What is a licensed midwife?

 

 In Washington State, most Licensed Midwives (LM's) obtain their education at the nationally accredited Seattle Midwifery School (SMS), founded in 1979. SMS requires about a year of science/pre-med type courses for entry into the school. The SMS student then begins their didactic and clinical education that lasts for 3 college years. Additionally, the SMS student is required to attend a minimum of 100 births to graduate.

A midwife is a provider who views pregnancy and birth as healthy, normal life processes, albeit ones that call for supervision and care. In practice, midwives provide complete maternity care from the first prenatal visit until 8 weeks after the delivery. Fundamental to their approach is that the woman and her family are fully informed and are the key decision-makers in all matters relating to her pregnancy. In addition to addressing client's questions and concerns, midwives take the time in prenatal visits to discuss current information and options for various tests and procedures. They recognize that what is "right" for one family, may not be "right" for another.

Midwives are experts at preparing women for natural, spontaneous labor and delivery. Literally speaking, midwife means, "with woman," and it is the goal of midwives to empower women in facing the challenges of pregnancy and birth.

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Is this a safe way to have my baby?

 Studies about planned home birth and birth center birth in the medical literature uniformly report outcomes equivalent or superior to those of comparable women giving birth in the hospital.

In 2005, the British Medical Journal published a study of 5418 planned home births which once again concluded that this is a safe option for low risk (healthy) women.  The study confirmed that home birth with midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention, while maintaining similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality as that of hospital birth for low-risk women.

Fullerton and Severino report in a 1992 study published in the Journal of Nurse Midwifery that:

"[Low risk] women in hospital were more likely to receive an interventive style of labor and birth management. Neonatal outcomes were similar, although the incidence of sustained fetal distress, prolapsed cord, and difficulty in establishing respirations were significantly greater in the hospital sample. Hospital care did not offer any advantage for low risk women, and it was associated with increased intervention."1

There are many studies exploring this issue of safety and homebirth. One of the largest, involving over 24,000 births, compared the safety of planned homebirth with planned hospital birth for low-risk women.2 This study compared several outcomes, the main ones being infant and maternal mortality. There was no difference between the two groups in either infant or maternal mortality. However, "Approximately twice as many babies in the hospital group as in the home birth group had low Apgar scores." Apgar scores are a measure of a baby's well being in the first few minutes of life. Episiotomies (an incision done to enlarge the vaginal opening at the time of birth) are an intervention that is often done in hospitals. This is true, despite the fact that they frequently lead to more severe lacerations and that they do not improve outcomes. In Olsen's study, there were 50% more perineal lacerations among the women who delivered in hospitals. One of the main reasons for homebirth's good track record is that midwives have the flexibility to be patient and wait for the woman to give birth at her own pace. Midwives are not held to tight time constraints, and consequently are not tempted to rush the process of birth. This simple act of waiting patiently for the birth to unfold prevents the need for many interventions that can themselves cause the baby or mom to develop "complications." Midwives combine the art of waiting and watching with careful monitoring of the mom and baby to ensure that the birth progresses normally. For more on this subject, please see Info On Homebirth


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Will my insurance cover homebirth?

 Most insurance companies do cover midwifery services and homebirth. It is always a good idea to check with your insurance company and we are happy to verify what your particular plan covers. If you are not insured, we can help you find an insurance plan that will cover your maternity care. Alternately, for those who do not want to pursue personal insurance, we are happy to set up a payment plan.

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Do you do water births?

We are frequently asked if we will do deliveries in the water. In fact, it turns out that many of our birthing moms choose to labor in the water, and some choose to birth in the water. It is because of the popularity of water birth and our strong belief in the benefits of being in warm water during labor that we designed the Bellingham Birth Center to have a large tub in each birth suite.

Some of the benefits to laboring in a birth tub include:
  • The laboring woman feels less pain because it is easier for her to relax in the warm water.
  • When the woman is more relaxed, her body makes less stress-related hormones (such as adrenaline).
  • These stress-related hormones can interfere with the progress of labor.
  • This relaxation tells the body to make more pain inhibitors (called endorphins), which bring about a feeling of well being and increase the woman's ability to cope with the pain of labor.
  • It is easier for the woman to be in an upright position (such as squatting, or being on her hands and knees) because the water supports her weight.
  • The warm water increases skin elasticity, reducing the amount of tearing at the time of birth.
  • The baby has a gentler birth. Babies do not begin to breathe until their skin touches the air.

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How do I learn more about Bellingham Birth Center?

 Bellingham Birth Center was founded in the summer of 2004 in order to give pregnant women and their families another birthing option. If you are interested in learning more about the center, you could browse the website at www.bellinghambirthcenter.com. You could also call (360) 752-2229, talk with a midwife, and/or schedule a tour. If you already have a licensed midwife, ask if they have privileges at Bellingham Birth Center.

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  1. Fullerton, Judith and Richard Severino. "In-Hospital Care for Low-Risk Childbirth: Comparison With Results from the National Birth Center Study." Journal of Nurse Midwifery. 1992. 37(5): 331-340.
2. Olsen, Ole. "Meta-Analysis of the Safety of Homebirth." Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care. 1997. 24(1): 4-13.
3. Johnson, K. and Daviss, B. (2005) Outcomes of Planned Home Births With Certified Professional Midwives: Large Prospective Study in North America. British Medical Journal 2005;330:1416



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Bellingham Birth Center
2430 Cornwall Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 752-BABY

©2002 Gentle Hands Midwifery, Inc. P.S.