Midwife options expand in New Hanover and Pender

Two new options for local families who choose midwife care are now available. Certified nurse midwife, Olivia Marshburn, has opened her own practice in Hampstead, specializing in homebirths. Marshburn, who has practiced midwifery for 30 years, is currently seeing 20 obstetric patients. She provides a range of services including out-of-hospital births and well woman care.

Her practice, Midwifery Services, is staffed by assistant midwife, Meredith Christie, and midwife apprentice, Antoinette Palmer. Two physicians are supporting Marshburn’s home birth services in the area.

Marshburn became a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) in 1993 and has worked at the Naval hospital at Camp Lejeune.

Christie is planning to attain her Certified Professional Midwife accreditation in March.

In North Carolina, certified nurse midwives are required to work with a supervising physician. But, most physicians will not sign off on a birth conducted outside of the hospital. Therefore, only a few midwives perform out-of-hospital births in the area.

“My concern is because of the political climate, it’s going to be very hard for physicians to be comfortable. They feel liable somehow. [But] if they look into the law, they are only liable when they refuse or assume care,” Marshburn said.

Two physicians, whom she said she would not name, have legally signed off in support of her practice in the area. “We’re all going to get heat as soon as the news gets out,” she said about pressure from the local medical community. But, she said she has been planning to open this practice for about a year with the support of the Midwifery Joint Committee of North Carolina.

Also, Certified Nurse Midwife, Pamela Irby, has begun seeing patients at South East Area Health Education Center (SEAHEC). Irby was one of the midwives let go when Carolina OB/GYN ended its midwife program last summer.

“I am thrilled to be serving the women of Wilmington again,” Irby said in a press release.