Born 2 B A Blessing

Birth Center Births
Homebirth - Midwifery
Waterbirth
Birth Pool Rental

Resources:

Homebirth Statistics

Services

Midwifery
The World Health Organization and the Inte

rnational Childbirth Education Association recommend that healthy pregnant women seek out midwives as their maternity care providers. All over the world midwives are "with women" during the most significant experiences of their lives: childbirth.
Global evidence shows that midwives are recognized as the most appropriate maternity care provider for most women. Naturally, referrals to physicians are recommended whenever a medical condition arises which creates a high risk situation for mother or baby.
Women want more than technological care during pregnancy and birth. Midwives trust the birth process and affirm each individual woman's ability to give birth.

Certified Professional Midwife (CPM)
Certified Professional Midwives are skilled professionals who provide the Midwives Model of Care to women and families in a variety of settings, including birth centers, homes and hospitals. Preparation to become a CPM involves specialized, competency-based education programs and risk assessment training, that requires out-of-hospital clinical experience.

CPM certification
The Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) credential requires that all candidates demonstrate successful mastery of both the didactic information and clinical experience components. The didactic component must include either education in a program accredited by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) or ACNM Certification Council (ACC), or completion of PEP, a competency-based education program. Each candidate must also complete a clinical component that is at least one year in length and equivalent to 1350 contact hours under the supervision of one or more approved preceptors.

Competency-based Education
Competency-based education is based on the testing and documentation of skills that are relevant to real-life job conditions, as determined by psychometric research within the profession. The current CPM competency-based education program is based on a national job analysis that surveyed the largest number of professionals ever examined in any study of midwives. The Certified Professional Midwives’ credentialing process was evaluated by independent researchers at Ohio State University as a credential that exemplified the established standards for educational and psychological testing, as determined by the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and the National Council of Measurement in Education.

North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)

Created in 1987 by the Midwives Alliance of North America, the North American Registry of Midwives is an international certifying body whose function is to develop and maintain certification standards for the Certified Professional Midwife credential. The certification program includes providing oversight for regular job analysis updates, the key to maintaining a psychometrically sound certification credential. It also includes the NARM Written Examination, administration of the application process, and skills assessment. Those candidates who meet rigorous educational and credentialing standards are awarded the Certified Professional Midwife credential. Recertification every three years is required of all CPMs.
The Midwives Model of Care is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.

Congratulations!

You are about to experience the birth of your baby!

Women in the United States are learning that pregnancy and childbirth are normal, healthy processes, not diseases. And they are finding out that they and their families can benefit from the care of a midwife.
The Midwives Model of Care includes prenatal visits and "hands-on" care throughout labor, birth and right after. It results in less chance of complications, fewer interventions, and a healthier birth for you and your baby.
Women are discovering that the hospital is not the only option for safe birth. Women are most likely to labor best in a place where they feel free, safe and private, with attendants whom they know and trust.
Many women find that they feel most comfortable at home or in a birth center, with the ongoing attention and nurturing care of a midwife or doctor trained in gentle, natural, safe childbirth - someone who is an expert in normal birth and provides the Midwives Model of Care.

What to Expect

from a Caregiver Who Provides the Midwifery Model of Care:

Respectful Treatment
- Gentle, nurturing care that respects you, your family and your beliefs.
- Respect for your informed decisions about medical tests, recommendations and interventions.
- Willingness to support your birth plan, including any family members and friends you may want present at the birth.
- Freedom to move, eat, bathe - to do what helps you during labor and birth; your midwife doesn't "prohibit" or "allow," but patiently supports and guides you as needed.
- Respect for the birth process as it unfolds uniquely each time. Although amazing, being pregnant and giving birth are actually normal life processes for which a woman's body is well-designed. Each woman's experience is unique.
- Respectful care regardless of setting, although at present this kind of care is most readily found in homes and birth centers.

Personal Attention
- Prenatal visits that allow plenty of time for questions and answers - 30 to 60 minutes for each prenatal appointment is common.
- Meaningful discussions to explore and help resolve fears and concerns you or your family may have.
- Caring attention to develop a trusting and nurturing relationship with you and your family that can help you to labor and give birth naturally and safely.

Plenty of Information
- Plenty of information about pregnancy, birth and the newborn, and about breastfeeding and newborn care.
- Suggestions about ways you can take good care of yourself and your baby.
- Encouragement and practical suggestions for you to have good nutrition and make healthy lifestyle choices.
- Full information about any recommended tests, procedures or treatments so you can make informed choices about your care.

Appropriate Monitoring
- Regular and thorough check-ups for you and your baby throughout your pregnancy, during labor, and after the birth, to make sure both of you are healthy and doing well.
- Recommendations for diagnostic technology when appropriate.
- Planning with you for the unexpected and for the rare emergency.
- Referrals to other health care specialists or to a different birth setting if needed.
- Expertise in normal, natural childbirth. Because they are experts in normal pregnancy and birth, midwives are experienced in the variations of normal birth and recognize the early signs of conditions that are not "normal," including as medical conditions or complications that may occasionally arise during pregnancy or the birth process.

Confidence in Your Body
- Help with discovering your own body's ability to give birth, in its own way and in its own time.
- No routine treatments or arbitrary timetables that can interfere with your body's healthy process of laboring and giving birth.
- Truly individualized care, privacy and natural childbirth.
- Support for doing the work of giving birth. Rather than someone else "delivering" the baby, you are empowered to give birth to your own baby yourself!

Natural Techniques for Comfort
- Help you cope with the discomfort of labor. Midwives have found that encouragement, massage, relaxation, laboring in water, changing positions and other approaches are often very effective.
- Encourage the progress of labor and help you give birth to your baby gently and lovingly.
- Help you avoid risks (to yourself and to your baby) that are associated with many standard medical techniques and hospital protocols.

A Care Provider Who Will Stay with You

- Attentive, sensitive care and emotional support in tune with your needs, throughout labor. Research has shown that having a "sympathetic female companion" with you all through labor and delivery reduces the chance of complications and the likelihood of an unnecessary cesarean section. The Midwives Model of Care means that your midwife stays with you and mothers the mother.

- Post-partum care and help with breastfeeding. After your baby is born, the midwife will stay with you until breastfeeding is established and both you and your baby are resting comfortably. She will arrange a visit after the birth to check you and your baby and to answer any questions.

We expect participation and responsibility from parents. We believe that prenatal care is not what we do to you, but what you do for yourself and your unborn baby; taking vitamins, getting daily exercise, eating good, wholesome food, and becoming educated about childbirth. Midwives encourage women and their families to make informed choices and take an active part in their own health care. Pregnancy is an ideal time for mothers to become educated about nutrition, healthful life styles, breastfeeding and infant care.

Babies are a Blessing from God;
Whoever receives one little child
like this in My name
receives Me.

— Matthew 18:4-5

Birth Pool Rental

When labor gets intense, the best comfort is water! The pressure of the water and buoyancy combines to relieve some of the intensity of labor. I have a heated Aqua Doula Birth Tub that I rent to my couples for their labor/birth.