Nurse-Midwives Recognized

1983 - Domestic Event

All babies were born at home until the early 1900s, when doctors began promoting hospitals as the safest place to deliver. From then on, more middle- and upper-class women began choosing hospital births. But the tradition of midwife-assisted home births continued in rural areas, especially among African Americans.

A midwife is someone who helps women during childbirth.  Lay midwives enter their profession without formal training, usually learning from more experienced midwives. In years past, older lay midwives in rural areas of North Carolina were often called granny ladies. Beginning in the 1910s, many midwives in North Carolina received additional training from county health department programs.

Since the women’s rights movement in the late 1960s, a growing number of women have chosen to give birth with the help of a certified nurse-midwife, a registered nurse who has completed graduate-level midwifery training and passed a certification exam. The nurse-midwife can assist in the hospital, at home or in a homelike birthing center.

North Carolina is one of the few states that require midwives to be certified nurses. In 1983 the state recognized certified nurse-midwives and required them to work in conjunction with a doctor during all home births.

Despite these restrictions, many lay midwives, as well as certified nurse-midwives, remain committed to providing home births for women with low-risk pregnancies. Some continue to offer their services at the risk of legal sanctions.

Information provided by BCBSNC.

A baby delivered by a certified nurse-midwife. Photo courtesy of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.