Midwife Connection

By Melissa Garvey, ACNM Senior Writer-Editor It’s hard to imagine a time when the midwifery community isn’t brimming with action and forward momentum. Even so, I feel compelled to stop and savor what is turning out to be a particularly momentous spring for ACNM and the broader midwifery community. Midwives received significant air time last week leading up to Mother’s Day. ACNM member Patricia Loftman, CNM, told the world she was a midwife on the May 8 episode of Wheel of Fortune (she also ...

Discovering the midwifery community at the ACNM Annual Meeting By Susana Vega, CNM I do not lack love. I do not lack joy. I do not lack companionship. But when one of my roomies at last year’s ACNM 57th Annual Meeting & Exposition started pouring out Vagina Warrior buttons across our cheap, somewhat pungent hotel bed, I knew I had found the missing piece in my life. I knew it again while overhearing passionate debates over which education session was most interesting; breast cancer ...

By Stephanie Tillman, CNM, MSN I have come to believe that one of the hallmarks of a great midwifery practice is ability to integrate new midwives. As a recent graduate, I was thankful for the six weeks of outpatient orientation and ten births my new practice required before the experienced midwives “cut the cord” and sent me out on my own. Despite feeling adequately supported clinically, the warmth and kindness I had found in my classmates while in midwifery school did not carry over into th...

By Kathryn Kravetz Carr, CNM, Chair, ACNM Government Affairs Committee May is a big month for midwives! ACNM Virtual Lobby Week is coming up next week, May 13 – 17, right on the heels of International Day of the Midwife (May 5) and Mother’s Day (May 12). This year, ACNM and the Government Affairs Committee are rallying midwives to support the Moms for the 21st Century bill (scheduled to be re-introduced to Congress on May 21) and the Quality Care for Moms and Babies bill (S. 1969 / H.R...

By Stephanie Tillman, CNM, MSN Whether you are on cloud 9 after receiving an offer from an employer, or still hunting for the perfect employment, getting a head start on all of the necessary licensure is a vital part of the process. I didn’t have quite all the information I needed when I started, and subsequently did not know I was missing my DEA until a pharmacist called me to deny a prescription. Lesson learned, and love passed on to y'all! Let's make sure you have the full list. Certif...