Jen Mayer

I am currently working on an honors thesis at CU. My topic is feminism and childbirth. For this project I have conducted in depth interviews with homebirth midwives on the Front Range. As a student and an aspiring midwife I have learned so much about the field from these interviews. Here is a *brief* summary so far.

• Apprenticeship Model: to be a direct-entry midwife in CO it is very common to particpate in the apprenticeship model of education. I have never questioned this way of obtaining an education until I conducted these interviews. I have learned there are a lot of drawbacks like a) an apprenticeship is like a marriage, b) it might take a long, long time to get the births needed to be registered. this depends on how busy your preceptors practice is, c) you might not serve a diversified population, especially around the Boulder area. d) midwives are not necessarily teachers and often do not receive much, if anything but new “competition” out of the apprenticeship.

• Legislation is Key: Laws as an institution dictate the type of care that is available to pregnant women. There is enough here for a seperate post, even a masters degree.

• Baby’s Experience of Birth: Many midwives are conscious of the baby’s experience through birth. When asked, “If anything could be changed about how we view birth in our culture what would it be?” some midwives responded with wanting to encourage more awareness of the baby’s conciousness during the process.

Off to transcribe more interviews, and will update more when I have new data.

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