All CNMs interviewed for this project have bachelor's degrees, most have master's degrees, and several have multiple bachelor's or master's degrees. All CNMs, are Registered Nurses. After graduating with a bachelor's in nursing, many of the Valley's CNMs worked as labor and delivery nurses or as public heath nurses if they did not go directly into one of the more than thirty CNM certification programs or masters degree programs for nurse-midwifery. Programs for certified nurse-midwifery are usually offered in conjunction with medical and nursing schools. Lay midwives do not have formal midwifery education, and they cannot legally practice in Arizona.
CMs have bachelor's degrees and training in midwifery, but they have no nursing education.
CMs are not yet recognized legally in Arizona. Although CNMs are supportive of women who want natural childbirth without medication, CNMs also support women's wishes to use pain medication like Demerol or Stadol intravenously, as well as, epidurals, if requested. When asked why babies delivered by CNMs have higher birthweights, CNMs in the Valley responded that they put heavy emphasis on proper nutrition education during pregnancy. Also, simply waiting until the baby was ready to come, rather than inducing labor, was a major contributor to higher birthweight. CNMs strongly encourage breast feeding because babies absorb nutrients from breast milk more readily than formula.