
DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710150164

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  133 lines

OLD PRACTICE REBORNPATRICIA COLLIER AND BLAIR CONGER, LICENSED AND CERTIFIED NURSE-MIDWIVES, ARE SPREADING THE WORD THAT THERE'S ANOTHER WAY TO HAVE BABIES IN SUFFOLK.

Five years ago when Navy doctors recommended to Stephanie Love that she use a midwife for prenatal care and delivery, she was skeptical.

Her pregnancy, the doctors said was very low risk.

``My mother was a pediatrician and my father, an internist, so I basically grew up in hospitals,'' Love said. ``The word `midwife' scared the bejeebers out of me.

``I just knew a midwife would serve me chamomile tea and rub crystals over my eyes.''

Love's midwife assisted first pregancy and delivery went so well that when she became pregnant earlier this year, she made a concerted effort to find a certified nurse-midwife.

That's not an easy task in Hampton Roads, especially since the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth did not offer a midwife option.

``I felt like I was speaking a foreign language when I tried to explain why I wanted a midwife,'' she said.

Then she found Patricia Collier at the Lakeview Medical Center in Suffolk.

Collier and Blair Conger, both licensed and certified nurse-midwives, practice in the Suffolk/Portsmouth area and they are getting the word out that they offer an attractive, yet often misunderstood, alternative in women's primary health care.

They're two of just seven certified nurse-midwives in the Hampton Roads area. They are each affiliated with local obstetrical/gynecological practices and provide routine gynecological and normal newborn care as well as labor and delivery care.

Certified nurse midwives are registered nurses who complete additional training through a nurse-midwifery program, are certified by the American College of Nurse midwives and are licensed by the state in which they practice.

Modern midwifery is a mystery to many folks who still conjure up visions of midwives riding mules to deliver babies in isolated rural homes.

Midwifery offers women a supportive, informed, and medically sound alternative for childbirth as well as women's primary health care.

Conger and Collier said they often answer questions about the legality, safety, and benefits of midwife assisted births.

``Once you explain midwifery and its care, that it is moving childbirth back to a human model from a medical technological model, most women are delighted,'' Conger added. ``The medical model addresses illness as well, but what midwifery chooses to address is wellness.''

``And, no, we don't accept chickens and goats as payment anymore,'' Collier said with a laugh

Love, 38 and a real estate appraiser, now lives with her husband Robert and son in the West Park View section of Portsmouth. She is due to deliver her second child, with Collier in attendance, this month.

Love's desire to maintain more control over her pregnancy and delivery is typical of many women who choose mid-wife assisted deliveries.

``The nurturing factor is important but I also feel well versed in all the possibilities without any options being taken away from me,'' Love said. ``There is a real feeling of mutual respect for each other's wishes and guidance.''

Both Collier and Conger deliver in hospitals where they can combine the safety of available technology with the autonomy their patients prefer.

Midwives stay with their patients throughout their labor, offering support and attention that surprises many expectant mothers who expect to be connected to a monitor and checked only intermittantly by a nurse or doctor.

Tammy Hockman, a 29-year-old Suffolk kindergarten teacher, recently delivered her first child, assisted by Conger. Not only was she impressed by Conger's remaining with her throughout her labor she was amazed when Conger used a birthing ball, closely resembling a beach ball, to help turn her daughter, still in the womb, to the proper birthing position.

``The nurses did not know what she was talking about, but she certainly knew what she was doing,'' Hockman said, ``By using that technique for 10 minutes she probably saved me hours of labor,''

Collier, 42 and a Franklin native, knew from the time she first observed a birth in nursing school that she wanted to be a midwife. After working as a labor and delivery nurse and earning a master's degree in nursing administration, Collier tried to convince herself to remain in her job as director of the women's center at Obici Hospital.

But midwifery tugged at her until she enrolled in the midwifery school at East Carolina University.

Conger, 39, earned a degree in comparative literature from Virginia Commonwealth University and then went back to school for another two years to earn a degree in nursing. When she was just 20 she read a book about midwifery. ``I understood it with both my heart and mind,'' she said.

In her mid 30's after years of working as a labor and delivery nurse, Conger finally decided to train as a midwife and enrolled in the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Medicine in Kentucky, the nation's oldest school of midwifery.

For both Conger and Collier every interaction with a patient is some form of education whether it is explaining birth options to an expectant mother or discusing the health needs of a post menopausal woman.

``We widen the perspective and evaluate women in context of their lives not just by the condition of their cervixes at that moment,'' Conger said.

Dr. Beth Levin, one of four obstetricians with whom Collier works at Lakeview Medical Clinic, moved to Hampton Roads five years ago from Rhode Island and was surprised to find only one or two certified nurse-midwives in the area. Having worked with and learned from midwives in New Engalnd she views midwifery as a viable patient option.

``Although it does not suit all mothers or all doctors I see it as a receptive, comfortable way to deliver children without going outside of the hospital framework,'' Levin said.

Conger is associated with the Specialists for Women, an obstetrics/gyneology practice with offices in Suffolk, Portsmouth, and Smithfield.

Dr. Keith Goodman, an obstetrician with the same practice, had worked with midwives frequently during his military medical career.

He began looking for a certified nurse-midwife when several of his patients asked about a midwife assisted delivery.

``It took a while to find a nurse midwife, one who would blend with our practice,'' Goodman said. ``But we thought it was important for our patients with generally normal pregnancies to offer the option of a midwife assisted birth experience within the safety of a hospital setting.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by MICHAEL KESTNER

Two-week old Addison sleeps in the arms of her mother, Tammy

Hockman, while nurse/midwife Blair Conger dispenses advice during

n[sic] examination.

Pat Collier checks Stephanie Love and her baby during an examination

and counseling session with Love and her husband, Robert.

Midwives Blair Conger, left, and Patricia Collier use a doll and a

birthing ball in their practices.

Graphic

LEARN MORE

``The Role of the Nurse-midwife,'' a free informational program,

will be presented by Blair Conger and Patricia Collier on Tuesday,

October 21, 6:30 p.m., at Nothern Shores Elementary School, 6701