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How experienced is your midwife?

RosyGlowRosyGlow member
in Natural Birth
Hello everyone, 

I'm new here - this is my first post on this board. My DH and I are just 9 weeks pregnant with our first and we are interviewing midwives. There are so many in our area to choose from, and we know we are lucky in that aspect. We are planning a home birth after 9 months of TTC through IVF to avoid a genetic disorder. It has been a very long road for us, but I'm ready to focus on pregnancy and birth now! 

I am curious - what number of babies caught would you consider to be an experienced midwife? We really loved the home-birth CNM midwife we met last night. She seems like a fit for us in every way. She was a doula for 12 years, then became a midwife. All told, she has attended over 400 births, including her doula births, births as a student midwife, and births as the primary midwife. As the primary midwife (the past two years) she has caught 70 babies. 

I would consider her very experienced, but I don't know how to weigh it all in - did you have an arbitrary number in mind when choosing a midwife for number of babies they have caught? 

I really appreciate your thoughts. 
| Married since 2008 | DH and I: Both 30 | Me: Endometriosis and Carrier of an X-Linked Dominant Genetic Disorder | DH: Low Morph | Planning IVF with PGD and PGS in 2013 | Freeze-All IVF #1: March 2013 ER 3/26. 29R, 12M, 11F. 4 5AA frozen blasts. Freeze-All IVF#2: May 2013 ER 5/15. 31R, 21M, 20F. 6 5AA frozen blasts. Our PGD probe was completed in late June (total of 20 weeks to develop). PGD and PGS Results came on 6/19: 3 healthy embryos (normal chromosomes and unaffected by my family's genetic disorder). FET #1: July 2013 Natural Cycle - Cancelled due to insufficient lining (only got to 7.5mm). FET #1.2: August 2013 - Medicated Cycle with Lupron & Estrogen Patches to build up lining. Single embryo transfer was 8/23. Beta #1: 240! Beta #2: 578! U/S on 9/19 at 6w4d: We saw the heart beating at 131bpm. Second U/S on 10/4 at 8w5d: We saw the heart beating at 178bpm. EDD 5/11/2014
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PAIF/SAIF/Everyone Welcome! 


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Re: How experienced is your midwife?

  • annabelle.27annabelle.27 member
    I didn't have a set number of births. The midwife who attended my homebirth was very experienced though- she is on the board of directors for the obstetrics department of the local hospital, an instructor of midwifery at the university, and president of the national association of midwives in my country. I felt confident I was in good hands. I never did ask how many births she had attended.
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  • KateLouiseKateLouise member
    I didn't have a set number of births in mind either. 
    In terms of experience I considered:
    - years of experience
    - Having worked as a hospital midwife as well as a private mw. That would mean there'd seen every different version of birth, but aso more likely to accept a broad range of approaches to birth rather than being strictly medically focused, or too "hippy" focused.
    - Other qualifications eg trained as a registered nurse before training as a mw, trained as a lactation consultant, doula training

    My most recent mw had worked as a mw for 17 years in and out of the hospital, and was a registered nurse before that.

    I can't remember how long my first one had been a mw but she was a grandmother who retired before I got pregnant with my youngest, so I guess a good few years.

    However, I'm someone who is fearful of the "what ifs" I couldn't care less about how I "gel" with my mw. All I want is to trust her judgement, knowledge and skills. I'm disinterested in her manner or people skills. Some people how they get on with the mw as a person is just as important as her skills, so that's something you may want to factor in as well.
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  • That+One+GirlThat+One+Girl member
    This is our first and we are using a student midwife team for our home birth (being overseen by the midwife who runs the school). Some people would call us crazy but the way I look at it is that everyone has to start somewhere and I completely trust the head mw in case she needs to step in and help
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  • barista411barista411 member
    My MW has been a RN since 1985 became a CNM in 1996 and has taught birthing classes for 10 years and is a clinical instructor for OB nursing students. She is extremely experienced. My choices were very limited in my area but I am very pleased with my MW.
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