This piece, written by Nicole C. Kearny Cooper, was first published in my Afro Mama zine, which I published 2002-2004. You can find more topics like it in the Afro Mama book

I knew I wanted a midwife and was lucky enough to find Saras (Vedam, CNM). The first time I meet with her, she was knowledgeable and she seemed concerned about me. She just opened all the doors I wanted opened for me. It wasn’t a five minute appointment, my appointments lasted an hour, an hour and half. However long I felt I needed and Saras felt I needed to be sure I was getting the proper health care that I was taking care of myself, my diet. But also what was going on with me, how were things at work? Was I overstressed? Things I needed to watch out for, exercises I could do. “They even had a lending library,” Yolan Wilburn fondly recalls of her midwife-attend childbirth experience.

Although considered unorthodox midwife-attended births are quite common in the Caucasian community and rapidly growing as a childbirth choice in the African American community, as African American women and women of African descent across the country realize that a normal, healthy pregnancy is not a medical condition or illness.

From the dawn of existence midwives have attended women and their families during childbirth. Today, in the 21st century, the practice of midwifery and midwife-attended birth is the norm throughout Africa and Europe and in rural southern cities in the U.S.

In fact midwife-attended birthing options are more diverse than ever. A woman and her family can choose a traditional home birth or to be attended by midwives in a birthing centers. Many hospitals have midwives on staff who attends births in ‘birthing rooms’ at the hospital.

The term midwife is said to mean ‘with woman’. “Midwifery means all that goes into educating and preparing women so she is completely confident, so that my role becomes secondary at the time of the birth. The woman is in power to do what she needs to listen to her body to be instinctive at the time. I am there in a watchful, expecting role, staying where I make sure that things are safe and within the range of normal,” says Sara Vedam, a certified nurse midwife (CNM) who primarily attends home-births.

The International Center for Traditional Childbearing, (ICTC) was founded in 1991 by Shafia Monroe, a veteran midwife of 20 years. “ICTC is a non-profit African centered organization created to promote the health of women and their families and to train Black women aspiring to become midwives,” notes Shafia.

ICTC states on their website www.blackmidwives.org, “The midwives were revered, loved and depended on by the entire village. The Grand-midwife took on apprentices and passed on their knowledge of labor preparation, birth attending, breastfeeding and post-partum care. Traditional midwifery also instructed its apprentices in the healing arts, which included prayer, and rituals for paying homage to the ancestors.”

“The midwifery movement, especially home birth has seen a disappearance of midwives of African American women and women of African descent. Once in the majority, especially in Southern and rural communities where access to hospitals and clinics was not only racially, but economically prohibitive as well,” says Shafia.

But as midwife-attended childbirth remains a viable childbirth choice in the 21st century, there is a growing movement to train midwives who are committed to getting to know a woman and her family. Midwives who will provide information, guidance, and support to a woman and her families’ in their decision to have a midwife-attended birth. Birth is after all a natural life occurrence that usually requires no medical intervention or drugs for normal healthy mothers.

A midwife-attended birth allows the women and her family to be in control versus having someone else impose their rules and sanctions over the birthing process. A woman in labor with a midwife is encouraged to eat, move/walk about and rest in order to preserve her strength for the pushing phase of labor.

Yolan who recounts her homebirth attended by Saras says, “I felt comfortable being at home. It didn’t bother me; some people said were you worried that anything could go wrong. No. My midwives and I were prepared and we had a back-up plan. As my labor progressed, I was able to eat, take a hot shower and then sleep. When my labor really kicked in, I was able to squat down in order to let gravity assist me in my labor. On the first push, Zurel came out. I was so excited. I got to have a birth on my own terms, which meant a lot to me.”

Saras reveals, “I’m not there to interfere with what is the body’s process. I listen to the baby’s heart rate; make sure the progress is going well. On the other hand I am there to facilitate the family’s ability to bond, to be there for the safest and most pleasant manner possible. As midwives we are also there as a support during post partum for breastfeeding, for new parenting and random questions.”

As midwife-attended birth continues to gain momentum in the African American community, as a common childbirth choice, organizations like ICTC continue to work to develop and preserve the traditional role of the midwife in the Black community by holding an annual conference in Portland, Oregon and in establishing the first National Midwives Mentoring Program in 2002.

ICTC future goals include taking its midwifery training program global via the world wide web. If you are interested in becoming a midwife, are looking for a midwife in your locale or for more information about ICTC, contact them at www.blackmidwives.org or by calling 503-460-9324.

This article was written by Nicole C. Kearney Cooper

This blog entry is by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Mama Specific Productions!

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