Please Bookmark WomenFirst Midwifery!!!
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Please Bookmark WomenFirst Midwifery!!!
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Though few in number, midwives are natural choice for some mothers want all available medical advances - from doctors to technology - at the ready when their babies are born. But a growing segment of suburban mothers-to-be prefer the personable, supportive approach of midwives. They rely less on the automatic use of electronics and other gear. Certified nurse midwives, still few in number and sometimes difficult to find in DuPage County, are able to deliver infants at hospitals usually with a physician on call in case of problems. "I really like their philosophy of non-intervention; it's a very low-tech way to give birth," said Aurora resident Renee Wiesner. "They make it like a natural thing rather than a medical procedure," Some midwives help women give birth at home. But certified nurse midwives can deliver babies in hospitals. They are different from doctors in that they stay with the mother the entire time the women are in labor until they give birth. They focus less on the use of technology - using fetal monitors periodically instead of constantly - and more on providing encouragement, reassurance and sharing concerns, advocates say. Nurse midwives are licensed nurses with advanced training andhave taken national exams to become certified. "Unlike a doctor, she was there the whole time with me," said Naperville resident Kim Haake, who delivered her second son with a midwife in January. "There's not very many midwives around." Despite the difficulty in finding a midwife, many women will search for them and stay with their caregiver, not only for the births of their children but for gynecological care, observers said. "It's the idea that in this day and age you can have a woman at your bedside," said certified nurse midwife Deborah Riddell. She's been practicing since 1982. Haake said she feels more comfortable and less awkward with a midwife with whom she has forged a relationship. Office visits are often longer and detailed. "They just make you feel much more at ease," Haake said. Wiesner agreed, saying, "Having a stranger there makes me more inhibited." Wiesner is a 29-year-old mother expecting her third child, which is due in April.
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