During a recent midwife interview a client asked me what makes me different?
In midwifery there are many things that you don’t want to be different on, you want to work within your scope of practice. You want to provide exceptional care. You want to work within community standards. It got me thinking, and here’s what I would say makes me who I am as a midwife.
I was a doula. You can take me out of that role, but you can’t take the doula out of me. I genuinely want to serve the clients that entrust me to care for them. Doulas and midwives have very different roles and sometimes being in the medical role of midwife I’m not able to provide as much support as I would like (l always encourage you to hire a doula for your birth!) but I am always working to ensure that I have your Informed Consent for everything we do, both in prenatal care and in birth! I also work hard to get dad’s involved in care and make sure that you understand and are on board with whatever is happening/involved in the discussion. This is your birth too and I want to make sure you’re well supported!
I take my time. I want to make sure you are comfortable with the care you are receiving and truly understand what is happening with your pregnancy and the choices you are making. YOU are the caretaker of the life you are growing, I am supporting you in that role! My intakes are at 8-10 weeks of pregnancy, because I want to make sure you’re well supported in your first trimester (most providers don’t see you until 12 weeks of pregnancy). If you have a history of miscarriage, I want to start lab work as soon as possible after you get a positive home pregnancy test! Appointments are at least an hour long! If you need to see me more often than the typical schedule (monthly until 28 weeks, then biweekly until 36 weeks and weekly after that until birth), I am happy to schedule additional appointments as needed!
Experience. I have attended over 300 births in a variety of settings before licensing as a midwife. I worked as a midwife assistant for years before starting Midwifery School. In my midwifery apprenticeship (clinical training), I worked in a high-volume practice affording me a lot of hands on practice and I far exceeded my minimum requirements for clinical training. I have had the opportunity to train and work under midwives from multiple different schools, states, trainings, licenses and backgrounds. Often I know multiple ways to accomplish a goal and can choose the method my experience tells me is best suited to the situation.
Community - I have been a birth worker in various roles since 2015 serving the Dallas Fort Worth Community. I certified as a doula for the first time in 2016 (I have taken different doula trainings over the years). If I don’t know something, I know who does. If I need resources or information, I can get it. You can’t do birth work without circles of support around you. We’ve all heard the saying, it takes a village, well that holds true with midwifery too. Over the last six years I have had the opportunity to create many professional connections and relationships. This also means I have great backup support. Midwifery is an unpredictable lifestyle (it’s more than a job, it’s a huge piece of who I am and who my family is!). I always strive to make it to my clients births (and I very rarely have missed births!), but we all know illness can sneak up and put us out of pocket, emergencies, family things etc and when this happens I am so glad to know that my clients will be receiving exceptional care on the slight chance that they labor while I’m out.
Accessibility - If you need me, you can reach me. If you have a question, I’m here to answer it or provide you with resources to learn about it. I do work to have good boundaries with work and family life, especially since the nature of midwifery blends so much into my day-to-day personal life, but I want to be available to you! If you have a question that can’t wait until your next appointment, I welcome you to send a message through your chart. If you’re not feeling well and the things I’ve suggested as general guidelines did not help, please send me a text! You aren’t going to get an answering service or general/unpersonal one-size-fits-no-one care with me.
If you think that we would click, I would love to hear from you and schedule a consultation! Feel free to send me an email or fill out the form below!
Photo credit for all images in this post go to: East Layne Photography