Dawn Finney CPM, Birthroot Midwifery

01/24/2026

This weekend, in Missouri, you could put the milk outdoors if you are worried about prolonged power outage.

With a major winter storm potentially affecting dozens of states, we recognize the concerns many have about stored milk.

Updated to add: A stand alone freezer will maintain temperature for 48 hours in a power outage if unopened. A freezer compartment within a fridge will maintain temperature for 24 hours if unopened.

[Image Description] Photo of a wintery scene. Text on top reads, "Power outage? Worried about your frozen milk? Try to keep the freezer door completely shut while power is out. Once power is restored, check to see if there are any ice crystals that remain in the bags. If there are any frozen ice crystals at all, it may be refrozen." The La Leche League USA logo is below the text.

12/14/2025

RESCHEDULED TO FEBRUARY 28TH!
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Curious about home birth and midwifery care? Next year, we'll be having a Saturday open house to visit with midwives and hear about what we offer.

If you wish to schedule a private meeting, you don't have to wait for this event, of course! Contact me and we can set up a free consultation for in-person or via Zoom to learn more.

08/10/2025

I must edit this post to share that because several of the midwives with whom I work and me all need time off in various places from May to August, we decided to join forces for these months to provide care with a group model-- meaning an on-call schedule.

Thus, my June and July are not "closed" for booking clients with due dates in those months--there is now availability; keeping in mind a four-midwife collaborative practice arrangement and some limited availability in terms of numbers of clients we can serve.

If you would like to explore care this summer, please contact me!
The midwives group is: Katy Miller, Julie Ferdman, Chelsea Miller, and me.

We have the broad strokes of this figured out and continue to refine how this will work. But there will be coverage in Columbia and the surrounding areas from our group this summer!

05/11/2025

Happy Mother's Day to mothers and mothers-to-be!
May your day be filled with love and enjoyment!

04/10/2025

These Food Revolution Summits happen annually and are free to access. There's always some good information presented on various topics. If you need some inspiration for healthy living and improving your diet--sign up and check this out.

Find out what the world’s top doctors eat for disease prevention, energy, mental health, and longevity — April 23rd – April 30th, 2025.

03/28/2025

This ObGyn talks about the value of midwives and the ways midwifery praxis has influenced her own care.

03/27/2025

I remember a case years ago: a woman just under 5 feet tall was told by her doctor at *her first prenatal visit* that because of her short stature they were just going to schedule her for a C-section around her due date.

She left that practice, hired a midwife (for whom I was birth assistant) and had a lovely home birth of a 7 pound and some ounces baby.

Good on her for not taking those words to heart and for finding midwives who believed in her ability to have a vaginal birth!

Thirty-five years ago, a pregnant first time mama came to me, burdened by a doctor's words. During a routine first-trimester exam, he told her, based on her small build and her husband’s height, she’d “never be able to push that baby out.” Imagine carrying that fear throughout your pregnancy. ⁠
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She switched to me to be her midwife. During her beautiful home birth, just before her baby's head emerged, she froze, terrified, whispering, "Aviva - is this baby too big for me to get out?" That seed of doubt, planted by an authority figure, nearly derailed her birth. Feeling her baby's head and receiving some kind words from me pushed that fear away as her baby emerged just a minute later. ⁠
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This wasn't just bad bedside manner on her OBs part. It’s a stark example of how words, even well-intentioned ones, can have a profound impact. ⁠
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“Medical hexing.” the way that language in medical settings can disempower us, shaping our beliefs and even our health outcomes, is sometimes more subtle - and is important to recognize - and know how to navigate to get the care you deserve. ⁠
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Listen now to "Have You Been Medically Hexed? The Power of Words to Heal and to Harm" on the Aviva Romm On Health podcast. Don't let someone else's words define your health or your power.

03/21/2025

This week, we had a sweet moment with a teenage son who got to palpate his step-mom's belly. He got to feel different fetal parts with our help. I think he thought it was pretty cool!

Enjoy this stock photo of hands on a pregnant belly! I was not about to interrupt that sweet moment to take pictures. I hardly ever think to take photos anyway.

03/11/2025

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The cry it out method does not promote healthy self-regulation to babies.

In fact, it can cause the baby to essentially shut down instead.

Emotional regulation skills can be best achieved through skin to skin contact, responsive parenting, attachment and co-regulation.

Babies who have access to these acts of support are better able to calm themselves, have better sleep without stress, are frustrated less, have more confidence and become more independent in the long run.

-Love,
Flor Cruz
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02/25/2025

The Missouri Midwives' Association has released the following position statement regarding the supervision of midwifery students by their preceptors.
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The North American Registry of Midwives’ Candidate Information Bulletin requires that all preceptors must be “physically present” in order to provide supervision to a student in any phase. Missouri state law requires that someone must hold a “ministerial or tocological certification” - the NARM CPM credential - or be recognized as a Certified Nurse Midwife or Certified Midwife to provide legal midwifery care. All students must be supervised in-person by a legal midwife until they have received their certification.

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While these are not regulations that can be enforced, in the absence of any state regulatory mechanism, such as licensure, they function as statements of expected conduct so that midwives, student midwives, other health care practitioners, and especially consumers of midwifery services can know what is considered reasonable standard of care.

This is for the safety of midwifery clients and babies as much as a protection for student midwives enrolled in the NARM certification process. No student midwife should be left in charge of administering clinical care in place of the supervising midwife. That means no prenatal or postpartum visits done independently and certainly no births.

Other factors in play that may not be obvious:

There is a power differential in the preceptor-student relationship which places the student at risk of feeling compelled or encouraged to assume clinical functions for which they are not yet authorized to do in the absent midwife’s place.

There is also a great deal of trust placed in midwives, and if a midwife presents a student filling in for her as an acceptable option, clients may think this is ok. As much as clients may really like a student midwife, feel comfortable with her performing clinical care, and wish to accommodate the midwife’s scheduling conflict, none of these are acceptable reasons for leaving a student midwife in charge of a client’s care without a supervising midwife present.

It is not the client’s duty to understand these dynamics. It is the midwife’s duty to understand and uphold NARM training standards.

When you interview midwives as you look for a care provider, you should expect to hear some consideration for how your due date falls with a midwife’s off-call time or travel plans. Ask what arrangements are in place if an unexpected situation arises such as a family emergency, a midwife being sick, or if two births happen at the same time.

Many midwives work in partnerships to assist each other at births, cover availability for off-call time, or be available in case of unexpected emergencies. If this arrangement is not available, ask what the plan would be.

Photo Credit: Heather Maria Chowdury

02/18/2025

I love humorous posts, but this week I have a serious topic to present.

My state midwifery organization is in the process of drafting position statements regarding aspects of midwifery practice and training.

While these are not regulations that can be enforced, in the absence of any state regulatory mechanism, such as licensure, they function as statements of expected conduct so that midwives, student midwives, other health care practitioners, and especially consumers of midwifery services can know what is considered reasonable standards of care.


Regarding the use of pharmacologic agents for promoting labor:

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The Missouri Midwives Association does not recommend pharmaceutical induction or augmentation outside of the hospital, including but not limited to the medications Misoprostol/Cytotec or Oxytocin/Pitocin. Pharmaceutical induction or augmentation should only take place in a hospital.
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It seems pretty common sense, but if you need medications to help get your labor going, it’s advisable to be in a hospital for both your and your baby’s safety. This does not apply to agents like herbs or castor oil--they just don’t function the same way and don’t create the same concern as medications like misoprostal. As a consumer of health care, you have a right to know what you are being given--any herbal products need to be only herbs--nothing added. Please ask questions about what is being given to you.

And if you are birthing in hospital, ask questions about misoprostol inductions as well. Sure, mostly it’s safe and mostly it works, but when misoprostol kicks in, it can cause fast and furious contractions that create fetal distress, which then turns the birth into a C-section. This risk is not often explained to women receiving inductions and also is one of the reasons using misoprostol at home is not a good idea.

I'll add though, that misoprostol can be appropriately used to control hemorrhage as a second line treatment, so it does have a place in the midwifery toolkit.

(Please enjoy my stock photo of "medical stuff.")

02/14/2025

A Happy Valentines day to you all, midwife style! LOL