07/24/2026
Grateful to be CPM’s and receive the traditional apprenticeship model of training.
Certified Professional Midwives(CPMs) and Traditional Midwives are the only maternity care professionals in the United States whose education is built specifically around physiologic, out-of-hospital birth. While some CNMs do search out training experiences in out of hospital settings, none are required for licensure.
Traditional midwifery isn't learned from a lecture hall alone.
It is learned through apprenticeship, standing beside experienced midwives, witnessing hundreds of births, recognizing subtle changes, developing calm clinical judgment, and learning when birth is unfolding normally... and when it is time to intervene or transfer.
Apprenticeship is not outdated.
It's how healthcare has always developed skilled clinicians.
For centuries, physicians, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, and midwives all trained through apprenticeship. Even today, medical students don't become physicians after passing exams—they complete years of supervised clinical training through rotations and residency. Experience matters.
The CPM credential continues to require one of the oldest and most time-tested educational traditions in healthcare because birth is not just science—t is a clinical skill that must be lived, observed, and practiced under mentorship.
The goal of midwifery isn't to make birth more medical.
It's to protect the normal physiology of birth while recognizing early when something is no longer normal.
That is expertise.
That is why apprenticeship along with didactic training remains the foundation of traditional midwifery.
That is why CPMs are uniquely prepared to care for healthy women experiencing healthy pregnancies and physiologic birth.
Different professions have different expertise.
Obstetricians are experts in high-risk pregnancy, surgery, and medical complications.
Midwives are experts in normal, physiologic birth.
Photographer: Ollie Girl Birth Photography | Dallas, TX
Swiss Avenue Birth Midwives
