What exactly does a midwife do? ?

Question

What exactly does a midwife do? ?

Answer 1

To put it vaguely, A midwife delivers itty bitty babies  : )

Answer 2

a midwife does what a doctor does just not in a hospital type setting they do all the routine checks like blood pressure listen to baby test your urine all of that but they are more like a friend to you some of them have you birth at a birth center and some will have you birth at home if you birth at home they do extra things like clean up after the birth some of them will make you a meal after having the baby they will even watch your other children if you have any they massage you while you are in labor and comfort a lot they know a lot of methods during childbirth that can steer you clear from medical intervention like positions and relaxation techniques they don't do episiotomies and don't usually cut the cord right away they are wonderful women to have at your side

Answer 3

A midwife or doula helps you through labor. They act kind of like your voice, when you are in l&d. Most midwifes though have more of a formal education than a doula. Midwifes were really popular about 20 years or so ago. My mother used a midwife for 5 of her 7 children and had them at home.  

Answer 4

deliver a baby, usually at the home of the patient, they were more popular long ago but there are still some available

Answer 5

Instead of having a doctor deliver a baby, a midwife can be hired to do it at your house and use classic techniques.

Answer 6

i did research on this when I found out I was pregnant and found that America is the only leading country in the world that delivers approx 90% of their babies in the hospital. It also has the highest percentage of deaths in mothers and infants during delivery. Midwifes are used at an average of 95% of births in every other country including England, France and many other countries. The other percentage is usually women who found that they are at risk of breach or go into preterm labor and need hospital attention. Midwives pretty much do everything a Doctor doesn't do in all honesty. At the hospital, you won't see the Doctor until they feel the baby is ready to come. With a midwife, she'll be there through your entire labor (which is something I like). They are trained for pretty much any emergency procedure with the exception of C sections, which they do have a hospital on call should something like that become necessary. My sister had her kids in the hospital as did my mom and in all honesty, they both admit, they'd have preffered a midwife who can still administer anasthetics to you if necessary but would have been there through the entire thing instead of just randomly popping into the room and saying "it's time to push".

Answer 7

Midwives provide a full range of prenatal care and births for low-risk women.  Basically, they can do anything a doctor can do except C-sections and other surgical procedures. Midwives usually have a very low intervention philosophy about birth and their clientele typically do not want many medical procedures during birth.

In the US, a Certified Nurse-Midwife is an RN with about 3 years of extra training in midwifery.  They are a type of nurse practitioner and usually deliver babies in hospitals or birth centers.  Direct-entry midwives are usually trained through midwifery schools, also about 3 years in length, but they are not nurses first.  Most states have a certification or licensing  process for them as well, and they usually attend home births.

Answer 8

a CERTIFIED midwife can do nearly everything an OB can do.  They can do your regular yearly papsmears, pregnancy planning, prenatal care, delivery (Home, birth center, or Hospital depending on the midwife), post partum care, etc...  Be careful when chossing a midwife and ensure they are certified (have CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) after their name) - if your unsure always ask for their credentials and look up where they went to school.

Answer 9

My sister is into that baby deliver stuff, know as a midwife.

She not only does not deliver babies at peoples homes.  After seeing this on TV program I asked her about it.  Her response was delivered as a strongly spoken tongue that caught me off guard as it was coming from a laid back, passive, controlled sort of gentle middle aged women, who thinks road rage is a computer game.

She says people who do these alternative/natural methods are raving mad and should be locked up.   They place the child and the mother in  danger as there is no back up support should complications happen away from a hospital.  She then went on to list some which was all well over my head.  Babies arrive every day, every arrival is serious and dangerous.    

I made sure not to ever ask about that one again.  :)