Houston Midwives Collaborate Together

-March 2013

Many of the midwives in the Houston area have a great culture of mutual collaboration and working together. They hold meetings many times throughout the year for peer reviews, they help and assist each other during births, they attend conferences together, and they support each other with open and honest rapport to help each other with client issues.

To become a credentialed midwife is a rigorous process. But even midwives with years of experience or even the best obstetricians will never know everything about the human body in every situation. Most of the time if you hire a midwife in the Houston area, she will have a network of other midwives and her backup doctor at her disposal. “It’s wisdom to have a team of peers behind you for every situation,” says Nanci Stanley.

The Houston area midwife group will hold what they call “peer review” meetings throughout the year. This is where they share stories and birth experiences in order to get valuable feedback from other experienced midwifes. A midwife will share the details of difficult birth scenarios and welcome feedback from other houston area midwives. “Did you follow protocol in that situation?” “Did you make the best decision?” “Could you have chosen a wiser course of action for the safety of mom and baby?” These are some of the questions that may get asked. It is a healthy environment of discussion and ongoing learning for the midwives.

If you hire a Houston midwife, chances are another Houston midwife will serve as a “backup” or assistant during your birth. Not only is delivering a baby a lot of work for just one midwife, but having a second experienced midwife present also provides for a larger base of knowledge. Sometimes a second opinion is extremely helpful when an abnormal situation arises. It is also usually comforting to the birthing mother to know that there is plenty of experience present at her birth.

Attending birth conferences are also part of the culture and climate of a Houston area midwife. These conferences offer topic specific workshops and a whole host of suppliers and vendors for materials and supplies. Attending birth conferences keeps a midwife current with new trends, legal issues, state requirements and available resources.

From a pregnant mom’s perspective, it is a good thing to know that there are very few “lone ranger” midwives in the Houston area – although there area a few. Being part of a team is extremely beneficial and helpful to all parties involved. Knowing that your midwife at any time can pick up the phone and draw on the support of 10 other experienced midwives is a comforting thought. To be a part of a larger network of expertise is not only helpful, but it is also a responsible choice.