Midwife Connection

By Walker Karraa, MFA, MA Previous studies conducted by Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2011), and Lobel and Deluca (2007) suggested that some women benefit from a planned cesarean delivery compared to women who do not plan for interventions – particularly in lower rates of depression and anxiety. A recent study, Mode of birth and women’s psychological and physical wellbeing in the postnatal period (Rowlands & Redshaw, 2012) sheds light on the growing lit...

By Holly Powell Kennedy, CNM, PhD, FAAN, FACNM, President, American College of Nurse-Midwives Today ACNM’s peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health (JMWH) released the long awaited and much anticipated National Birth Center Study II (NBCS II). The first study of this magnitude since 1989, NBCS II features the outcomes of 15,574 births to women who sought care at midwife-led birth centers. As midwives, we know our unique, woman-centered style of care leads to excellent...

By Walker Karraa, MFA, MA In 2010, ACNM published a position paper supporting group prenatal care which states that “group prenatal care offers an evidence-based model of prenatal care that can improve health outcomes for childbearing women and their infants.” Combining prenatal care and childbirth education into one setting has garnered increased attention in recent years, adding to the growing literature on alternative models of prenatal care beyond the 2.0 model. For example, the Centering...

Reproductive Researchers Reach Wide Audience with New Interactive Web site by Walker Karraa, MFA, MA Researchers from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London have produced a multi-disciplinary, multimedia Web site called Begin Before Birth dedicated to educating women, partners, care providers, and students about the impact of environment on fetal development. Professor Vivette Glover, professor of perinatal psychobiology, leads the research team who...

By Melissa Garvey, ACNM Communications Manager A study published in the September 2012 issue of ACNM’s peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health (JMWH), shows that more US women are seeing midwives, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs) for maternity care. Analyzing data from the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), lead study author Katy Bates Kozhimannil, PhD, MPA, along with coauthors Melissa Avery, CNM, PhD, and Carrie Ann Terrell, MD, found...