076 – Midwifery… A Funny Name For Amazing Work, w/ Jamie Hatcher

The Small Moves Podcast

“It’s not practicing medicine ethically if you don’t explain to a patient what’s happening to her.”
-Jamie Hatcher

In today’s show, I chat with Jamie Hatcher, Certified Nurse Midwife, and the person that helped deliver our youngest daughter, Ada. Midwifery, as it’s referred to, had a MASSIVELY bad wrap here in the good ol’ US of A, and I wanted to talk to someone I know and trust in that world to come on and debunk some of the myths about it.

I was very skeptical about my wife using the services of a midwife with our first daughter as I had all the same mental images most people have… crunchy old ladies wearing beads tying my wife’s wrists to the sturdiest branch of an oak tree while giving birth standing upright, and a lookout shooting blow darts at the doctor who dared approach to check my wife’s heart rate! And after working with them both times, I was TOTALLY correct!

I’M KIDDING! It was the best, safest, and most positive experience possible for both my wife (for whom it really mattered) and me. We get into the weeds with this one, but worth it if you have never learned about what a midwife really is, how they function within the US healthcare system, and maybe have some appropriate decisions to be made in your future, sooner or later. Jamie is a sweetheart who took wonderful care of us, so I really hope you enjoy this conversation. Thanks for listening!