Midwives just catch babies, right? Psh, that’s just the tip of the iceberg! While it may be one of our favorite things to do, catching babies is actually just one of the multitude of services that a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) can provide. So here it is, in no particular order other than what popped into my mind, 99 things a CNM can do for you. Be honest, how many of these did you not know about before now?
- Provide routine prenatal care
- Provide nutritional counseling
- Provide clinical breast exam
- Perform a pap
- Order a mammogram
- Order a bone-density screening
- Order a colonoscopy
- Order an ultrasound
- Perform an ultrasound
- Prescribe contraceptive pills
- Insert an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD)
- Insert a Nexplanon subdermal contraceptive device
- Provide preconception counseling
- Provide infertility counseling
- Provide natural family planning (NFP) education
- Confirm a pregnancy
- Confirm a miscarriage (spontaneous abortion)
- Provide expectant management of miscarriage
- Provide medical management of miscarriage
- Provide elective abortion and termination of pregnancy care
- Screen for STIs (sexually-transmitted infections)
- Treat STIs
- Provide STI treatment for female and male sex partners
- Give immunizations
- Screen for, diagnose, and initiate treatment of diabetes,…
- …hypertension,…
- …high cholesterol,…
- …thyroid dysfunction,…
- …anemia,…
- …polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS),…
- …depression,…
- …anxiety,…
- …common viral/bacterial infections, like strep throat,…
- …ear infections,…
- …and sinus infections
- Provide complimentary and alternative methods (CAM) education for pregnancy discomforts,…
- …and menopausal symptoms
- Monitor for pregnancy complications
- Screen for, diagnose, and treat gestational diabetes
- Provide gestational diabetes nutritional education
- Screen for fetal chromosomal abnormalities
- Provide support for unmedicated labor (“natural labor”)
- Provide support for medicated labor (IV pain meds, epidural)
- Care for women desiring vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)
- Care for women pregnant with twins
- Monitor fetal heart tones in labor
- Perform and interpret fetal heart rate non-stress test
- Provide natural methods of labor induction (like membrane sweep)
- Provide medical methods of labor induction (like Pitocin)
- Artificially rupture the amniotic membranes (break your bag of waters)
- Provide comfort measures in labor
- Suggest productive position changes in labor
- Monitor for complications during labor
- Practice patience during a long labor
- Provide antibiotics during labor for GBS (group B strep)
- Manually rotate a posterior baby during labor
- Perform an episiotomy (only when absolutely necessary, and with consent)
- Suture lacerations after birth
- Manage postpartum hemorrhage
- Act as surgical first assist for cesarean birth
- Perform newborn resuscitation
- Perform comprehensive newborn exam after birth
- Perform newborn gestational age assessment
- Perform newborn metabolic screen
- Perform newborn hearing screen
- Perform newborn congenital heart defect screen
- Monitor newborn’s weight gain
- Assess newborn for jaundice
- Diagnose a fetal death (fetal demise)
- Provide grief counseling for bereaved parents
- Provide breastfeeding education and support
- Diagnose and treat mastitis
- Assess pelvic floor function
- Assess for urinary or fecal incontinence
- Assess for pelvic floor prolapse
- Provide pelvic floor therapy education
- Provide sexual health education
- Treat sexual dysfunction disorders
- Assess for and troubleshoot sexual pain and orgasmic disorders
- Assess for ovarian,…
- …uterine,…
- …cervical,…
- …vaginal,…
- …and vulvar cancers
- Assess for and treat urinary tract infection,…
- …vaginal yeast infection,…
- …and bacterial vaginosis
- Culture or biopsy genital lesions
- Provide cryotherapy for genital warts
- Care for women with substance abuse and addiction
- Care for sexual assault survivors
- Act as sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE)
- Screen for domestic abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV)
- Provide education on hereditary cancer risks
- Provide smoking cessation education and treatment
- Screen for and treat osteoperosis
- Provide hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
- Provide gender-affirming hormones for transgender people
- Catch your baby at home, at a birth center, or in a hospital!
Dr. Lauren
