MIDWIVES The midwifery model of care is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life events. The midwifery model of care includes monitoring the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cylce; providing the mother with individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support minimizing technological interventions, and identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention. The application of the woman-centered model has been proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury, trauma and cesarean section. Copyrighted by the Midwifery Task Force.

Midwives allow for the many different expressions of labor and birth to appear, knowing that a wide variation of experiences are absolutely "normal". Most midwives know and respect the fact that every labor unfolds according to its own rhythm, so they allow each woman and each baby to take all the time they need to make their transition into the world. They understand that labor can take hours or days, as well as begin and then stop.