This is by far the most frequently asked question I receive.
I know that when many people hear the word midwife, they think of someone with long hair, long skirts, and Birkenstock clogs, who delivers babies at home! While that's true of some, it's only partially true of me!
The practice of Nurse-Midwifery has evolved greatly over the past 75 years or so. To begin with, nurse-midwives are highly educated practitioners. They are educated in both the profession of nursing, and the art of midwifery. Most states now require that a nurse-midwife have a master's degree in nursing as well.
Nurse-midwives do more than deliver babies, too! We do well woman care, including PAP tests and breast exams; we can diagnose and treat gynecological disorders; we can write prescriptions in all 50 states.
Only about 4% of midwives deliver babies at home these days. The other 96% of babies are born in hospitals. While I believe that planned home birth can be as safe as a hospital delivery, I am currently attending births in the hospital (St. Elizabeth and Northside Hospitals in Youngstown).
I am no stranger to out-of-hospital birth, however. While I was in graduate school, I worked as an RN at a birth center called Doughty View Midwifery Center, located in Millersburg, Ohio. My dream is to operate a freestanding birth center in the very near future!
YoungstownMidwife.com 
