Midwives do have a host of other clinical skills that they can use, depending on their scope of practice, training, and licensure. In general, home birth midwives can do the following:
Intermittently monitor baby’s heart rate with a handheld Doppler and/or fetoscope
Monitor the woman’s progress of labor
Perform cervical exams as requested by the mother
Provide physical and emotional support during labor
Perform a newborn exam
Suture any tears after birth
Recognize complications and transfer a patient to the hospital (most of the time complications are recognized and women are transferred before the situation becomes an emergency)
Administer oxygen and emergency medications
Perform adult and neo resuscitation
