WASILLA — Judi Davidson knows about population growth in the Mat-Su.

As a licensed and practicing midwife since 1988, Davidson has added her personal touch welcoming newcomers to Alaska’s fastest-growing area. A practitioner at Mat-Su Midwifery, Davidson estimates she’s delivered 2,000 babies over the course of her career, which is close to the estimated 2,018 population claimed on the city of Houston’s website.

“I haven’t counted them,” she said about knowing an exact total. “I just moved all the files of all the people I’ve delivered. It’s amazing. I get really excited going in there.” Coming off a night where she helped the daughter of a former client give birth, Davidson took some time to talk about being a midwife in the Valley.

Frontiersman: What about midwifery appealed to you to choose it as a career?

Davidson: I had my first two children in the hospital. My oldest child is 35, my second child is 33, and that was back in the day when fathers had very little involvement. Everything was very medically managed, women had almost no choice in childbirth. I had long, draw-out labors, and I vowed to find a better way while I was in labor with my first son. There were six other women in labor around me, they were screaming like they were in Hell, and I was determined I wasn’t going to scream. I didn’t find the better way with my second son, ... but the third time I had a midwife do a home delivery for me, as well as a friend who was a doctor.

F: What training does someone need to be a midwife?

D: In Alaska, we train by apprenticeship. You have to find a licensed midwife who is willing to be your preceptor. I’m a preceptor, and I have two apprentices. An apprenticeship lasts at least two years. It involves training, as well as an academic course. We require you take the academics and learn the skills as you're doing (the course work). To be licensed you have to show numbers. You have to have, I believe, over 100 prenatal exams, similar number of newborn exams, you have to have attended 10 births as an observer, 20 as assisting the midwife and 30 delivering yourself with your preceptor supervising.

F: After more than 20 years, are you delivering the next generation of your first clients?

D: Now, sometimes I’m delivering daughters of mothers I’ve delivered. In fact, last night, when one girl was pushing I had just a little brain glimpse and I called her by her mother’s name because I was at her mother’s last birth. ... It’s very rewarding to live in the community and see that full circle.

F: Do you remember the first baby you delivered?

D: My first delivery was with a preceptor and we were way up in Big Lake and the roads were bad. We had a back-up plan where a helicopter would come if we needed emergency assistance. Right at the last minute, the woman said she didn’t think she could do it. I remember looking at Sharon (Evans, the preceptor) and Sharon looking at me and we said, “Well, we need divine guidance now to talk this woman into it.” She was just kind of losing it, but there was no moving her at that point. The baby was coming.

F: What are the benefits of using a midwife?

D: I think women have an instinct to be mothers and they have an instinct to be in control of their transition into motherhood. They feel very satisfied when they put themselves to it and they ... are very satisfied when they deliver their child. They haven’t had it delivered of them. It is extremely beneficial for their psyche as strong women and their ability to mother. It might be terrifying, it might be scary, but when they succeed, nothing can take that away from them. I tell them that’s why a chicken crows whenever she lays an egg.

F: To be fair, what are the drawbacks of using a midwife?

D: The drawbacks can be that they have to make a different choice at the end, and it’s very traumatic for them to transport and go to the hospital (if it’s needed). They haven’t prepared that way. I can’t think of a lot of drawbacks.

F: What are some misconceptions people may have about midwives?

D: That they are not well-trained and that they don’t have a lot of experience, which is not true. By the time they attain their license, in this state anyway, they have more delivery experience than physicians do just graduating from medical school. ... I don’t release student midwives from their contract with me until they’ve been practicing for two years.

F: You’re not against the traditional medical establishment then?

D: Oh, no. I have a very good, close relationship with a local O.B., but he’s the first one I’ve had that relationship with. Before that, it’s been very competitive and pretty anti-midwife in this community. So, for 20 years I’ve survived and produced lots of other midwives despite (some) doctors’ animosity against us. ... It makes it so much better for our women when they need a doctor.

F: Do you ever tell someone you can’t deliver their child, that they need to be in a hospital?

D: I do, yes. We screen very carefully. We are licensed to provide low-risk care to low-risk women. I don’t take people who smoke — other midwives do, but I don’t. I feel like that is indicative of how hard they’re going to work for the health of their pregnancy.

F: You don’t see many men in your profession, do you?

D: There are some in England. There are a few, but most women who come here in this community want to be attended to by women.

F: Tell us a little about the history of midwifery and how it’s evolved to what it is today.

D: Well, I’m not the best historian, but I know babies were delivered by midwives in Europe pretty much 100 percent until right around the early 1900s. I believe it was royalty that first decided that it was really nice to have pain-killers and male physicians under a big cloak who came out with the baby, but the mother didn’t remember anything. That’s the way royalty preferred it. Around the turn of the century, delivering babies was handed over to men.

F: How can a person tell whether having a midwife is right for her?

D: You can look at the statistics. Do you want a 1 out of 3 chance of having a C section, or maybe a 1 out of 10 or 20 chance? You can just look at the statistics, which show you the natural approach to birth is going to have the less augmented outcome.

F: What should people look for in a midwife?

D: They should look for a midwife who’s licensed by the state, that has maybe even national credentials. I’m all for licensing. ... In Alaska, we went to the legislature because we wanted licensing, we didn’t want wild, contraband midwives in our midst. It’s a good thing.

F: What’s your most memorable birth?

D: I have so many memorable births. The first thing that comes to my head is what’s more recent on my mind. Last night I was remembering with the daughter of the mother I delivered that (the mother) knitted until she pushed. She had no pain, she was talking and knitting, and we said, “Angela, you’re going to have to put down your knitting, the baby needs to come.” We have all kinds of wonderful memories. ... I have a memory of a woman who was doing (a water birth) and bringing the baby up from the water and saying, “Hi, baby! I’m your mama!”

F: What’s the scariest moment you’ve had?

D: I had a momma once who thought she was dying when she went into labor. She just went on and on. We wanted to calm her. I believe in God and that’s just part of my approach to delivering babies and I thought it would be a comfort to her if I offered to pray for her. I said, “Would you like for me to pray for you?” And she said, “Oh, God, am I really going to die?!” She thought I was going to give her Last Rites. ... We’ve had people who get trippy on us, we call that going into the Twilight Zone, and sometimes we have to go there with them.

F: What’s the schedule like?

D: Babies come from 10 o’clock at night and 4 o’clock in the morning. It’s completely unpredictable and I love it.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.