Around the Circle Midwifery
Our Philosophy
As midwives, we believe the practice of midwifery to be distinct from the practice of medicine. Midwifery is a discipline focused on the normal cycle of life: the childbearing years.
We base our profession on a model of care which affirms the following:
Families are strong and capable of great and ordinary things – as care providers, we must not stand in the way of their knowledge and inner wisdom; rather, we honor and nurture that strength which is inherently within. We believe that the birth experience belongs to the birthing person and their intimate family. As attendants, we are guests and witnesses in the lives of others.
You are your primary care provider in your own life and often in your family's lives. Midwives respect the dignity and rights of the person they serve and strive to work with them, supporting people to make informed decisions about their care and take responsibility for their own well-being.
Physical, emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual factors contribute to individuals' health and play a significant role in childbearing. Each person has a unique experience of pregnancy and childbirth. To the best of our ability, we individualize our midwifery care to support each person in a way that respects and addresses their unique needs.
Midwives recognize the value of a consistent care provider throughout the childbearing cycle and offer continuity of care whenever appropriate. We provide health care within a community context. Our practices reflect awareness of and integration of cultural standards, midwifery and medical standards, and the ability to network with available social and health care services and resources.
Childbearing and birth are inherently perfect life processes that do best without interference. We understand that attempts to control the process inevitably alter it and can often disrupt its delicate balance. We embrace non-intervention consciously, quietly facilitating the spontaneous process of pregnancy, labor, and birth, utilizing interventions only as truly necessary for the safety and well-being of parent and child.
Knowledge is to be shared freely – with students, other midwives and health care providers, with pregnant women and their families. Open collaboration creates an atmosphere of peers, co-learners, and community, where all participants hold a piece of the truth, and all are of value.
We affirm that choice of birthplace and birth attendant are basic rights of all birthing people and their families. For there to be authentic choice, we, as midwives, will continue to educate and reach out to the public and the medical community, working to ensure that safe, accessible, and affordable out-of -hospital birth options are available to families regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, and religious orientation.