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Friday, October 2, 2015

Jill's Road to Midwifery

Jill and Derick Dillard
For those of you who haven't heard, Jill Dillard is now a Certified Professional Midwife.

In a post to the Dillard Family website, Jill explains how she became interested in midwifery. Do you remember watching Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and Josh and Anna Duggar attend Bradley Method childbirth classes with instructor Teresa Fedosky?

Teresa is also a doula (labor coach). As a teenager, Jill attended a Bradley class with a pregnant teen friend and then began babysitting for the Fedosky family. She became interested in natural childbirth and was invited by Teresa and several local midwives to attend births.

One of the midwives, Venessa Giron, encouraged Jill to consider pursuing midwifery. After much prayer and counsel from her parents, Jill decided to file the necessary paperwork and start logging the hours she spent assisting at births.

As she looked ahead to the future and considered her goal of becoming an international missionary, Jill realized that a midwifery certification would be a useful skill to have. She enrolled in a program through a school in Texas.

Most of her education consisted of studying, taking online classes, and assisting at births in Northwest Arkansas, but she was required to travel to the school several times a year for training and testing. Before taking the seven-hour certification exam last month, Jill took a prep course through Mercy-In-Action.

In her post, Jill expresses her gratefulness to God and all those who provided support and encouragement along her journey to becoming a midwife.

For those who can't read the certificate that Jill is holding in the picture, here is what it says:

The North American Registry of Midwives 
does hereby certify that 
Jill M. Dillard 
having satisfied all requirements set forth by the North American Registry of Midwives
is entitled to be know as a 
NARM
Certified Professional Midwife
with all honors, rights and privileges thereto pertaining. 


Photo courtesy of duggarfamily.com

22 comments:

  1. Congratulations! You'll be a blessing where ever you go.

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  2. Is Jana still trying to be a dula

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  3. Congratulations once again Jill, so happy for you & following your dreams :)

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  4. Congratulations.
    On a totally off topic: what has happened to all your wedding gifts now that you on an undetermined amount of time acting as missionaries?
    Also, Derick; how is your Mom feeling?

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  5. I don't mean this as an insult, but Jill didn't make wise choices during her own birth process. Midwives in the state I live in have to have a degree in nursing and midwifery training on top of that to become a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). This is very different from a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife). Training for a CPM is very different and not as rigorous.

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  6. Great accomplishment Jill. Best of luck to you in the future. You have a beautiful family. Always sending prayers to you and your entire family.

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  7. Congratulations, Jill. Is Jill expecting again?

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  8. I feel very strongly that it should be made clear that a certified professional midwife is in no way the same as a Nurse midwife. Please when making health care choices be aware of things that sound the same but are not in either educational level or practical experience. These choices can significantly affect the outcome. Please research the difference between the study levels and the actual clinical experience between the two and make a informed decision.

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  9. That's great! Congratulations Jill! Will Jill be there for Jessa's birth? And is Jana a midwife too?

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  10. Congratulations Jill! Your hard work and perseverance has paid off. What an awesome and fulfilling work you have chosen to be able to share the love of Jesus. God Bless You!

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  11. Well that just says it all doesn't it :) Congrats Jill !!!

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  12. Midwives might be great for some people, but when the most important person to me is being brought into this world, I'd like to be at a hospital where the best medical care is just steps away. Too many things can go wrong to take any chances. This is just one 21st century mom's opinion.

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  13. ok, I guess I am wasting my time even writing this comment because every time I do make a comment its never published. I have never written anything anti Duggars because I enjoy reading about them. I live in Australia so maybe my posts never get through but I find it really frustrating!

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  14. Anonymous 11: Do you know just what it is that Jill is certified TO DO? They don't say.

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  15. Jill, congratulations! so happy for you.

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  16. @Anonymous

    Hi Anonymous 14,

    We just finished moderating the most recent comments made to this post. Do you see yours? If your comment was not profane, derogatory, insulting, or in poor taste, it should be here. Feel free to resubmit if it isn't. :)

    Blessings,
    Lily and Ellie

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  17. This is Anonymous 14 - my previous comment still isn't showing up. My original comment was is Jill pregnant again. If this one doesn't appear, I wont bother anymore.

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  18. @Anonymous

    Hi Anonymous 14,

    Thanks for responding. We didn't see your comment on our end, but if you resubmit, we will keep an eye out for it. We hope you will continue to read and comment. We value each one of our readers.

    Lily and Ellie

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  19. I read in the line at the grocery store that Jill's certification was not valid everywhere and that a "real" midwife should have a BscN (Nurshing degree) ... does her certification have any differences from what they learn???
    Is she more of a doula?

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  20. There seems to be a lot of confusion concerning Midwife Certification. Maybe there are different degrees just as in medicine there are general practitioners, specialists, physician assistants. Could someone clarify Jill's certification please and explain what she can and cannot do with it.

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  21. Congratulations to Jill!

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Thanks for leaving your comments! We answer as many of your questions as we can, but due to the number of comments we receive daily, we are unable to answer every one. Our aim is to post all points of view, but we do not post anything that is profane, insulting, derogatory, or in poor taste.