A re-Welcome!

Normally I would have just changed the look of the template and not said a word about it, as I had with the first few incarnations. Until I’d gone “live” and shared the URI with a few of my friends, the only other folks who’d seen this blog get started were the Theme authors who got pinged by their secret code embedded in the template to alert them they’d been downloaded for use in the public domain. I am sure the authors of this current Theme never imagined their rolling masthead would be seen as a soothing silhouette of a pregnant woman when viewed through a midwife’s eyes!

I hope this theme is a little easier on you as well, compared with the others I’ve tried, that the links are clear and easy to navigate. I tell you, while much of the programming is done for me in order to tweak this Theme into perfection, I’ve had to learn nearly as many acronyms for blogging as I did for midwifery school! I bet you know better what LMP, EDD, 0/30%/1, over anything found in MYSQL101 in a PHP code!  I love all this stuff… maybe I should’ve called this project Geek Midwife?

Now if you’re joining me for the first time, please feel free to comment on anything you’ve seen to date.  Even if you disagree and especially when you feel a correction or clarification is in order.  I am SO excited to be working on a few ideas for my clients to do a Podcast with me in the near future.  I also plan to drag some microphone shy midwives into the booth with me.  And to all:  the Birth Stories category is calling your name if you’d like to share your birth story.

Are there any questions for me?  Write to me at:  kris@homebirthtalk.com or just post them in any of the comments section.

July 31, 2006 | Filed Under Information | 1 Comment 

Technical note

If you hit your reload and the site keeps changing, that’s me playing in the WordPress sandbox. Enjoy the confusion as I settle into an easier to read theme.

July 31, 2006 | Filed Under Information | Leave a Comment 

Ask Dr. Manny

Dr. Manny, a Fox News health correspondent, has posted a story authored by Eric Jansson on his health blog Ask Dr. Manny regarding the ongoing legal struggles of midwives across the United States. Here is just a snippet of what the most trusted name in health care has endorsed:

Few women in labor, awaiting the birth of a baby, spare a moment to think of their state legislature. But they might be surprised to learn that, increasingly, state legislatures across the United States are thinking of them.

Following the passage in April of a reform bill legalizing the supervision of home births by certified professional midwives (CPMs) in Wisconsin, similar reform efforts are now underway in no fewer than nine states.

Alabama, North Carolina, Idaho, South Dakota, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, and Indiana all await legislative debates that could lead to the licensure of certified professional midwives, says Ida Darragh, chairman of the board of the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), the national organization that tests and registers CPMs.

Legalization and licensure of CPM practices in all these states would represent a massive legislative victory for advocates of traditional home birth.

It would also be a startling rebuke to the many physicians who have long maintained that such practices are unsafe, despite growing statistical evidence that suggests CPM-supervised home births are as safe – sometimes safer – than hospital births.

The closing paragraph was rather telling:

Asked to provide any statistical evidence contradicting such studies, for the sake of this story, ACOG sent none but e-mailed two policy statements further explaining the organization’s position on the certification of midwives.

Here is the ACOG Policy Statement on Lay Midwives

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is the representative organization of physicians who are qualified specialists in providing health services to women. ACOG is committed to facilitating access to women’s health care that is both safe and high quality. One method of attaining this goal is to assure that providers of care meet educational and professional standards of a certification process. ACOG recognizes the educational and professional standards currently used by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB)* to evaluate and certify midwives. While ACOG supports women having a choice in determining their providers of care, ACOG does not support the provision of care by lay midwives or other midwives who are not certified by the AMCB.

*The American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB), formerly known as the ACNM Certification Council (ACC), was incorporated in 1991. The AMCB develops and administers the national certification examination for Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) and Certified Midwives (CMs). CNMs are registered nurses who have graduated from a midwifery education program accredited by the American College of Nurse Midwives Division of Accreditation and have passed a national certification examination administered by AMCB. Certified midwives have also graduated from a midwifery education program accredited by the American College of Nurse Midwives Division of Accreditation, have successfully completed the same requirements, have passed the same AMCB national certification examination as certified nurse-midwives and adhere to the same professional standards as certified nurse-midwives.

I understand during the composition of this statement at the beginning of 2006 only the American College of Nurse Midwives was contacted to verify the educational and certification process leaving the educational and certification process of “lay midwives” up to the imagination. It’s too bad they didn’t make the effort for an additional phone call to the North American Registry of Midwives to learn about Certified Professional Midwives. Statements such as these show how far removed ACOG is from the community base and grassroots efforts for choices in health care.

July 28, 2006 | Filed Under Home Birth, In the News, Midwives/Midwifery, Politics | 1 Comment 

Childbirth videos wanted!

Did you videotape the birth of your baby? Bonnie Urquhart Gruenberg (CNM, MSN) is looking for several good videos for use in childbirth education projects, which clearly show the baby emerging and ideally show the care of mother and infant after delivery. All birth settings and circumstances are welcome. She will pay $50 for every video she is able to use.

Visit The Midwife Site for more information, including model release forms.

July 26, 2006 | Filed Under Midwives/Midwifery | Leave a Comment 

Home away from home… birth

The Guices are among a small but growing number of North Alabama couples choosing home births over hospital labor and delivery rooms. Their 2-week-old son, Judson Warner, is one of 29 children born so far this year at an unpretentious “birth house” just north of Huntsville in rural Ardmore, Tenn.
…

A 1976 rule change effectively ended planned home births in Alabama by limiting the practice of midwifery to certified nurse midwives - registered nurses with extensive childbirth training. They can deliver babies only at a hospital and must be supervised by a doctor.

Alabama midwives: Area women willing to travel to Tennessee to have natural childbirth

This article highlights what rings true for many women I have spoken to in recent years. They are frustrated with the lack of choice in birth attendants with either Direct-entry Midwives (DEMs) being illegal or Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) being prohibited from attending home birth by statute or consulting physician’s liability insurance policy. They are further frustrated by an inconsistent scope of practice allowed to them by their state boards. Can you fathom allowing DEMs to attend births outside the hospital but prohibiting them from carrying life-savig anti-hemorrhagic drugs? Laws have been so convoluted as to allow DEMs to attend home births, but barring them from providing prenatal care (this would be done by a hospital based provider).

The women who desire home births in states without regulation are often not willing to risk prosecution of their midwives so as the story above shows, are willing to drive great distances in order to have their births attended legally in the manner they choose. One of my friends recently traveled out of state to give birth to her twins with a DEM when it was determined the only safe way to give birth to twins in the state she resides was in the operating room just in case. I am not suggesting every set of twins should be born outside a hospital, but the opportunity for informed choice is squashed by law.

According to the Alabama Friends of Midwives website “lay midwives” (another title given to DEMs, one that I’d like to see banished from the midwifery language) were formally recognized from 1919 until 1976 when a new code was written to define midwifery:

Section 34-19-3

License for practice of nurse midwifery required; continuation of practice of lay midwifery.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person other than a licensed professional nurse who has received a license from the State Board of Nursing and the Board of Medical Examiners to practice nurse midwifery in this state. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(b) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section shall be construed as to prevent lay midwives holding valid health department permits from engaging in the practice of lay midwifery as heretofore provided until such time as said permit may be revoked by the county board of health.

(Acts 1976, No. 499, p. 624, §1.)

It would appear that one could be a legally practicing nurse-midwife or “lay” midwife, however the application code requires the applicant be a nurse with a graduate degree from an institution recognized by the American College of Nurse Midwives. A bit of legal double talk: it’s not illegal to be a “lay midwife” but you can’t get a license to practice if you’re not a Certified Nurse-Midwife, therefore you ARE an illegal practitioner. Certified Nurse-Midwives are not free of restrictive practice in Alabama either according to the code. They must practice with appropriate physician supervision and may not attend home births.

Meanwhile the Nebraska Board of Health rejected the public recommendation of creating a licensing process for DEMs as well as rejecting calls for CNMs to drop the physician supervision clause and be allowed to attend home births. The Board of Health meeting was just one stop for advocates who would see the affirmation as a positive step toward state legislation.

I believe that these boards are sincere in thinking that outlawing midwifery keeps women from having babies at home. Instead we see women traveling long distances to the midwives of their choice, giving birth with illegal attendants who may not minimum educational standards due to the underground they are forced to practice in, or unattended whatsoever. I fail to see the logic in repeatedly denying DEM regulation and restricting CNMs from being truly autonomous healthcare providers choosing their own scope of practice. Creating a standard of compliance, education, and certification within the law will only make birth safer for women who choose to give birth out of hospitals.

July 26, 2006 | Filed Under In the News, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Next Page →