Special delivery : Midwives offer women more choices than they might have in a hospital.
Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Photograph submitted Midwife Lucy Ferguson held a newborn infant after assisting his mother with delivery.
DECATUR — Local midwife Lucy Ferguson and her assistant Joyce Coonfield offer women the choice to have their babies safely at home.
Ferguson, who owns Heart to Heart Midwifery in Sulphur Springs, is one of about 30 lay midwives who practice in Arkansas, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
Midwives offer professional care but allow women more choices than they might have in a hospital. Midwives also offer alternative methods for dealing with labor pain and give more personalized care, as well as encourage measures such as diet and exercise to prevent complications.
“ The best thing about home birth is getting to have it your own way, ” Ferguson said.
A mother is free to eat and drink and move around as she feels comfortable doing while she’s in labor. A mother is also free to choose what position she’s in while she delivers her baby. Throughout labor and delivery, she can receive one-on-one care from someone with whom she’s already built a trusting relationship — no nurses changing shifts or doctors coming in at the last minute.
While Ferguson doesn’t offer traditional pain-relief methods such as epidural anesthesia and narcotic drugs, she does offer alternative methods that don’t carry the risks associated with strong drugs.
Ferguson rents out birth tubs — what she calls the “ midwife’s epidural” — for water births. The portable hot tubs are deep enough and wide enough for a woman and her husband to sit in and move around. Water is pumped through a filter and kept at an even and warm temperature to help the mother relax.
“ The birth tubs are very popular. Many moms say (the birth tub ) cuts pain by 50 to 70 percent, ” Ferguson said.
Techniques such as relaxation, emotional support and massage also make the pain more tolerable.
Home births also offer less risk of infection, Ferguson said, because mother and baby are already immune to the germs in their home, but at a hospital, they may encounter germs to which they have never been exposed.
After the baby is born, the family is given time to bond with the infant, and the mother is encouraged to start the breast-feeding relationship with her baby as soon as possible.
The midwife examines, weighs and measures the baby, usually on the bed next to the baby’s mother. Then the mother and baby take an herbal bath with healing and antibiotic properties while the midwife cleans up and prepares the bed.
“ For a normal, healthy woman with good prenatal care, home birth is extremely safe, ” Ferguson said. “ Highrisk pregnancies are better managed in a hospital. ”
Numerous studies show that infant and maternal mortality rates for home births are equal to or slightly lower than low-risk hospital births. For example, a study of 5, 418 women in the United States and Canada in 2000 by Johnson and Daviss concluded that women and infants who had a home birth with a certified professional midwife had a low risk of mortality — 1. 7 deaths out of 1, 000 births. The rate was similar to low-risk hospital births, which ranged from 1 to 3. 4 deaths out of 1, 000 births in previous studies.
Ferguson is trained in adult and infant CPR and in neonatal resuscitation. She carries oxygen and neonatal resuscitation equipment to all births and establishes an emergency backup plan with her clients during the first prenatal visit.
In order to become a midwife, Ferguson first apprenticed under an experienced midwife, Janessa Craig of Siloam Springs, and managed 40 home births. She was also required to take a national exam in Little Rock.
In the six years since she became a midwife, Ferguson has managed more than 150 home births. She is licensed by the Arkansas Department of Health and has earned her national license as a Certified Professional Midwife from the North American Registry of Midwives.
In order to qualify as a lowrisk patient, women must undergo two risk assessments by a physician or a county health department. The first must be in the early months of pregnancy, and the second at 36 weeks of pregnancy. Women who have previously had a caesarian section, who are carrying twins, who have previous health conditions or who are carrying babies with malpresentations may not have their babies at home.
Ferguson offers the same prenatal care as a physician, monitoring the mother’s weight, blood pressure, glucose and protein levels, and the baby’s heart rate, position and growth rate. But unlike many physicians, Ferguson spends an hour with her clients during appointments, listening to their concerns, giving them advice on relieving pregnancy aches and pains, and answering questions.
Ferguson also emphasizes nutrition and exercise as a way to prevent complications such as chronic high blood pressure and toxemia, placental abruption and postpartum hemorrhage and to ensure an easier labor and a strong, healthy baby.
“ If your body is in really good condition, you’re less likely to have problems, ” she said.
Ferguson encourages her clients to educate themselves as much as possible in all aspects of pregnancy and birth, and allows her patients to check out books and videos from her library.
All midwives offer free consultations, Ferguson said. When choosing a midwife, it’s important to find someone with whom a mother can connect.
Ferguson, as a young mother, first learned about midwives and home birth from a neighbor. Three of her four children were born at home, and she has been actively involved with midwifery since 1997.
“ I loved having my babies at home so much, I just wanted to help other women have that experience, ” she said.
For more information, visit the Birth Network of Northwest Arkansas at www. birthnetworknwa. org or call Ferguson at 298-3409.
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