Midwife Research Paper

Midwives have been helping women in pregnancy and birth for a very long time. The number of births, in which a midwife assists, has dwindled in the past years but is slowly growing. According to the Aamerican College of Nurse Midwives 7.9% of births in the United States were assisted by midwives. Midwifery is an intense but rewarding job that has multiple necessary qualifications since midwives must give prenatal care, assist at births, and give a small amount of postpartum care. Midwives give prenatal care; prenatal means before birth-.,so giving prenatal care is to give care to women during pregnancy. During the prenatal period, midwives must determine an EDD (estimated date of delivery). There are two ways to determine the EDD: Naegele’s Rule and Nichol’s Rule. The EDD is just an …show more content…
One of the most important roles of a midwife is assisting in births. Early labor usually starts a couple weeks before active labor. The one telltale sign of early labor is braxton hicks contractions. Braxton hicks contractions are “false” contractions, or contractions that are not a part of active labor. Midwives must assure the mother that early labor is not active labor.
Midwives are always on call, and they must always be prepared to assist a mother in active labor. When active labor first starts, midwives check the FHT(fetal heart tones) and dilation. When a mother is fully dilated and contractions are regular, the pushing process begins. This is considered second stage labor. Midwives do a number of things during active labor or even just second stage. They must make sure that the FHTs are strong. If they are not, it could mean that the cord is displaced and the baby is