Transcript
My name is Shannon Whatley, and I am a certified nurse midwife. Midwives care for women from early ages — from puberty all the way through menopause and beyond. We provide well-woman care, primary care, contraception management, and anything that involves a woman’s health.
We spend quite a bit of time at the bedside during labor, helping with positioning and pain relief. And we’re there to catch the baby when the time comes — or to support dads who want to be the ones to do it. Midwives are at the hospital 24/7. Anytime one of our patients comes in with a concern — whether it’s labor, decreased fetal movement, or something else — we are there to care for them.
We get a lot of questions about the difference between home birth midwives and nurse midwives. In Arkansas, there are two types of midwives. Licensed lay midwives, also called certified professional midwives or CPMs, practice primarily at home and are governed by the Arkansas State Medical Board. Certified nurse midwives, like myself, are advanced practice registered nurses who can practice at home, in birth centers, or in the hospital. Many people don’t know there’s a difference, and that’s one of the most common questions we receive.
When I became a nurse, I went straight into labor and delivery and loved every moment of it. I love being at the bedside and caring for women during one of the most special times in their lives. But a few years in, I realized the time I had with these women just wasn’t enough. I wanted to care for them from the very beginning — to get to know their family before they ever came into labor and delivery, to understand what was going on in their lives, and to be the person walking alongside them from well-woman care through pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. I want to be the one building that relationship.