I just met with the Nurse-Midwives....

[anuhea4]

and I've gotta say I'm actually a little disappointed. They practice in the local hospital, but I was really hoping for them to be drastically different than my OB. Instead, they agreed with all of the procedures that my OB had discussed (like wanting to induce near 41 weeks, having the nurse run all the normal checks and monitors, etc...). They have a 14% c-section rate (the local hospital's is about 22%) so it's a little better, but still. I don't know, I was just hoping for something more inspiring. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[Calideedle]

Maybe because they are in a local hospital? What kind of Midwives are they?

[kannondicarpo]

My first midwives (CNMs) practiced through the hospital and I found after having a homebirth with CPMs I cannot believe the drastic difference. My first MWs were wonderful but much more like doctors than I realized.

I think you will find though that they will be more on board with anything "alternative" you would like to do. Good luck mama.

[anuhea4]

They are CNMs. I'm guessing they have to follow hospital protocal for insurance/liability reasons. I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with nurses or anything, and it would just be the midwife with me. Now it's sounding basically like a normal hospital birth with a doula to assist. I'm going to be meeting home birth, direct entry midwives in the days to come.....

[kannondicarpo]

Originally Posted by anuhea4 They are CNMs. I'm guessing they have to follow hospital protocal for insurance/liability reasons. I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with nurses or anything, and it would just be the midwife with me. Now it's sounding basically like a normal hospital birth with a doula to assist. I'm going to be meeting home birth, direct entry midwives in the days to come.....

That is exactly what it was like with me. I had to deal with hospital protocol which for me meant that I was forced into the hospital 12 hours after my water had broken so that I could receive abx. I did not end up getting them bc my MW went to bat for me but it was horrible. They find themselves with their hands tied very often.

I think you will really enjoy the DEMs.

[anuhea4]

Thanks I think I'll like the DEMs more too, I just have to get my mom on board somehow so I don't have to spend my whole pregnancy convincing her I'm not crazy... The CNMs seemed like a good compromise in the beginning, but now I see it really isn't much of a compromise....

[Erinne]

If you do want a nurse midwife, you might be able to find one who works out of a hospital. Our insurance only covers nurse midwives, but we didn't want to be in the hospital, so we found a nurse midwife who works in an independent birthing center. I'm sure it just depends on where you live and all if you could find something like that, but we love the freedom of the birthing center, and I'm glad to have the medical experience of the nurse midwife too.

[anuhea4]

Originally Posted by Erinne If you do want a nurse midwife, you might be able to find one who works out of a hospital. Our insurance only covers nurse midwives, but we didn't want to be in the hospital, so we found a nurse midwife who works in an independent birthing center. I'm sure it just depends on where you live and all if you could find something like that, but we love the freedom of the birthing center, and I'm glad to have the medical experience of the nurse midwife too.

That would be a fantastic alternative, but the birthing center in our area is over an hour away and there can be very heavy traffic, so it isn't really an option... And the CNMs I met with said that in Colorado CNMs can't do homebirths, so that's not an option. Thanks for the tip though! I'd love to hear that I've overlooked an option

[*~Mindy~*]

yep, i kwym. i went to a birth center and they wanted to do more to me than the (university!) hospital did UGH! besides being completely disrespected, that made me not go back.

thn the second time the only mw in the county was belittling me as well, then kept going on and on about my personal life THEN decided to tell me "oh btw i dont deliver, the old ob i work for does!" grrr...

even though id never seen him he was over my care in the shospital when i was admitted at 4-5months and then it was him i argued with about refusing things...but as soon as i was well enough to go to the bc, i did. they let me do mostly what i wanted except i HAD to be checked when i got there and i wasnt going to be "allowed" to catch the babe myself. haha on them but yeah (had a uc )

[hippydippymama]

Yup, I am afraid that most CNMs are not really much more than handmaidens to OBs. There are exceptions to every rule, but I was yet another woman who was conned into thinking, "hey, I have midwives, I won't get thrown under the bus" when it came to birth. Wrong.

I think CPMs/DEMs embody true midwifery care. They respect birth as a sacred rite of passage and honor women's bodies as they do it. The difference between the care I got with them and the care I got from CNMs was like night and day.