This is an Intervention: The Role and Significance of Certified Nurse Midwife and Physician Approaches to Childbirth Management

Abstract

Often, childbirth is a significant time in the lives of many women. A woman’s personal childbirth experience can vary depending on many factors, including the type of health provider she uses for care during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. The functions of this paper are two-fold: a. To analyze childbirth themes in the Bible to establish the expectations and roles of childbirth health providers. These roles emerged as medical and psychological support of the mother, while ensuring the wellbeing of both the mother and child. b. To consider the approaches of various health providers (specifically, obstetricians and certified nurse midwives) to childbirth and pain management, and the ways in which this affects the experience of the laboring woman. Studies suggest that a woman’s expectations (of both childbirth management and the general experience of childbirth) going into labor and delivery, and whether those expectations are agreed with or opposed by her health provider, have a significant effect on her childbirth experience, in terms of the level of satisfaction and overall sense of control that she feels.