Word is getting around that midwives are outstanding providers. While every profession has imposters, generally speaking, midwives tend to be concerned with providing you holistic, evidence-based care that puts you, the client, first. Yes, we have protocols we follow, but we take into consideration your wants and needs to customize your care.

Once you’ve decided you would like to choose a midwife for your care, you need to determine where you want to give birth. There are 3 basic options. Home, a birth center, or hospital. To learn more about how to choose where you want to have your baby, check out my blog post where I discuss it in more detail.

CNMs are dually certified as midwives and nurses. Most (but not all) of them have worked as a nurse in the past so they tend to have a wealth of diverse experience in healthcare which give them a wide knowledge base from which to work. They have a Masters degree in Nursing with a specialty in nurse-midwifery. CNMs work in all birth settings.

CMs have a background in healthcare other than nursing, but are certified in the same way CNMs are.
Each state has its own set of laws regulating CNMs/CMs, so how they practice varies. You can find out their scope of practice and regulations on your state’s website. CNMs/CMs have passed a national certification exam administered by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB).

CNMs/CMs tend to be supportive of natural birth, but depending on their setting, they can also care for you if you choose to have an epidural or other interventions in your care. There are some CNMs we (not-so)affectionately refer to as “medwives” who really don’t support natural ways of doing things, but they are the exception.

​I am a CNM, and I have worked in both hospital and a birth center setting. While my heart is in home birth, my family responsibilities have not been conducive to being a home birth provider….yet.

CPMs’ domain is almost exclusively the home or birth centers. They tend to be very “crunchy” -- they believe natural methods are the best way (and often they are right). Their training comes on the job in practical ways, meaning they learn to be midwives through apprenticeship. The CPMs under whom they train guide their educational path according to standards set forth by the North American
Registry of Midwives (NARM).

Like CNMs, each state has different laws regarding CPMs’ practice. They are legal to practice in most states, with the exception being in 5 states and the District of Columbia. You will need to do some research in your state to find out whether they can legally practice and in what settings.

I personally hired a CPM for my most recent birth for many reasons. For one, I wanted to have my baby at home. I also wanted a provider who would come to my house for my prenatal appointments which some CPMs do. Additionally, my CPM had two apprentices working with her, one of whom was a friend of mine. While some women don’t want students involved in their birth, I *like* having students. Perhaps it’s because I AM a midwife, so it is a way I can mentor up-and-coming midwives. But I also know that without women willing to give student midwives and midwife apprentices the experience of attending their birth, their education will not progress as it needs to.

(There is another class of midwife known as “lay midwives”. While there may be many lay midwives who are competent providers, there is no regulation and no way to truly know how well trained they are. For these reasons, it is too risky to choose them for care unless you personally know a way to verify that they know what they’re doing.)

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Midwives who are members of their professional organizations will be listed on the organization’s website. To find certified nurse-midwives who are members of American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), click here. To find certified professional midwives who are members of NARM, click here.

This is the place many people start for the obvious reason. It’s easy. You search for them in your area and most will pop up so you can work from that list to decide who you might like to interview. Yes, I said interview – these people are going to be involved in something incredibly important. You need to know that you trust them and that you LIKE them. You can’t know those things unless you MEET them. Any provider worth their salt will offer free meet-and-greet appointments.

Talk to your friends who have used midwives and ask them who they have used. Ask them if they liked them and why or why not. Use this information, again, to decide who you want to interview. I put a lot of value on friends’ recommendations, but I will not ever recommend you go on that alone. You still need to go meet them yourself because if you don’t like and trust your provider, you WILL have problems later on. I’m saving you from those problems. You’re welcome.

There are tons of mommy groups on Facebook these days. I’m sure there are a lot of private ones that I don’t know about, but there are also many public ones you can join. Search through previous posts in these groups, or if it hasn’t been discussed, ask the members who they’ve used. There is a lot of “iffy” information in these groups, but as a first level of research for name gathering, it’s not a bad option.

If you’re reading this, you “do” the internet, so this is probably doesn’t apply to you. But on the off chance someone is reading this on a borrowed computer or device, there is still such a thing as a old fashioned, paper phone book. You can find providers there.

You can go ahead and assume that birth centers have midwives who provide care. However, you can’t assume that about hospitals. If you can’t find the info you need in the options above, you can call the hospital directly and ask if they have midwives who attend births there. If they do, you should be able to get contact information from them. (We’ll talk about whether a hospital is friendly to midwives and natural birth in a future post. Don’t assume they are just because midwives have privileges.)
You will only find CNMs at hospitals with maybe a handful of exceptions here and there.


Now go forth and find your midwife. I hope you live in an area that has midwives. Even if you think you don’t, they may be there but they’re not always easy to find. Many years of mistreatment have caused midwives to have quite a fight on their hands to get back in the mainstream, but we’re doing it thanks to women who recognize our value and are demanding that our services be available.

Do you know of other ways to find midwives? Comment below. Or if you need help or have questions, comment below as well. I want to hear from you!
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