troy ny midwife

Recently, someone asked on Facebook if I did “just midwifery or also OB-GYN?” At first I was taken aback: putting the word ‘just’ in front of anything sounds belittling. But I quickly got over myself and realized that she was simply asking a question.

What a great question!

Do I do just midwifery? Maybe…

In NY state, Licensed Midwives provide full scope health care for women. According to the NYS Office of the Professions: “A midwife is a health care provider who cares for women during pregnancy, childbirth, following the birth of a child, and for other health needs throughout their adult life.”

Also from the NYS OP “Midwives commonly offer the following services: maternity care, first exams for young women and PRE-conception counseling, normal gynecological care, family planning, annual health screenings and exams.”

As a midwife in NYS, this is what my practice of midwifery looks like:

My clients range in age from 9-90 (yep, really).

I care for clients in

  • my office
  • clients’ homes
  • at the hospital

Types of appointments that I schedule:

  • Annual exams
  • GYN problem visits
  • Fertility and Family Planning
  • Prenatal Care
  • Labor and Birth Support
  • Postpartum Care
  • Lactation Support
  • General health concerns

In a typical week, I have a variety of appointments: I see folks for prenatal and postpartum care including lactation support, and maybe get to attend a birth. I help clients with family planning (this works in both directions, helping women trying to get pregnant and those working to avoid pregnancy). There are always a bunch of general health concerns (coughs, earaches, seasonal allergies, improving health and stamina, etc), and mental health concerns (anxiety, depression and stress are the biggies).

On any given day, I might do some prenatal visits, talk about normal development with a nine year old, counsel someone else about anxiety, place an IUD, do a lactation support visit including Craniosacral therapy for mom and baby, check someone’s ears and sinuses, counsel about blood pressure… The list goes on. Plus, I will answer phone calls, texts and emails galore. All of this is midwifery, just midwifery.

So yes, I do ‘just midwifery,’ plain old, wonderful, miraculous midwifery!

Michelle
May all babies be born into loving hands