Lindsay Bustle, Certified Nurse Midwife, Christie Clinic Department of OB/GYN, is here to share tips on the benefits and services provided by using a midwife.

• What services do midwives provide?
CNMs provide gynecological care for annual exams and common gynecological problems, prenatal care and deliveries, and they provide contraceptive management services.

Your midwife will:
o Provide family planning and preconception care
o Do prenatal exams and order tests
o Watch your physical and psychological well-being
o Help you make your birth plans
o Advise you about diet, exercise, meds, and staying healthy
o Educate and counsel you about pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care
o Provide you with emotional and practical support during labor
o Deliver your baby
o Make referrals to doctors when need

• Why might a woman want to consider a midwife for her pregnancy and delivery?
A midwife makes sense for any woman who has a low-risk pregnancy, doesn’t have serious health problems, and wants to be more in charge of her labor and delivery. Midwife means “with woman” and that is why many like the approach. It is more nurturing and more of a partnership with the delivering woman. Midwives provide emotional, practical and social support.

• How will a midwife team with your physician, during delivery?
Midwives have relationships with OBs. At Christie Clinic, we partner with our OB team. If a problem happens during the pregnancy, the midwife would refer you to an OB for further care.