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Why Choose a Midwife?
Midwives are experts in normal childbearing. They are concerned not only with the physical health of mothers and newborns, but also their emotional and psychological wellbeing.
The focus of midwifery care is to promote the natural progression of labor and to employ obstetric interventions only when necessary.
Studies have shown that outcomes of midwife-attended births are as good as physician-attended births. In a study of 1,707 midwife attended births conducted in 1992, the birth outcomes were
comparable to those for low-risk hospital births. In 1999, the Journal of Obstetric and Gynecology Research reported a survey of midwife attended births versus obstetrician attended births. The conclusion of the study: "Midwife-
managed care is as safe as obstetrician-managed care for women who [are] assessed to be at low-risk in the intrapartum period." *
 It has also been shown that midwives offer more personalized care to their clients than most other obstetric professionals.
A study comparing women's assessment of midwifery and medical care in Quebec, Canada showed that women from both groups were generally satisfied with the care they received, although women
who received midwifery care were more positive on every issue surveyed. Midwifery clients had more and longer prenatal visits, they perceived their care to be more personalized, and more of them
breastfed their infants.**
Midwifery care has also proven to be less expensive than other maternity care and in Washington State, most insurance carriers cover it.***
*Durand Am. (1992). The safety of home births: The Farm study. American Journal of Public Health. 82(3): 450-453.
*Law YY, Lam KY. (1999) A randomized controlled trial comparing midwife-managed care and obstetrician-managed care for women assessed to be at low-risk in the initial intrapartum period, Journal of Obstetric and Gynecology Research. 25(2): 107-112.
**De Koninck M, Blais R, Joubert P, Gagnon C. (2001) Comparing women's assessment of midwifery and medical care in Quebec, Canada. Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health. 46(2):60-7.
***Anderson RE, Anderson DA. (1999) The cost effectiveness of home birth. Journal of Nurse Midwifery. 44(1): 30-35. This study lists average costs (1998, 1991, 1987) for home, birth center and hospital births from data collected in the U.S. The results show that
home and birth center births are significantly less expensive than hospital births.
***Schlenzka PF. (1999) Safety of alternative approaches to childbirth (Doctoral dissertation, Standford University). This examination of outcomes and intervention rates in midwife and physician care of women with
uncomplicated pregnancies in California found a cesarean rate of 6.3% for women receiving midwifery care compared to 22.1% for women receiving physician care. The author projects a savings of over $2 billion annually in the U.S. if the total
cesarean rate were lowered to 10%.
For additional studies, visit www.seattlemidwifery.org/action.htm or PubMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's database of over 4,000 biomedical journals (http://pubmed.gov).
Community Birth & Family Center Annex
2517 Eastlake Avenue East, Suite 102, Seattle, Washington 98102
phone (206) 720-0511Click here to e-mail your questions!
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