All About Midwives

Today is all about midwives! What is midwifery care? What are the different types of midwives? Are they all certified? Where do they provide care? Are they only for when you are having a baby? Do they do the same things as OB’s? What are the advantages of OBs, perinatologists, and midwives working together? Missy Cheyney has answers. Check it out.

What we talked about:

• What is the midwifery model of care?
• How does it compare to the medical management model of care?
• Other types of care providers: obstetricians and perinatologists
• How does each one view and approach birth?
• Collaborations between different providers
• Brief history of midwifery
• Different types of midwives and accreditations
• Midwives: not just at home
• What to consider when looking for a midwife?
• What happens during a home-to-hospital transfer?
• “Transfer a complication, not an emergency”
• The importance of continuity of care and transfer protocols
• Midwives: not just for delivering babies
• Right-sizing maternity care: neither too much too soon, nor too little too late
• Improving outcomes through interprofessional care

Related resources*:

• The Homebirth Consensus Summit
• Mapping integration of midwives across the United States: Impact on access, equity, and outcomes, research article
• Midwifery linked to better birth outcomes in state-by-state “report card”, from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine
• Understanding Relative Risks In The Community Birth Setting: An Interview With Researcher Melissa Cheyney
• Obstetrician and Nurse–Midwife Collaboration: Successful Public Health and Private Practice Partnership, from the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
• A Larger Role for Midwives Could Improve Deficient U.S. Care for Mothers and Babies, by Nina Martin for ProPublica
• Midwife‐led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women, Cochrane Systematic Reviews
• The “Fear-Tension-Pain” cycle, from Birth with Confidence
• The Performance: Sex Like Birth (fabulous & hilarious YouTube video!)
• Midwives, doulas could benefit births — but not all women have access, from CNN
• Strengthening quality midwifery education for Universal Health Coverage 2030, from the WHO
• Community-Based Doulas and Midwives, Key to Addressing the U.S. Maternal Health Crisis
• Link to download the other research papers Missy mentioned, including:
  • Perspectives on risk: Assessment of risk profiles and outcomes among women planning community birth in the United States
  • Development and Validation of a National Data Registry for Midwife-Led Births: The Midwives Alliance of North America – Statistics Project 2.0 Dataset
  • Homebirth Transfers in the United States: Narratives of Risk, Fear, and Mutual Accommodation
  • Transfer from Planned Home Birth to Hospital: Improving Interprofessional Collaboration
  • Planned Home VBAC in the United States, 2004–2009: Outcomes, Maternity Care Practices, and Implications for Shared Decision Making
  • Rural community birth: Maternal and neonatal outcomes for planned community births among rural women in the United States, 2004-2009

Related Birthful episodes:

• Your Birth Hormones, with Dr. Sarah Buckley
• Birth Models and How They Affect Your Birth, with Robbie Davis-Floyd
• Place of Birth as Your #1 Cesarean Risk, with Dr. Neel Shah

Courtesy of Melissa Cheyney

About Dr. Melissa “Missy” Cheyney

Melissa Cheyney PhD CPM LDM is Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Anthropology at Oregon State University (OSU) with additional appointments in Global Health and Women Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is also a Licensed Midwife in active practice, and the Chair of the Division of Research for the Midwives Alliance of North America where she directs the MANA Statistics Project. Dr. Cheyney currently directs the International Reproductive Health Laboratory at Oregon State University where she serves as the primary investigator more than 20 maternal and infant health-related research projects in nine countries. She is the author of an ethnography entitled Born at Home (2010, Wadsworth Press) along with dozens of peer-reviewed articles that examine the cultural beliefs and clinical outcomes associated with midwife-led birth at home in the United States. Dr. Cheyney is an award-winning teacher, and in 2014 was given Oregon State University’s prestigious Scholarship Impact Award for her work in the International Reproductive Health Laboratory and with the MANA Statistics Project. She is the mother of a daughter born at home on International Day of the Midwife in 2009.

Missy’s profile on Oregon State University’s Anthropology department.

Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).