More moms-to-be turn to midwives

Gally Janus won’t be making a mad dash to the hospital when she gives birth at the end of May. Instead, Janus, a 34-year-old mother of three, will get comfortable in her own bed and rely on a midwife to deliver the baby at home.

“I prefer just to have a quiet setting,” said Janus, of Crystal Lake. “Nice soft sheets, lots of pillows, water, dim lights and just quiet.”

Although most births are performed by doctors at hospitals, Janus is part of a growing number of women turning to midwives to deliver babies.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, midwives attended about 7.9 percent of all U.S. births in 2006. That number, for the most part, has grown steadily since 1975, when fewer than 1 percent of births reportedly were performed with the assistance of a midwife.

Most midwife-assisted births take place in hospitals, although Janus isn’t alone in her desire to give birth at home. Nationally, midwives reported performing nearly 15,000 home births in 2006, National Center statistics show.

However, that figure is just a blip on the birthing radar and represents fewer than 1 percent of about 4.2 million births in 2006. Midwifery advocates said that number could be higher if it was easier for midwives to provide their services.

“Home-birth nurse midwives have definitely had more difficulty in getting a written collaborative agreement,” said Cheri Moran, a certified nurse midwife and member of the American College of Nurse Midwives, or ACNM, Government Affairs Committee.

State law requires licensed midwives who plan to perform home births to have a written, collaborative agreement from a local physician who agrees to step in if problems arise. But getting that document can be a major hurdle.

“[Physicians] don’t want to sign that piece of paper, whether it’s an insurance issue or pressure from colleagues,” Moran said.

ACNM is among a legion of midwifery advocates who want Illinois law to drop that requirement and instead focus on the educational requirements for those who want to practice nurse-midwifery.

Meanwhile, several medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have maintained a strict position against loosening midwifery laws.

“Despite the rosy picture painted by home-birth advocates, a seemingly normal labor and delivery can quickly become life-threatening for both the mother and the baby,” according to a statement from the organization.

Mishaps during home births aren’t unheard of in McHenry County. Yvonne Cryns, a former midwife from Richmond, performed a fatal breech birth in 2000 at a Round Lake Beach home. She initially was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, but charges ultimately were dropped after she agreed to stop practicing midwifery.

The obstetrician and gynecologist organization’s rationale is pretty close to what Janus was told when she was considering a midwife-assisted birth.

“Doctors told me midwives were illegal and were not trained as well as doctors,” she said. “They just make you believe that midwives are not available or just not as good as doctors.”

But practicing midwives try to assure their patients that they can be used as a replacement for doctors during and after pregnancy.

Debbie Boucher has been a licensed midwife since July 2008, and she has been present at or performed about 88 births.

“Patients come to midwives just like they go to a doctor,” said Boucher, who assists women in the greater Chicago area, including McHenry County. “A full-scope midwife like me also does routine gynecological care, annual exams, Paps [tests], birth control.”

Boucher will perform Janus’ birth and typically brings a nursing assistant trained in neonatal resuscitation to births.

One of the main differences between Boucher’s services as a midwife and a doctor-assisted birth is that midwives such as Boucher pay special, personal attention to the mother during the birth, Janus said.

“Doctors stay back and are there for just a really small part,” said Janus, who has had three doctor-assisted home births. “Midwives are more like nurses, with the capabilities of doctors ... she’s just more there for you.”