If you ask Debra Newton, the process of giving birth in America has been turned from a natural event to a medical procedure that terrifies most expectant mothers. As a mother, Newton one day found herself in a cold maternity room that reeked of medicine and sanitizers. Newton was waiting to deliver a baby, but the Vandalia woman says she felt like she was headed for surgery. Newton says her own birthing experience and the fear she had seen in the faces of other expectant mothers at hospitals spurred her to leave a regular nursing job to pursue midwifery. Since 1993, Newton has been a licensed nurse midwife and currently operates Midwife Advantage, a midwifery practice based in the Berry Women's Pavilion at Miami Valley Hospital.
Midwives assist in birth and offer basic gynecology services.
According to the National Center of Health Statistics, the number of births attended by midwives in the nation has been steadily increasing. In 1998, the most current year for which data is available, the center reported 7 percent of births, or 277,811 births, were attended by a nurse midwife. In 1975, only 19,686 births were attended by a nurse midwife. There are about 5,700 nurse midwives in the nation registered with the American College of Nurse-Midwives. For Newton, this necessity has meant she can't operate truly independently.