have a midwife will want natural childbirth.

Those women who do desire natural childbirth are wise to seek midwifery care, because our training involves continuous labor support—learning methods and techniques for supporting women throughout labor and birth. Each stage of natural labor has unique characteristics. As midwives, we use this knowledge to advise relaxation techniques that help women cope.

However, some women decide in advance or during the labor process that they would like to use pain medications or epidurals. In my practice, 45 percent of women choose to have an epidural.

CNMs and CMs strive to help women have the birth experience that they are seeking—whether it involves natural childbirth or pain medications. If women choose a hospital birth with a CNM or CM, they have all the options available to them. It really is the best of both worlds.