“Steve  and I were committed to the quality and quantity of care we knew we would get with a midwife,” she said. At that time there was only one here in Virginia Beach, Adela Scott Wilson, now retired. Fortunately, Steve and Lisa loved Adela, as well as her two supportive assistants, one of whom, Terri Hewitt, became a fully certified midwife currently in practice.

Fast forward to the new millennium. Families expecting children in Tidewater can now find more midwives in private practice and hospitals. Though midwifery is one of the oldest professions for women, it was often associated with rural communities and earlier generations of women who did not go to the hospital to have a baby. Today, having a baby with a midwife attending is a more viable, legal, and safe option as women become licensed midwives after rigorous training. In Virginia, both CPMs (Certified Professional Midwives) and CNMs (Certified Nurse Midwives) can attend home births; however, only CNMs may work in hospital settings.

RANGE OF OPTIONS

At Bon Secours DePaul Hospital in Norfolk, Certified Nurse Midwife Blair Conger is in the middle of a busy day. Two women are in the early stages of labor in another part of the hospital.

 The Midwifery Center at DePaul, the only one of its kind in the region, projects a sense of tranquility. Curved, pastel walls are covered with hundreds of little blue footprints, and beneath them, in script, the names of the babies born here. In large rooms along the corridor, there are birthing pools that look like hot tubs, comfortable double beds, and even small sets of tables and chairs, evoking a more home-like environment. In the past eleven years, more than 1800 babies have come into the world here at DePaul’s Midwifery Center under the care of women with unique skills and a keen understanding of one of the most natural processes that women experience.

Blair Conger says that more women are becoming aware that they can give birth with a midwife. “I think women talk about their birth experiences, and as more people birth with midwives, more women know they have something else they can ask for,” says Blair.

Blair and her Nurse Midwife colleagues—Nell, Tara, and Jennifer—offer pregnant women clinical expertise and a wealth of experience well before the delivery of a baby.

“From her first obstetrical visit to her family planning visit to her gynecological care, we always work in collaboration with physicians,” Blair explains, “but a woman can be a client of a midwife for ten years or so and never see a physician.”

Blair was an English major working in a health food store when she picked up a book called Spiritual Midwifery. “I thought to myself, ‘I understand this completely,’” she recalls. After training at MCV in Richmond, she began practicing ten years ago.

In the hospital, women with a nurse midwife have a complete range of options to assist their birthing experience, including medical intervention if needed; a drug-free, natural delivery; the possibility of a water-assisted labor or birth; and pain management meds if desired. It is completely the choice of the woman, says Blair, who, like all midwives, encourages women to be actively engaged in their experience.

“When somebody comes to a midwifery center, they need to be prepared to work hard,” Blair explains. “They have to educate themselves about labor and birth, begin labor at home, and transfer to the midwifery center when they are in active labor. These rooms are set up to support their process, but it doesn’t make their process simpler. They have to really prepare themselves for that full experience.”

Another nurse enters the room with an update for Blair. Blair offers advice relative to the patient’s care, knowing she has a long night ahead. Most babies are born at night, or in the twilight hours before morning, she says.

It’s clear that the experience of having a midwife changes things for many families, says Blair. “We have had families tell us that they have had another child because they liked the birth experience so much. They thought they were finished, and then….” Blair pauses and smiles. “We’re not sure how we feel about that responsibility.”

The interview ends as Blair prepares to check on the mothers-to-be. Before long four more footprints will join those on the walls of the midwifery center.

GIVING BIRTH AT HOME

There’s something wonderful about having a baby at home, agree Terri Hewitt and Jenny Derugen, Certified Professional Midwives with Seven Cities Midwifery Care. Their practice started two years ago, but each of these women has attended hundreds of births over the years. Since January, they’ve seen more than 20 babies come into the world here in Hampton Roads. They cite the World Health Organization, which stated in 1996: “Midwives are the most appropriate primary care provider to be assigned to the care of a normal birth.” This is true for the majority of women who have no serious complications.

Though giving birth is so natural all over the planet, it takes special qualities to become the person who helps “catch” babies, as the country midwives used to say.

“The first virtue of good midwives is patience,” said Terri, a smiling, warm-hearted mother of two and grandmother of one. Terri served as assistant to Adela Scott Wilson, starting in 1994. She became a Certified Professional Midwife in 2008.

Jenny added, “I would say another important skill is paying attention and listening and looking, and it all comes over time. The longer you do it, the more comfortable you feel with it.”

Jenny gained her experience, giving birth to one of her two children at home. After attending births in Pennsylvania, she trained to become a CPM in 1997 and then became licensed in Virginia in 2006. Jenny loves her work.

“We see healthy babies and very calm babies with most home births,” she said. “I remember one in particular. He was so calm; it was as if he didn’t realize he had been born yet. It was just the most comfortable, tranquil little babe.”

The midwives remind families that it doesn’t take much room to have a baby. A small, clean cozy space will do. Jenny says the women can even have some of their prenatal visits at home.

Midwives also know how to step aside when the baby and parents have that first hour of bonding, so vital to the well being of a new family.

Some families wonder what will happen if they plan a home birth, but need medical intervention. Midwives know when to seek help if there is a problem that arises.

“If we are at a home birth, and we’re running into a complication, and we need to transport, we go with the couple,” Jenny explained. “One of us generally rides in the ambulance with them, and the other one will meet at the hospital, and we stay with them through the birth, and then follow up with home visits.”

“It’s called continuity of care,” added Terri.

In fact, although Lisa Wynkoop delivered her baby at home, she needed some follow up care at the hospital after he was born. Her birthing team transported her to Virginia Beach General, where Thomas was not admitted because he was not technically a patient; he was a visitor. Lisa was allowed to nurse him, which helped her post-partum process. She says she had the best of both kinds of care.

“Under the care of a midwife, I knew I could do anything for 24 hours after having Thomas at home,” she said.

FAMILY UNITY

As Terri and Jenny’s practice builds, they realize they may need an assistant. Currently, both midwives attend births, but there may come a time when each one is needed in a different home.

Enter Jenn Green, M.S. Ed, an independent childbirth educator and mother of three boys with her husband, Mithra. He encouraged Jenn to consider a home birth for their first son, Weston, 9. Jenn says after one home birth there was no question about having her other babies at home. Starting in August, she began attending births with Terri and Jenny to observe and explore the possibility of becoming a midwife in the future.

On August 18, she witnessed a home birth.

“It was beautiful. I think any birth where the mom is given power to birth as she needs to is absolutely beautiful,” she said.

Jenn realizes that having her children at home affects her way of mothering.

“I do think you enter into your parenting differently when you make all these choices to do the best you can do, to give birth the best way you can,” she said. “That sets you up for a different parenting style. You are more pro-active; your decision to give birth at home affects how you choose medical care, and so on.”

Jenn is committed to helping serve other women, assisting them as they deliver babies surrounded by their loved ones just as Jenn did within her own home. She listens well when Jenny and Terri talk about the sacrifices their children made while they went off to tend to a mom in the midst of a family event.

“At one point, my daughter, Autumn, decided she didn’t want to have children. Maybe she’ll change her mind,” Jenny said with a laugh.

Terri says she shared many a holiday with a birthing mom, leaving her boys and husband for hours. But it is all worth it, both women agree.

“We‘ve seen sunrises, sunsets, Hale-Bopp, misty mornings—things that we wouldn’t see in the morning if we weren’t attending a birth,” Terri said.

“Our role is to enhance the family’s comfort and to preserve that power of family unity,” Jenny added. “We are the guardians of natural birth.”

For further information:

 • The Midwifery Center at Bon Secours Open House: Wednesday, September 8 at 6 p.m. www.bonsecourshamptonroads.com

 • Seven Cities Midwifery Care (Jenny Derugen and Terri Hewitt) www.sevencitiesmidwifery.com

 • Empowering Birth Classes (Jennifer Green)  www.empoweringbirthclasses.com

 Kathleen Fogarty is a frequent contributor to Tidewater Women. She lives on a farm in Virginia Beach with her husband, John.