Can I be a CNM and believe in medical interventions?

Specialties CNM

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I am looking into a career as a CNM. I am an RN with experience in med/surg, operating room and now as an nurse educator for the operating room. My desire to explore this career field comes from my personal experiences. I have four pregnancy, first was stillborn with IUGR and HELLP syndrome. Second was IUGR and induction at 36 weeks followed by a 5 week postpartum multiple DVTs. Third pregnancy was a 9 week miscarriage and then finally the fourth was induction at 38 weeks with gestational hypertension (during pregnancy I was on aspirin, lovenox and heparin shots daily).

I believe in the medical interventions when necessary but want to be a part of women's journey to becoming a mother. I am nervous that my history of high-risk pregnancies and medical interventions would be conflicting with most CNM views? Is it possible to be a CNM and still believe in the hospital births and interventions?

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Happy to reassure you. Most CNMs work in hospitals and work closely with physicians to achieve the best outcomes for pregnant people whether they have a completely blank medical/obstetric history or if they have had complications previously or ongoing. CNMs definitely support interventions, medications, epidurals,cesarean births when it’s appropriate. Unfortunately there is a lot of interventions/medical care that’s unnecessary for low risk women. However, due to your personal experiences for example CNMs would be highly supportive of the collaboration with the widely medical team. What CNMs do is look at the person from a holistic point of view and have a more equal decision making relationship than a traditional doctor patient set up. Hope that helps! Good luck with your application.

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Specializes in OB.
13 hours ago, Toast&Butters said:

I am looking into a career as a CNM. I am an RN with experience in med/surg, operating room and now as an nurse educator for the operating room. My desire to explore this career field comes from my personal experiences. I have four pregnancy, first was stillborn with IUGR and HELLP syndrome. Second was IUGR and induction at 36 weeks followed by a 5 week postpartum multiple DVTs. Third pregnancy was a 9 week miscarriage and then finally the fourth was induction at 38 weeks with gestational hypertension (during pregnancy I was on aspirin, lovenox and heparin shots daily).

I believe in the medical interventions when necessary but want to be a part of women's journey to becoming a mother. I am nervous that my history of high-risk pregnancies and medical interventions would be conflicting with most CNM views? Is it possible to be a CNM and still believe in the hospital births and interventions?

Yes, it is possible. Honestly I would do a lot more research about the training and background of CNMs, because your question is borderline offensive. CNMs are trained to follow evidence-based practice. Many times this requires using medical interventions. 95% of CNMs who do deliveries, do so in hospitals. Check out ACNM's website for more info.

www.midwife.org

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1 hour ago, LibraSunCNM said:

Yes, it is possible. Honestly I would do a lot more research about the training and background of CNMs, because your question is borderline offensive. CNMs are trained to follow evidence-based practice. Many times this requires using medical interventions. 95% of CNMs who do deliveries, do so in hospitals. Check out ACNM's website for more info.

www.midwife.org

Thanks for your post. I'm not a midwife, but had the same thoughts.

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I am sorry if I offended anyone. That was not my intent. Thanks for the feedback.

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19 hours ago, Toast&Butters said:

I am sorry if I offended anyone. That was not my intent. Thanks for the feedback.

Hi, sorry if i sounded harsh. I'm not offended, just confused by your post. And I'm not a CNM.

So sorry about your pregnancies and losses. That is heart breaking beyond anyone's understanding.

I am too literal in interpreting what I read or hear. I kept thinking is Toast&Butters implying that during any of her pregnancies if she was under the care of a CNM she would not want or expect the CNM to send her to an obstetrician or a hospital?

I think you'd be a good CNM with your first hand knowledge of what can go wrong during pregnancy.

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Specializes in OB.

You also didn't offend me, what I'm trying to get across is that your post reflects such an ignorance of what CNMs do that it could be offensive to some. Implying, for example, that medical interventions "conflict with most CNM views." CNMs support the use of medical intervention when necessary. They support normal, physiologic birth when intervention is not medically necessary. And as I said before, most CNMs who do deliveries are in the hospital, a common misconception. Do they normally take care of super high risk moms? Of course not, that is what OB/GYNs and MFMs are for, but they can care for some moderate to higher risk moms in collaboration with an OB. They can also do well-woman GYN care, provide contraception, help with lactation, provide postpartum care, etc. Just trying to clear up what seem to be some huge misconceptions. Again, ACNM is a valuable resource.

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Specializes in Nurse-Midwife.

I found the question refreshing.

And here is my answer: YES! Absolutely!

It's a pretty common misconception - among MANY people - patients, nurses, physicians and the public at large - that midwives eschew medical interventions and technology. And that's not the case.

I have patients who ask if they can still see me if they

- want an epidural for labor (YES!)

- don't want to breastfeed (YES!)

- want an induction of labor (YES!)

I support natural birth and unmedicated birth, but more than that I support the patient's choices to decide what is best her her/him/them in their lives. This relates to their reproductive health care, their prenatal health care and their care during labor and birth. I even have patients under my care who are electing to have repeat cesarean births, and I WHOLLY SUPPORT THEM.

I think you have a solid nursing background for entry into an advance practice role, and your personal experiences will give you something to draw upon. I recommend working on a mother-baby unit or L&D unit to really get a sense of the type of work - and the many variations out there - that you want to do.

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