Deborah Ferguson Sees Growing Demand for Her Services
Deborah Ferguson was looking for a way to serve her community that let her provide personalized service to her patients. She found it while working in the ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca Birth Care unit when she met a midwife who attended home births.
a midwife, I get to work closely with my patients throughout their pregnancies. I can be with them longer during the labor process, which I think helps them stay calmer,” Ferguson said. “If a woman stays calm during labor, it makes the delivery process go more smoothly.”
After working as a labor and delivery nurse and certified childbirth educator for many years, Ferguson was manager of what was then called the Maternal Child Health Unit when she made the decision to become a midwife. She attended Marquette University and graduated from its Nurse Midwifery Program and became certified through the American College of Nurse Midwives in 1998. She also attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh where she earned a master’s degree in nursing and also became a certified nurse practitioner.
“I was committed to providing midwifery services in a hospital setting for Waupaca area residents,” she said. “Previously, women had to travel out of the community. The demand for midwifery services continue to grow because women want to have more choices when it comes to childbirth.”
In her midwifery practice, Ferguson provides care for women across their life span and their families, which includes healthy preventative measures in life as well as managing medical conditions. “I do more than help women give birth,” she said. “I help women going through menopause or deal with chronic conditions.”
For her patients preparing to give birth, she discusses the Powerful Ps of pregnancy – passenger (baby), pelvis, power (uterus) and psyche. “Psyche is the most important,” Ferguson said. “If women believe their bodies are designed to give birth, they can then work with it and not against it, making labor and delivery go more smoothly.”
In 2013, Ferguson introduced water births at the hospital. She said the warm water helps the laboring mother relax and also provides pain relief. Ferguson is the only Waupaca provider offering water births and she brings it up as an option with her patients during their pregnancies.
During a water birth, a special portable tub with removable liners that ensure sanitation is brought into the patient’s room. The mom-to-be gets into the tub and her partner can either provide support from inside or outside of the tub. The delivery team remains outside of the tub to help the patient.
“Water births make the women more comfortable,” Ferguson said. “More people know about it now and are asking about it. We also have women travel to Waupaca just so they can have a water birth.”
Ferguson said the best part of her job is helping women bring their children into the world. “I am now helping women give birth and I also worked with their moms as a labor nurse back in the ‘80s. That’s really fun for me,” she said. “Waupaca is a small community and it’s wonderful to be a part of it.” Ferguson can only help moms who deliver vaginally so she sometimes co-manages a patient’s pregnancy with obstetrician or family physician who does obstetrics, who may be planning to do a cesarean, helping a woman who wants to try a vaginal birth after a cesarean or the baby has a potential health issue.
“It’s wonderful to have supportive physicians who understand the importance of the services I provide and see the role a midwifery practice can play in a patient’s health,” she said. “This is a wonderful community that really sees the value of midwives and what we can do.”
For more than 100 years, ThedaCare™ has been committed to finding a better way to deliver serious and complex healthcare to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The organization serves over 200,000 patients annually and employs more than 7,000 healthcare professionals throughout the region. ThedaCare has seven hospitals located in Appleton, Neenah, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano, New London and Wild Rose as well as 34 clinics in nine counties. ThedaCare is the first in Wisconsin to be a Mayo Clinic Care Network Member, giving our specialists the ability to consult with Mayo Clinic experts on a patient’s care. ThedaCare is a non-profit healthcare organization with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, stroke and cardiac programs as well as a foundation dedicated to community service. ThedaCare Regional Cancer Center in Appleton opened in February. For more information, visit www.thedacare.org or follow ThedaCare on Facebook and Twitter.
